A fortune.
Car insurance, gas
Health insurance and medical costs; orthodontics
Food and groceries
Frivolous things like clothes, shoes, hair cuts, skin care products, nice shampoos
School costs (we are public, but still)- fees for sports and school activities, fundraisers etc
College savings & tuition (coming up for us)
College counselor and SAT prep and summer programs and camps

Honestly it goes on & on. If it was just my husband and myself, we’d be cheap dinks with very little to spend on except travel and restaurants.

Kid 1 - 8th grade
$420 month piano
$380 month travel sport
$1200 - pvt school tuition

Kid 2 - 10th grade
$1500 - pvt school tuition

Obviously - food costs per month not tallied

This is the first year I'm not going crazy with summer camps (overnight) for either kid but soon this yr will be in addition:
- Car + insurance for older kid
- Summer art classes over at local colleges (will be an art major likely)
- SAT prep which is appx $4900 total over Spring + Summer

For the younger one:
Likely 2-3 weekly summer camps = $1400-2200

BUT she will ref and asst coaching club sport so she will actually be MAKING money which gives me joy to no end!!!!!! LOL

Anyone who claims kids are not expensive are F ing lying or their kids are doing nothing.

3 kids
Kid 1 (14 yo)
529- $1400/month
Activities - $200/month
Braces- $200/month
Therapy - $300/month
Sleepaway camp- $300 a month if breaking it down (including plane travel to get there)
Allowance - $40/month
= 2800/month

Kid 2 (11 yo)
529- $1200/month
Activities- $300/month
Sleepaway camp - $300/month
Summer camps and transportation thereto- maybe an extra $150/month
Allowance- 40/month
= 2000/month

Kid 3 (6 yo)
Able account - $400/month
Activities - $150/month (about to start tutoring and piano lessons so this is going to ramp way up)
Summer camps/school day out camps/babysitting- about $200/month if broken down monthly
His speech and OT are 100% covered (not even a copay)
= 750/month

= 5550/month for kids absent extra food, clothes, occasional day outs like ice skating or movies, etc.

We travel a lot and having the 3rd kid makes things cost more because you can usually only put 4 in a room. We do live in a lower cola where travel is difficult from, but we put the other savings we get toward travel expenses. We also have a minivan and larger house in a good school district which we otherwise would not have if we never had kids. But maybe we would just end up living in a more exciting (and expensive) area or have a nice car or eat out more (we usually eat at home) instead and it would be a wash.

3 kids. I grouped the cost for for all three in one bucket.
Housing is $1000 extra a month
$525/month for activities- instrument rentals, orchestra, school club fees, rec sports
$8000/year in 529s (I know not enough)
Food I have no idea but at least $500 more a month
Clothes $1000/year - shoes, socks and undies new, but everything else from goodwill or sales.
Summer camps - $3000/year
Vacations- more for suite room than single room, extra flight tickets, etc. no idea how much $.

Anonymous wrote:3 kids. I’m at 45k a year for just childcare. Probably only about another 10k for everything else including food. My biggest struggle is that school is only 7 hours long.

Oh I forgot. I give each kid $7500 in 529 a year.

HHI 320k

3 kids. I’m at 45k a year for just childcare. Probably only about another 10k for everything else including food. My biggest struggle is that school is only 7 hours long.

Two kids in elementary school. After care is $670/month. Swim lessons are about $400/month. We do some other activities here and there but not as expensive - spring soccer will be $150/kid. One is in rec center basketball now for $60.

Just spent $800 for 4 days of camp over the holidays. Flying to see grandparents for spring break and their tickets were $400. We will fly twice more this year (also to see grandparents).

We do a summer pool membership that is $900 for the summer.

Registering for summer camps - one of the least expensive I’ve found but we need aftercare so for both kids that’s about $900 week for 8 weeks. Older kid wants to do sleep away camp this year so we’re hoping to be able to make that happen. Looking at ymca camp, I’ve heard that’s less expensive.

We do most of our clothes shopping at thrift stores so that’s not too expensive. They wear through their shoes quickly though, $50 each every 2-3 months.

Allowance is $5/week for each kid.

We probably spent close to $700 on Christmas. One birthday is coming up and we’re probably spending $300 on that, maybe a little more with party and gifts. Will do the same for the other kid.

529 is $500/month.

So many berries. They ate $10 in berries today. Thats not every day, but it’s probably not wrong to estimate $150/month in berries. And we shop at Aldi.

I have a 10 year old. 6000 for sleep away camp/day camps, 2400 yearly for gymnastics. No before/after care.

My child is petite and can wear clothes for more than one season. I would say clothing, misc activities and gifts for her and for birthdays add another 1000.
HHI is 145K

Middle schooler costs per month:

$1100 for summer camp
$250 music lessons
$700 529
$400 tutoring
$400 sports
$100 clothes

Hard to say how much extra food is. And yes, we bought a bigger house in a top school district so that costs more than if we didn't need the space or good schools.

2 kiddos in elementary school
For each kiddo add:
$1000 additional for a bigger house/yard
$350 for aftercare
$200 music lessons
$300 tutoring or extracurriculars
$400 529
$400 custodial brokerage account
$200 soccer or basketball
$300 travel domestic and international (ski, beach, etc)
TOTAL extra per kiddo: $3150
HHI $390K
Forgot to add food, clothes and summer camps so above is on the low end

Well today my kids brand name adhd medication cost 661 dollars for the month. So there’s that.

No one can afford kids anymore.

no one should be having kids anymore in the US

Maybe $4500? So as much as my mortgage.

$3800 a month on private school for Kindergarden.
$4500 a month on a nanny for infant.
$100 a month in fancy berries from Whole Foods.

Two kids
Divorced
Each parent makes 200k

School: $3,000 a month
Extracurriculars: $650

So $3650 a month; next year it will go up $2000 per month due to older kid going to high school. So then it will be $5800 a month (extracurricular cost will go up)

Ex contributes to 529–idk how much

No idea what groceries would cost without kids.

I would say $1000 per year on clothes for both kids combined