(Actually, 24 months later and counting if you include the pre-birth period!)
Wow does time sure fly when you’re chasing around a baby! 15 months ago last week this little nugget of ours was born, and now – what seems like decades later – we continue to learn and be amazed of all the things he’s been teaching us :) Like how much babies really DO cost to raise starting from day #1, haha, as well as how to become more patient, more excited, and even more so, *loving*. I’ve never loved something so much in this world as I do him!! He’s my beautiful little angel!!
But I won’t bore you with all the mushy stuff today, even though I want to (you get enough of that on Facebook from your friends ;)), but we shall talk about all those financials from over these past 24 months of keeping track so far…. And boy is it getting harder to do so too.
Here are some of the highlights numbers over the past 3 months since our last update:
- The total has risen by $4,737.33
- Half of which due to day care costs @ $3,320.00 (the worst…)
- And another $500ish for food
- Then $300 for health insurance premiums (down from $942!!)
- And roughly $200 on new-to-him clothes. As winter is fast approaching…
You mix all that – plus some extras – to our previous 1 year total of $15,252.37, and our new grand total of baby costs from conception to 15 months old is now a whopping $19,989.70. Ouch! They sure don’t lie when they say kids are expensive, my word…
On the plus side, we’re now saving about $200 a month in health insurance premiums for the little guy since we’ve changed plans this summer. And quite honestly we’d be in much deeper trouble without it considering how much we’re now shoveling into day care :( The biggest money sucker of them all! And one we can’t really do with out since we both need to be working full-time on our stuff (me, my online businesses, and the wife on her dissertation).
We used to switch days on watching him full-time during his first year of life, but as anyone knows who has children it leaves you high and dry in both the energy and time department… So we’re sucking it up and reminding ourselves that it’s just a phase until we get back that 2nd income and all is good in the world again :) And we do love that he’s having a blast there with his friends and learning so much too – something that helps keep us more sane.
In fact, there’s been a lot of changes with him outside of money:
- He’s now sleeping 12 hours a night!
- And WALKING!! 3 months late, but he’s certainly making up for it ;)
- He loves cabinets and tupperware more than his toys, haha…
- And he now gives kisses and hugs on command :) Something that’s affected me the most lately, and which I’ve teared up plenty of times :) (Sorry, I know I said no mushiness here but I just can’t help it! He’s so dang beautiful!!!)
On the downside, we’re starting to get worried about his speech and non-desire to eat anything out side of puréed food – something we’re told go hand in hand. He’s only 3 months behind at the moment with this stuff, but we’re considering getting a specialist to take a look/visit with him and see if there’s anything we need to be doing differently or if it’s any cause for concern. He’s been slow at every other milestone really, but we feel like this one could be a more important one as we don’t want it affecting his communication socially down the road. So we’ll see what happens…
Overall though he’s super healthy and we couldn’t feel more proud/blessed to have him in our lives. Even while our wallet’s getting smaller and smaller and he likes to test our patience ;) It wouldn’t be so bad w/out the daycare costs, but it is what it is and we do our best to focus on saving/earning elsewhere to help make up for it all… So wish us luck!
I can’t wait to see what our next update brings!!! #NOT
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FYI: You can see the entire breakdown of all osts from day #1 here: Ultimate Baby Costs Tracker
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Love the baby mohawk haha! They are expensive but worth every penny aren’t they? I wouldn’t worry too much with the milestones, some need more time than others.
How is your sign language with him? How much do you understand just because he points? It might just be time to be obtuse and see if you not understanding his needs will turn him to vocalization.
“mmmm [point]” “You want the paper?” “mmm MMMMM [point]” Do you want the television?” etc.
Haha yeah… we’ve only taught him one thing so far (“please”) but we need to do more. He picked that up in about 30 seconds so there’s definitely hope! Haha…
Our Little Warrior is 7 months old and, thankfully, the costs haven’t been too bad.
