UPDATE: The time has come for our grand finale!
Remember when I had that idea of keeping track of all money spent on our baby so far? Well, after thinking about it for a while and deciding it was more fascinating than it was a total waste of time, I’ve decided to just go for it and see how long we can take it ;) Not only was the curiosity starting to get to me, but as a budget man I realized it was probably something important to pay attention to anyways, haha…
So, starting today (or actually, 8 months ago), I will keep track of every last dollar spent on our baby all the way until he becomes a legal adult at the age of 18.
I know it’s super nerdy and/or weird, but how awesome would it be seeing that grand total of everything you’ve spent on a human being like that? From moment of conception all the way through birth and toddler time, and then up to pre-teens and teens? We always see those averages and studies out there on the cost of having kids throughout life – which I’m sure are decently accurate – but I’d much rather see it for myself and have a little fun along the way too ;)
Imagine how big that number’s gonna get over the years??! And how old I’ll be by the end of it? (50! Yikes!). I’m all kinds of giddy just thinking about it, haha… I wonder if blogging will even be AROUND by the end of it? :)
Okay, here we go! Get excited!
All Money Spent on Baby Since Conception:
**Does not include any gifts given over time, which so far have been a lot! Especially in the clothes department – most maternity and baby clothes we’ve gotten so far have been hand me downs… or given at our baby shower. We expect to spend a lot more once the baby is no longer a baby! :)
| $25.00 | Box of pregnancy tests | (Oct, 2011) |
| $57.00 | Gynecologist visit | (Oct, 2011) |
| $60.00 | Prenatal vitamins (60 day) x two | (Oct, 2011) |
| $150.96 | Obstetrician visits payment plan | (Dec, 2011) |
| $8.00 | Prenatal tests | (Jan, 2012) |
| $11.98 | Bloodwork | (Jan, 2012) |
| $108.30 | Bloodwork | (Jan, 2012) |
| $26.00 | Bloodwork | (Jan, 2012) |
| $119.00 | Obstetrician visits payment plan | (Feb, 2012) |
| $69.33 | 12 week sonogram | (Feb, 2012) |
| $13.36 | Bloodwork | (Mar, 2012) |
| $53.31 | 20 week sonogram | (Mar, 2012) |
| $119.00 | Obstetrician visits payment plan | (Mar, 2012) |
| $317.99 | Crib (from Target) | (Mar, 2012) |
| $317.99 | Dresser (matching, from Target) | (Mar, 2012) |
| $140.00 | 6 Week birthing classes | (Apr, 2012) |
| $6.36 | Bloodwork | (Apr, 2012) |
| $119.00 | Obstetrician visits payment plan | (Apr, 2012) |
| $70.49 | Kid rug and hamper | (Apr, 2012) |
| $57.32 | Paint & supplies (for nursery) | (Apr, 2012) |
| $10.81 | Wall decals (decorations) | (Apr, 2012) |
| $48.61 | More wall decorations & artwork | (Apr, 2012) |
| $122.77 | Crib conversion rails to make adult bed | (Apr, 2012) |
| $73.68 | Crib conversion rails to make toddler bed | (Apr, 2012) |
| $31.26 | Prenatal vitamins (60 Day) | (May, 2012) |
| $107.49 | New digital camera (to take a billion pics!) | (May, 2012) |
| $119.00 | Obstetrician visits payment plan | (May, 2012) |
| $18.75 | Large blanket | (May, 2012) |
| $3.47 | Bloodwork | (May, 2012) |
| $23.93 | Wipes | (May, 2012) |
| $29.99 | Diaper Genie | (May, 2012) |
| $47.69 | Crib mattress | (May, 2012) |
| $31.48 | Diaper Genie refills & burping cloths | (May, 2012) |
| $24.94 | Swaddler sensitive diapers | (May, 2012) |
| $7.52 | Oxyclean | (May, 2012) |
| $17.98 | Laundry detergent (special baby kind) | (May, 2012) |
| $57.09 | Crib pad, thermometer, rattles & more | (May, 2012) |
| $3.32 | Bloodwork | (Jun, 2012) |
| $46.10 | Nursing bra/new underwear | (Jun, 2012) |
| $41.32 | Bathroom stuff (shower curtain, clips…) | (Jun, 2012) |
| $18.01 | Nursing bra | (Jun, 2012) |
| $12.69 | Cute toothbrush holder, soap dispenser | (Jun, 2012) |
| $3.00 | Pacifiers | (Jul, 2012) |
| $18.49 | Prenatal vitamins… | (Jul, 2012) |
| $27.92 | Checkup sonogram (day before going into labor! Hah!) | (Jul, 2012) |
Total cost pre-birth: $2,781.73
OUR BABY CAME! OUR BABY CAME! No more waiting! :) I blogged all about it and included some good pictures too – check it out… And now they REALLY start getting expensive! Haha…
Two things to know before we continue on:
- We’re gonna go down the breastfeeding route which will save a TON early on with costs. Free food specially designed just for our boy! Haha…
- We’re gonna use disposable diapers, which of course will have the opposite effect and costs more ;) But we think it’ll also help in the sanity departments too, so we’ll see!
Okay, here we go… time for “out in the real world” costs now!
| $15.00 | Parking while at hospital… jeez. | (Jul, 2012) |
| $68.34 | Circumcision! Didn’t have time to do @ hospital… | (Jul, 2012) |
| $10.11 | Crib sheet | (Jul, 2012) |
| $99.99 | Awesome stroller which connects to car seat! | (Jul, 2012) |
| $11.00 | Two boxes of masks… wife thought was getting sick | (Jul, 2012) |
| $30.00 | Tons of Vaseline for after-circumcision! | (Jul, 2012) |
| $8.08 | Nipple cream ;) | (Jul, 2012) |
| $9.99 | Two cute sleeper clothes… | (Jul, 2012) |
| $11.54 | Pacifier wipes and baby wipes | (Jul, 2012) |
| $19.99 | Canopy cover for car seat | (Jul, 2012) |
| $18.70 | Receiving blankets, dishwasher basket, more pacifiers | (Jul, 2012) |
| $5.08 | More pacifiers, again? | (Jul, 2012) |
| $26.31 | Kidney sonogram | (Jul, 2012) |
| $68.21 | Foldable baby Swing! | (Jul, 2012) |
| $46.11 | Baby announcement photos/envelopes | (Aug, 2012) |
| $60.60 | Nursing bra, infant sun protection hat | (Aug, 2012) |
| $190.35 | Baby insurance premium! (Pro-rated & on top of MINE) | (Aug, 2012) |
| $4.60 | Extra Purell (for diaper bag) | (Aug, 2012) |
| $25.00 | Special sun protection blanket | (Aug, 2012) |
| $7.99 | More nipple cream | (Aug, 2012) |
