The talk of baby making has entered the BudgetsAreSexy household, and I’m starting to get a little nervous. Not so much about having one or making one (that’s the fun part!), but about the costs they suck up (the not-so-fun part). How much do babies go for these days?
And that’s not a rhetorical question either, sorry – I really haven’t a clue :) If I had to guess, purely out of thin air, I’d say $10,000. And I’m not entirely sure if that means hospital bills, yearly costs, “per baby” or what. I’m as stupid as they comes to baby finances, so I’m hoping some of you will enlighten me. All I know is that they’re expensive.
I plopped “how much do babies cost?” into the google, and the results were all over the place as you might expect. Some forums say they cost $800 a month once you get ‘em going, and others say you’re fine with $400 a month. There’s probably too many variables to get an accurate figure for my exact personal situation (like daycare vs. home watched, insurance coverage vs. not covered, baby 1 vs. baby 2, etc, etc) but anything you can share would be very helpful.
I did try out a nifty Baby Cost Calculator though! You go down this huge list of selecting what you will and won’t need, and at the end it pops out an average cost for you. According to OUR results, it says it’ll cost us $4,119.00 the first year – or roughly $343.25/mo. It doesn’t account for the hospital bills OR what you’d get for baby showers and presents and all that stuff, but it’s a start.
Either way, I’m pretty excited to start a new adventure in our lives. We’re not sure when this will all come about, but God willing we’ll be able to produce healthy & happy little J. Juniors all over the place :) And you better believe I’ll be blogging all about it.
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I know this is an old post, but I wanted to add our experience. Our son was born at home with a midwife, whom we had to pay out of pocket, as our insurance doesn't cover homebirths. We spent about $3500 on that. As soon as he was born, we opened a 529 account, and have been putting $100/month into it. We also pay about $100/month for his health insurance (we're self employed, so we pay for our own insurance). We spent $250 on an organic crib mattress and another $250 on a Britax carseat. Beyond that, our expenses have been extremely small. I breastfed and we never bought formula. We use cloth diapers that I made using old t-shirts and fleece sweatshirts. They are not only super-cute, but very inexpensive – I think we've spent about $75 total so far on diapering for 22 months, since I got all the fabric at thrift stores, and we don't use a dryer (I hang them up to dry, which is free). Our son eats the same food we do, and spends his day playing with all sorts of random stuff like pots and pans. He loves books, and has received lots as gifts. All of his clothing comes from thrift stores. Other than the college fund and the health insurance, our monthly expenses for him are probably under $30, including food (he's almost two, so food isn't breaking the bank yet – I'm sure that will change!). Good luck!
WOAH!!! That is awesome :) Esp the "making of the t-shirt diapers" – haha…def. cute if you had like old school band designs on them and such. Appreciate you leaving your experience, we need all the help we can get! Like "starting." Any day now it's possible. haha…