We're officially done saving/paying for our own education. As long as we are in NYC, home/car ownership is not something we wish to explore. We are on track for retirement. The next logical financial hurdle would involve children (down the road). I'd like to try to live as if we have them (saving the monthly costs), but I don't even know where to begin to estimate the costs.
If you don't mind sharing, I would very much appreciate the info. Ages and number of kids would be helpful. -food -supplies -college savings plan (if applicable) -clothing -toys -childcare -activities: sports, classes, camp, etc -medical -the 50 other things I'm forgetting Thank you in advance!
But if you're thinking of staying in the city, don't forget to take into account the premium you pay to live in an apartment that can reasonably fit more than 2 people. You pay a TON more to have an extra bedroom.
-We don't spend a lot on food - food is included in our daycare cost, and for the most part, they eat what we eat now. -Supplies have went down, now that they aren't babies. We spent between 500-1000 for each kid, for baby stuff (but, we did not buy top of the line... I'm talking $100 Ikea crib, $100 Graco car seat, a few used things, etc.) -We don't put enough away for college yet - I think we're at a couple hundred bucks a month - not enough. Need to get on top of that. -I've hardly bought any clothing, because my Mom buys them a ton of stuff. I'm not picky. I sometimes buy things like jeans at thrift stores. They aren't old enough to care - and some of the stuff looks brand new. -I don't really buy toys. They get whatever they get for birthdays and Christmas, and I ration it and rotate through the year. -We pay $320 per week for DS for daycare, not at a daycare center (he goes to an in-home, that's part of a network - to include back up care, training for the DCP, etc). If we were to go to a center, it would be more like $450 per week, and a nanny would be higher. DD is in school, and before/after care is cheap... like $55 per week. -Activities is our biggest expense, but DD does gymnastics. That's around $400 per month (for 3 times per week, 6 hours total). Prior to that, we spent around $100 per month - but, limited activities to one or two at a time, and mostly stuff that was county sponsored, or generally inexpensive.
For kids in diapers, around $50 per month, or so? For formula babies, around $50 per week, if I recall correctly?
Now that DD is in school, we're spending around $3K for summer camps.
I am a cheapskate, so I think we do a good job of generally keeping costs down. On some of these categories, you could spend a zillion dollars if you wanted to.
But if you're thinking of staying in the city, don't forget to take into account the premium you pay to live in an apartment that can reasonably fit more than 2 people. You pay a TON more to have an extra bedroom.
This is true. I figured that's the one expense I can reasonably predict though.
The biggest thing is childcare. You can spend a lot or a little on toys, college savings, clothes, and diapers regardless of whether you are in a HCOL area or not. If anything, because of the population density here and the small amount of space people tend to have in their homes, I have received LOTS of free kid stuff because no one wants to store anything. For DS, I received a stroller, car seat, baby swing and tons of clothes all as hand-me-downs, as well maternity clothes and diapers friends' babies had sized out of before they finished the packages. I can't think of very much I had to buy myself this first year of DS's life. (And for my first kid, I received a lot of the big things as shower gifts, then promptly passed most of them on when DD outgrew them.)
Even with childcare, there's a lot of variance. Traditional daycare center, in-home daycare, FT nanny, PT nanny, nanny share, etc. Again, because of the population density, you're going to find a lot of options. I have a target in my head of spending about $17/hour for child care on average. Some arrangements I've had have come in under that and some have come in over that. I work PT and have used a variety of sitters/nannies (sitter is someone who helps me out in a pinch and doesn't come regularly, nanny is someone I hire for a long-term gig and who typically does this for a living) and an in-home daycare provider.
Activities get pricey. Most activities DD has been in, from mommy & me yoga to toddler/kid yoga to music classes average anywhere between $20-$25/hour. But again, you can control how many things you enroll your kid in. And there are lots of great libraries with free story hours, free concerts and family events at Central Park & around town in the summer, numerous parades and street festivals, etc. The Y is also a very reasonable option for things like swim classes and summer camp (and free childcare while YOU work out!).
Another thing we've been spending a lot of money on lately is rental cars, because I am getting kind of burned out on city living and it's nice to take the kids out to wide, green spaces to explore. But that's not a necessity!
As you know, I have one baby (11 months) in Chicago, which is arguably not HCOL. It's definitely not NYC.
