Budgeting for a baby

[Deana]

Before we actually get pg, dh really wants to get as realistic picture as possible of how much more it will cost us once we have a baby. For those of you that have a baby or are budgeting, I'm wondering what the estimated monthly costs are for:

Formula, baby food, diapers

Baby clothes

day care (I'm probably going to work part time)

college fund (dh really wants to start budgeting for this now - even before we are pg)

And, what about "start up" costs?? OK, I know that sounds odd, but how much do you need to budget for crib, strollers, car seats, etc.??

TIA!!

[Mel-icious]

Monthly costs, a little hard to figure out, especially for a newborn, you go threw diapers and formula {alot of wasted formula too} pretty quickly. I read somewhere its estimated that a family will spend about $2500 on diapers alone from newborn to potty training, its a rough estimate. You can go through up to 10-15 diapers, give or take a day for a newborn. They say you should have on hand about 150 to start, thats 3 large packs at about $12 a pack.

Then you also have a box or two of wipes a week. ;) They are about $3 a box.

Formula is way to hard for me to remember so I can't guage that one for ya! Sorry.

Day care you'll have to check into in your area, it really varies.

College fund, no idea, T and I haven't done since my brother did as a gift to all his nieces and nephews when they were born.

Start up costs:

Crib anywhere from $200 and up.
Car seats will run you a good $150 and up.
Strollers can run anywhere from $75 and up.
Infant tub $20
Sling/or front carrier $25-50 {highly recommend getting one of these}
Monitor $40
Bottles and nipples you'll need about 10 4-ounce bottles to start
at $2 a bottle I think.


As for clothing and other essentials, here's an article from Baby Center (http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pregnancy/pregnancygear/519.html ) and a Calculator (http://www.babycenter.com/costofchild/). Some more helpful articles:
http://www.babycenter.com/baby/babygear/index/

[Life201]

Deana,
When Anthony was born, we bought things as needed. Costs change as they get older. Formula, bottles, & diapers cost depending on what brands you use. Dipers get more expensive as they get older & you get less I the package, but they aren’t changed quite as much. Clothes also depend on how & where you shop. I have always been a bargain shopper so there are lots of ways to save money.
I’ve tried brand names on diapers and formulas & they are just as good as some of the store brands – Wal-Mart has really great products. They’re formula is the #2 in the nation and our pediatrician said it’s just as good as the name brands, same ingredients and half the price. Same with diapers.
As far as clothes go, kids are messy. I would buy some really nice things for special occasions, but mostly I bought cute inexpensive clothes for the rest of the time. They grow so fast and make such a mess, it’s a waste of money to spend a ton.
Child care depends on your preferences. In this area, you can expect to spend probably between $400 and $800 for a newborn, depending on where you put them. If you’re only going to work part time, there are great mother’s day out programs at churches which run significantly less.
Truly, the rest seems like incidentals. Diapers & formula at the grocery store instead of sodas, alcoholic beverages and desserts. Pick up a cute outfit here and there. Shop the outlet mall. Carters has great clothes – their clearance sales are incredible.
Strollers & car seats can be purchased altogether for about $100 - $200, depending on what you go with. We didn’t really buy much as far as baby furniture goes until Anthony was a little older, because he stayed in our room until he was about 8 months old. My sister loaned us her portable crib, which is smaller and we bought a convertible crib later. Never really saw much use for a changing table.
We learned that wherever you can put the baby down is a good place. Floor works better & less chance of mess. Even today, we just sit on the floor and change him.
DH puts some money aside every month in an account just for Anthony. He found a great account with his old credit union that gains about 6% interest on savings! We also have a permanent life insurance policy on him which builds a cash value that can be used later for Anthony for college or a car or anything else.
Usually, you get a lot of the startup stuff at your shower and the rest is just your own preference. I think first time parents always go WAY overboard on everything. We did. It’s not really necessary to have bottle warmers or wipe warmers. The microwave only takes a few seconds to warm a bottle. We never bought distilled water for the baby bottles.
There are so many ways to spend a lot or to cut corners, just depends on how you like to do things.

[Life201]

We never used a baby monitor. I have really good hearing.

Formula is between $12 and $25 per 2 pound can.

We buy wipes at Sam's in mass quantities.

[LBD301]

My son is just over 3 months old and wears size 3 Huggies Diapers. (He could fit in 2's, but Costco/BJ's only sells cases in size 1/2, or 3).

A case of diapers is about $30 and lasts about 3 wks., give or take...that's Huggies or Pampers.

A 2 lb. can of Similac Isomil (soy) formula is about $23. I use it to supplement expressed breast milk, about 2 oz. formula to 3 oz. EBM. I am almost out, and I bought it about a month ago. If you had to use it F/T, it wouldn't last nearly as long. The powdered formula is much less expensive than the concentrate, or ready to use.