I haven’t tallied them all, but at this point the most expensive thing was the hospital bill of $4200. We tried spreading out the purchases for stuff like cribs and clothes from the day we knew we were pregos. It also helps having random diapers show up on our doorstep from Amazon thanks to Grandma. I must say we are extremely lucky to have super supportive family. At this point, he hasn’t gone to daycare and we plan on daycare for only 4 hours when he turns around 18 months. That also means we are primarily single income too right now which definitely sucks. Thus, the online hustle baby.
Good luck with your little dude J. Speech issues can suck, but there are a ton of resources to resolve these days so I am sure Baby J will be good.
The Warrior
NetWorthWarrior.com
Pros and cons to keeping the baby at home, eh? :) It’s def. awesome being able to spend so much time with the little ones!! I can’t believe yours is already 7 mos too, goes by so freakin’ fast.
Awesome pics J$! Our youngest is only a few months older – 20 months and the cabinet/Tupperware thing doesn’t end any time soon. He also has an older brother and sister that encourage him towards that end which make the baby “locks” on the cabinets absolutely useless. Just waits til he starts climbing on things, that’s where he is at now and it makes life a little more interesting. ;)
He tried to climb up a box, and then onto another box from there making him stand 4 feet taller than normal. Needless to say I held him the entire time and then moved the boxes so he can’t do it when I’m not looking ;) They want to climb EVERYTHING!!
Great pics! I’ve got three kids and one thing I learned is that they all develop at their own pace. They all started walking and talking at different times. My oldest was walking at 9 months but she didn’t talk much (these days she never stops talking!) while my middle one walked a little later but started talking earlier.
Enjoy the 12 hours of quiet time every night!
I have 2 sons in university and I would probably need to be medicated if I added up how much they have cost over the years. It is worth every dollar and we just enjoyed a wonderful Canadian Thanksgiving together.
Speech is one of those things that strongly affect self confidence. I would get an assessment sooner rather than later. Speech therapists change lives.
Don’t forget, those milestones are AVERAGE. So some kids are early and some are late all within a normal spectrum. If going to see someone will help you chill about it, go ahead, but he’s probably fine.
Looks like a happy little man. Never tracked the cost associated with my 3 children. Having twins out of the gate, we were a bit overwhelmed at first. All kids develop at different paces, but certainly doesn’t hurt to get an assessment early to just be sure.
I can’t even imagine starting out with twins – you guys are brave! :)
He is indeed beautiful! I agree with Mike too, they all develop at different paces. You’ve got one great kid on your hands, I can tell by his smile. :-)
Like Mike says above every kid is different. As parents we want them doing differential calculus at 3 months but it just doesn’t work that way.
Man, I’d hate to put the numbers together on what we’ve spent on the kids. We’re up to four now. Your little guy is super cute. Totally cool to get a little mushy from time to time.
Adorable kiddo – and worth every penny!
Go with your gut instincts on his development…. If you are concerned about his development, early intervention can make a WORLD of difference.
My son had NO words and could not make consonant sounds at all when he turned two and everyone kept telling me that “kids just move at their own pace.” I’m glad I didn’t listen. A speech therapist at our clinic and an absolutely fabulous (and free!) early childhood special education program through the school district not only got him talking, but got him more than prepared for school! He started kindergarten not needing any extra help or speech therapy and now, as a first grader, he’s reading at a third grade level.
His twin brother struggled with fine motor skills, but a summer of appointments with an occupational therapist significantly boosted his confidence. He now LOVES writing and drawing (something he hated before) and is doing great in school, too.
It’s much easier to help a kid out at a younger age before school, than it is to do all of these things in school. Talk to your pediatrician and don’t be afraid to push him or her if you have concerns.
Oh man, yes – so good you did that!! It’s so hard cuz everyone tells you different things and of course only one of them can be right at the end, haha, so I think it’s true we just gotta go with what we think is best as parents :) Our guy was late to do everything else (crawl, walk, etc) but for some reason this one is sticking out to us more than normal… So we agreed that we’ll def. be doing the (free) test soon and then go from there… it can only help, right?