| $47.19 | Diapers | (Aug, 2012) |
| $25.00 | Visit to Pediatrics (copay) | (Aug, 2012) |
| $25.00 | Visit to Pediatrics (copay) | (Aug, 2012) |
| $239.00 | Medela “In Style” Breast Pump in Backpack ;) | (Aug, 2012) |
| $10.97 | Cute t-shirts | (Aug, 2012) |
| $41.50 | Diapers, other supplies… | (Aug, 2012) |
| $7.99 | Nipple cream ;) | (Aug, 2012) |
| $17.96 | Diaper Genie Refill | (Aug, 2012) |
| $22.20 | Pampers Sensitive Wipes | (Aug, 2012) |
| $30.15 | Creams, other supplies | (Sep, 2012) |
| $284.00 | Baby insurance premium! (On top of my own!) | (Sep, 2012) |
| $7.99 | More nipple cream… | (Sep, 2012) |
| $50.00 | (2) Visits to Pediatrics (copays) | (Sep, 2012) |
| $36.49 | Diapers – giant pack | (Sep, 2012) |
| $11.24 | Batteries for baby things (swing/bouncer/etc) | (Sep, 2012) |
| $42.39 | Heater and a humidifier (Was $65 before store credit) | (Sep, 2012) |
| $6.99 | Bottle brush | (Sep, 2012) |
| (-$528.81) | We had overpaid for earlier Pediatric charges – WOO! | (Sep, 2012) |
| $44.19 | Diapers economy pack | (Sep, 2012) |
| $12.71 | Nipple cream ;) | (Sep, 2012) |
| $28.87 | Creams, other supplies | (Oct, 2012) |
| $314.00 | Baby insurance premium! (Went up!) | (Oct, 2012) |
| $4.98 | Baby hand and face wipes | (Oct, 2012) |
| $7.94 | Nipple cream… | (Oct, 2012) |
| $19.21 | Dangly carseat toys :) | (Oct, 2012) |
| $17.83 | Diaper Genie Refill | (Oct, 2012) |
| $25.00 | Visit to Pediatrics (copay) | (Nov, 2012) |
| $7.52 | Oxyclean… for all the poop stains! ;) | (Nov, 2012) |
| $9.33 | More nipple cream… | (Nov, 2012) |
| $314.00 | Baby insurance premium! (On top of my own!) | (Nov, 2012) |
| $118.59 | Diapers, creams, onesies, teeting toys, more… | (Nov, 2012) |
| $5.99 | Pacifiers | (Nov, 2012) |
| $10.88 | Book: “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child“ | (Nov, 2012) |
| $9.00 | Onesies | (Nov, 2012) |
| $45.84 | Diapers economy pack | (Dec, 2012) |
| $328.49 | Pediatrics visits from month #1 (hospital & after) | (Dec, 2012) |
| $314.00 | Baby insurance premium! | (Dec, 2012) |
| $25.43 | Baby lotion / Diaper Genie refill | (Dec, 2012) |
| $38.53 | Bottle stuff + cool doggy storage box :) | (Dec, 2012) |
| $7.91 | Book: God Gave Us You | (Jan, 2013) |
| $45.19 | More diapers… | (Jan, 2013) |
| $25.00 | Visit to Pediatrics (copay) | (Jan, 2013) |
| $314.00 | Baby insurance premium! | (Jan, 2013) |
| $498.75 | Child care (part-time) | (Jan, 2013) |
| $25.00 | Bumbo seat w/ tray (BEST EVER!) | (Jan, 2013) |
| $33.29 | Baby supplies | (Jan, 2013) |
| $5.99 | Teether toy | (Jan, 2013) |
| $27.78 | Baby’s Book of Prayers & peacock storage box | (Jan, 2013) |
| $10.00 | Visit to Pediatrics (copay) | (Jan, 2013) |
| $1.27 | Emery Boards (to file baby’s nails) | (Jan, 2013) |
| $23.89 | Baby lotion / Diaper Genie refill | (Jan, 2013) |
| $43.84 | Diapers (never ends! Haha…) | (Jan, 2013) |
| $25.09 | Wipes | (Jan, 2013) |
| $314.00 | Baby insurance premium! | (Feb, 2013) |
| $47.19 | Diapers | (Feb, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Random supplies | (Feb, 2013) |
Our little guy is now 8 mos old! You’re growing up, bud!! :)
| $29.64 | Clothes | (Mar, 2013) |
| $33.03 | Blocks, pacifiers, Diaper Genie refills | (Mar, 2013) |
| $45.69 | Sleep sack, booster seat | (Mar, 2013) |
| $10.39 | First year calendar | (Mar, 2013) |
| $498.75 | Child care (part-time) | (Mar, 2013) |
| $314.00 | Baby insurance premium! | (Mar, 2013) |
| $29.23 | Food & supplies | (Mar, 2013) |
| $25.00 | Visit to pediatrics (copay) | (Mar, 2013) |
| $30.60 | Shopping cart cover, pacifier straps | (Mar, 2013) |
| $25.00 | Visit to pediatrics (copay) | (Mar, 2013) |
| $25.00 | Visit to pediatrics (copay) | (Mar, 2013) |
| $62.90 | Food, diapers, supplies | (Mar, 2013) |
| $16.30 | Sleepsack (so cute!) | (Mar, 2013) |
| $314.00 | Baby insurance premium! | (Apr, 2013) |
| $20.24 | Overnight diapers | (Apr, 2013) |
| $11.15 | Thermometers (why multiple I don’t know) | (Apr, 2013) |
| $7.17 | Lab work | (Apr, 2013) |
| $10.97 | Diapers | (May, 2013) |
| $12.37 | Outlet plugs, pacifiers | (May, 2013) |
| $22.51 | Baby gate | (May, 2013) |
| $25.00 | Visit to pediatrics (copay) | (May, 2013) |
| $25.00 | Visit to pediatrics (copay) | (May, 2013) |
| $500.00 | Child care (part-time) | (May, 2013) |
| $6.99 | Bath toys | (May, 2013) |
| $10.59 | Clothes | (May, 2013) |
| $10.57 | Books | (May, 2013) |
| $314.00 | Baby health insurance premium | (May, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Diapers, supplies | (May, 2013) |
| $3.98 | Corner guards for table | (May, 2013) |
| $12.72 | New clothes | (May, 2013) |
| $31.79 | New clothes | (May, 2013) |
| $34.29 | Food & supplies | (Jun, 2013) |
| $314.00 | Baby health insurance premium | (Jun, 2013) |
| $23.99 | Baby formula | (Jun, 2013) |
| $26.45 | Birthday toys: fake remote, books and puzzle | (Jun, 2013) |
| $25.78 | Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker | (Jun, 2013) |
| $23.67 | Diapers | (Jun, 2013) |
| $14.02 | Supplies | (Jun, 2013) |
| $9.42 | Cute little shoes! | (Jun, 2013) |
| $27.32 | Stuff for the beach: hat, glasses, water diapers | (Jun, 2013) |
| $23.36 | Diapers | (Jun, 2013) |
| $480.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Jun, 2013) |
| $100.00 | Baby health insurance premium | (Jun, 2013) |
| $17.05 | Food | (Jun, 2013) |
| $21.65 | More food & other supplies | (Jun, 2013) |
| $6.73 | Steam bags for pump parts | (Jun, 2013) |
| $27.08 | New clothes (he keeps growing! :)) | (Jun, 2013) |
| $35.00 | Supplies | (Jul, 2013) |
| $480.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Jul, 2013) |
It’s been a year!!! Can you believe it?? We love you bud! Can’t wait to keep watching you grow and teaching you all about life and money and awesomeness! Happy Birthday!!
