Reply to Why do children get MORE expensive as they get older?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I guess the question is, how much older?  My 7 year (almost 8) old second grader is much less expensive now than he was when we had to pay for daycare and diapers, even though he's in aftercare and goes to camp.  But I guess the situation could easily change when he's 10, 12, or 15.[/quote]

I agree with this. So far I am finding the early elementary age to be substantially less expensive than daycare. At the end of daycare it was $1500/month.  I currently pay $325/month for before/aftercare. I had my child in one activity a season before, so that expense is the same, I still feed and clothe her, that hasn't changed. Camp is pricey for the weeks we need it, but at 6 weeks of camp at $400/week, I'm still only facing $2400 + $2925 for before/aftercare/year = $5325/year vs. $18000/year for daycare. I just don't see what activity we could add that would cost another $12k+/year. [/quote]

Saving for college would eat that up.[/quote]

Not necessarily. Some (many?) families save for college while in daycare as well. [/quote]

Yeah but typically they're only doing a few hundred a month in the daycare years, when, to pay for private, you need to be doing a thousand plus a month. Per kid.[/quote]

Look if we're including college here then of course it's a no brainer, but if you are looking at purely costs incurred during 0-18, I would say day care/nanny costs are hands down more expensive.  Sure you can always send your kid to $9K sleep away camp for 3 weeks, but there's also options in my close-in suburb for $300/week also (much cheaper than any day care or babysitter option).

I've read a lot of the prior posts and people say they spend $2500 to $3k for a travel sport, and then $5k for music lessons, etc.  However, while those are nice things, they are not necessities like diapers and child care (which is not optional).  Even if I add those things up, it's still not the $45K we spent this year for a nanny and the $10K for part-time preschool (2 kids).

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