It really is expensive to raise a baby but it’s all worth it, right? I hope he would grow up to be a humble and wise man. Oh. And he has a very nice smile by the way. :)
Awww thank you!!! So kind of you to say :)
Definitely check up on him. Better to be safe. My brother didn’t start talking until he was six years old due to learning differences. He didn’t get the help he needed early on due to a lot of financial obstacles. If he had, he would have been less behind.
Oh no!! I’m sorry to hear that :( I hope things smoothed out for him as he got older.
AAwww he is too cute! About his speech, all children develop at their own pace just like potty training. He is also the first child so they tend to speak later then a second child or third and so on. On his annual check up speak with the pediatrician and she can help. My 3rd child is starting to speak and bite earlier than my other two. LOL
Thinking about how much we have spent on our children we have spent less on my 3rd baby then the other two. Why? Because we got smarter! LOL Thank you for the post.
Oh wow. I just took those numbers and doubled them. We are in so much trouble haha. Started doing a baby registry and am already over $1,000 – so scary!! However it’s so worth it and your little boy is just soooo freaking cute!!! I hope everything gets sorted with his speech. I just know everything will be great. <3
I still can’t believe you’re having twins – so exciting and scary!! Haha… but your costs def. won’t be doubled :) Esp if you take out the investment part so early one – that was like $3,500 of our total right there.
You’re gonna have so much fun!!
My dad used to always say “children are the death of net worth” and with four kids, he would know. Once, I had my (now 7 year old son), I learned exactly what he meant. Kids are a great blessing, but they always require a great deal of planning because no matter how well you plan, there are always hidden costs.
The average age to walk unassisted is actually 16 month. Don’t stress too much about food. It will come in time, just keep trying. As long as he’s gaining weight and healthy who cares if it’s pureed?! Don’t read too many ‘expert’ books etc, they will have you batshit crazy.
(can you tell my wife that? ;))
Oh dang. We’re trying to have our first one right now and it may have been better if I didn’t read this post haha. I’m sure it’s all worth it in the end though. Just don’t count on us doing the Duggar thing anytime soon…
Wow, can’t believe how time flies! Glad that the little one is doing well. Kids can be quite the money hole but I have heard they are well worth it. Though, I don’t plan on having one anytime soon.
Awww too cute! W’s nephew still doesn’t talk, and I think he’s 2.5 years old.
Don’t worry too much about delays, but if your gut is telling you to get it checked out, then get it checked out! Daughter Person didn’t walk until she was almost 19mths (but then she just stood up and started going like she’d been walking for months), and she didn’t start talking verbally until about 26 months old (she’d been signing before though). They all start doing things in their own time, and I’ve been told that firsts and onlys tend to do things later because they have to figure it out on their own rather than watching an older sibling do it.
Yeah, I’m thinking #2 and #3 and all the others (who knows how many we’ll have! Haha…) will do everything faster too. Just tricky – as parents – learning how it all works with your 1st, but we’re getting there…
The same thing happened here J. Our son just turned 18 months, it took till 13 months to walk, and to be honest a week before that he started to crawl. Around the same time he would only eat pureed food, and when I say that, I mean really pureed, not even a little chunky. He has since out grown that, but now only eats fruit, sandwiches, and chicken nuggets. haha.
He only really says three words, but is always talking his talk. Our doctor said he should be able to say two words together by the time he is 2 years. I am pretty frightful about this
Oh nice! What did you do to get him to start eating the other stuff? Just trying over and over until he started finally catching on? We def. keep going at it (in fact, tonight we have some chicken to try to give him again) but man it’s tough when they pucker up and then throw it back at you, haha… it’s a good thing they’re so cute ;)
Dam, doing the math here, my 3 kids are costing me a small fortune. Time to strap some guitars on them and write some cheesy songs for them to sing….
But seriously, my son, now 11, was also struggling with his speech at your son’s age. Turned out he couldn’t hear a dam thing and needed tubes in his ears to clear the fluid so he could hear. He’s fine now but yeah, definitely get him checked out (like you really want me advice)
Scary!! I’m glad he’s better now!! Exactly stuff we want to make sure we catch early on.