| $72.32 | Food & Diapers | (Jul, 2013) |
| $35.00 | Pediatrics visit | (Jul, 2013) |
| $480.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Jul, 2013) |
| $50.29 | Diapers & supplies | (Jul, 2013) |
| $7.41 | New pair of shoes! :) | (Jul, 2013) |
| $18.87 | Food | (Jul, 2013) |
| $27.94 | Bibs and Baby Float Sun Canopy | (Jul, 2013) |
| $42.00 | Food & supplies | (Jul, 2013) |
| $20.00 | Food | (Jul, 2013) |
| $35.00 | Pediatrics visit | (Jul, 2013) |
| $40.00 | Food | (Jul, 2013) |
| $8.64 | Rectal Thermometer – our other one broke :( | (Jul, 2013) |
| $480.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Jul, 2013) |
| $10.04 | Supplies | (Jul, 2013) |
| $35.00 | Pediatrics visit | (Jul, 2013) |
| $25.74 | Food | (Jul, 2013) |
| $35.00 | More food :) | (Jul, 2013) |
| $52.50 | Clothes @ Old Navy | (Jul, 2013) |
| $100.00 | Baby health insurance premium (WENT DOWN!) | (Aug, 2013) |
| $7.00 | Belly Button Book by Sandra Boynton | (Aug, 2013) |
| $480.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Aug, 2013) |
| $45.00 | Food | (Aug, 2013) |
| $20.26 | Food & supplies | (Aug, 2013) |
| $25.00 | More food… | (Aug, 2013) |
| $35.00 | Pediatrics visit | (Aug, 2013) |
| $72.47 | Diapers and other supplies | (Aug, 2013) |
| $370.00 | Daycare (discount as went on vacay for 1 week) | (Aug, 2013) |
| $50.40 | Cute clothes! | (Aug, 2013) |
| $24.25 | Food | (Aug, 2013) |
| $28.96 | Diapers and Diaper Genie refills | (Aug, 2013) |
| $9.84 | Handful of pacifiers | (Aug, 2013) |
| $49.77 | 3pc Crib Rap | (Aug, 2013) |
| $480.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Sep, 2013) |
| $100.00 | Baby health insurance premium | (Sep, 2013) |
| $18.54 | Food | (Sep, 2013) |
| $28.00 | Supplies | (Sep, 2013) |
| $58.30 | Bunch of clothes from consignment store! | (Sep, 2013) |
| $21.59 | Supplies | (Sep, 2013) |
| $28.00 | Shoes & clothes @ Yard sale :) | (Sep, 2013) |
| $35.00 | Diapers | (Sep, 2013) |
| $515.00 | Daycare (IT WENT UP!!!) | (Sep, 2013) |
| $40.00 | More food! | (Sep, 2013) |
| $515.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Sep, 2013) |
| $18.62 | Food & supplies | (Sep, 2013) |
| $32.00 | Food | (Sep, 2013) |
| $47.23 | The First Years Jet Stroller | (Sep, 2013) |
| $8.59 | Baby bug spray | (Sep, 2013) |
| $77.75 | Pediatrics visit | (Sep, 2013) |
| $100.00 | Baby health insurance premium | (Oct, 2013) |
| $25.00 | Food | (Oct, 2013) |
| $5.01 | Food | (Oct, 2013) |
| $20.00 | More food ;) | (Oct, 2013) |
| $515.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Oct, 2013) |
| $45.00 | Food | (Oct, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Oct, 2013) |
| $515.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Oct, 2013) |
| $41.64 | Clothes | (Oct, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Oct, 2013) |
| $28.97 | Supplies | (Nov, 2013) |
| $26.31 | Cute clothes | (Nov, 2013) |
| $81.34 | Supplies (diapers, etc) | (Nov, 2013) |
| $515.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Nov, 2013) |
| $35.00 | Dr Visit | (Nov, 2013) |
| $40.89 | Medicine | (Nov, 2013) |
| $17.72 | Groupon for baby pictures | (Nov, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Nov, 2013) |
| $15.00 | Food | (Nov, 2013) |
| $35.00 | Dr Visit | (Nov, 2013) |
| $26.22 | Medicine | (Nov, 2013) |
| $170.60 | ER Visit | (Nov, 2013) |
| $45.00 | Food | (Nov, 2013) |
| $515.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Nov, 2013) |
| $34.68 | Medicine | (Nov, 2013) |
| $24.67 | Medicine | (Nov, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Nov, 2013) |
| $60.00 | Supplies (diapers, etc) | (Nov, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Dec, 2013) |
| $76.15 | Supplies (diapers, clothes, etc) | (Dec, 2013) |
| $515.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Dec, 2013) |
| $35.00 | Dr visit | (Dec, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Dec, 2013) |
| $71.06 | Xmas toys! Including clock puzzle & cd player :) | (Dec, 2013) |
| $31.64 | Supplies & toys/gifts | (Dec, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Dec, 2013) |
| $35.00 | Dr visit | (Dec, 2013) |
| $515.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Dec, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Dec, 2013) |
| $139.47 | Dr visit | (Dec, 2013) |
| $167.27 | Dr visit | (Dec, 2013) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Jan, 2014) |
| $42.00 | Supplies (diapers, etc) | (Jan, 2014) |
| $23.16 | Kangaroo storage box | (Jan, 2014) |
| $30.73 | Lotion & wipes | (Jan, 2014) |
| $450.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Jan, 2014) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Jan, 2014) |
| $450.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Jan, 2014) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Jan, 2014) |
| $6.00 | Cute shirt | (Jan, 2014) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Jan, 2014) |
| $450.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Feb, 2014) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Feb, 2014) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Feb, 2014) |
| $55.16 | Supplies (diapers, clothes, etc) | (Feb, 2014) |
| $36.32 | Potty training toilet, clothes, Baby Air Jordans!! | (Feb, 2014) |
| $23.00 | Supplies | (Feb, 2014) |
| $25.95 | Dr visit | (Feb, 2014) |
| $17.10 | Dr visit | (Feb, 2014) |
| $450.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Feb, 2014) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Feb, 2014) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Feb, 2014) |
| $8.00 | Kid event tkt | (Feb, 2014) |
| $26.74 | Pictures printed for baby album :) | (Feb, 2014) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Mar, 2014) |
| $450.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Mar, 2014) |
| $30.00 | Food | (Mar, 2014) |
| $450.00 | Daycare (full-time, 2 weeks) | (Mar, 2014) |
| $38.00 | Supplies (diapers, etc) | (Mar, 2014) |
Total Expenses So Far: $23,835.49
| $2,500.00 | 529 College Savings deposit | (Oct, 2012) |
| $850.00 | 529 College Savings deposit | (Feb, 2013) |
Total Investments: $3,350.00
| $1,000.00 | $50/mo padding for forgotten/uncalculated expenses | (15 months) |
Extra Padding: $1,000.00
******** TOTAL COSTS SINCE CONCEPTION: $28,185.49 ********
UPDATE: Read our grand finale post here :)
———————
PS: Think there’s any kind of Guinness record on this?
PPS: My friend Mochimac is now tracking HER expenses too! Let’s see who wins :)
*Last updated: 3/23/14
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This should be interesting. If you keep it up you can compare it to the department of agriculture number they come out with every year.
My ovaries shriveled up a little bit while looking at these numbers. Good Luck!
Wow, and the baby’s not even born yet. Thankfully you both got hand me downs, or that number may be double.
Guinness record for blogging or for spending on pregnancy?
If you promise to keep blogging for the next almost 2 decades, I promise to keep reading… and to relieve you of that beer. ;)
One of the BIGGEST ways to keep costs down on baby things: check out Goodwill or thrift shops, especially for clothes. You can get an insane amount of clothes (all in good condition and excellent names, like Carter’s and Osh Kosh) for a fraction of the cost. We’ve done that for both of our kids, and we’re sad now that our oldest can’t fit in the ones from our favortie thrift store anymore. We have to start hitting up Goodwill for him now (since he’s 5). Thrift stores are also great for furniture and toys – you can wash them or repaint them and they’re as good as new – and WAY cheaper. :)
So exciting!
We were lucky as I still had furniture from my son. But, alot of our stuff was old and needed replaced. Luckily, since this is my husband’s first child, his mother threw us a baby shower last weekend. I can not believe the amount of stuff we got. Everything…and 2 of most things. We also ended up with about $700 or so in Babies R Us gift cards. Which…actually brings me to a financial quandry….do I try to sell those, or do I keep them all. There really isnt any large ticket items we still need. But, I was thinking, maybe it would be good to hold on to them, so when I am on maternity leave and not getting a paycheck, I have a little nest egg I can dip into when we need formula or diapers. What do you think?
If we have a boy, we shouldnt have to buy any clothes. My son was a June baby, this will be a July baby, so all the sizes and seasons should be right. A girl however will probably break the bank…as I would LOVE to be buying up all the pink!
Also…not a money question, but…what is the theme to your nursery? We are doing The Very Hungry Caterpillar (book by children’s author Eric Carle). Its really cute.
Just 5 more weeks for me…so I know you are even closer! So exciting! i can’t wait. Not knowing the gender is killing me…especially when I see all the cute clothes! But, maybe that will give me greater inspiration to push hard during labor!