I don't budget or try very hard to save money (that sounds so bad, I know). I am looking at Quickbooks so these are very accurate (and embarrassingly high) numbers.
-Food- I have no idea how to attribute this to DD. We spend $1500ish per month on all food, booze, groceries, eating out. This is for all 3 of us. DD is a great eater and eats mostly adult food plus a few baby convenience items. We send her breakfast and daycare supplies her lunch.
-supplies- on average $400ish per month. This includes formula (DD has not BF since 4.5 months), diapers, toys, books, and whatever other nonsense MMM tells me to buy (straw cups, etc)
-college savings plan (if applicable)- $200/month automatically plus $500/quarter from bonuses. Plus random gift money or whatever.
-clothing- on average $400/month (!!!) This is obviously NOT NECESSARY, but I love shopping for and dressing DD. I never pay full price, and do a lot of second hand, BST, MMM shopping....but I guess it adds up a lot? I would like to say this number cannot be accurate.....
-toys- so far minimal and grouped in with supplies
-childcare- $1100 per month for full-time Montessori daycare. This is a steal & we are thrilled with our center
-activities: sports, classes, camp, etc- we have done music a few times which is $150/session. A session is maybe 6-8 weeks? We plan to do more in the future
-medical- too lazy to separate it out. DH & DD are on a HDHP so we max out the HSA and then use my FSA, then the HSA in that order.
-insurance- we pay $520/month for DH & DD together
I don't have any other specific kid-related lines in my budget
But if you're thinking of staying in the city, don't forget to take into account the premium you pay to live in an apartment that can reasonably fit more than 2 people. You pay a TON more to have an extra bedroom.
Having a separate, dedicated bedroom for children is a MMM thing. Many, many people here have babies/toddlers without an extra bedroom. And some particularly committed types even find a way to make it work with somewhat older kids.
(DISCLOSURE: I am not one of these people and feel like I live in a palace until I read about people on these message boards who have 3,000+ sq. feet.)
-food: E eats what we eat. The baby is currently 80% breastfed and the rest formula. When E was fully on formula it was about $150-$200 a month. -supplies: diapers are about $50 a month. I randomly buy other supplies like diaper rash cream, soap, etc. but it isn't with any real regularity. I bought an expensive stroller (actually we have 3) and car seats, but you can get much cheaper ones that are equally as safe. -college savings plan (if applicable): We haven't started this yet. Oops. Bad parents. -clothing: We get a lot of clothes as gifts or I buy things on sale. -toys: I have never bought any other than for his birthday gift. People give us a lot of toys. -childcare: $1500 a month for 3 days a week in the toddler room. -activities: sports, classes, camp, etc: $120 for 8 weeks of music classes. Will go up as they age. -medical: We have a high deductible plan. X just got his NICU bill. It was over $100,000. I think we will owe $6,000. -the 50 other things I'm forgetting: Really, having kids hasn't been that expensive.
But if you're thinking of staying in the city, don't forget to take into account the premium you pay to live in an apartment that can reasonably fit more than 2 people. You pay a TON more to have an extra bedroom.
Having a separate, dedicated bedroom for children is a MMM thing. Many, many people here have babies/toddlers without an extra bedroom. And some particularly committed types even find a way to make it work with somewhat older kids.
(DISCLOSURE: I am not one of these people and feel like I live in a palace until I read about people on these message boards who have 3,000+ sq. feet.)
Oh, I know... but I do have a few friends who are really stressing because they've outgrown their 500-700 sq ft apartments because in addition to two adults they now have a crib and a stroller and a baby swing and a baby/toddler that also have to fit in the apartment -- and they're about the price of (buying) decently-sized apartments in neighborhoods with good schools and decent commutes that will fit their kids when they're bigger. Two of them don't know how to drive so suburbs aren't that easy for them...
They aren't looking for palaces, but they also don't want the kids to grow up in closets. So cost of housing that long-term is something to consider.
v, everyone is saying Marble Hill is the place to go these days. Pass that tip on to your friends. And for the love of all that is sacred, please tell them not to bitch and whine in a NYT article about how they "can only afford 500 sq. feet if they want to continue living just steps from Central Park" or about how they took a subway to Queens once and "were pleasantly surprised to see people who looked like them at a coffee shop out there." (I keep a mental catalog of all the lines that have deeply offended me in the NYT's Real Estate section.)
