Does raising a baby cost $290,000?

Wow.. Just imagine that family in Arkansas with 17 kids. This means raising their family will cost about $5 million.

Raising your $290,000 baby

[Broken Arrow]

I'll bet it does. And it's frightening when you think of it in those terms. However, when you see it in terms of how much joy (and drama ) it can bring to your life, then that number is trivial.

[Vapors]

And that doesn't include college. =(

[disneysteve]

That works out to about $1300/month for 18 years. If you figure the cost of housing, utilities, food, clothing, child care/preschool, insurance, medical care, toys, travel, diapers, furniture and everything else that you spend money on, it isn't hard to see where that figure comes from.

Of course, as with everything, you could spend a lot less or you could spend far more. I'm sure folks earning 30K/year aren't spending 16K/year on their child. And I'm sure we haven't spent anywhere near that either. We bought a lot of necessities at yard sales and consignment shops, got some family hand-me-downs, resold numerous items after we were done with them to recoup some of the costs and live frugally all around. Still, having a child is a big financial investment, but it's worth it.

[PrincessPerky]

umm you have a house anyway..and in todays world of mcmansions, childless people often have more than enough room for a kid or two - not saying they need one, just that the cost of housing isn't totally tied to a kid.

I doubt the kids cost me 13K month, I lived for the same amount before I had 3 kids as I do now...course I bought more dinner out, but owed more (other than the house) too....

[DebbieL]

Well, my kid is expensive. I don't own a house (they are going for close to $600K right now for an "average" house), so I do need to rent a larger place because I have her. I rent a 2 bedroom condo, without her I would probably stick with a bachelor pad. So that's probably about $350 a month difference there. She has guitar lessons ($80/month), horseback riding ($80/month) and various other activities throughout the year. Food costs for her (not sure how much really). Clothing and shoes are another expense. Once she's in college, those costs will be pretty large.

I don't think she will cost me $290K, but she's not cheap either!

[cicy33]

kids are as expensive as you make them. There are the normal costs you cannot avoid. But, the other stuff is voluntary. I think today's society has made us feel that we have to do all this extra activities for the kids. I laugh everytime I hear someone say kids cost such an outrageous amount. Perhaps if you are a millionaire. But I don't make that much money in my lifetime much less spend it on a child.

My kids all play sports but we limit it to one activity at a time. One reason, cost, second reason, if kids have to much going on at one time they cannot focus properly and do it the best of their ability. For example, in the spring and summer they play softball, fall they play football, spring they play basketball. Only once has basketball fell over the top of softball and it was really hard to keep the schedule straight as well as keep the child from not getting worn out. and the only reason we allowed it was the basketball only a couple more games and then they were done.