A case of Huggies Natural Care wipes...I still have (I think) 2 pkgs. from the case I bought a month ago.

Daycare varied ALOT depending on where you live and what type of daycare. We use a daycare center in our town and it's $220/wk. for babies up to (I think) 18 months. The price goes down a little the older they get, which is pretty much across the board with all daycare centers. It will cost you less to have an in-home day care provider. Not sure about Nannies. I live in northern NJ, where it is fairly expensive.

As far as "start-up" costs, hopefully you'll have a shower and people will get you lots of the big stuff!

The Kick and Play bouncy seat (a must for us!) is about $39.
The Graco swing was about $99. (My son hates it).
The Graco Pack & Play was on clearance (discontinued) for $59.
The Graco Sterling travel system (stroller & infant car seat) was about $200.
The crib was a hand me down from my niece & nephew. (Make sure if you get a used crib that the rails are NO WIDER than 2 3/8".)
A convertible car seat will run $100+...do your homework, and DO NOT get a used one, unless you know the person it's from and it has not been involved in an accident.
You don't have to have a cradle or bassinet, but it is nice to have if you want the baby in the room with you for the first couple months or so. We had both, (both were used), but ended up not using the cradle, to low to the ground. The bassinet was nice to have.
Monitor's aren't that expensive. In fact, my mom got a Safety First monitor for free at BRU for buying something else, so watch for specials like that.
Clothes can get expensive...keep in mind that they grow soo fast, it's not economical to buy expensive little outfits. A couple nice ones are always good, "just because", but shop consignment, garage sales, hand me downs from friends and relatives, or outlets like Carter's, we got almost all our baby's 0-3 mon. outfits there for $129. Buy all white socks! I like Carter's best, they actually stay on. :lol: If you'll find out the sex, still get some yellow, white and green stretchy suits, this way you have them if the next child is the opposite sex!
Bottles: I use Avent, and am still using the small bottles. I have big ones, but don't need to use them. The small ones can hold about 5 1/2 oz., which is about what he drinks now. I have 3 small ones and I send them all made up to daycare each day, along with another sm. storage only bottle of formula, just in case he's extra hungry. You don't need a ton of bottles, it's not a big deal to wash them in hot soapy water when we get home, and make up 3 more for the evening/night. I also have an Avent disposable that I use sometimes. I store EBM in 4 oz. rations and add an oz. or so of formula, then put the bag in the disposable bottle.
Storage bags: GERBER!! They're the only ones with the "ziplock" closure, so you can store them flat in the freezer, or fridge. The Medela ones are overpriced, and the others can be stored flat.
Speaking of Medela, if you're returning to work, and need to pump, get a good double electric pump, like the Medela Pump In Style or Ameda Purely Yours. Or rent one from the hospital. Don't waste your money on a small single electric. An excellent manual pump is the Avent Isis hand pump. It's very efficient, I would say as efficient as my Medela PIS, but just takes longer, since it's a single. If you're not pumping at work, this is a great choice.

That's all I can think of right now! Hope this helps!

[Deana]

thank you all so much! This is really helpful :thumb2:

[Margarita]

This site (http://www.teenageparent.org/english/costofbaby2B.html) is actually designed to deter teens from getting pregnant, but it's a good checklist with some suggested amounts, though I don't know how accurate they are.

If this works, it's a budget I got from somwhere online. I don't remember where exactly.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid61/p45659f9e73f26b770be1508a55c08231/fc3351c1.gif.thumb.jpg

[Margarita]

That obviously didn't work, and I can't get it big enough to be legible, so I'm going to have to do it by hand. This doesn’t have college amounts on it at all because it stops at age 17. I hope it helps. Notice that the costs in each category are per year, so the first 2 years is about $10,000.

Estimated cost of raising a baby

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture report, 1990-92 data, updated to 1998 dollars. Figures for the younger child in a 2-child family. Misc includes personal care items, entertainment, & reading materials.

