How Much Does it Cost to Have a Baby?
My wife and I are first-time parents and we are now 9-months into the “parenting” process. I made it a goal to track all of our childcare expenses so I could truly report on the cost of raising a child. I invite all of my personal finance readers to follow along our journey as I diligently track all expenses involved in truly raising a child these days in middle class America.
Prior to us having a child I did some research and the consensus was that it costs roughly $14,000 per year to raise a child, which equates to roughly $240,000 (without college). Don’t get me started on how much college will cost for my child…
The consensus from my research was it costs $14,000/annually to raise a child in 2017. Well, we are three quarters of the way through year one and we have spent just over $5,000 on our baby girl thus far. It is very early and she is still very young, but we are on pace to spend less than half of that $14k per year average. However, its obvious that what we spend in year one will (and should be) far less than what we’ll probably spend in, say, year 5 and/or 14 and beyond when expenses really increase to raise a child. But I like the pace we are on and currently setting.
How Much Does It Cost to Raise a Child?
We are 9-months in and thus far we have spent $5,220 on my daughter in total. We have lucked out and received a number of hand-me-down clothes and toys, as well as a ton of gifts and gift cards from our baby shower that are still holding us over. We are nearing the end of our baby shower gift cards, but I estimate that we have about $100 left to various stores.
Child Care/Nanny
We use a part-time nanny to watch our daughter two days a week. We consider ourselves very lucky though, as we have a nanny who comes to our house twice a week, a nanny our daughter loves, who really doesn’t costs us that much.
My wife is off two days during the week and then a family member watches her another day, so we only need to “pay” for two days of child care. Thus far we have spent a grand total of $4,160 on childcare/daycare.
Cost to Raise a Child in 2017: 9-Month Old
- 1st month = $414
- 2nd month = $105
- 3rd month = $545
- 4th month = $643
- 5th month = $520
- 6th month = $866
- 7th month = $650
- 8th month = $707
- 9th month = $770
- Since inception (March, 2017) = $5,220
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