I haven’t been keeping track since my little guy came 6 weeks early. In some sort of sick way I am kind of excited to see the final bill (since my wife has kick ass insurance so it won’t be too horrible out of pocket for us). I have heard the NICU runs $3000+/day and he was there for 10 days, so that should be at least $30k.
We got the bill from the peditrician who visited him once a day for like 20 minutes and it was $2k. But this will be much less since they didn’t have our insurance for him yet.
Exciting times! There is really nothing better than holding the little one and having him look at you!
OMG that amount of money is insane! $30,000 to take care of your little one.Can I ask What do you roughly get back on that? I am surprised people have babies if thats what you pay out. Our public health system means that all of that would be free as long as you had baby in a public hospital. (which most are still pretty good hospitals)
That is a downside to living here :(
Hey J.
I think your list is a bit more than regualr folks who have medical insurance and do not have to pay for all the doctors visits. Also as a father myself with experience, return the diaper genie, that thing is a waste of money in my opinion. You can return it and buy instead 3 shares of ford stock as a gift to the baby.
Good times are right around the corner! Two weeks to go! :)
@Lance@MoneyLife&More – Haha yeah! I’m totally gonna do that.
@MadlyClumsily – Just think how bad it would be if we had to pay for all the clothes so far ;)
@Call Me What You Want Even Cheap – Oh yeah, we’re about to get a few boxes FULL of stuff for little boys, we’re pretty excited about it. without hand me downs we’d be SCREWED. This stuff adds up!
@Edward Antrobus III – Haha, I’m sure you would good sir, I’m sure you would ;) I’m trying for the Guiness record of tracking every dollar spent on a human being – would be cool!
@Laura Brown – YEAH!! I love thrift stores!! And yard sales too, even – my mom keeps finding us toys there and bringing them over ;) Great advice!
@Nicole – Wowwww, I can’t believe you’ve gone so long without knowing the sex so far! That is so fun!!! There’s no way my wife would have gone for it, but I totally would have ;) As long as they promised not to spill it by accident! Haha… I’m impressed with your people so far.
RE: Gift cards – I’d keep them and use them for exactly what you’re saying. I’m sure stuff there is a lot more expensive than other places, but the odds you get $700 in cash back for them anyways is slim, so might as well hoard them and use whenever you really need to. Just make sure they don’t expire!! If you get close, then yeah – def. offload them.
RE: Nursery – I love yours! Great idea! Ours is a more animal/Noah’s arc time theme :) Light green walls w/ animals alllllll over the place – it’s fun! And we’re pretty much all set now and just waiting, I’m getting anxious! 2 more weeks for us! Then your turn ;)
@Brian – YAY!!!! I still can’t believe y’all had yours already – pretty incredible! And def. let us know how much those total hospital costs were for! That sounds crazy! Haha… but I’d be excited too if I knew most was covered ;) We’ll see how much ours add to our numbers!
@RichUncle EL – HAH! I’d love to get him stock instead ;) But the wife wants to try it out and see for ourselves if it becomes useful or not – and I’m kinda curious too as I love the idea behind it. As for insurance stuff – we are “normal” in that regard as everything we’ve done so far has been covered by her insurance. The payments were just divided up on a payment plan of theirs, not the actual number of visits which in the end will be more than double or even triple :) We’d be in a LOT more trouble if we had none!
Oh bad idea with the genie diaper! hahaha
I bought one and I stopped using it after I ran out of refills, instead I bought a bunch of ecological plastic bags, throw the diaper there and make a tight knot and then throw it on your bathroom trash bin. Same thing, cheaper and easier to use!
BTW have you considered the box swap thing? it would be awesome if you get to write about it! I swap my kid’s clothes a lot and have saved $$$$$ on the process, especially since baby clothes usually last only one/two months before they have outgrown it.
Wow–am I sure glad that you are deciding to do this! I plan on having a baby or two in the future and now I know that I will want to start saving up! So I will be one of the avid readers who waits for the monthly posts! For my future sis-inlaw, who is due any day now (so excited!!!)–I know that over a period of a few months we shopped deals and tried to think outside the box for their gift. We got them this pack-n-play that triples as: baby changing station, bassinet, and a play pen. Beyond that we got them clothes for an older baby as they had a TON from her first shower for a newborn. We also got a lot of stuff like bottles, diapers for older babies, diaper back and some other stuff like that. I will also be the aunt who buys books as gifts–gotta start their love of reading young!
This. Will. Be. Interesting.
I would figure a kid, generally speaking, would run about $200/mo (with frugal parents) so I will be looking forward to what your child averages on a monthly basis over the years.
Also, I would be very interested in seeing the average cost of a child across different countries from 1st to 3rd world; because I didn’t see one diaper genie in Africa.
Mr. Everyday Dollar
Wow 200/mo ??
I spend about $500/mo ! and not because I’m a big spender, but little monkey came with several issues with his tummy, he turned out lactose intolerant and …geez forgot what it was, some sort of milk’s protein intolerant. His formula is quite expensive =/ and it’s not being covered by my insurance.
Breastfeeding is the cheapest lol but yes formula is definitely expensive. The newborn stuff is about $30 in Aus for a tin and it probably lasts a week maybe two if you are lucky!
I’m looking forward to seeing how this progresses. I am sure expenses increase rapidly as baby gets older. Also looking forward to my free drink. ;)
Awesome! I don’t think it’s super nerdy and/or weird at all; this is the best idea ever! It’s going to be super fascinating to see just how much you actually spend, plus then when he’s a teenager and asking for more allowance or being a brat or something you can be like “Look dude, don’t say we never give you anything, look how much we’ve spent on you!” :-)
Is this just the costs to you? Like, are you counting anything that’s covered by insurance, or just stuff that comes straight out of your pocket? Might be fun to track both and see how much you’re “saving” cuz of insurance etc.
@ m1nts – I totally agree on the diaper genie.
It cost approx $.05 per diaper for the refill. (1 diaper genie refill = 176 diapers). I buy those “produce bags” from a grocery supplier at $6 for 600 bag/roll. This comes out to $.01 per bag. Then you just throw it out immediately in the outside garbage bin, so you don’t stink up the house. Plus, I only use the bags for the poopy diapers and not just pee. The pee ones don’t stink that bad, I just put those in a regular diaper pail. (Tape a few scented soap on the underside of the lid of the diaper pail), sprinkle it with baking soda once in a while.
We also created a budget line for each of the kids. There is a set amount there each month and we can’t spend more than that. That way we can keep track of the cost and not spend so much. I currently spend $80/month for the baby, and she is on formula and disposable diapers. However this is our 4th kid, so we didn’t need to buy anything extra. Even the clothes are mostly hand me down.
When our first two were born (boy then girl) I still only budgeted $120/mo including diapers and formula and everything else they needed. We managed to stay under the budget almost all the time. We do buy all their clothes second hand at community sales once a year. I spend approx $125/yr for clothes for each kid. That $125 @ a community sales comes out to approx 50-60 pcs of clothing, including the fancy dresses and mostly brand name clothes. The only thing I buy new is underthings and shoes.
Toys are mostly second hand too through kijiji.
PS> we’re in Canada so we have no doctor costs.
I am also really interested to see what numbers you come up with since I’m 8 months pregnant and have been keeping a loose list in mind for what we have spent so far for our baby to be.
We have had a lot of success with buying things off of Craigslist (changing table, glider) that I think were total steals. We’ve been pretty creative and also have really really awesome insurance (federal) and I imagine we’ve spent maybe $1K so far and that includes a good stash of cloth diapers that will get reused over and over again. It would be really good and green and eco-concious of me to say that I’m going to cloth diaper for the sake of the environment but the reality is I can’t stand the idea of throwing money away with every diaper. I’m just cheap :)
Hey J – If you don’t already own one you might want to think about buying a video camera. Yes, you can probably take video with your phone but the quality isn’t nearly as good. My husband is a photographer so we had the digital stills taken care of, but he convinced me to buy a video camera too. I’m so glad he did because it’s amazing to look back at the videos and see our little one moving around and listening to his little grunts and groans. He’s only 8 months now, but it really is one of the best purchases we’ve made. It’s not so much for him, but for us. I can imagine watching these long after he’s grown and left the house. Just a thought. By the way our little one came 11 days early and a friend just delivered two weeks early, so it really could be any day now for you and your wife! Congrats again!
I guess you could say that having a child is not a frugal decision.
Very interesting. So you are only tracking the money spent directly on your child? Because I think if you are trying to track how much a child costs, you should include gifts (either all the gifts you received, or all the gifts you’ve given to other people at baby showers).
How are you going to account for indirect costs like heating, home size, and food while your wife is nursing? It’s my understanding that a huge chunk of the cost-to-raise-a-child estimates are for presumed larger housing accommodations.
DO you get to claim most of that on tax as a home business anyway J Money?
I do. But only my office and the % of utilities it uses. Doesn’t really help with baby stuff, but it is a perk of running your own business :) Just like how you can blog in your underwear if you want, haha…
I think my wife and I spent a good bit on baby stuff too, but like you we also got a ton of gifts ( I hear the gifts diminish with each child).
When buying baby products we have a philosophy that we don’t need the BMW equivalent baby brand, but the Civic equivalent model–function and durability. We do have some nice brands, but of course those we got of craigslist.
Wish you well keeping track–especially the first 3 months.
I completely agree. I think there are exceptions though. If you need to pay a little more for a pram that is going to last you the next 4 years including adding more children, its worth paying more. ALso potentially a cot that converts to a toddler bed so you buy one bed for pretty much until they start school.
Wow, I admire your attention to detail! While it may prove difficult for you to keep track of this over time (good thing you’re naturally interested in this stuff!) it will probably really help you guys stay focused on spending money only on things you need. I myself am newly engaged and don’t plan to have kids for many years, but my fiance is already talking about saving for kids so following your expenses will prove very helpful to us!
We have a 3 month old and were able to borrow cloth diapers from a friend (Bum Genius) and they have really worked out well. Of course, the little one’s poops don’t stink yet since she’s only on breast milk. We might have to re-consider in a few months when the big stuff starts rolling in…..
We use the cloth ones whenever possible, but the disposables are nice when we go out to dinner or meet up with friends. We buy a sleeve of 50 disposable diapers from Target that only run about $7.
S exciting! Its so close to pop time! At his rate, you’ll spend about 66,000 by the age of 18. Not bad but ur righ, costs willb grow quickly! This is so interesting. Keep it up!
This is really interesting. My son is now 14 months old and we got most of our gear and clothing as hand-me-downs or gifts. I wish I’d thought to track everything we spend on the little dude, it would probably make me more aware of what I’m spending on him.
Have you considered using cloth diapers? They can be very economical or very expensive depending on the type you choose. If you plan to have more than one child, then the cloth is way more economical since you already have almost everything you need to diaper subsequent children. If you do a search for “cloth vs disposable diapers cost” on google and you’ll find a lot of good articles.
WOW. That’s great you have tracked everything so far. I’m incredibly inspired to do this for myself in the future.
This is so interesting. The studies that show how much parents spend on children always make me have more appreciation for my parents. I would assume that keeping track is going to get harder as he gets older. Especially for things like food.
One thing I have learned after being a Dad for only 8 short months. Look for the coupons! Also, forget about regular diapers! You should start off cloth diapering! I have a post about it! It’s only around a $400 startup but you never have to buy diapers again! It save you over $1200 in the first year of diapering! Plus, whenever you have more chilren down the road, you can continue to use them! It’s great!
This is such a great idea!! I’d love to see this updated as time goes by. I’m curious to see a case-study of how much a child really costs.
Of course, yes–the love you must have for your child is unbeatable.
Have fun with your list, J. It’s a good thing that we’re in the software age. Quicken will make this pretty easy for you if you just run a report and then copy and paste the results every month.
Now, as far as the costs goes, I’m sure you’ll spend much more than the Department of Agriculture suggest. I just spent $200 for my 10 year old son’s iPod, which he has just confessed that he has cracked….only 2 weeks after buying it.
Birthday parties are at least $200, not including gifts. And then there are holidays, vacations, recreational sports, field trips, etc., etc. Have we mentioned the fact that at some point they start wanting “name brand” clothes and miscellaneous crap like that ion balance bracelet? Again, have fun.
Just to give you a tad bit more motivation, though, I’m sure that your ongoing tally will get some attention in the academic/research areas in the future, once your “research” goes viral.
Aww that’s so CDO! I love it!!
Not only am I obsessive compulsive as well, but couldn’t deal with the genie cuz basically you have all those germs sitting there collecting and growing until you empty it and if you’ve ever had those weak little twists come loose I hear it’s BAD…but I hope it works out for you guys.
Congrats I didn’t know the big day was so close! I hope it’s smooth sailing for mommy and baby. I also have to drop my two fav $$ saving tips for you two:
1) Find a consignment shop in your area like “kid to kid” or “once upon a child” that pay you for the stuff you don’t use (there will be a lot I’m sure) You can also trade in the stuff for store credit and get more, but either way you’re saving money/making money and that’s why I like it better than goodwill/thrift stores… I also am in a clothes swap circle (but I can usually only use half of it due to staining or hideousness) so between that and gifts I’ve never had to buy a lot of clothes/toys and I make about $150 every size outgrown…some do it online but I’ve never tried those.
2) Decide with the Mrs. NOW before the baby comes, what you are going to do about your sleeping preference. Whether you are a co-sleeper or a cry-it-out person should be decided before you get the little one home and you are staring at eachother helpless and frantic in the middle of the night. How does this save money? Well rested humans are happy/healthy humans, babies add so much stress on your time and finances you don’t want to be dealing with a sleep deficit too which would add to stress and bla bla bla… I’m not trying to pick a fight here about parenting preferences or start those convos, but I will say whatever method you go with will be infinitely easier with a ROUTINE, from day one (well day four cuz we spent 3 days in the NICU) but once we were home it was bath, lotion/light massage (you’ll be amazed how tense babies are), at least one book, one song, good night I love you… and whatever you do after that whether you lay down next to them or close their door, they are now prepared for sleep and know what to expect. I don’t think kids are born sleepers I think they are made that way, and three years later mine is still a great sleeper/napper and bonus – a reader. You can’t put a price on that value. Ok that’s it I’m done and off the soapbox.
I didn’t read through all the comments, so I’m sorry if these things have already been mentioned. But save your money on buying special baby detergent. Likely your wife has been reading baby magazines and you’ve seen the pink bottle advertisements and you think you need something special and separate. Trust me, you don’t. That pink stuff (Dreft) is actually quite perfumey. Save yourself money and time and just wash all your clothes with the babys stuff using something like the dye-free detergent. I have 3 kids, so who better to tell you the real truth? :)
Also, I keep track of nearly every penny I spend, and I could probably also go back and calculate the total cost (or closes to it) for what I have paid for my kids, too. It’s sickening how much we have spent, with daycare being the biggest drainer. In fact, I have pre-calculated that in order to get our middle son and infant through the rest of daycare until they both reach Kindergarten, it will cost a whopping $75,000!! WTF! And that’s an AFFORDABLE home provider! Anyhow, I love my babies so its worth it. :)
Serena
Thrift Diving
Oh, yeah, here are my top thrifty baby tips, based on my own experience:
1. Better than buying cloth diapers, if your wife is artsy, get the materials online and see your own cloth diapers. We use disposables because of daycare, but I have a stash that I sewed myself and use them occasionally on the weekends.
2. Make your own baby shoes! It’s fun and free patterns can be found online. Again, my babies rocked homemade shows until they were old enough to need something supportive.