We're officially done saving/paying for our own education. As long as we are in NYC, home/car ownership is not something we wish to explore. We are on track for retirement. The next logical financial hurdle would involve children (down the road). I'd like to try to live as if we have them (saving the monthly costs), but I don't even know where to begin to estimate the costs.
If you don't mind sharing, I would very much appreciate the info. Ages and number of kids would be helpful.
1 kid, almost 2 years old
-food our grocery spending was $650/month with two adults and 1 child. -supplies "groceries" is just what the rewards card says we spent at the end of the quarter, divided by 3. That includes diapering supplies, some other baby gear like sippy cups, some clothing basics. ETA we use cloth diapers; I think disposables cost $0.12-0.25/ea, depending on brand, size, how good you are at sale hunting. Our total cloth diaper costs are about $400?
The newborn carseat is about $50-200, and the convertible car seat is $100-700 depending on what you want to spend. The stroller is $10-1500, again depending on what you want. The crib and other baby furniture, pick your price point between $250 and a few thousand dollars. Highchair: $50-$300. -college savings plan (if applicable) all the money. I mean, saving to pay sticker price at a private college is $1650/month from birth until the kid is 22. Not everyone has this goal. -clothing ask msniq. Maybe $50/month on average? But it comes and goes in spurts. -toys People love giving kids toys. But we buy a few here and there. Outside of Christmas I'd say we average $10-20/month -childcare $1962/month; we get the FSA thingy too. This varies wildly by metro area, and even within the metro area -activities: sports, classes, camp, etc aquarium family membership: $100/year? -medical a few hundred per year; we have good insurance -the 50 other things I'm forgetting The desire to trade money for time/convenience increases. we definitely eat out more often, but at cheaper places. Still, we spend more money dining out than we did pre-baby. We'll probably hire a regular cleaning service in the event of hypothetical babyniq#2. I joined a gym that has daycare, the membership costs more. Thank you in advance!
Don't forget to account for a dramatic decrease in fancy DINK dinners. Most of our friends gave us the advice that outside of childcare and start up gear, babies are pretty cost neutral because your spending/lifestyle are adjusted. Obviously if you aren't spending money on dining and entertainment this wouldn't apply.
v, everyone is saying Marble Hill is the place to go these days. Pass that tip on to your friends. And for the love of all that is sacred, please tell them not to bitch and whine in a NYT article about how they "can only afford 500 sq. feet if they want to continue living just steps from Central Park" or about how they took a subway to Queens once and "were pleasantly surprised to see people who looked like them at a coffee shop out there." (I keep a mental catalog of all the lines that have deeply offended me in the NYT's Real Estate section.)
The two friends I was talking about this with most recently -- the ones who don't drive -- one is from Queens and the other lives in Brooklyn. So they're well aware of outer boroughs. And sure, living in New York is a luxury and all of that and there are plenty of people who live 7 deep in a 500 square foot apartment and survive. But I think that extra living space is something that a lot of wealthy New Yorkers will find themselves splurging on after they have kids, and particularly if you're used to living in a city that isn't as expensive as New York, there's a lot of sticker shock that can come with trying to get yourself a little bit of privacy.
Let's be honest -- most of the things listed in this thread are upper middle class splurges. I don't think saying you might want to upgrade to from an alcove studio to a small 2 BR is any more obnoxious than listing things like college funds and Montessori schools and mommy and me yoga and music class and all of that as normal expenses. My only point is ... it is an expense that is a little more hidden.
I was not trying to be obnoxious nor to claim that anything I spend is "normal", necessary, or expected. I was just answering the question that was asked with our real numbers, with many caveats that you could do it much, much more cheaply.
I was not trying to be obnoxious nor to claim that anything I spend is "normal", necessary, or expected. I was just answering the question that was asked with our real numbers, with many caveats that you could do it much, much more cheaply.
Oh, I don't think anyone in this thread is being obnoxious. I was responding to anna's comment that made my friends sound like the ridiculous people you find in the Times real estate section. Which -- if wanting to spend more of your money on a bigger apartment to fit your kid(s) and the crap that comes along with them is obnoxious, I think Mommy & Me yoga classes and the like may also make that list. But I don't actually think either of those things is obnoxious.