We have three granddaughters who are sisters, and the younger two didn’t talk until they were around 2 1/2. They had no interest in it. They rarely said mama and dada. I remember saying to one of them when she was about two, “Can you say grandma?” She said, “yeah.” :)
When they started talking, they were all in, repeating full sentences that they heard other people say.
Ahahahahhaha… that is hilarious!!! They’ve got great senses of humor too, it looks like :) Congrats, grandma!
Cutie pie!
A) unassisted walking can vary, and 15 months is still in the average range. So, not behind.
B) if you are concerned about feeding and speech (and for what it is worth, most speech people won’t even think about “Worry” when it comes to a 15 months old)…call the State Early Intervention Group.
I am in CT, and here is it Birth to 3, but some states go to age 5. (I work for them here). Typically it is a free evaluation, and if eligible, they will talk to you about services. Email me at mysti1031 AT yahoo DOT com if you want more info. I have been through the service as a parent (both my kids from 4 months until age 3) and have worked for them for 6 years.
Hey! Thanks so much for reaching out, you’re awesome :) I believe the place we ARE looking into to get a person to come out is our state’s early intervention group. I’ll have to double check w/ the wife on that, but it sounds like the same thing. Will def. reach out if we have any questions – awfully sweet of you.
Go with your gut on the speech delay and have him evaluated. If he has a delay, then you can have someone work with him and if he isn’t delayed then yay you have nothing to worry about. Either way if it’s sitting in the back of your mind it’s best to do something about it. Unproductive worrying won’t help things and you’ll find yourself scouring the Internet rather than talking with a professional about it.
The baby mohawk is worth all that money! And yeah, day care is awful. But as he grows you’ll find less expensive methods to watch him, school will eventually happen, etc.
Don’t worry too much! In just under 17 years, he’ll be out of the house :)
Oh jeez, haha… he’ll also be drinking my beer and taking my cars! ;)
I like that you said cars, plural. Maybe a nice 1974 Mercedes SL 450 hanging out in the garage?
Sure, whatev – I’ll be rich by then ;)
Cute kid. But wow, almost 20k just to raise the little tyke over 15 months. That is a bachelor’s degree (4-5 years). I can see why many finance bloggers only opt for one. It will be interesting to see if that hits the fabled million dollars.
I want to see too :) Just not sure how much longer I can go tracking all this stuff – it takes forever!
What a stud he is! Well worth every penny man.
I can’t wait to see the blog post at the end of year 18…and then his reaction when you tell him that he has to repay you. haha.
Are you bringing the little one to FinCon? If not, we should hang. Drinks on me. You need all the money you can save. Seriously. :-)
Hey! Why can’t he come along for beers?? :)
Yes, he’ll be coming, but no – he won’t be at the conference part where daddy will be doing grown up stuff along with teenager stuff. I shall gladly accept your beer!
Any chance you’ll end up showing a total spending by categories? I think that’d be an interesting post :)
Indeed! I actually just went back last night and added a new column to my spreadsheet to include categories – so now I can see where it’s all going in clumps :)
I’ll actually be doing the Stacking Benjamins podcast at FINCON talking about it all too – if you’ll be around when it’s going on (I think Friday around 4-4:30). But I’ll also be blogging about it here the next time around as well – so def. great idea!
Babies are so cute and so worth it! It will definitely get better once school comes along and you won’t have to be constantly watching them! There is lots of help out there for all these issues because there has been so much more research the past few years. Hopefully your new plan can cover most of the cost for these!
Oh yeah – school!!! That’s right, no more day care once that comes around – YES!!! For some reason I always think these types of things are stuck with us forever and forget things change once they grow up more, haha…
I had to laugh at the Tupperware comment. Same here at Chez RootofGood. And pots and pans, and cardboard boxes. Toys are sort of ok, but there’s nothing like pulling a stack of canned goods out of the pantry and redistributing them throughout the house. I guess our little 1.5 year old wants to make sure I have immediate access to cat food cans and green beans even when I’m in the crapper.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the speech issues at this point. Just bring it up at your next pediatrician visit. If you get to 1.5 or 2 years and nothing, you probably want to look at it more seriously.
