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Monthly Costs of a Baby?
DH and I will be starting to TTC in about 6 months, and I’m attempting to do some budget planning, We have been working hard for 5 years to reach our financial goals, which we are on track to accomplish before TTC, so I’m very excited about this. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Since I do not have a baby, I truthfully do not know what they cost. We have money for the “start up” costs saved up, so I’m not worried about buying the initial gear/nursery items, more curious about the ongoing, monthly costs.
I will be a SAHM so no day care expenses. I know the obvious things, like breastfeeding save a lot of money but there’s no guarantee it will work for me. How much do you spend in a typical month on a baby, and on what? What sort of unexpected or not typical expenses that cause you to go over budget?
Thanks so much for your help!
Re: Monthly Costs of a Baby?
We don't have any children yet, but have been TTC for a few months now. So this is what we researched and put into our budget for planning purposes on a monthly basis.
Diapers, wipes, extras: About $200/month (we budgeted higher in case of formula)
Co-pays for checkups & perscriptions: $100/month
Daycare: $650/month (this is for the most expensive one in our area)
Health Insurance: $75/month (we each have individual plans now)
College Savings: $50/month
We also have all of the co-pays and deductibles saved up for the birth, and 4 weeks of my salary saved for maternity leave (will use 3 weeks vacation also). Then we have $1,500 saved up for bigger ticket items like crib, paint, dresser, jogging stroller, etc.
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Our little one is just over a month old. Breast feeding didn't work for us, so for right now I"m pumping. Pump parts and bottles were about $40. We go through diapers like they are going out of style, but I get them on sales cheap (bought ahead too, so not quite a monthly expense) I'm betting about $40 spent in the last month on newborns and an extra pack of size 1s. We have had 2 copays at the pediatrician already- $30. And hospital bills are starting to come due. Other than that, this past month I"ve probably spent $100 on other stuff we didn't realize we've needed (bottle drying rack, extra cover for the changing pad- he doesn't like the cold plastic) and most of that was covered by gift cards we got from friends and family. We have budgetted $300 for baby for the next couple months just in case something comes up (we may end up switching for formula for instance) but other than that, I'm betting our costs will come to more like $100 a month. We are very thrifty though, so that may not be do-able for a lot of people. Also things that are working for us- pumping, and buying cheap diapers- may not work for everyone because some have sensitive skin for instance.
I would initially plan on budgeting $200 a month on average realizing that the extra will be needed when you change sizes etc.
I breastfed/pumped the first 3 months and supplemented formula...but I'd say at the peak we were using 1 tub of formula a week. For babyfood, I made my own which saved a ton.
Diapers.. at first changing them every 2 hours (depending). I'd say after around 6 months we started buying Target brand diapers (love them) and that helped cost.
Clothing..most clothing given for the first year was gifts. Although you can't rely on that. I check out stores sale section and got bigger sizes.
Those are the 3 big items in my eyes. I guess formula is the big expense that I wasn't expecting.
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Thanks so much for this advice! I again would not have considered this, I'm glad I asked this question.
Awesome! I love clearance sales. I will do this for sure.
Babies can be expensive or inexpensive. We cloth diaper and I started stocking up when I found great deals when we started trying so I was able to really keep costs down. I breastfed and then we made most of our own baby food, and we made it mostly from what we grew ourselves in the garden. We got lots of the stuff as gifts. You can make a lot of choices about babies that keep costs down.
I find having a toddler to be far more expensive. Our grocery bill has skyrocketed. At least our toddler can consume a ton of fruits and vegetables. It blows me away how something so small can eat so much. She is so much harder on her clothes and shoes than ever before. Most of her baby clothes didn't look much worse after she outgrew it than when we got it; toddler clothes are destroyed. Shoes are so expensive. We do a lot of free or inexpensive activities, but classes cost money. I only say this to think beyond the first year and not to blow all of the money you save now on getting the cutest bouncer he/she will use for a few months, etc. and think about getting some of that used/add to your registry/whatever because there will be other things you want to use that money for.
