The cost of raising kids

I have never made any attempt to count the additional cost of raising our children. Some things are obvious like holidays doubling in price and food bills going up.
The biggest one for me while be loss of earnings. I gave up working for more than 5.5 years. The loss of earnings and delay in career progression will result exceed 160k.
 
When see these figure banded around I just think how difficult my life would have been had I had a kid at say 30.

Wouldn't have enough cash for the house.
Wouldn't have been able to move to Wales.
Wouldn't be able to do my hobbies.
Wouldn't be able to afford my holidays in time and money cost
I'd likely be a wreck of worry and anxiety (based on how I worry about my animals)

My life would be totally different


I'm only just on my feet at 36 wanting to enjoy life. Now would be the time to have kids but then the breathing room of disposable income and time would be gone.

Worse for women with the biological clock.


You can see how cost of living is so hard for people who want a family and a house. My parents raised 3 kids on modest incomes and are mortgage free. No way now.
 
It basically costs as much as you want it to. I'm sure that figure will Include those with £30k/year boarding school & yearly £2k school ski trips, to chav family on benefits with 5 kids who still have money left over for fags.

Biggest unavoidable expense IME is the childcare costs if both parents are working, but that only lasts for a few years before you get the free hrs, then school.

I really can't see a 10 years old costing that much to keep but maybe I'm naive :D
 
cheesyboy said:
Our 12 year old, monthly:
£120 school bus, iPad, 'parent donation' to school
£100 food, weekly shop
£100 Phone, sports clubs, subscriptions
£70 clothes, shoes etc
£100 his element of holidays, family trips
£50 petrol ferrying him about
£100 Xmas & birthday (Inc gifts for friend's birthdays)
£100 general stuff, including bedroom decoration/furniture every few years

Daughter, 9, has a horse, so perhaps costs even more.
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Looks like a lot could be cut there, if needed. More than half of that isnt super essential.
 
I do think it could add up to that amount when you take into account everything childcare, presents, education (and school trips), food, holidays, fuel, furniture, clothes etc etc.

fatiain said:
Someone I work with was paying £1400 a month for childcare.
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We pay over £1000 a month for childcare. Mon-Fri 7:30 to 16:30.
 
fatiain said:
Someone I work with was paying £1400 a month for childcare.
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I was paying close to that (£1,320) from May 2012 to August 2016, for one child : that's about £71k six years ago !!!!! Felt like I could run a new Ferrari when he stopped that :p

My son is nearly 11 now

Large costs now are :
  • School trips - Germany next year (~£1k) then skiing the year after that (Estimated ~£4k with lessons before he goes)
    I'm saving £200 per month for these

  • School snacks/lunch - £50 per month

  • His football sessions cost us £120 per month (+fuel for away matches, but that is much cheaper now I have an EV)

  • He is also into Karting, that's about £100 per month

  • Gaming : PS5 Plus (whatever Sony call it) £15, numerous payments per month for FIFA points, Fortnite V-Bucks, F1 Pitcoins, Minecraft Coins etc...

  • Already saving for driving lessons and a small contribution towards a car

Helps having a ShareSave scheme at work - I put £500 per month into this and usually get 30%+ return every year. One year was over double, which funded a family holiday to Florida.

All worth it though - we've had some amazing family times and great memories !
 
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Yaayuh! said:
Seriously?
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It's horrendous. I'm super resistant to stuff like that but even I was highly tempted by the loot boxes in rocket league.

So for kids it must be irresistible.

Slippery slope in my opinion . Probably one of the commonest complaints I hear from parents with older kids is screen time and cost of in game purchases transactions
 
LiE said:
Got to factor in when your kid is old enough they want a sick gaming rig like Daddy so they can play Fortnite with school friends. That’s £2k right there.
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Yep - His PC Gaming Rig was a Christmas present in 2020 : that was £3k, along with a PS5, probably over spent on it but 2020 was a tough year mentally.
 
413x said:
It's horrendous. I'm super resistant to stuff like that but even I was highly tempted by the loot boxes in rocket league.

So for kids it must be irresistible.

Slippery slope in my opinion . Probably one of the commonest complaints I hear from parents with older kids is screen time and cost of in game purchases transactions
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Doesn't help with YouTubers throwing many thousands at packs, loot boxes, other addons etc.... in every video they release every week/day. They can obviously make it work from the revenue they receive from their vids and other sponsors, but these videos are aimed at children :(:mad:
 
I banned all forms of digital coinage now, they used to earn their pocket money then, to my eyes, waste it on skins/in game items.

Of course I am a total hypocrite as I often(used to) buy Fifa points. :cry:
 
SDK^ said:
I was paying close to that (£1,320) from May 2012 to August 2016, for one child : that's about £71k !!!!! Felt like I could run a new Ferrari when he stopped that :p

My son is nearly 11 now

Large costs now are :
  • School trips - Germany next year (~£1k) then skiing the year after that (Estimated ~£4k with lessons before he goes)
    I'm saving £200 per month for these

  • School snacks/lunch - £50 per month

  • His football sessions cost us £120 per month (+fuel for away matches, but that is much cheaper now I have an EV)

  • He is also into Karting, that's about £100 per month

  • Gaming : PS5 Plus (whatever Sony call it) £15, numerous payments per month for FIFA points, Fortnite V-Bucks, F1 Pitcoins, Minecraft Coins etc...

  • Already saving for driving lessons and a small contribution towards a car

All worth it though - we've had some amazing family times and great memories !
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Can you be my dad?

I think I only ever got a SNES with Super Mario bundle. Then I paid for all my games from saving my pocket money. That is the only console my dad ever bought, besides the PC he bought me when i was in uni.

I never went on any school trips. I had to beg for £15 a month to play table tennis when i was 15. Didn't get driving lessons from them, had to wait until I started working and pay for that myself.

I feel like i got the short straw in the lottery!
 
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