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How Much Does It Really
Cost To Raise a Child? |
Editor's Note: This article was originally featured on the LargerFamilies.com blog. I was so impressed by the analysis that I inquired if we could reprint it. Graciously, the webmaster and the author agreed.
According to a calculator at Bankrate.com, it will cost you $190,000 to raise a child to age 18. Multipy that number by the number of children I have (8) and you get the insane figure of a MILLION AND A HALF dollars to raise my family to adulthood. Hoobaby. NO wonder people assume that my hubby must make bucket loads of money.
I found that number so outtasight crazy that I spent some time looking at it carefully. Here are the numbers it cites.
- Childcare: $300/yr between birth and 11.
- Groceries: $1525/yr
- Clothing: $606/yr
- Gift giving: $303/yr
- Bigger home: $2900/yr
- Bigger car: $1250/between ages 5 and 18
- Education: $600/yr
- Recreation: $330/yr
- Additional insurance: $330/yr
- Health care: $300/yr
- Misc: $330/yr
Now, Im not claiming this is a complete list, and certainly different families spend different amounts of money. Some large families MAY very well spend that much over 18 years to raise each and every one of their children. But we don't. I thought it might be encouraging to some to see how costs break down at my house, using the same categories suggested by Bankrate.
Remember, the numbers in bold are PER CHILD per year.
Childcare: $2/yr/child
I am a homemaker, so no day care. The rare babysitter is usually grandma or, more recently, an older sibling. Weve probably paid a sitter 20 times total. At $15 a time, thats $300 total for all 8 children, or divided, $2/child/year.
Groceries: $840/yr/child
I cook most food from scratch and we eat lots of food from our garden. The garden alone probably saves us $100 a month on groceries, year round. We pay $700/mo for groceries for 10 people. That $700 breaks down to $70 per person per month, or $840/yr per child.
Clothing: $200/yr/child
I shop at thrift shops, yard sales and dept store clearance racks. I also happily accept hand-me-downs and pass down our clothes from child to child. (And the kids always look well dressed, thankyouverymuch!)
Gift giving: $200/yr/child
I shop carefully for Christmas and do homemade or clearance items for gifts for kids birthday parties, etc.
Bigger home: $900/yr/child
We built our current home when we had only 3 kids and with 5 bedrooms it is still adequate. The difference between our first home and our current home was $130,000 including interest. Dividing that cost over 18 years gives you $900/yr/child.
Bigger car: $139/yr/child
We paid $20,000 for our current van, which we hope to make last during the largest years of our family. Already our oldest is off at college. Most likely by the time the bigger vehicle is retired, our family will have shrunk enough to fit into a more affordable standard sized car.
Education: $60/yr/child
We homeschool, visit our local library for many resources, and use reusable textbooks for most subjects past 3rd grade.
Recreation: $150/yr/child
Kids do 1-2 extracurricular activities per year each, such as baseball, swimming, piano and choir. We go to dollar movies. We go to the water park on the free day sponsored by hubbys work. We camp at state parks. Fun does not have to break the bank or involve large black mouse ears.
Additional insurance: $75/yr/child
Family plan at hubbys work charges $50 extra per month to cover the family, no matter how big.
Health care: $200/yr/child
We have excellent health and dental insurance. Preventative care is free. The maximum family out-of-pocket is $2000 per year.
Misc: $100/yr/child
Because Im sure Im forgetting something.
TOTAL EXPENSES
1 child for 1 year: $2866
1 child for 18 yrs : $51,588
As you can see, this total of almost $52,000 to raise one child to age 18 is a far cry from the expert estimate of $190,000.
I think what many people forget, finance-wise with a large family is that we do not need to rebuy everything for each new child. A minivan that works for 2 will also work for 5. Baby strollers and cribs and bunk beds can all be reused. Ditto for clothes. Yeah, you will probably have to buy a bigger house, but not for every. single. child.
Granted, the numbers for a family as big as mine STILL sound a little staggering. To raise 8 children for 18 years, even on 'Marys Economy Plan', will be around $413,000 total. However, divide $413,000 by 18 years, and it averages to a mere $23,000 per year.
And that doesnt even take into consideration that a large family does not have the whole clan at home at once. My hubby and I had a decade of parenting four or fewer kids at the beginning, exactly ONE year of parenting the full 8 children all at once, and most likely we have at least another decade of 4 or fewer children in the home still in our future.
All this goes to show that if you are willing to be frugal, you do not have to be RICH to have a big family. And let me tell ya, my kids are very worth a little frugality.
Mary is the mother of 8 children ranging in age from 1 to 18, including 2 from Korea and 2 from Ethiopia. You can find her regularly at Owlhaven.
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Article by Mary @ Owlhaven
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The few people who I've told that I'm thinking about having a fourth child have looked at me like I'm slightly crazy and I doubt they believe me when I tell them a fourth child is not going to cost anything. Why would it? We have baby clothes for both boys and girls, cribs, carseats, and anything else a baby needs.
I wonder what they'd think when I tell them that our next house only needs to have three bedrooms since same gender children can share a room?
Some of the current "estimates" for the cost of a child is college. Yes college is important and it's basically necessary to get any kind of reasonable job. But who says a child's parents have to foot the bill? Scholarships, part time jobs, (heaven forbid a child join) the military, etc...all available to the CHILD to help pay for the cost. Not their parents.
Same with a car. When did it become necessary to buy a child a car just because they knew how to drive? People used to have to earn the keys to the family car, and I think that's a better parenting strategy.
To this day I am still the same way, although my mom says I'm more frugal than she ever was. In today's world you need to be frugal to get anywhere. I try to teach this to all my children's friends so they might have something themselves other than alot of debt.
My motto is two fold....
"ALL THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT...IF IT IS MEANT TO BE IT WILL BE...PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE"
'THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON"
When I want something I check out every to get the best deal not just jump and buy it immediately. Parents today need to remember it didn't hurt them to wait to get something it actually made them a better person for it.
Richness is not in material things alone!!!
GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY