Baby's first year: $10,000-22,000??

In My Humble Opinion
21

The cheapest way to have a baby? Move to a small town in Canada, and give birth to a baby who is the first grandchild to your in-laws, and the first girl grandchild on your side of the family. :slight_smile:

We have government health insurance (free or almost free) plus we are covered for extra stuff (e.g. prescriptions) by our health plan through work, for which we pay a small monthly fee.

We saved a lot of money by not having a theme for the baby’s room - we painted it a gender-neutral colour, that’s it. We didn’t bother buying a change table or a baby dresser, we just used a long, low “grown-up’s” dresser which we already owned.

Cloth diapers are a saving, but more expensive at first. We use disposables, bought at Costco. She is 9 months old and we probably change her 5-6 times a day. Not necessarily because she needs it, it’s just easier than dealing with a diaper rash! She is still mostly breastfed, with some formula - we buy it at Costco as well. I make most of her food, which save a bit of money too I think.

We didn’t skimp on her carseat or stroller or crib, but we didn’t buy “name” brands.

A lot of her clothes were gifts, or second-hand loans, or bought at Walmart. Although I love a lot of the name-brand stuff, it’s not a priority for us, money-wise. Most of her toys are new, but they also usually only cost between $3 and $20, and she doesn’t have a ton.

Here you get 50 weeks of paid maternity leave from the government - I believe it is 55% of your normal salary. Plus some employers top that up for at least part of your leave. And having 50 weeks of leave, means no daycare costs until your baby is almost 1 year old.

We asked for money for her RESP (post-secondary savings) for Christmas, rather than a bunch of gifts - our baby was born in October, so by Christmastime she was still so young and tiny, she didn’t need much. This gave a nice little kickstart to her savings, which means we don’t have to contribute much each month.

So … she’s 9 months old, and I would guess we’ve spent about $30 / month on diapers, $20 / month on formula (she only has one bottle of formula per day), $20 per month on produce for homemade baby food, $10 per month on baby cereal, $30 / month on baby clothes (undershirts etc - she is growing like a weed!) and say $15 / month on miscelleous stuff (a wading pool one month, a couple of bibs and sippy cups another month, etc.).

$125 / month x 9 months (to keep it simple) = $1125. Xmas presents, some books, mobiles, etc = $500 in total. Stroller/car seat combo and a big-girl carseat (sold to us by a friend who used it once for a grandkid) = $300. So just under $2000.

Dr Phil is on crack.

22

I should have concluded my post by saying that I don’t know where Dr. Phil gets his figures, but if he is talking about the AVERAGE amount spent on babies, then he may not be far off (it is true that people buy $800 strollers!) But this doesn’t mean that you can’t do it for less. The OP says that the mom on DrPhil was a stay at home mom, so for her the daycare & stuff isn’t relevant. She can easily use all these costcutting measures.

23

Shouldn’t he be a little skinnier then? :wink:

24

Gotta chime in here on the highness of that figure. My wife stays at home with the kids, so no daycare … but I figure we spend about thousand a year per kid for all three. Add maybe one thousand for the first for furniture and big stuff that got used for the next two. Sure, you can go crazy in a hurry, but most of the people I know don’t. There’s consignment stores, garage sales, thrift shops, and family hand-me downs available that make quite a difference (plus all that stuff previously mentioned.)

This was not the case for us. We used cloth diapers for our first child, and I’m pretty sure that we didn’t save very much money. They don’t clean well in cold water, so you’re paying for the hot water, plus your washer/dryer electricity. The real hidden expense is the clothing though. You will get a lot more ruined outfits due to poop blowouts with cloth than disposable. Plus, you have to deal with even more poop than otherwise, and that is money very well spent.

25

Missed this one on preview. Just had to say

that this was a bit freaky, since my wife could have written this sentence word for word for our first. Gotta love those first grandbabies!

Are you sure you’re not my wife checking up on me? :smiley: We used a fairly neutral green, figuring that we’ll change when the kids are old enough to be involved in picking a color. We did use some winnie-the-pooh decals to spruce things up a bit though. I guess we were a bit off, we used a used microwave stand for a change table.

That is the other reason we switched from cloth to disposables, the diaper rash is worse. And we had really nice, way too expensive hand me down cloth diapers from some friends of my yuppie aunt.

Don’t have time to go over the rest, but our experiences seem very similar, and your prices look pretty dead on to me. I’ll second the Dr. Phil is on crack motion …

26

I don’t think that’s right, at all. Then again, my parents used cloth diapers (which saved a lot) and took classes on how how to make their own baby food (our local planned parenthood and family resource center both offer those classes - I’ve often thought it’d be nifty to take, even if I have no plans of becoming a mother).

I think that might be an estimate because of the “new mother” thing - a lot of women, I’ve noticed, really WANT a kid, and go all out on getting all kinds of stuff. My parents got us those five dollar strollers and the hand-me-down cribs, and I think that’s why we were so cheap.

Not that having kids isn’t expensive, in both time and money. Maybe that’s what it is (and sorry if anyone said this already, because I didn’t read through the whole thread), is that if both parents are working, one is invariably going to have to take time off to watch the kid, at least until they’re old enough for a babysitter - hence, lost money.

~Tasha

27

That all sounds logical to me…but what about potty training? I have heard it goes easier/faster, and you can train them younger when using cloth (because they are more uncomfortable from the wetness & are more motivated to learn). Any truth to that rumor in your experience?

28

I’ve heard the same thing. We moved her to disposables too early on to tell though, since we got tired of replacing outfits shortly after eight months … the cloth ones weren’t too bad for breastmilk fed babies, but once there was solid food involved … :eek: Not sure if it would have made any difference, since by the time we were potty training, she wanted to be naked all the time anyway. :slight_smile:

29

Realistically, if one of you plans to stay at home and you have some form of medical coverage, you can easily keep the out of pocket expenses to $5000 or less in the first year. Easily. Babies are simply not that expensive. Diapers are cheap, they don’t eat a lot, and what they do eat can be provided for free for awhile, and they’re not picky about clothes.

The key thing to remember:

YARD SALES, YARD SALES, YARD SALES.

Make it a habit to go to them. Babies outgrow their toys and clothing long before they could possibly be worn out. We have purchased Baby Gap outfits for pennies on the dollar - I mean, 50 cents for a $30 item - in brand new condition, a dozen at a time. I don’t think the baby has a new toy, and everything she has looks brand new. All this and videos and books can be purchased in essentially new condition for a fraction of their retail price. One sunny Saturday can easily net you five hundred dollars’ worth of baby stuff for an expenditure of fifty bucks.

Other things to remember:

  1. You can’t buy a car seat used, but you can keep that expense down. Remember that all car seats sold in a reputable store are the same in terms of the safety standards they meet; if you pay a lot, you’re paying for style. Start off with a combo car seat/stroller set; they cost a little more but you get more than what you pay for. Expect to buy a new seat within 4-8 months, as they quickly become too big for the small ones.

  2. Diapers sure as hell should not cost 35 cents a pop for a kid between birth and one year. All disposable diapers are pretty good, really, so don’t feel you need to buy the name brands.

  3. Look for used cribs. They should be of recent vintage, but if you can catch a recently used one you can save a bundle.

  4. If you want to use bottles, don’t spend some ghastly amount of money on a bottle warmer and all that nonsense. A bottle warmer can be created by filling something with hot water and putting the bottle in it. Unless you’re an idiot and don’t test the bottle before giving it to your baby, this is fine.

  5. Depending on your house, a baby monitor may also be unnecessary. I never could understand what the point of one was; I could hear our baby crying from anywhere in the house. Maybe you’ll need one if you have a large or unusually soundproof house or something, but don’t get one right away and see how the baby’s cry carries.

30

That was amazing. I wish you were a “reputable news source” so I could turn it into a Q&A for my newspaper.

~Tasha

31

I might go as far as 5 a day. Maybe my kid didn’t pee much compared to others.

32

Maybe I am - HONEY GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND GO WASH THE CAR OR SOMETHING!!!

We also painted the baby’s room green (with white trim and white wooden window blinds). And we were GOING to use a microwave stand for a change table and still might, once the big dresser starts getting in the way of her playtime (it’s not a very big room) and we switch it out for a smaller one.

Now Mithrander - go make dinner too while you’re at it!

:slight_smile:

33

I really depends on the situation.

You’re saying cost of the birth itself is not included, b/c of not having insurance? My son’s stay in the NICU was $35k. I can’t remember what the rest of it totalled, maybe another $10k for my C-section and my daughter’s care.

And then there’s the prenatal part. I became pregnant at 38, totally out of the blue, and it turned out I was carrying twins. So take your typical prenatal visits and tests, and double that for my “high risk” pregnancy. I wasn’t working full-time then, but if I had been I’d’ve had to quit in order to go on bedrest. Not sure how to quantify that theoretical loss of wages.

In terms of kid costs, I think it was around $2k in preparatory purchases and we probably received gifts totalling another $2k. And then I think we spent $300/month on diapers & formula. Remember - that’s for twins.

Some women buy diapers in advance when they’re on sale & just stick them in a closet somewhere; it’s a lot easier on the budget when purchased gradually.

We buy diapers @ Costco, and most clothes, toys and furniture at thrift stores & Goodwill. You don’t even have to buy a crib, most babies co-sleep perfectly well.

My kids are 2.5 years old now & they really only enjoy open-ended, simple toys. Balls, blocks, books, crayons, paints, and a sand table. Oh, and cups for dumping water. All those “educational” toys are almost worthless, and the noisy ones are a PITA.

34

You don’t need any furniture, except maybe a crib (unless you co-sleep). For my new baby, we have a crib (we bought it for $100 used for my older son). That’s it. We change him on the bed (or the floor or the couch). I bought three plastic crates (about $5 each) for his clothes and they’re stored under the crib (great space saver - which was our main concern). I feed him either in bed, at the computer chair, or on the couch.

Also, you really don’t need a stroller for an infant. I have one, but I hardly ever use it. I carry my baby in a sling (hotsling - about $50). Some kids prefer a stroller, but some are happier right up next to you.

You really don’t need any toys, either. For the first few months, you can just put a baby in front of a window or something that makes interesting shadows and they’re happy. When they start using their hands more, any little, safe thing is fine and fascinating for them (plastic cup, washcloth, etc.).

35

Just chiming in to say that experiences are going to vary on this issue. First, I never had an outfit ruined by a poop blow-out - it always came out in the wash. (Most of the time only the onesie got dirty anyway, and I wouldn’t care if that was discolored as long as it was clean - but they always turned white again after washing.) Second, for my kid, the disposables leaked poop more than the cloth, for one simple reason: both kinds held the poop in at the legs just fine, but the disposables did nothing to keep it from creeping up the back. And the kid I used mostly cloth on was an up-the-back specialist :eek:

(Note to shocked new parents and parents-to-be: the poop blow-out issue improves considerably as the baby approaches his first birthday and gradually leaves the liquid diet behind. In fact poop in general is easier to deal with when the kid starts eating more solids. The bad news is, it also smells a lot worse.)

As for the cost - yeah, it seems high to me, too, but if you start with the “list of absolute essentials for your baby” that you’ll find on various websites and add up the cost of buying everything new, plus daycare and medical expenses, I can believe you’d come up with a figure in that range. But you don’t need everything on those lists - our kids have turned into strong, healthy, normal youngsters without a baby monitor, baby swing, exersaucer, or bath thermometer - and much of what you do want/need can be bought used or borrowed from friends or relations for the short time you need it.

36

So, once she has the baby she is going to either cut back on her hours, quit working completely, or continue to work and spend what is likely to be most of her salary (since they have so little extra money) on daycare. (Unless she has relatives providing free childcare.) I really don’t see how that’s going to go so well.

I also don’t really understand not including the actual cost of the birth. This is part of the expense of having a baby, no? And many insurance companies do not cover that, even if the couple does have insurance. And not everyone does.

I am sure it is possible to only spend a grand or two during the first year if nothing goes wrong and you have a lot of family support, but I bet the average is close to the range suggested by the (admittedly moronic) Dr. Phil.
**
Stainz**: How does that work in Canada? Sound like a nice system. What if the woman is pregnant again 6 months after having the first kid? Does she go back to work for a few months and then get the whole next year off paid again? How often can one do this? I don’t have or want kids, just curious.

37

This seems to have turned into a people with new baby thread.

I want to know where these scare stories are coming from. I have read or seen this $20,000 figure here in Australia about 6 times. It is like some group is trying to scare people into not having children. IT IS TOO EXPENSIVE!
I often hear about people saying they have to save up to have kids.
Where is this coming from?

38

It’s theoretically unlimited, but your EI bnefits are based on how much you’ve worked, so if you went back on leave after 6 months you wouldn’t get the full benefit.

The major benefit, really, is medicare. I don’t understand how Americans can afford to have kids if they actually have to pay for the medical procedures.

39

There is a lot of “you can’t plan” as fessie can probably tell you.

Breastfeeding will save you a lot of money, but what if you can’t breastfeed? You can plan to do it and have a baby that won’t latch, have milk that doesn’t come in, or is insufficient for baby and you suppliment (and supplimenting ). You can plan that your mother will watch the kids, and then she breaks her hip and can’t watch them for six months and after that isn’t up to chasing toddlers.

The big deal with having kids to start with is the opportunity cost. You have four possible choices, not work (if you have $120 extra today, and one of you stays at home and you don’t have kids GET A JOB) - which will cost you whatever your second salary is, work and pay for daycare (which can be very expensive depending on what part of the country you are in), work some sort of split shift arrangement so one parent is home with kids (very difficult on a marriage), or - if you are lucky - have someone (Grandma) watch the kids for free.

Ignoring the opportunity cost, breastfeeding and utlizing handmedowns and cloth diapers (which you CAN wash cheaper), kids can be nearly free if everything goes “right.” After all, my great grandmother was born on the prairie in 1870 never needing a swing. But ignoring opportunity cost when having children is a little like those physics problems in college where the instructions tell you to “ignore friction.” Its a cute intellectual exercise, but in the real world, there is opportunity cost.

40

I think the dipers we use cost around .22 each. Iris likes the Pampers, and getting coupons is hard sometimes. Still a lot less then .35.

We bought two used cribs, one was a really nice one that retailed for over $1000, get got it for under $300. The other one we got was the Wal-Mart brand for $50. I can say that the more expeinsive one is a lot nicer, it’s built a lot better and doesn’t shake much. I would rather have a nice crib since they spend a lot of time there.

We have one of those bottle warmer things, I hate it. I can’t figure out how to use it. There are instructions on the side but they don’t make any sense, and the few times I have used it I either get cold stuff or really hot stuff. I’ve taken to just putting the bottle in a mug and using hot water from the tap.

Maybe, I know I sleep pretty heavy and wouldn’t hear the thing at all sometimes, I didn’t the other night when she was crying for two hours. (I did tell Iris to wake me up the next time she does something like that.) They are nice to have, but I’m sure we could live without it.

We bought a lot of nice stuff for the baby, but we can afford it. We did however, not buy any of the expensive stuff at full price. The $1000 crib was bought at $300, a changing table, not really needed but nice, for $150. A really nice wooden dresser for $300. We bought the crib used, the rest at baby shops that were trying to get rid of over stock and floor models.

I’ve found that onesies, some pants and socks, and sleep sacks are all they really need for clothes. I think people buy way too much stuff for their babies, honestly I don’t think we’ve bought much at all except the furniture, people have been giving us stuff left and right, and the baby is five months old!

Without day care then one could keep the expenses down quite a bit.