The biggest expense like others mentioned would be childcare. In NNJ, I would have budgeted about $1500 for full time care for an infant at a center though there are places that are definitely less. I wound up with a place that was $1000 a month. That cost also decreases as the child gets older. Though through a combination of my mom and adjusting my schedule, we have only paid for a minimal of childcare thus far.
Pregnancy was one of the main reasons we left NYC. I could not envision a 1 yr old toddling around our jam packed 1 bedroom apt unless we ditched all the furniture and started over as minimalists. My husband didn't want to do that so we moved.
The other costs like food and diapers and toys and gear are negligible because like boiler mentioned, we don't have some of the spending anymore like we did when it was 2 of us - no more fancy international vacations, expensive dinners, random alcohol nights with friends, etc. I don't have my 18 month old in any classes or experiences. Though I will when she is older, right now she is amused by the baby swing and the grass at the park so I don't feel the need to spend on classes now.
As far as healthcare, not sure how much it was to add her to my husbands plan. Then again, his paycheck increased when we left due to no longer paying the city income tax so again a likely wash. And for college - we have no set budgeted amount. I don't know if I agree with automatically opening a 529 so I haven't done that yet. Whatever is left after expenses goes either to our retirement, the someday-home-ownership fund, or DD's bank account. I expect my income to increase over the next few years so I can more aggressively contribute to all 3 of those categories soon.
$1250/month for preschool for DS1 $330/week for daycare for DS2 Generally around $200/quarter for sports for DS1 Most clothes are gifts/hand me downs Food is around $50/month for DS2 but daycare feeds him so that is dinner and food on the weekends for a 6 month old. Food for DS1 is probably 25% of our food budget, he's a big eater. Gear is probably $500 a year, new car seats or a bike, bike trailer, always something. We probably spend $50 a month on diapers/wipes for DS2. I think it is around $7 a month more for health insurance (difference in cost for my family plan vs. two individual plans that we had before)
If you don't mind sharing, I would very much appreciate the info. Ages and number of kids would be helpful. We are in metro Boston--a HCOL area. DD is 1 and an only child -food Increase of $50/month as she is mostly breast feeding. I find myself buying more organic fruits and vegetables so that she is getting the best nutrition possible. So far she is liking everything. -supplies Estimated $125/month but this figure varies a lot because she does not go through the same number of diapers every day. -college savings plan (if applicable) We are not using a 529 but are investing $50/month in her name. -clothing Maybe $25/month. Her grandmothers are her personal shoppers though. I still have $300 in gift cards from the baby's shower. -toysShe prefers to play with us directly and her grandmother are her personal shoppers. -childcare$950 every two weeks. Baby care is more expensive than toddler care. It will go down when she turns 18mos and we will have wiggle room -activities: sports, classes, camp, etc She is too little for outside activities yet. -medical $125/month. We pay $50 per visit and are averaging 2.5 visits per month in addition to well baby appointments. Well baby appointments are 100% covered under our insurance. Read through your medical insurance options before TTC. Some plans have much better prenatal and baby care. -the 50 other things I'm forgetting I have forgotten them too. We bought a new house in a town with a better school. The schools is our current town are not good. We are in the nice neighborhood of a tough town. The extra $500k spent on the new house/new town will save us the cost of private school which would have cost over $500k for the 13 years that she would be attending.
Don't forget to account for a dramatic decrease in fancy DINK dinners. Most of our friends gave us the advice that outside of childcare and start up gear, babies are pretty cost neutral because your spending/lifestyle are adjusted. Obviously if you aren't spending money on dining and entertainment this wouldn't apply.
Except that I spend about $100 before I even walk out the door to go to dinner alone with DH, for the babysitter and her cab ride home.
And v, I was not implying at all that you were being obnoxious. I think the urge to upgrade to a bigger place comes with the territory when you have kids, but is not something that will immediately impact your bottom line like the cost of child care until the kid is school-aged. And, I do think that many, many New Yorkers are quite snobbish about areas where they will consider living and claim that they can't find a 2 bedroom "anywhere" under $1 million (not speaking about your friends specifically since I obviously don't know them).
I'd like it if @pnkybrwstr and brooklyn could come into this thread since I know they live in 1-bedroom apartments with small children. (Sorry if I am putting you on the spot!)
@pnkybrwstr, I want to "like" your post to thank you for responding, but I don't "like" that you're going to leave us (although your reasons make perfect sense).
