BR: A Poll for Moms

maryandkirk0909

How much does your baby cost monthly?  Feel free to itemize. 

lneuner09

uh oh... Kirk need a reminder of how expensive babies are?

telatovich

Of all the things I really don't want to know or think about.... I think that question tops my list!

michirusan

Hey long time no post but I figure I would put my two sense in. I need to be really frugal.

Formula :80 a month he tolerates BJ's wholesale club brand. so that helps save.

Diapers:60 a month. Amazon mom + subscribe and save

Wipes: 17 a month Amazon again.

Childcare: free since I live two houses from my mom

bathing supplies: for wash and lotion maybe 6 bucks every two months shopping sales and what not.

Clothing: I shop clearance I wont spend more then 2 dollars for an article of clothing. So i would say an average of 15 a month.

Plus the "start up" costs.  I got a lot for my shower but if not it would have been. 250 for mini crin and changing table combo. then he out grew the changing table so I had to buy another one for 135 that will double as a dresser later. Pak n play (160), swing that converts to a high chair (150). bottles, activity mat (70). Some of this prices are estimated trying to remember when I registered for them.

I definately bought stuff on the lower end of the budget but decent quality. So far so good. I read reviews and made sure everything was safe.

amelianguy

Okay, here's the breakdown of the absolute necessities:

Diapers - $30-$40 per month depending on the brand. (Lately I've been getting away with $20 a month with Target's club packs of 144 diapers for $19.99)

Formula - $25-$30 per WEEK depending on the brand. We use Similac ready-to-feed, which is $4 per quart. Ellie drinks 1 quart a day, so we're spending $28 per week on formula. So, a monthly cost of $112. Again, this varies depending on the brand (Ellie won't drink powdered formula, but I know a lot of people who have luck with the Sam's Club brand of formula, which is a better value.)

Wipes - I get a pack of 3 packs for $8 at Walmart, so I would say no more than $10 a month.

Baby food: If you make your own you can keep costs down, but I would say at least $10 a week, so $40 a month there.

So, for absolute monthly necessities, I would say budget for at least $200 per month.



Then, you have your incidentals. Toiletries, diaper pail refills, replacement bottles & sippys, clothes, the occasional toy, doctor co-pays, baby tylenol, etc. etc. etc. Of course, all of these things are easily contained depending on your budget, but in all seriousness, just TRY to walk past the baby section at Target without buying something. It's not possible. I'd say for these things I probably spend $50-$100 a month. Clothes are the biggest thing, since she's constantly growing, her clothes constantly need replacing.

Let me know if you have questions. HTH!

amelianguy

**side note** Notice the difference between Michi's diaper costs and my own. This is because as your child gets older, he or she does not go through as many diapers throughout the day. As a newborn, we went through about 10 diapers per day. Now, at almost 10 months, we go through probably 4 or 5.

michirusan

thanks amelia i was about to think i was missing out on better deals lol

MBMcC421

As I'm sure you well know, the price it costs is relative to location, breastfeeding vs. formula feeding, disposable vs. cloth diapering, daycare vs SAHM, etc.  Honestly, I don't know exact numbers right now because 1) Chris handles a lot of the expenses, 2) we take advantage of sales and deals as we come across them, and 3) we make due with what we have when we have it, and only buy when we need it.  I found an article once that showed how much it cost for 18 years of child rearing, and it was just a really scary number.

That being said, AmazonMom.com is our friend. 

maryandkirk0909

What about health insurance, doctor's visits, that kind of stuff.  Babies require lots of these, yes?  Day care?  Anything else?

MBMcC421

maryandkirk0909:

What about health insurance, doctor's visits, that kind of stuff.  Babies require lots of these, yes?  Day care?  Anything else?

We lucked out with Chris' insurance - it was very inexpensive to add Sami to our plan, and his company offers a secondary insurance that actually covers all of our out of pocket expenses.  So by Chris paying 1% of his insurance premium biweekly with his paycheck, we have $0.00 due out of pocket for hospital bills and doctor's appointments.  The only thing we would have to pay for is any medication and so far we've been lucky to not need anything yet.  So yeah, I'm not a good basis for this.

Again, daycare is relative to location, ft vs pt, in home or at a center.  To put it in perspective, up here in MA, we paid $1200 for 3 days at a center, and that was the least-expensive in our area. Yeah.  Ouch.

amelianguy

maryandkirk0909:

What about health insurance, doctor's visits, that kind of stuff.  Babies require lots of these, yes?  Day care?  Anything else?

My health insurance premiums went WAY up. From $100 per pay period for Guy and I, to $190 per pay period for the three of us. Adding her to our dental plan will add another $20 per pay period. All her wellness visits are covered 100%, but if she goes in for an illness, it's a $20 copay. We don't pay for daycare, of course, but we do play to put her in preschool part-time when she's 2, which will probably be around $100 a week. I know in other parts of the country it's much more than that.