Luckily all our canned goods are super high up so he can’t reach them, but it doesn’t stop him from getting the cat food on the ground and throwing all the little nuggets around with an evil laugh, haha… crazy kids…
He’s absolutely adorable! The cost of having kids terrify me, but I’d imagine there’s no more rewarding “job”. My best friend has two little ones and the first time the eldest called her mama she cried for 30 minutes.
Milestones are different for all of them I wouldn’t worry too much about the speech either just yet. He will pick up things the more he is around other bubs and maybe just read more to him Boys can be a bit slower anyway. My son is same age , has 4 words but pretty much walks around saying dad all day. :) there’s just too much pressure/ rubbish to have an over achieving child, he’ll be fine! :) $20,00 is a nice little amount hey? Just wait till number 2 comes along. Don’t get rid of what you’ve got, if you get a girl next time round just fabric dye the clothes pink haha that will save you a bit ! The mowhawk is very adorable. :)
HAH! I def. want a girl in the future for sure. I told my wife we’re going to keep trying until one pops out so she better hope it’s sooner than later!
haha better start saving for all those clothes/bling/movie trips girls want. You’ll need your own baby girl trust fund lol
Wishing you good luck! Good luck! Haha. He’s absolutely adorable and has such a look of mischief on his face. He’s absolutely worth every single penny I’m sure.
Hey J he’s worth every penny plus interest. We don’t have kids yet but we are trying. I tell my wife I can only eat so many damn oysters!
I may the only one on this site who doesn’t advocate the homeschool approach for little ones, but instead a high quality preschool. Or you can use the word “daycare” if it helps manipulate the conversation to your liking. Not a daycare dump in someone’s basement to save a few dollars or grandma and grandpa with no real training. I’ve been very happy at the $1500+ a month we’ve spent and think that the structure and social interaction with trained early childhood professionals, surrounded by children of highly educated parents has been helpful. When you frame the issue as I saved X, consider that X might be an investment in your child. Several of my relatives/friends opted for the homeschool route and all–not some–their children are behind (though they generally brag as if they are ahead). And no, the wife does not need to work for income; but the professional development and confidence are a boon. And to those who say “I wouldn’t be making any money because I’d spend it all” two things: 1) money is not everything and 2) don’t put yourself down so much–perhaps you DO have more value in this economy than you think.
Here’s the problem with the other end. Our son (and the children he’s surrounded by) are way ahead of all the home schooled children coming into kindergarten and we pretty much have to move him to a private school to segregate him. And thus continues the cycle of a bifurcated society.
Don’t worry so much about saving a few bucks. Intellectual capital is of greater value than monetary capital in today’s society. A good school is worth the money, and don’t wait until it is too late. Just work harder if you have to–he is worth it.
The way you describe your daycare it sounds like you might have a POS place–like most things, you get what you pay for. Look for something better.
Haha… what gives you the impression that we have him in a POS place? I didn’t even talk about it here ;) It’s actually a pretty decent center (highly rated in our area and hard to get in) so we’re def. happy with it, just not so much the cost. But compared to where we used to live (your area) it’s almost 50% less so we’re very happy with that.
I agree though, “Intellectual capital is of greater value than monetary capital in today’s society”
Sometimes I laugh at the proponent of the proverbial “$1,500/month daycare” as if it will give their children superpowers.
Imagine what you would have if you saved the $1500 instead and let your kiddo stay at home with you and eat paint chips all day.
$1500/mo x 12 months x 5 years at a daycare x 18 years at a 7% return = $304,000
When your kid is in college, you can give them the $300,000 you saved (by omitting preschool) to buy a house, start a business, pay for medical school, or whatever suits their fancy.