Post by Velar Fricative on Jul 1, 2015 9:17:57 GMT -5
I'm in a more affordable part of NYC (outer boroughs). We have one 21-month-old daughter. We have a 3BR house now but we lived in a 1BR apartment until she was 11 months old, so our housing expenses went up as a result, about $1k per month more than what we were paying for the apartment.
Daycare - $1k per month at a center (this is very good for the overall city; other local options are not much more expensive than this though) College - Nothing yet, probably $100/month starting in 2016. Food - She eats what we eat but let's say an extra $20-$30 a month for bulk snacks like applesauce pouches. I breastfed her until 8.5 months but supplemented starting at 5 months and then she was fully formula-fed between 8.5 months and 12 months with Target generic formula, so that was maybe about $50-$60 a month. Diapers - Now it's about $45 a month. It probably wasn't much higher even when she was going through more diapers but I can't remember specific costs. Maybe $70/month max? Clothing - I buy in spurts so some months I could spend a couple hundred and others nothing. Toys - Maybe $20 a month on average? Activities - None that cost anything yet, but hopefully it'll be cheaper than daycare! Medical - Just co-payments, usually $15 a month or every other month on average. Other - We live local to family so no major travel costs and no babysitting costs (yet).
-food - She probably adds around $50-100 to our grocery budget each month -supplies - Very little since she's not in diapers, doesn't need anything special, and has a full bedroom already set up -college savings plan (if applicable) - $300 per month -clothing - This is just my addiction to buying, but probably averages about $900 a year. This could easily be lower! -toys - Maybe $200-300 a year? -childcare - I SAH, so no daycare but preschool is $200 a month -activities: sports, classes, camp, etc - I don't do something every month, but each activity (swimming, dance, week of camp) is around $100 for 5-10 classes worth -medical - No idea what having a family plan adds to our cost -the 50 other things I'm forgetting
I budget around $100 a month for her now (outside of 529 and preschool costs) and sometimes it's way below that and sometimes I go over. But she doesn't really need anything most of the time, it's just things I want to do/buy for her.
So I agree with folks that childcare is really the biggest challenge and expense in NYC. For many reasons infant care is the hardest to find and more expensive. A lot of people use nannies from 0-2 or 0-3 and then transition into a program. Right now we pay $1350 for daycare for my son. When he stars UPK in the fall it will be ~$500 per month. My daughter's after school program runs about $600 or so a month. So this fall will be one of the cheapest we've had in 5 years.
Camp is $4500 or so for the summer + I have a college student picking up at the bus which is an additional cost.
Both kids take swim at $100 a per month. My daughter also takes dance and I'd like to find a second activity for my son. I won soccer lessons for the summer so we'll see how that goes.
I mention all these "big kid costs" because the high costs of infant care end up being eaten up by other things. My childcare costs are down the their peak but only by about 70% or so. This could all be cheaper of course but if you plan to work there will be costs pretty much until your child is in middle school (and realistically after that too).
I couldn't find on-the-books childcare for less than $2k/month. We pay a barf-worthy amount: $xxxx (PDQ) for a small center. An off-the-books nanny would be cheaper, but we did not want to go that route for a variety of reasons.
We do live in an under-market one-bedroom apartment, though, and we are totally fine. Our rent is less than what we pay in daycare.
I'll preface this by saying that we currently live in Williamsburg, and it is an obnoxiously expensive neighborhood to raise a child. We're moving to a more reasonable area of Manhattan in August, and will actually double our living space for only $200 a month more.
And I'm a SAHM, but require a lot of scheduled activities to stay sane. You can successfully raise a wonderful child for a lot less than I choose to spend. (punky and Mel do a great job of spending money more wisely than I do!)
We have a 2 yr old son. We spend about $1000 a month on groceries, and order a lot of takeout because we both hate cooking. J gets a lot of pasta and chicken and fruit and frozen veggies. He's a fruit addict and blueberries cost an insane $7 a pint at our local supermarket. They are like $2 a pint at our supermarket in Manhattan. We paid about $20 a week for formula when he was on it.
I'm not sure what you mean about supplies? We spend about $50 a month on diapers. We're really bad at tracking expenses.
We put $200 a month into savings for him. Not specifically a college savings plan.
I spend maybe $400 at the beginning of each season on clothes for him, but I like pricer companies like Hanna Andersson and Mini Boden. If I just stuck to Old Navy and Carters (which i also love!) that amount could be halved.
