Baby Cost Blog

Baby Expenses: The Cost Of Raising Baby

Steve Marks — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:15:59 +0000

Budgeting for baby cost is a major concern for many people. This article will give a brief overview of some of the baby expenses that you’ll encounter over the first and second years of your baby. Having gone through the experience twice my wife and I have a good handle of the annual cost and monthly cost of raising your baby, diapers, clothing and food etc. Plus I’ll go over some things that you might not have thought of, for example life insurance.

Let’s start off with the obvious, clothes and diapers. Chances are you’ll be getting a ton of clothing as gifts from family and friends. I know with us we never really had to buy a lot of necessities. The first couple of years we’ve either been given clothes. You usually get a lot when baby is first born. You might want to register at your favourite store for clothes and whatever else you think you’ll need so people won’t be giving you too many multiples of what you need. But if you find you’re still in need of clothes and your on a budget there are plenty of second-hand children’s stores to go to.

The question that will probably come up is how much clothing do I need? For the first six month depending on the season and the child you’ll need a lot of receiving blankets (7 to 10) to swaddle and keep them warm. There are swaddling blankets already made that you can purchase. You’ll also need between 8 to 10 one piece outfits (sometimes referred to as onesies). My wife found that she would go through 3 to 4 outfits a day.

With diapers, we bought a package of newborns before our kids were born. After that my wife did a mixture of cloth and disposables. We purchased 20 cloth diapers and 4 plastic covers. We would also go through 1 to 2 packages of diapers a month.

One of the most important, if not the most important thing you should consider is having the proper amount of life insurance. I’m not here to lecture but the question you really need to ask yourself is, will my baby be properly cared for financially if I’m not here. I know it’s a topic we don’t like to talk about but it’s something we owe to our dependents to handle.

How much life insurance should you have is the next logical question. The rule of thumb is you take your annual income and multiply it by 10 then you add any other expenses you would want to pay off, like your mortgage or any outstanding debts. The equation would look something like the following: Assuming an annual salary of $50,000 and a mortgage we’d want to get paid off of $200,000.

$50,000 x 10 + $200,000 = $700,000

The reason you multiply by 10 is you would take the $500,000 and put it into a fairly conservative mutual fund that over time pays between 8% – 10% annual rate of return. This way your dependents could live off the interest which would be roughly what your annual salary would have been and the principle ($500,000) is not touched.

The other point that needs to be made is what type of life insurance should you get. Generally there are two types and they’re called cash value and term insurance. The most suitable for the vast majority is called term insurance. It’s by far the cheapest

I’ll be covering baby food and going into the different life insurance products in more detail in my next post so stay tuned.

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when are a babys first words?

Steve Marks — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:24:06 +0000

like at wat age of years or months does a baby say his first words like a name or dad or some

it depends on the baby,my son is six months old and can say hello, mum , and dad. but he cant even sit yet!! so it really just depends!

What is the cost to maintain a baby?

Steve Marks — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:23:57 +0000

For school, I’m supposed the take care of a "baby" and I’m also supposed to find out how much it would cost to take care of a baby.
Such costs would include how much it would cost to feed a baby daily, and how often the baby’s diaper needs to be changed daily (thus including the cost of diapers.)

Thank you for answering!

I never really thought about it much less calculating how much I spend for my babies. me and my wife just try to do everything we can to provide everything they need.

Though that you mentioned it it is rather expensive. In my country (philippines) it would average at about Php 5,000.00 or $1++.00 converted to american dollar. I heard the cost of living in the USA is about 5 times of ours so maybe about $500 to $600 but its all worth for me and my wife. They are my cute little angels.

How can I paticipate on parenting panels to try out new baby products and give feedback?

Steve Marks — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:23:55 +0000

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.

Baby Budget Project ,?

Steve Marks — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:21:47 +0000

I Have A Project To Do For My Wellness Class ( Health Class ) , My Assignment Says :
You Have Just Become A Single Parent , And You Have To Find A Way To Live in A Healthy Environment With Your Baby . You Need To Find A Job w| My Qualifications ( Meaning I Cant Have A Job That Qualifies A High School Diploma Because I Haven’t Yet Graduated ) Pay Bills , Car Payments , And I Have To Worry About Food Payments ( Baby Formula … ) When I Get The Job I Need To Calculate My Hourly , Monthly & Yearly Rates . Can You Help Any Way You Can ,

Please And Thanksss ( :

Easy. You enroll in Job Corps, finish school there, and live in their housing at one of the sites that provides childcare. All expenses have been covered. I doubt that is the answer your teacher expects.