3. Shop thrift stores!! Seriously, who needs to buy a brand new changing table? Everything doesn’t have to be matchy-matchy. I actually got my latest changing table from the thrift store and it was a mere $12. I’m sure I will be able to sell it for about $40 on CL when I am done with it ;)
4. Toss used diapers in a plastic bag that you hang on the door knob. Trust me, it won’t stink any more than a diaper genie. Throw it away once or twice a day.
Ahhhh…. So many more tips I could give you, my friend. :)
Serena
Thrift Diving
Serena i would love to hear more.I always want more thrifty ways with my son. He’s not a huge expense because I buy in bulk but i’m sure you are doing something I’m not and vise versa! A blog post about it maybe? :) if you do, link me in!
YAYYY!! SO glad y’all find this interesting!!! I was halfway thinking I’d have like 0 comments and the crickets would be out on this one, haha… but I forget how much of us love our money and accounting! It’s gonna be an adventure! :)
@m1nts – Box swap? Never heard of it before but sounds cool! I’d be glad to give someone a box of clothe once we’re done, just like some people have already done for us :) And sorry to hear about your little one :( We’re soooo afraid our baby will have complications!
@bogofdebt – Heck yeah you do! I’m gonna have fun reading to the wee one at night too, woohoo! Glad you like this “tracker” idea too, I’ll be sure to keep it up for ya ;)
@Mr. Everyday Dollar – Haha, well we’ll see what happens ;) I doubt we’ll be at the $200/mo average in the beginning, but over time we’ll probably be better at doing things on the cheap. I just worry when he becomes a teenager and eats like 10 times a day! ;)
@20’s Finances – Oh yeah! That little guy will start sucking us dry as the years go by, I’m sure of it!
@Jessi – Haha yeah!!!! I want to show him the list one day, haha, that would be hilarious ;) And for now I’m only tracking what we actually spend out of pocket. I figured that’ll start getting hard to do on its own as time goes on, so best to leave it simple and not overwhelm myself – even though I DO think it’s a brilliant idea for sure.
@ib – No doctor costs?? Wowwwww that’s great! The one remaining thing that’s scaring us is if something is wrong with our wee one, so we’re just praying he’s nice and healthy! For him and the harsh medical costs :(
@Laura – Haha, no shame in that though! Whatever works ;) And congrats! We’ll be raising our newborns together!
@One Frugal Girl – Yikes! Don’t remind me! Haha… we need our last 2 weeks! But I hear ya on that video camera, I actually have two leftover from our Love Drop days so we’re all set! But GREAT reminder actually to have me charge them up and put ’em in the hospital bags – almost forgot!!
@Squeezer @Personal Finance Success – You would be dead on with that assumption ;)
@Emily @ evolvingPF – Yeah, it’s def. not gonna be a super accurate cost tracker, but I know myself too well that as soon as I start trying to do EVERYTHING I’ll give up and be done with it too early :( So I think my best bet is to just track what I shell out so it’s easier to track and keeps me sane. I can tell you that I DEF won’t be moving into a bigger house anytime soon though, I want to downgrade! Haha…
@Brent Pittman – Thanks man! We’ll do our best to stay away from all the BMW stuff too! ;)
@Shannon-ReadyForZero – Awesome! Congrats on your engagement, such exciting times! Soak it in, baby :)
@Evan H. – Yeah, I think if you can pull them off well then it’s great! I doubt we’ll have the patience for cloth diapers, but we’ll see what happens.
@Zach – Glad you like it! We should take bets actually on what that final number IS at the age of 18, haha… that would be fun! (And way more than $66,000 once you factor in college tuition – yikes)
@Ann – We are considering it but def. not in the beginning. It’s the washing of them all that really doesn’t sound appealing at this moment in time, but we’re not crossing it off our list just yet :)
@Dana – Awesome! You should and then we can compare! :)
@Carl Lassegue – I know, that’s gonna get tough :( But we start out on the easy parts of tracking and slowly get used to the harder ones, eh?
@Craig – How much more electricity and water do y’all use though? (And *time* to run them all?) I’m not against cloth diapers at all – esp since we haven’t tried them yet – but so far everything I see/read “forgets” to mention the drawbacks too ;)
@Joyatee – I’m glad you like this! I’ll do my best to keep it up!
@Romeo – Haha, thanks – that would be something ;) And I’ll agree with you on the amounts rising faster as he grows up – there’s no way I’ll be able to turn some stuff down for him later! I’m frugal in some areas, but in others I’m def. not. So we’ll see how it pans out.
@Mikayla – Great info my friend, thanks!! I cannot WAIT to read to my boy every night – I used to love it as a kid!!! And I agree w/ figuring out parenting styles early on too – we’ve started talking about it but we haven’t made any final decisions yet. I’m sure we will here very soon though. It’s crazy. This time next month I’ll be typing here as a father. It’s beautiful :)
@Serena@ThriftDiving – Haha, thanks!! I may be emailing you for more down the road, but these are a great start :) I hear you on child care stuff too, we just checked one place out the other month and I about had a heart attack!! We don’t know what we’ll be doing in the real future, but I’m gonna blog about my thoughts on it soon. Wish us luck!!!
My mom says I had to use cloth diapers because I was allergic to pampers, and also gerber food. My mom also had to make all my food. Anyways, because I had to use cloth diapers, they potty trained me pretty early. I was using the toilet when I was oneish.
I love your site. I’m curious at the health insurance. My plan covered all the prenatal visits and well baby visits and the birth. I paid $0. This may be an area that you may want to reconsider your health plan if you can. I found that for the first five years of life it was an average of 5 baby doctor visits a year. Plus several emergency room trips.. And mine was healthy.
@SavvyFinancialLatina – Wow, that’s early! I’m wondering if our son will have anything different about him… as long as he’s *healthy* though I’ll be happy!!
@M – Thanks for stopping by, I’m glad you like the site :) Unfortunately no, we don’t have many options for getting better insurance (I’m self-employed, and my wife’s plan is through her university) but as of now we’re pretty okay with it. I know it could be a LOT worse, so we’re counting our blessings. Once/if the wife goes back to a 9-5 though, we’ll def. be excited and looking for something better ;)
J$–just tell me what you need…you keep forgetting my garage is like a little baby store and I have lots of companies willing to send anything if you’ll review it. :) And by the way, the ultrasound pic is the BEST!
Some people are oblivious to how much it costs to have a baby. And this is all BEFORE even having the baby! Thanks for posting it, lots of value in this post.
Also congrats (again)!
I’m curious to see how this goes in the future. I would think it would start to get hard to track. For example, are you going to count extra gas for taking baby places? It’s easy to say soccer and equipment is a “kid” expense but what about gas to get there or snacks from concessions while you are there. Do you say those are “kid” costs too? Or do you assume if you didn’t have a kid you would still be doing something that probably would cost money. You know what I’m sayin’?
Is a larger car a kid expense or would you have bought a bigger car even without a kid? What about vacations? or extra water or electricity costs, extra channels for the cable? What if jr wants a pet? Do all pet costs now count as kid costs? Ah.. I could go on and on. lol. I’ll stop. My point is… it will be interesting to see how it all works out. As a parent…I’d rather not know!!!
When your kid becomes a teenager and starts thinking about having sex whip out this loooong list of costs – perfect birth control!