I'll add to the unexpected. We had hospital bills that totalled $3000+ for just the delivery. Daughter's hospital stay was charged as separate than mine so reaching the max didn't quite happen the way we thought it would. Additionally we had minor medical issues we weren't expecting and out co-pays, physical therapy, consults testing and a helmet ended up close to another $3000 we weren't planning on for the year. (not that this is typical, but it is something to plan for just in case). Formula was $20-40 a week depending on how much I was supplementing at the time. Breast pump was close to $200. Video monitor again $200. Those were things I felt were necessary, but may not be in your situation. Most clothing I got from showers and christmas presents or hand-me-downs. But once I hit about 6 months those sorts of things dried up. I actually think food was cheaper when she was on formula since now we are going with organic whole cows milk and tons of toddler freindly foods (pouches).
Our son was a November baby and I had an at the time 7 year old SS so he was sick ALL the time his first year. We probably paid $350 in visits to the ped. Our well checks were totally covered by ins.
We pay $80/month in formula, we buy in bulk. $80 is really cheap as we are able to buy in bulk and our son doesn't have any allergies or issues.
Diapers we buy in bulk as well, I would guess $25/month. Wipes also in bulk $10/month
Clothes, plan to spend $20 per month. I had a ton of hand me downs but I also wanted to pick my own stuff
Toys, you will NEED toys I'd say $15 a month with some months of bigger purchases and some months not at all
Teething tablets, Tylenol, copays for meds- probably $150 over the whole year
Bottles- my son wasn't super picky but we tried two different systems probably $200 including two sanitizers, one I accidentally destroyed by trying to sanitize a nose sucker
Toddler car seat, we needed to get two for our two cars so together about $225, our infant one had a base system so we just bought a bunch of bases for our cars ($50 a piece)
Safety baby proof stuff- Got a hand me down gate, bought another one and got plugs for the walls-$75
Bath time stuff- tub-$15, towels, wash cloths and toys- $10
Food- we did not make our own and he was done with purées in like 3 months. I'm not sure why everyone thinks they save a ton by making their own but the little purée pouches, even totally organic are like $1.75 a piece and one pouch lasted two meals. So worth it for me not to buy a baby food steamer and puree system. My son now eats what we eat and I haven't noticed a difference in our grocery bill. Maybe $20 more a month because I only give him organic fruits and veggies
The expensive stuff that we didn't plan for: dog training for our dog who started acting up after baby got here $$$, black out curtains for every room my son sleeps in $$, time off work when my son was sick $, our son was born with a small hernia so we have surgery coming up which will be $$$, we could probably use marriage counseling to recover from this year $
Nothing looks big ticket but it all adds up. We are definitely looking forward to the day when I don't have to go to target twice a month to get formula because those impulse buys add up!
The pp had good advice.
One other thing to think about. If possible, sign up for the best insurance you can for the year you have the baby. More the likely you will have an uncomplicated pregnancy. I did not, had 3 weeks hospital bedrest and a NICU baby. $300K in hospital bills all in. Our insurance OOP max was $6K and that was what we paid. She's had alot of follow up visits over the past few months with specialists which were very expensive- all covered in full by insurance because we've met our OOP for the year. And, even when we go to the general pediatrician for a simple well visit and/or vaccines, she's considered a "complicated" patient so we need to pay a co pay.
The silver lining in all this is that she is perfectly healthy now!
Our hospital bill after insurance was $150. We don't have copays for our well check appts (every few months), one $25 copay for an ER trip. We buy wipes, diapers and formula at Costco. A box of wipes lasts us months and is $20. Diapers are starting to last longer and are $39 for 180 which will last us just over a month. We buy Kirkland brand formula and a can lasts about a week and is $17. Double that if you want Similac or Similac sensitive. We haven't bought any new toys, but they do grow out of clothes quickly. I'd say I spend $50 a month on clothes, sometimes more because it's easy to shop for baby clothes. I will add $20 now that we are on solids for produce, but not sure I spend that much extra. So I guess on avg we spend just over $200. You could easily spend 300+ though if you buy name brand on formula and diapers. A lot less if you are breast feeding.
One expense that we've added now and I would have enjoyed then is a YMCA membership. They have free childcare for members, and you can get the benefits of exercise and classes.