Also, something else to consider is the inital cost of giving birth - I paid my doctor $550, and I paid the hospital about $300 for me and about $700 for Ellie. My sister, who had a NICU baby, paid over $3,000 just for Sayre, and around $500 for herself, after insurance. Before insurance, the bill was over $20,000. Checking your insurance plan to see what they cover before you have your baby is something you should absolutely do.

kass09

Thanks, Mary, for asking this question, and thank you to the mom's for answering.  We are starting to talk more seriously about TTC, and the monthly increase in expenses has been on my mind as well.

Re: daycare, I started researching some places in my area and their costs, just so we can start planning if needed (MIL has already offered to watch our baby when the time comes, but not sure if that will be 5 days a week).  A lot of places post their rates online, but I also saw a thread once on GP and people said you should not be afraid to call and ask about rates so you can plan accordingly.  As MB stated, be ready for sticker-shock.  I also realized this week that during FMLA, we might have to pay out of pocket for our full insurance premiums (gulp) but I have to research this more.

Thanks ladies!

 

amelianguy

kass09:

I also realized this week that during FMLA, we might have to pay out of pocket for our full insurance premiums (gulp) but I have to research this more.

 

Yep. I had to pay OOP during the time I wasn't receiving a paycheck. To counteract this, my company uses up all of an employees PTO and issues them a paycheck for as long as possible during their leave, so fortunately, I only had to pay for one pay-period's worth of premiums. But, when you're not drawing in any money, that hurts.

misspippa

I agree wtih MB, Amazon Mom is amazing.  I buy everything for Parker there, from diapers(30% off), wipes, baby food(the kinds we don't make at home), baby wash, etc. We probably spend around $40 on diapers and maybe $15 on wipes which I think is pretty good.  And you can always do cloth which is a bit more at first but cheaper in the long run.  I am not sure about formula because we don't use it but I know you can get coupons that can really help and I believe you can get that discounted on Amazon Mom as well. 

I am not sure about the actual monthly costs because I am not good and organized like that but mostly the things I spend a lot on are definitely not necessities, like clothes, toys, and other cute things I have no self control with all those things, haha. 

Medical costs are definitely something to keep in mind.  Our insurance(which is through H's work) is good but we still had outrageous(I think anyway) bills for all the ultrasounds I had to have when I was pregnant and the co-pay for prenatal care and my delivery.  Also his medication he takes is almost $90 a month so that adds up. 

 

mz_zane

We use cloth diapers, so an initial $200 and we have most of the diapers we need until shes 23lbs I think.  We do use disposable for nighttime, so we spend maybe $8-15 a month on those. Wipes, maybe another $15-20. We haven't had to buy any bath stuff yet since I got a basket full of stuff as a gift.

I breastfeed, so we save'd a bundle there.  Also since I work from home, we got to bypass daycare. 

Clothing we lucked out on and got a ton of hand-me-downs from my sister since my niece is just 4 months older than Phoenix.  I've bought a few outfits here and there, so maybe $20 a month, if that.

Crib was $300, and the rest of the nursery we probably spent about $150 to decorate and finish.

We got almost all the gear we needed at our shower, thankfully, but we still need to buy a highchair which range between $50 and $200 or so.  She's also just about outgrown her infant car seat, so we're looking at about $200 for a stage 2 seat.

Medical - As of Jan.1 of this year all wellness checks for babies, regardless of insurance, are supposed to be no-charge, that includes immunizations (Obama's health care act).  This actually helped us because the first 3 we went to were our $30 copay.  All non-wellness checks, like when we had to take her in for GERD, are still at the $30.  Her medication now is almost $30 a month.  Her insurance is about $130 a month. 

Her birth - as I mentioned the other day, our total bills for her birth are about $7-8000. Breakdown - the anesthesia amount equals my $1750 deductible, to my insurance we owe an additional $1660 or something like that, and to the hospitals we owe I think like $3500.  I would say check your insurance ahead of time, but thats no guarantee; I had purposely picked my insurance for their birth plan before I got pregnant, and then (sadly, in direct response to Obama's health care act) they changed it when I was 7months pregnant to the crappy coverage it is now.  I also called the hospital before we went into labor to see what they charged for births, and all they could give me was a range....something like 15,000 - 60,000+ which was incredibly unhelpful.

 

fitnessgirl630

Like the others, I'm not sure of exact costs since I've been so tired and Ken does most of the shopping.  Formula (the smaller containers) are around $15 a can and go quick.  We've gotten the bigger ones at BJ's lately but I'm not sure of the price.  I LOVED breastfeeding one reason is because it truly saves you money but could only do it for a month because Nate had an unusual reaction to my milk.

My health insurance went up to $580 a month instead of $275.  Doctor's visits are a $25 Copay and Nate has a $500 deductible as well. 

Childcare for me is $320 a week when I go back to work next month but I am using my best friend as a nanny I'm sure daycare might be slightly cheaper. 

My hospital bills would have been around 20K if I didn't have insurance but the bill with insurance to deliver him was $3500.

 

Hope this helped a little:)