Ideally this would be easier if you were 18 or emancipated, but…
At minimum wage you’d make $8 per hour, and if you worked full time you’d make $1386.66 per month, which comes out to $16,640 per year.

Your baby needs health care: Medicaid is free.
You need transportation: There are cities in the US who have $60 YEARLY bus passes. Obviously relocating to one of those areas would be a good idea if money is tight. Cuts out car payments and maintenance, gas, and insurance.

A single mother making $16,640 with one kid would qualify for enough food stamps per month to feed her family in Illinois. You can go on WIC to get 9 cans of formula a month for your baby. Food is covered in full.

You can rent a room, including all utilities for $400 a month in my city. Again, poor people often have to relocate. Greyhound is cheap, move here.

Your baby can use generic diapers and wipes averaging about $35 a month. If you run out you can go to place in town who gives out free diapers.

You can get your baby’s yearly wardrobe at a garage sale for $30 a year. Done. Your baby can sleep in your bed with you since your room for rent was furnished with a full size mattress. Done. You can get your baby some toys at the garage sales too and use bottles from the dollar store if you have to. You can make this work easily.

Childcare starts at $20 a day for in-home daycare in my city. Would I take *my* kid to one of those places? Hell no. But I’m not desperate. Child Care Resource Services can help you subsidize the cost of child care, and if they can’t, TANF can for awhile. Childcare done.

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Help with babys first road trip?

Steve Marks — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:07:20 +0000

SO my husband and i and our almost one year old daughter are taking a road trip from Houston to Chicago what are a few things i need to bring to try and keep her entertained well on our way there, she is not one of those babies that fall sleep as soon as you put her in the car. lol

In addition to the toys & books, etc. maybe a portable DVD player if your little girl likes to watch cartoons yet. My mom did that with my nephew when she went on a long trip and said it was great! He is into Thomas the Train so when he was tired of the toys she popped in the cartoons.

On average, how much does a baby cost per year?

Steve Marks — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:07:18 +0000

Including the hospital bill, formula, diapers, clothing, furniture, toys, etc…
I’m curious as to how much it would cost to raise a baby for only a single year, let alone the other 17 that you’re required to.

You can easily check your minimal health care rates in internet, for example here – health-quotes.isgreat.org

What are(were) your babies monthly expenses from birth to 5 y.o?

Steve Marks — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:07:14 +0000

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.

Can you help me make a baby budget?

Steve Marks — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:04:03 +0000

Currently my husband brings in 3400 a month after taxes, health insurance which is (400 dollars a month CRAZY).
I will be staying home as of the day of my baby’s birth full time.
But I need a Help with a Baby budget.
Our Mortgage is 800
Our car payment is 300
Credit cards are 300
Utilities, Such as Cell phone,Cable,Gas,Heat and water
Run about 600-650 dollars a month. Much less in the spring and summer.
Then my husbands Tools and equipment needed about 200 dollars a month.
And In august were buying a used car for me. Right now I have a 2 door coupe a very unfriendly and unsafe care for baby. Can’t put baby in front seat..

But My husband is supposed to get a raise after he finishes his Master Tech degree. About an extra 100-150 dollar a week.

With that said, How do we Budget for baby.
Any advice and tell me how you do it. Because I want to stay home and my husband wants me to stay home also.

Thats a little hard. Babies expenses are very unpredictable. I had a ton of clothes before he was born, and then they just got smaller and smaller faster and faster…….I had to go buy him clothes and onesis all the time.
I havent bought diapers yet, had a ton from my shower.
Formula……I have to buy 4 cans or more a month…..$25/ each!
This month I spent $125 in formula.
Doctors visits……co-pay….they go 24hrs old, 2 weeks old, 1 month old, 2 months old, 4, 6, 9,12…….my son is 4 months old and we had 4-5 more visit inbetween the usual.
I thought he was getting an ear ache cause he was pulling his ears, so I took him to the doctors, and nothing was wrong! $15 down the drain…but I wanted to be safer then sorry~

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Can you help me make a baby budget?

Steve Marks — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:13:06 +0000

But My husband is supposed to get a raise after he finishes his Master Tech degree. About an extra 100-150 dollar a week.