Age 0-2
Housing – 2,270
Food – 850
Transportation – 720
Clothing – 390
Health Care – 410
Child Care & Education – 720
Misc – 590
Total Per Year – 5,950
Grand Total – 17,850

Age 3-5
Housing – 2,240
Food – 940
Transportation – 690
Clothing – 380
Health Care – 390
Child Care & Education – 820
Misc – 600
Total Per Year – 6,060
Grand Total – 18,180

Age 6-8
Housing – 2,170
Food – 1,210
Transportation – 810
Clothing – 420
Health Care – 450
Child Care & Education – 480
Misc – 640
Total Per Year – 6,180
Grand Total – 18,540

Age 9-11
Housing – 1,960
Food – 1,450
Transportation – 880
Clothing – 470
Health Care – 490
Child Care & Education – 290
Misc – 670
Total Per Year – 6,210
Grand Total – 18,630

Age 12-14
Housing – 2,180
Food – 1,520
Transportation – 990
Clothing – 780
Health Care – 500
Child Care & Education – 210
Misc – 840
Total Per Year – 7,020
Grand Total – 21,060

Age 15-17
Housing – 1,760
Food – 1,650
Transportation – 1,330
Clothing – 690
Health Care – 530
Child Care & Education – 340
Misc – 620
Total Per Year – 6,920
Grand Total – 20,760

Total 0-17 years old = $115,020

[rdy2rac with]

Everyone has had some good info.

When it comes to clothes I hate to buy the cutesy stuff that they'll only wear once. So, I tend to buy outfits a size larger so that Roni will get more use out of them. I usually will pick up an outfit here & there. They ahve some great stores around here called "Once Upon a Child", its a resale shop w/nothing but kids stuff. They have clothes, toys, furniture, just about everything.

If you get a nice crib it can last forever. We went w/a crib that will convert to a tot sized daybed then to a twin bed (part of the crib actually becomes the headboard & footboard, the framing for this was extra but any metal twin frame will work).

Another key point when it comes to shoping for kids.... garage sales & tumage sales!

Edit: I forgot to mention that we have started a college fund for Veronica. I have it set up to auto deposit $50 a month into her fund & as long as she uses it for college expenses there are no taxes tacken from it. She has a couple hundred dollars in there right now & she's only 15 months old. I can also deposit more in there at any time.

[Deana]

wow Margs, thanks for doing all of that by hand - I appreciate it!

I think I'm pretty much on track with my budgeting. I've put the following in our household budget:
$125/mo baby food, formula & diapers, wipes, etc ($1500/yr)
$50/mo clothes ($600/yr. It's high, but I'd rather have some wiggle room than not)
$50/mo education fund ($600/yr)
$400/mo childcare ($4800/yr... this is if I work PT)
$39/mo healthcare ($468/yr. It costs $39/mo to add a child to David's insurance, & all well-baby visits are paid at 100%, other visits are 80/20)

I didn't even think to factor in housing or transportation, since we will have those costs either way (they are fixed).

The more and more we talk about it, the more I think I'm going to end up working part-time. If my employer lets me (and I'm 99% sure he will) I will work 2 days a week at the office and 1/2 day a week out of my home. I would only have to use daycare 2x/wk that way. I've really worked on our budget and I have been able to eliminate a lot of unecessary expenses. But, we still want to keep up our vacation savings, and other things like having some extra spending money for dinner out every once in a while - that's why it makes sense for me to work part-time.
That's the plan for now at least. :)

Edited to add: I am going to be a MAJOR sale shopper when it comes to clothes (not only for baby, but for myself too). I think that's the only way to go. Also, my mom still has my cradle from when I was a baby which I am going to use.

[Margarita]

Katy, we have Once Upon a Child here, too. I thought it was local. Whaddya know!

You're welcome, D. It was easy. I would never have thought about transportation, either. I guess that's for if you had to take an extra subway or bus to get to daycare? Living out here in the boonies, we have no public transportation, so it's not a factor for us. I don't expect our gas bill to go up just by having a baby. :huh:

[Csara]

This thread has been very helpful...just wondering how much costs have gone up in the past few years on these things?

[Deana]

It's funny to look back on this thread.

We have been extremely lucky in that we haven't had a lot of out of pocket expenses for big items due to very generous family and friends. I think with your first, people are really, really generous and with your first, you usually get a shower.
I probably spend $20-$30/month on jammies and clothes for Nicole. I buy almost everything at target. All the grandmas (and her Aunt ericka) send clothes ALL the time.
Our biggest expenses are formula and diapers. I get coupons all the time for both though, and I go to which ever grocery store has a sale that week. a big can of formula runs about $23, a large pack of diapers runs about $9 (for 40 dipes). Obviously if you are bfing, you won't need formula, but when I was bfing, I bought a lot of breast pads and lanosh creme (not a big expense). When I was working, I found extremely affordable childcare (it was an in home set up). I paid $75/week for 3 days of care. We haven't started a college fund yet.

PS - I'm with Katy - the cutesy stuff is not really practical and I don't buy it. Nicole has so many dresses that she has worn just one time. It's hard to nap in a dress, crawl in a dress, etc... not to mention that I have the spitty-ist baby in town, so I'm always hesitant to put her in an outfit that costs more than a lot of my clothes. The first 2 months of her life she was basically in a onsie and a receiving blanket.