Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re considering having a child and I want to make sure we’re planning accordingly. I know everyone says “you’re never going to be ready!” and that we always have to expect the unexpected, but I want to make sure our child grows up as healthy and comfortably as we can provide. So there’s the question: how much would you say it costs to have and raise a child in this area?

High needs medically, academically and emotionally (ADHD and anxiety) maybe a million.

PP. this is before college. Camps, tutors, testing, medical, sports, scouts, swim team and just living in MOCO.

Anonymous wrote:We’re considering having a child and I want to make sure we’re planning accordingly. I know everyone says “you’re never going to be ready!” and that we always have to expect the unexpected, but I want to make sure our child grows up as healthy and comfortably as we can provide. So there’s the question: how much would you say it costs to have and raise a child in this area?

High needs medically, academically and emotionally (ADHD and anxiety) maybe a million.

The biggest expense is childcare and camps. If you have one parent at home, you will spend a lot less than two working parents. The flip side is you will have less income. We did it on one income and it worked well for us but we were fine without fancy trips, expensive cars, etc. We also saved a lot of money by living in a great public school district (we bought the least expensive house in the neighborhood). We skipped summer camps and enjoyed all the great free and low cost attractions DC has to offer plus took fun day trips. For college, our kids went to the state flagship. I have no idea what it cost to raise them but it was a lot less than my nieces and nephews with a nanny, private K-12 and pricey colleges. My kids were more expensive in other ways that one can’t predict though. They needed various expensive therapies.

To get a kid through college figure 1–1.5M each

Anonymous wrote:Maybe $3000/month until kindergarten.

But by kindergarten, you factor in how much money it will cost to buy into a good school district, or to pay for private school. So you don't really save $3000 after that. Plus, do you want to have a small house compared to other school families. Our first home was in a neighborhood with a few teardowns, but not many. All families at the school lived in new builds. The original homes were all elderly folks.

We aren't spending that much money. I suppose some do. We are middle class.

We buy nice simple no-brand kids clothes and buy nice branded sneakers (last season's colors can be had at a vig discount). We are in a good enough public school district.

We don't have fancy ski vacations or jet to the Caribbean at spring break. We do go to "Thomas Day Out" at the B&O RR museum in Baltimore. We go to the Smithsonian sometimes.

We shop at several grocery stores. We don't dine at any restaurant that has been reviewed in WP in the past 20 years. We do go to Olive Garden sometimes.

Anonymous wrote:Holy sh!t. My husband and I make $300K or so a year and there is no way we could make room for an extra $3K each month unless we literally save nothing.

Im a single mom who makes 140k and made it work. I didnt save beyond my 401K (5-10%) the first two years when daycare was the highest. I think most people in this income bracket are not saving much or are digging into savings during early childcare years.

It helps a lot of have low housing costs until they start kindergarten. Our housing cost was $2,000 per month until K when we moved for schools. Only one parent worked until K. Now the housing cost is $7,000 per month but both parents work and don't have the expense of preschool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy sh!t. My husband and I make $300K or so a year and there is no way we could make room for an extra $3K each month unless we literally save nothing.

I don't know what your mortgage is, but yes, you can. For starters, once you have a baby, you will spend significantly less on going out of any kind (except maybe take-out). Everyone says that, and thinos that, and then they figure it out. And despite what you read on DCUM, most people make significantly less than you and your husband.

We make a little less.
Not OC but our mortgage is $5k including PITI/bills. That leaves us with about $7k left, so if we subtract $3k in monthly spending for other bills/groceries/student loans etc. Daycare leaves little after.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy sh!t. My husband and I make $300K or so a year and there is no way we could make room for an extra $3K each month unless we literally save nothing.

yah then you have issues

You definitely can afford a baby. The real question is whether you are willing to adjust your lifestyle and budget to pay for one? Your take home pay after taxes, insurance and healthy 401k contributions (in Virginia) would be more than $15,000 each month. That is definitely workable and it’s more than what most families with kids have to budget with every month.