Even if they waste $100,000 of it (per your recent article), they will still have $200,000 to put to work in some productive endeavor.
Oh, and please don’t steal this comment and turn it into a blog post. ;) I’ll write the post and you can rockstarfinance it. “Why Preschool is more expensive than Med School”
Haha…. go for it! :)
J$: I thought you weren’t impressed because of the complaints. People generally don’t complain about something that they perceive as positive. Plus, mentioning part-time. None of the good schools that allow part-time around here. It sounded like you switched watching him to save money vs. doing it to provide the best possible care (which is admirable IMO). I may be wrong, but it led me to believe that saving money was the determinative. Apologies for interpreting things incorrectly.
1. I don’t believe in giving adults a bunch of money. He’ll have to be responsible for himself. We already have too much of a moocher society.
2. $300,000 isn’t very much. That’s like 60% of a bonus for someone in investment banking at 30 in Charlotte. It’s not enough to move the needle if I perceive (perhaps wrongly) that it will ultimately result in a better ROI.
3. And even if it doesn’t have the ROI, my wife’s salary is roughly 6-7X the $1500. So by your logic we’d be leaving $2,000,000 on the table by having her stay home?
4. I lack the financial discipline to save that $1500 consistently. It’d probably get blown on something else.
The underlying message might be that trying to save a few dollars in many cases is silly. The key is to optimize wealth, and that starts by developing good study habits at a young age. Not everyone is going to be Richard Branson.
Maybe I’m confused? Or you read a diff. article and I don’t remember what I said in that one? Haha.. All I know is that our baby is currently in full-time day care – which is doing a decent job – and the reasoning for it is because I need to work full-time and my wife needs to work on her dissertation full-time :) The only complaint I have is dishing out $1,000 a month, but it’s a necessary evil so I’m sucking it up and just bitching a little on it here on the blog.
And now I’m going to go grab a beer to un-confuse myself, haha… we never did get one when I was living out there! Glad you and the wife/kid is doing well :)
Our daughter didn’t really speak much until she was around 2, but then she started speaking in normal sentences. Now, 14 years later, she’s a straight A student at the top of her class, so I wouldn’t worry too much!
Awesome post J. A nice short honest piece putting the costs of having a child in perspective. Looking forward to what is to come as he ages (sports, clubs, friends, etc.) Hey, also means he’s only 14 years or so away from getting a job!
YES!! Can’t wait to show him what *real* responsibilities are ;) And that money doesn’t grow on trees! Haha… I have a feeling I’ll be turning into MY parents any day now.
Awesome baby mohawk!
I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Every kid develops at a different speed.
Would a specialist really help much? Our kid was a bit slow, but now he’s talking up a storm.
From what I hear they do. They help teach you ways to help them communicate better and “tricks” of the trade. Which can only really help. Perhaps the problem is we suck at trying to teach him? We are 1st time parents so it’s very possible ;) Hope to see you this week!
I remember a friend telling me, she knows someone whose baby didn’t talk properly until he was 4 or 5. The parents got him checked but the doctor didn’t find anything wrong. They got in touch with a speech specialist and found out that one cause might be that they moved a lot. The baby was born in Japan and they stayed there for another year after that and then moved to the Philippines and stayed for another year. And then moved to Singapore and stayed for 2 years or so. Plus the language they use around the baby was never consistent so the parents made the necessary changes and in less than a year the little boy’s speech improved a lot. So I guess they’re right, children’s milestones are not tied up to a certain age.
Oh wow – what a great experience for a kid though! It’s great to be exposed to so many different cultures :) I’ve been fortunate enough to live a similar life growing up in a military household and wouldn’t change it for anything.
We were starting to get worried about our youngest son because he couldn’t sit up without help at 10 months of age, let alone stand. If he wasn’t propped up, he would just roll off to the side LOL Then, overnight, he literally sat up, stood up and walked. No kidding. Your son is adorable :)
Haha nice. Well hopefully our guy will just start singing songs out of the blue and we’ll be good to go :) Thx for stopping by!