How much does your kid cost you each year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I make ~$450k and I would estimate that between the ages of 5-16, I spent virtually nothing on my kids (boys). Yeah the house is slightly bigger than it would otherwise be. Don't do travel sports, and I'm not chump enough to send kids to private school when we have some of the best publics in the nation. We're probably talking like $10/day on food, $3k extra on disney and one other trip per year (we would travel anyway so it's just a matter of extra tickets), and maybe $300 on clothes. So that brings me to about $7k per year per kid.

Sure, between Ages 2-5 it's 25k for daycare, and then at 16 you need to buy a car and then pay for college. But to say that a kid costs over 10k per year as a blanket statement just tells me you are a moron (in one of three or four potential ways)

You better double check your budget. I guarantee you are spending more than $300 a year on kids shoes alone. Growing boys eat a lot more than $10 of food every day. Disney is more than $3k unless you drive there and sleep in your car.

[Anonymous]

not counting essentials like food clothing haircuts healthcare activities $15k per year (sport, musical instrument, tutoring) sleep away camp $5k a year, college contributions $5k a year so about $25 per kid in extras. I am
not counting vacations, birthday parties, braces, etc etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make ~$450k and I would estimate that between the ages of 5-16, I spent virtually nothing on my kids (boys). Yeah the house is slightly bigger than it would otherwise be. Don't do travel sports, and I'm not chump enough to send kids to private school when we have some of the best publics in the nation. We're probably talking like $10/day on food, $3k extra on disney and one other trip per year (we would travel anyway so it's just a matter of extra tickets), and maybe $300 on clothes. So that brings me to about $7k per year per kid.

Sure, between Ages 2-5 it's 25k for daycare, and then at 16 you need to buy a car and then pay for college. But to say that a kid costs over 10k per year as a blanket statement just tells me you are a moron (in one of three or four potential ways)

You better double check your budget. I guarantee you are spending more than $300 a year on kids shoes alone. Growing boys eat a lot more than $10 of food every day. Disney is more than $3k unless you drive there and sleep in your car.

I agree. PP above is way off.

[Anonymous]

Hmm good question, our 6 year old in public school is cheaper than our toddler in daycare, obviously, spitballing some numbers here

6yo: 3k for activities, 5k for summer camp, 1k for clothes, add 2k for random extras like Xmas/bday gifts

2yo: 24k daycare, 500 clothes, 2k random

Both: 24k college savings, extra 5k per year in travel expenses with two kids (2 extra seats on a plane, bigger hotel room, etc)

So in total probably 65-70k per year on two kids.

[Anonymous]

Upper elementary kid:

$3,000 travel sport
$4,000 summer camps
$4,800 other enrichment (advanced math, swimming, language)
$600 clothes
$1,500 birthdays, entertainment
$3,600 food
$6,000 vacations

I also have an kindergartner; similar expenses except no travel sport.
But before he started K, we paid about $20,000 per year for his preschool/daycare.

The above does not cover housing (living in a food school district, house size), gas to drive them everywhere…

[Anonymous]

^ oh, and the college savings

$26,000 for both kids

[Anonymous]

Approx 50k per child. Includes daycare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid 1: $300 for activities
$ 300 for new clothes
$4000 for food

Kid 2: $3000 for activities
$100 for clothes
$2000 for food

That's not accurate. You are not feeding Kid #2 on $5.47 a day, unless you are breastfeeding a lot. $100 for clothes?? shoes, swim suits, Pjs coats and what about diapers? No toys or electronic devices, streaming services or movies?? No doctor visits, medicine, lab tests? No childcare?

Exactly! How?

[Anonymous]

I don't know and do not care to know. Our kids are happy and we are happy that we can afford them a nice lifestyle and we are good.

[Anonymous]

Per child top expenses. I’ve got 2 kids. Single parent no child support.

Summer camp - 8,500
Club sport - 6,000
529 savings - 15,000


If I wander down the rabbit hole of vacation, clothes, food, etc, I’m sure I’m pushing 50,000 per child

[Anonymous]

I realized last night that I spend $1k per month more than my childfree friend does. We lived in similar apartments before I had my daughter. So that’s $12k per year right there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I make ~$450k and I would estimate that between the ages of 5-16, I spent virtually nothing on my kids (boys). Yeah the house is slightly bigger than it would otherwise be. Don't do travel sports, and I'm not chump enough to send kids to private school when we have some of the best publics in the nation. We're probably talking like $10/day on food, $3k extra on disney and one other trip per year (we would travel anyway so it's just a matter of extra tickets), and maybe $300 on clothes. So that brings me to about $7k per year per kid.

Sure, between Ages 2-5 it's 25k for daycare, and then at 16 you need to buy a car and then pay for college. But to say that a kid costs over 10k per year as a blanket statement just tells me you are a moron (in one of three or four potential ways)

Tell me you have so much money that you have no idea how much money you’re spending without telling me you have so much money.

[Anonymous]

That seems right to me, we have a 6 yo, our HHI is 300Kish but we go to public school and don't need after care because his school doesn't even end until 4 and bus drops off around 5. We also (thankfully) haven't need significant medical care.

5K - camps, day off child care, babysitting
2K - activities and related equipment
3-4K - travel (our families are in TX and CA)
$2K - food
$1K - clothes, shoes
That leaves about 3K more for incidental stuff, which isn't accounted for.

We may spend a little more but I think it was $20K tops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I make ~$450k and I would estimate that between the ages of 5-16, I spent virtually nothing on my kids (boys). Yeah the house is slightly bigger than it would otherwise be. Don't do travel sports, and I'm not chump enough to send kids to private school when we have some of the best publics in the nation. We're probably talking like $10/day on food, $3k extra on disney and one other trip per year (we would travel anyway so it's just a matter of extra tickets), and maybe $300 on clothes. So that brings me to about $7k per year per kid.

Sure, between Ages 2-5 it's 25k for daycare, and then at 16 you need to buy a car and then pay for college. But to say that a kid costs over 10k per year as a blanket statement just tells me you are a moron (in one of three or four potential ways)

You didn't have any aftercare during the elementary years? No summer camps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid 1: $300 for activities
$ 300 for new clothes
$4000 for food

Kid 2: $3000 for activities
$100 for clothes
$2000 for food

That's not accurate. You are not feeding Kid #2 on $5.47 a day, unless you are breastfeeding a lot. $100 for clothes?? shoes, swim suits, Pjs coats and what about diapers? No toys or electronic devices, streaming services or movies?? No doctor visits, medicine, lab tests? No childcare?

Exactly! How?

No childcare. Clothes are hand me downs, only shoes are new. I shop whatever is on sale for food and cook from scratch and we spend about $20 - $30 per day for the whole family. The computer was a leftover from relative’s work. The kids don’t watch movies, the streaming services are for us adults.
But yes, I did leave out a lot of things I didn’t think about, like gifts for birthday parties ($100 a year) or the child’s birthday party ($500), vacations ($3000 per person), doctor co payments ($40), books ($200), Christmas gifts ($300).