@Des – Oh yeah!!! That reminds me to nudge the mrs. on her baby blog she wants to do too :) I keep telling her she’d love it, and can meet so many cool people (like you!!!) but I guess she’s a bit preoccupied right now, haha… but yes! Thank you for your generous offer, I will check with her and see what we might need – she’s the boss in that department :)
@DC – Yeah man, it’s a loooooot of money on top of time and responsibility and life altering changes, that’s for sure. But from what I hear it’s all worth it! I’m glad my parents had me! :)
@Ashley @ Money Talks – ACK!! Too many variables!! Haha… BUT, I will say this: I’m gonna do my best to distinguish “kid costs” w/ our own for sure. If we upgrade cars/furniture/housing/etc because of our boy, then I’ll take the difference of what it would have cost w/out them and probably go that route. So, like, if we get a minivan (barf) I’ll compare it to whatever normal car we woulda got. Although maybe in that example we’d SAVE money if I don’t get my Escalade!! Hahahaha…But yeah – gas stuff, snacks, pets, electricity, soccer balls/fees/travel – I’m gonna try and calculate it all as close as I can and then average the rest. Either way it’s DEF going on this spreadsheet in some fashion or another, so we’ll see how it pans out… I’m excited and nervous! :)
@Agatha – HAH! I’m gonna have to force him to print it off and keep it in his wallet too – you know how boys get in the heat of the moment!! ;)
They’re so worth it, though!! They lead to more fun and satisfaction that can’t be measured in money! Sure, your insurance premiums will go up but who cares! You can save money in other ways :)
I can’t believe that it’s cost you that much so far. Move to Canada, babies are free ;)
@Jerry – You know it, brotha!
@Vanessa – Their clothes and cribs and food and furniture and everything else isn’t free though ;)
When the time comes just remember you can get great deals on legos, train tracks, and other toys that come in pricey “sets” on Ebay. I bought a huge lot of Thomas Train stuff for my boys (usually $7-10 per car) for $75 with shipping and handling. Literally $500 worth of toys in almost brand new condition. Made it last through one birthday and two Christmases. #FTW
Thata girl!! I like that – thanks for the tip :)
God love you! THANKS for posting this. We are thinking about kids, but I have YET to find any sites that have offered a breakdown like this. I will be keeping up with your adventures.
As an aside, can you pllllleeeassseee do a post about insurance and babies? I’d like to know more about the OBGYN payment plans you’re discussing. What you’re learning would be sooo helpful.
Great! I’m actually a bit late with updating these with the most recent month’s worth of stuff, but I plan on doing so at least once a month as time goes on :) I’m sure we’re about to see some BIG ones once all the hospital bills and all start coming through – not looking forward to that! Haha…
Also yeah – I plan on writing about insurance for the baby here in the next week or two, but probably not the OBGYN plan stuff. Maybe what I’ll do is update this post here somewhere to showcase how that worked out :) It’ll be different for everyone depending on where they live and what types of insurance they have, but at least it’ll give you a real-life example, ya know? That’s what I’m really going for here – something that’s 100% real and not in theory or budgeted out or anything :) Just the stone cold numbers!
Stay tuned my friend, and thanks for reading!
Dude, you have to keep this updated. This is amazing. Bookmarked.
Awesome! Glad you like it man, I’m gonna do my best :) Already on a 3 month roll – woohoo!
Laundry Detergent – Try making your own. It doesn’t take much time and it’s great for the baby.
I use the recipe from The Simple Dollar with Kirk’s Unscented Castille Soap.
Hah! With what time? ;)
I love this! I’m due any minute now with our first child- we’re a young couple just out of college and still newlyweds. All the comments are so helpful!
Thankfully we got a tremendous amount of hand me downs and registry gifts so we only really spent money on our crib, gas to Dr. appts and new cloth diapers. Living with the in-laws helps too.. Well, financially at least..
Can’t wait for updates!
Awww, you’re gonna have sooooo much fun with that little one!!! Congrats so much on him/her! (Do you already know the sex, or are you letting it be a surprise? My wife wouldn’t let us be surprised cuz she couldn’t take the anticipation, haha…). But great job with all the hand me downs so far, that SERIOUSLY helps out a lot – esp since they grow out of clothe so quick! Our 2 month old is now onto 3-6 mo old clothes! Freakin’ crazy… And then when you can pass along the clothes to someone else and continue the love :)
Wishing you a quick and comfortable birth! Congrats!!
I’ve already spent close to that amount and there’s no live baby for me yet :(. It sucks to struggle with infertility.
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that :( We started going down that route too when we were pleasantly surprised, so I can only hope that happens to you guys too! You never know! Life works in mysterious ways :)
Holy crap I can relate. We did all of this and our Angel of Awesomeness is due in two months. We have her 3D picture already in her baby book and her kicks and punches into the midsection make me wonder if she is ready for this crazy world. Between the appointments, painting, pink everything it has been costly. However we have a great support group of friends who are quick to hand out cost saving tips and hand me downs which save us alot. I about fell over the first time I stepped into Babies R Us. I would reccommend baby fairs and second hand stores. We have also saved alot there.
Awesome! Congrats!! You’re gonna love being a daddy :) A TON harder than I originally thought, but also a ton BETTER too – if that makes sense. You’ll see soon… And thanks for the reminder that I need to update this again – the months go by so fast now!
Congrats! I really like this list!
Thanks! Me too, though I keep forgetting to update it! haha…
Let’s get a fall update! :-)
I know! Jeez, I suck right now… On my to-do list though! The thing I didn’t factor in was how much TIME these babies take! Haha… It’s a good thing I don’t factor in THOSE hourly rates ;)
Eek! Those insurance premiums are killing you! :-/
I decided to keep a tally after you shared you’d be doing this. I’m having my baby in just 6 days on 12/18 via scheduled c-section. I’ve been extremely frugal, though, and so far since conception, we’ve only spent $165, including co-pays for prenatal visits! Granted, our co-pays are only $5 per visit because hubs works for the county and they have great insurance. Just had a baby shower and got lots of new clothes. I also bought some used (but in great shape) clothes from Craigslist and eBay. Anyway, we are about to do some more spending for the stuff we need but didn’t get (cloth diapers, nail clippers, car seat, etc.), so it’s going to go up by a couple hundred very soon!!!
But as you said, the total back in love = infinity! :)
Thanks so much for sharing your list and costs. It’s so great to read your updates!! P.S. Baby Money is SUPER adorable!!!!
YAYYY!!!! And thanks! I’m glad you got something out of this and that you’re tracking it too – you’re totally whipping me! Haha… And if you go w/ the “breast is best” crowd, you’ll save a ton there too – free food specially made just for your little one, doesn’t get much better than that :) Happy thoughts everything goes smooth for your c-section – Congrats!
OMG I can’t believe you’re disciplined enough to track even this far! No way you’re getting to 18 years. I’ll make sure and check back here and then. ;) I love that you purchased a cute toothbrush holder before the baby was born! My poor kids still don’t have one…
Haha, I hope we’ll end up USING IT one day! It just sits there looking pretty currently ;) And you’re probably right about the 18 years of tracking thing, but damn if I’m not gonna try hard!
Amazing summary already! Best of luck keeping this going. It will be an incredible feet if you can make it to 18 years of age.
Are you also going to track the damage he does? (busted car, broken garage door due to hockey pucks etc…) I am sure if my parents had been keeping track they would not have been impressed.
Congrats on the little one, I have one on the way for March.
HAH! I hadn’t thought of that before, but I sure will! I have a feeling he’s going to be quite the handful when he grows up, so we’ll be tacking these numbers up as well – good idea ;)
I didn’t read through all of the comments so I apologize if this has been said but I just wanted to let you know this project is simultaneously the most funny and the most informative blog effort I have ever seen. This is truly awesome and even if you can keep this going for a year then you have served humanity. Thank you and God speed!!!
Hey, thanks! Appreciate that :) And you just reminded me that I need to update this again, haha… it’s super hard to stay on top of! Especially with a baby to also pay attention to ;) I’m not giving up yet, though…
Hi J. Money. I’m a new reader for your blog and am loving it! We are having our first baby in June 2013 and I appreciate the baby cost tracker so the PF geek in me has some idea on expected costs. Quick question, though. Have you considered taking into account the tax deduction you get each year for Baby Money? With a $3800 deduction for 2012 that helps significantly reduce the overall cost.
