Baby Cost Blog

An acquantaince of mine was on a panel where she was sent free diapers so that she could complete a survey at the end of a specified time frame. I would like to do something similar to help with baby expenses & also to have input on baby products…does anyone know where I can sign up for something like this?

A lot of parenting magazines – Parents, Parenting, Child, American Baby, etc. – have reader panels that you sign up for online. Sometimes they’ll send out samples for review, but not too often. Other online survey sites sometimes do the same – sign up for as many as you can to maximize your chances of getting the review freebies.

planning on planning on TTC and would like to know ideally how much should we save up if I want to be a stay at home mom for that period and how much my husbands salary should be.. because I know expenses change as the baby ages!

thank you!

Birth can be anything from $3000 to $20,000 depending on issues, hospital stay etc.
Supplies, furniture, diapers, car seats, strollers, etc can range up to $10,000 depending on the quality of the furniture and what you might receive as gifts.
If you breast feed you probably need a pump. Those can run $150 and up and all the supplies. If you do formula that is typically $100 a month. Baby food and then real food, fresh fruit, milk etc.
Toys, birthday parties, christmas, holidays etc. You can budget whatever you think.
Going out to eat with another mouth to feed. Add an extra $10 to your bill you are normally paying.
Doctor visits for a well child run about $600 each time. If you have insurance not as much.
Saving for college as soon as the baby comes out. $50 to $100 a month.
Plan on having $8,000 saved before you have the child. That is a good start. Then budget for $500 a month. If you want your child to be in a pre school or moms day out that also costs.
There are lots of sites out there to help you with the start up costs. I think ivillage has a good list to help you get prepared.

I am 36 years old and it would be my first.

I completely agree with the above post, but I think that you are looking for a dollar figure.

In the midwest, I had an induced vaginal delivery with pitocin in a hospital. I stayed in the hospital for 3 days because I was positive for strep B and needed to be monitored.

The total cost for prenatal care (including 3 ultrasounds), hospital care, delivery, and care for the baby: 15,000.

…such as food and clothing, or do i just get to claim him as a dependant?

thanks for the info, my husband was wondering. i didn’t really think we could.

You cannot deduct food, clothing or the cost of diapers, etc. However, there is a deduction to be had at line 367 of Schedule 1. This is applicable to any child living with you who is under age 18.

There may be other deductions available depending on your marital status and which province you live in. You should also apply for the Child Tax Benefit monthly payment, and the Universal Child Care benefit. Get form RC66 from the web site below and fill it out to apply for these benefits.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca

planning on planning on TTC and would like to know ideally how much should we save up if I want to be a stay at home mom for that period and how much my husbands salary should be.. because I know expenses change as the baby ages!

thank you!

That is so highly variable, depending on the choices you make. Most of the numbers I see thrown about in articles or by individuals are much higher than our personal costs. We have five children, ages 8 and under. Our average costs for each child before age 5 are probably about:

$50/mth for food

$10/mth for clothes

$10/mth for diapers (most of time use cloth diapers that are being passed down child to child)

$10/mth for misc

In other words, they cost us less than $1000 a year. But that’s because of our lifestyle and the choices we make. Here are some factors that will have a huge impact on cost:

breastfeeding vs. bottle-feeding
stored baby food vs. make your own
huge list of baby equipment given by stores vs. a few basics
used vs. new baby equipment
used clothing vs walmart vs baby Gap
preschool (assuming cost)
babysitting frequency

Also do you use being at home to help you trim the expenses you and your spouse might have:

making more food from scratch
less eating out
mowing instead of paying someone else
etc

Have a child doesn’t have to be expensive. When we have an additional child, it doesn’t really end up adding anything to our regular expenses, because the $1800 or so that they save us on taxes (between credit and the additional exemption reducing the amount of income that is taxed) balances it. (With the exception of occasional large purchases like our used 15-passenger van that we obviously would not have bought with no children.)