Aftercare runs $600. We upgraded our house...so no real net change.

I've been able to save more - daycare was 14k/year, and now camps + aftercare is half of that. We spend some on activities, but less than 1K/year.

I'm one of the PPs who found expenses did not go down after daycare stopped. Last week, the USDA put out its report of the cost of raising a child. In its study, it found:


Annual expenditures on children generally increased with age of the child. This fact was the same for both husband-wife and single-parent families.

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/CRC/crc2012.pdf

The one thing that got us was all the stuff we avoided getting for the house while the kids were young, we suddenly wanted - ie, new stain free carpet and furniture that wasn't my parents floral patterned casts-offs.

Camp does suck up more money than you'd expect.

Budget whatever you can budget to save.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer is a bear every year for us. Camp + summer vacation with the family. I budget for it all year.

Us too. My kids are way more expensive now than they were when they were in daycare. DH and I are always talking about how much money we had back then.

Seriously? I can't fathom this. Private preschool plus a nanny is $4,700 a month. How in the hell are you worse off later? Did you just have cheap daycare or are you in private?

You've chosen the most expensive possible combination for childcare. Which is fine, but th

I chose a moderately expensive option for childcare (a private center with a good reputation and a relatively high tuition, still much lower than a nanny or a private school with before and aftercare, but more than a cheaper center, a home daycare, or a public PreK with before and aftercare). I chose moderately expensive options when my kid went to school (public school, with a college student afterschool, some activities but less expensive ones like rec soccer, a mix of moderate and high priced summer camps in the summer). I never did the math, but I'd say that my costs went down a little, but not a lot. Of course, however, if I'd gone from the most expensive preschool option, to the least expensive options later (e.g. public school, with Boys and Girls Club before/after and DC Parks and Rec programs all summer)

No sidewell here. It's only private Pre k because we didn't get into the lottery. Our plan is both kids in public, so I was just assuming a big drop in overall expenses. Even $2,000 a month for a PT nanny sounds great.

Installing solar now to help with future electrical

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before/after plus winter, spring and summer vacation costs $$. And Camps get more expensive. Then when they end there are braces and music lessons, laptops, international trips..... Then there is driving classes and a huge increase in insurance and the camps get more expensive. Your eating budget triples, increased energy costs and increased water usage.

What? I mean god as a kid I had no laptop, no international trips and no music lessons. As for camp only when I was pretty young. (also no braces). I just think people in this area are freaking nuts. Much more important to save for college then spend insane $$ on sports or music lessons.

First of all, times have changed since you were a chld- as it has for all of us. I also have a child with LDs and a laptop is essential for him to access the curiculum. Plus, starting in 2nd grade we spent about $5k-10k annually on additional services as public school ervices were not adequate. Secondly, starting at least 5th grade most homework will on a computer for all children. It is difficult for children to share a computer if they do homework at the same time, which my chldren do. If you want your child to access the best and second best HS band or orchestra having music lessons greatly increases that possibility. I am not okay with skipping braces for my son who needs them. I care about his ego and self esteem and teeth.

Even without the above, you need to be prepared to pay for before/after and school break camps during the summer if both parents work, you need to be prepared for food budgets to increase substantially, same for the ater and utility bills. If you want yor chld to learn how todrive and insure them, that costs additional $$$. School covers approximately 50% of the normal working time + commute (13-14 weeks off, halfday Mondays in FCPS, plus before and after times). So, do not count on your daycare cost decreasing more than 50% and count on the children costing more as they age. You need to be realistic about saving fro college once they are out of daycare. I would try to save as much from the beginning and not count on a step up when fulltime daycare ends..

Our child is 10 right now. When she was in daycare at a center, we paid $1300 per month. So $15,600 per year. Summer camps cost about $5k. Aftercare at school costs about $1k for the school year. I don't have care for teacher work days or school holidays. I take them off and make less money since I work for myself and don't have PTO. We also pay for private school. Activities vary. Have a 529 plan and have had it since birth. We contribute about $2k per year to it. We could pay for 4 years at some state schools right now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer is a bear every year for us. Camp + summer vacation with the family. I budget for it all year.