Hi! Glad you’re enjoying the blog so far :) And no, I hadn’t considered the tax savings yet – good call! I guess that should be included here since it directly affects money in and out, yeah? I’ll make a note to look into and will probably add in my next update. Thanks :)
You are my hero. That is all.
Awwww…. *tips hat*
I LOVE THIS POST IDEA! i think I will do this with Baby No. 2
Over in Australia our government gives us what is called a “Baby Bonus” It is basically a payment for most parents i think who earn under $170,000 a year (so most of us hahaha)
to help with the financial aspects of having a baby. In the past it has been around $5000 but unfortunately this meant that lots of teens were having “babies for money” and taking care of the kids for the REST of their lives weren’t being considered and big tvs, holidays etc was what the money was being used for instead. The bonus helped us considerably eg helped pay for cot nappies, dr apps etc but unfortunately its the ones that abuse the help that make it hard for everyone else.! Thew government has since decreased the amount. :( We were also really lucky with our first that family and friends had had their babies first so we had a lot of great quality hand me downs. People should utilise this stuff more, Its so easy to want everything new especially for baby no 1 but seriously, they grow out of things soooo fast it’s just not worth it! In Aus too we have baby trade shops where you can trade your little clothes for bigger clothes making the upgrade a lot easier.
Looking at some of your costs too. Phenomenal! don’t get sucked in by baby shops. Look online instead or department stores. We paid $300 for a brand new cot that converts to a toddler bed with any extra things to buy to convert it. We also borrowed pregnancy books from local library. You could try buying diapers in bulk of a cheaper brand and spend a little more on a better quality nappy cream which will save you in nappies. I love sudecrem but not sure if you have where you are?
Well hello there Australia! So cool we can chat like this here :) And even cooler about those baby bonuses!!! Jeeez that’s awesome. Well, not so much on people abusing it (every country has those morons) but def. great when put to good use. We get tax deductions here which help, but not the same as someone giving you a check for $5,000 :) And I LOVE that baby trade up idea!! I swear some of these clothes get worn like only 2 times and then they’re too small – freaking crazy. Though luckily I hit up yard sales every weekend which can help with that… Thanks for stopping by the site!
yeah the trade ups are great. If you have nothing to trade you can buy the clothes too but all are in such perfect condition or designer stuff that like you said have been once or twice. We can even sell things to the shop too if say if kids are all grown up. We also have a lot of farmers markets which also get lots of people setting up tables with little knick knacks so you can find a lot of toys etc there. Often people bypass them assuming its all dust collecting junk but occassionally there are some little gems there! Intially baby bonus was a lump sum. Now its spread out over i think 18 fortnightly payments. We also get a family tax benefit on top but im fairly sure its means tested. This week I am also hoping to start a veggie garden so we can grow organic veggies and make my own baby food. All those jars add up in $$ (and rubbish) so it makes sense considering we have the space.
COOL!! Good for you – that sounds awesome :) And healthy!
>>>> (Total back in love: Infinity!)
And that is what makes it all worth it!
Buying the breast pump was worth it for us. It ended up being cheaper than renting it.
J monery, a total of $15,252.37, is quite a huge budget. I guess some cost are more sentimental and we easily spend when we thing with our hearts
That, and when you invest thousands into their college fun and have ridiculously high health insurance premiums ;)
Your daycare is ridiculously cheap! OMG I pay $486 for preschool 3/days a week 1/2 days! Full time is closer to $1800 for a 3.5 year old preschool and for an infant $600/week. Ridiculous. I’ve spent close to zero on clothes but my real budget buster?
Carseats and strollers. But I stay at home and am out with kids all the time. Double stroller Maclaren $169 from amazon, Bob Double $400, Bob single $339, Single Maclaren-hand me down, and single chicco – free. Infant bucket – hand me down.
But carseats costs for you? Where is your life insurance premium? You typically don’t need it until kids. Also don’t forget disability. And umbrella. Even if you would have some, you wouldn’t have as much pre kids.
I bought on my DH $3M with kiddo 1 and another $1M with kiddo 2. Insanity. Costs us for him around $1500/year. Then $500k on me for $250/year for 25 years. Disability we got 70% maximum payout post tax for $300/year.
We also with each kid got bigger/newer cars. But our cars at the time were 10+ years old and we replaced one with a new subaru and the other with a used sonata. Still costs that we could have kept on driving our old ford focus and toyota corolla from last decade.
Haha oh yeah – daycare is no joke! Ours would have been similar to yours too had we not moved over the Summer :) One of the perks of getting away from the city…
And we have the single BOB stroller too! The jogging one – it’s hot. Got it free from a mom blogger ;)
All our car seats were given to us as presents at showers/etc. And we’ve had life insurance set up years ago way before baby came, though it would prob. be best to increase it as it currently would only pay off our mortgages I believe. I’m making a note… (And will include here when we do it).
No purchase of a bigger car yet, but that, too, is on the list to change within the next year or so. And which I’ll also include a portion of here since it would pretty much be *because* of the baby :)
It’s a good thing babies bring so much joy to our lives, right?? They’re def. expensive!
For those following this thread, my friend Mochimac is now tracking her expenses too :) Let’s see who wins! Haha…
http://www.savespendsplurge.com/tracking-the-cost-of-the-baby-from-pregnancy-onwards/
Isn’t it the journey and not the finish line that counts!? :) Thanks for the link back.
This is a super effective form of birth control.
You should sell that final number to high schools to use in their sex ed classes in 17 years.
Hah! Like they’d listen to an old man like me… Everyone knows teenagers are invincible anyways ;)
As a new BAS reader (do you even use that acronym?? ha) I’ve just discovered this post via your tweet an hour ago.
I’m 24 with no kids. This is fantastic to get an actual real life outline of the financial aspects of having a child!!!! Seriously this post is one of the best financial blog posts I’ve ever read!
Out of all my positive thoughts, I can’t help but acknowledge one somewhat negative thought. Your child discovers your spreadsheet one day and feels as though you’ve assigned him a price of ownership. I doubt this will be an issue though. You’ll probably just tell him it’s informational only and your goal isn’t to raise him cheaply, rather just keep good bookkeeping. Also, to help future parents like myself!
You know, I’ve definitely thought of that before :) I actually gave him his own net worth too a while ago (which included 529 savings 4 college) but then someone advised it may not be good for him to see this early on for somewhat similar reasons. We’ll see what the future holds though – he won’t be able to read for quite some time still :)
Glad you enjoyed the post though! I’ll be updating it REALLY soon… and yes, I call it BAS for short too sometimes :)
Please keep the tally running. It will get more and more attention as the years tick by.
I’m sure it will, but I’d lose more and more sanity too ;)
And to those that look at these numbers and change their mind about having kids just remember that babies can be raised just as happy on garage sales and thrift store hand me downs.
Agreed! You can spend a LOT less if you want to/have to. As our nurse once told me – all they need is love :)
I am enjoying this tally! My 2nd was born in July 2012, so I feel your pain.
(And the first one was 6 years old and we’d gotten rid of EVERYTHING in between).
Oh boy, haha… At least your eldest can help out around the house and with baby #2! Ours just pokes him and then runs away and starts playing haha… They sure are adorable though :)
This is a great idea, I really enjoyed reading this post and seeing you document your expenses. I wish I had done the same for us, between Emergency room visits for ear infections in the middle of the night and daycare costs I’m well into two years of college tuition.
Yikes – I bet! And LOVE your “rewards chest” for kids too you built – good one :)
Fantastic storyline idea for the blog and great baby pics! You are truly blessed J$!
Thank you sir – I’m having a ball over here :)
Wow! This is amazing…you are meticulous in your documenting of this part of your life journey. I like it but don’t think I have the time or discipline to duplicate such a thing. We have two kids, and as cute as they are, the cuteness comes at a price. Although I wouldn’t change it for the world, I can’t help but sometimes think how much closer to retirement I would be without kids. haha
Thanks for sharing…your son is very cute! Best wishes. AFFJ