Us too. My kids are way more expensive now than they were when they were in daycare. DH and I are always talking about how much money we had back then.

Seriously? I can't fathom this. Private preschool plus a nanny is $4,700 a month. How in the hell are you worse off later? Did you just have cheap daycare or are you in private?

You've chosen the most expensive possible combination for childcare. Which is fine, but th

I chose a moderately expensive option for childcare (a private center with a good reputation and a relatively high tuition, still much lower than a nanny or a private school with before and aftercare, but more than a cheaper center, a home daycare, or a public PreK with before and aftercare). I chose moderately expensive options when my kid went to school (public school, with a college student afterschool, some activities but less expensive ones like rec soccer, a mix of moderate and high priced summer camps in the summer). I never did the math, but I'd say that my costs went down a little, but not a lot. Of course, however, if I'd gone from the most expensive preschool option, to the least expensive options later (e.g. public school, with Boys and Girls Club before/after and DC Parks and Rec programs all summer)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer is a bear every year for us. Camp + summer vacation with the family. I budget for it all year.

Us too. My kids are way more expensive now than they were when they were in daycare. DH and I are always talking about how much money we had back then.

Seriously? I can't fathom this. Private preschool plus a nanny is $4,700 a month. How in the hell are you worse off later? Did you just have cheap daycare or are you in private?

I'm not the PP you're responding to but, honestly, very few people I know are paying for both private preschool and a nanny. Most of us are struggling to pay the $1500-1900/mo that daycare costs (with the hope that those preschool programs can do the trick for K -- and we're usually right). I think you're in the minority and will certainly start to save more when you don't have those incredible costs. Well, except for the fact that you're kids are probably going to Sidwell and will need that extra cash for their class trip to Paris in 4th grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer is a bear every year for us. Camp + summer vacation with the family. I budget for it all year.

Us too. My kids are way more expensive now than they were when they were in daycare. DH and I are always talking about how much money we had back then.

Seriously? I can't fathom this. Private preschool plus a nanny is $4,700 a month. How in the hell are you worse off later? Did you just have cheap daycare or are you in private?

Anonymous wrote:Summer is a bear every year for us. Camp + summer vacation with the family. I budget for it all year.

Us too. My kids are way more expensive now than they were when they were in daycare. DH and I are always talking about how much money we had back then.

Summer is a bear every year for us. Camp + summer vacation with the family. I budget for it all year.

Anonymous wrote:Before/after plus winter, spring and summer vacation costs $$. And Camps get more expensive. Then when they end there are braces and music lessons, laptops, international trips..... Then there is driving classes and a huge increase in insurance and the camps get more expensive. Your eating budget triples, increased energy costs and increased water usage.

+1 Not as expensive as a full time nanny, but the families that can afford that also feel the need to use more expensive camps + braces + trips. It adds up. Kids are expensive!

We've been putting away $1000 month (total for two kids). Put away almost nothing before they started school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before/after plus winter, spring and summer vacation costs $$. And Camps get more expensive. Then when they end there are braces and music lessons, laptops, international trips..... Then there is driving classes and a huge increase in insurance and the camps get more expensive. Your eating budget triples, increased energy costs and increased water usage.

What? I mean god as a kid I had no laptop, no international trips and no music lessons. As for camp only when I was pretty young. (also no braces). I just think people in this area are freaking nuts. Much more important to save for college then spend insane $$ on sports or music lessons.

Agreed.

As for us, we have just begun with daycare expenses, but will need before/after care once our child starts school (and by then we will probably have a 2nd kid still in daycare) so I'm just planning to put a consistent amount away every year... if it goes up once they're both in school, great... but I'm planning so that the amount I'm putting in now will be sufficient to cover them once they are ready for college.