We live in a small one bedroom, so we don't have much in the way of toys. Most of his toys are gifts. And we have access to a communal playroom in our building (which we pay for with our amenity fee, lol). I spend maybe $25 a month on random stuff for him.
We spend $8000ish a year for his "preschool" program, which is 3 hours a day, twice a week. He loves the socialization and I love the break. We priced it out, and a nanny for that time frame would cost about the same, and wouldn't provide the same amount of socialization and stimulation. It costs $9000 a year at the Manhattan location, boo! I looked into daycare when I was pregnant and it costs about $3000 a month in Williamsburg.
We spend about $700 a semester on other assorted classes (less in the summer when we live at the playground, more in the winter when the weather sucks.) Music, Gym, Spanish, Art, etc. I've researched similar classes in our new neighborhood, and they are all cheaper there, so we'll be spending about $500 a semester there. Again, I'm a lazy parent and need the external help. There aren't many free options (like a library or age appropriate parks) in my current neighborhood.
We have awesome insurance, and don't have much in the way of medical costs, luckily. We did pay about $500 for a private room at NYU which was totally worth it. Many other hospitals charge more for private rooms.
Research your neighborhood and choose wisely and you won't have to kill your budget to have a kid here.
To give a frame of reference, my HCOL city is a Los Angeles beach city. i have two kids - 15 months and 9 years old.
1. food - when we needed formula/breast milk bags and baby food, we spent about $100 extra a month on that; now that the baby is old enough to drink milk and eat what we eat, our grocery shopping budget is about $500 a month and we spend about $500 a month eating out. It could be done cheaper, but I'm lazy about budgeting in this category. When I was a single mom I was super diligent about keeping my food costs down by buying what was in season, buying meat in bulk and freezing, etc. Now I eat what I want.
2. supplies - at this point, the only supplies I can think of are diapers, wipes and bath-related items. I think we spend about $50 - $75 a month on those. Again can probably be done cheaper, but the baby has sensitive skin - like everything makes his eczema flare up - so we are limited in the types of shampoos, body washes and sunscreens we can use. The older one is easy and uses the same Dove soap and shampoo DH and I use, so there is no extra cost there. For the older one, there are school supplies, which run me about $50 - $100 annually.
3. college savings plan - my parents put money in each year as a birthday gift to the kids. Now that I have my new job, I am going to try to put about $300/month into these plans for the kids - maybe more of it going to the older one for now because i got started late and I know his dad won't be helping. As daycare for the baby goes down, we will add that money to college savings as well. I am also on staff of a college that participates in Tuition Exchange, so I have options for free tuition if either of them attend a school in the 600+ school network of schools that participates.
4. clothing - when they were babies, I'd need new sizes about every 2-3 months because they grow so fast. Now, for the 9 year old, I probably refresh about 2 times a year - once before school starts and once in the spring. I think that runs me about $250 - $300 a year, and then another $50 or so on non-sports related shoes. I buy most of his stuff at Old Navy and Target because it just gets thrashed at school. For the 15 month old, we haven't bought anything in a few months. When we do, again I shop the Old Navy sales. I think $250 - $300 is a good annual estimate for the baby as well because he will likely go through 2-3 sizes this year.
5. toys - this is a tough one. When my ex moved out, my older one became somewhat of a pack rat and didn't want any of his toys to go to Goodwill "just in case he got a brother one day." So I saved all the good stuff - Thomas the Tank Engine wooden set, Duplo, Lego, play tools, Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles, etc. So for the younger one, to this point, toys have been very cheap. With the older one, if you include Christmas and birthdays and things like his Kindle and bikes and all that, I'd say $500 + per year. I go a little nuts at Christmas.
6. childcare - the baby was $1215 as an infant in a center subsidized by dh's work (market rate is more like $1600 for full time infant care in a center). It goes down about $100 a year until he hits kindergarten. This is full-time, year-round care. In Kinder, our school district has a program that is open 7 am - 6 pm and the kids can be there any time kinder isn't in session (we have 1/2 day) for about $500 per month. My older one is in the district after care program and it is $370 per month during the school year. In the summer, I have to piece together camps.
7. activities: sports, classes, camp, etc - My younger one only does swimming at this point. The in-laws have a pool and insisted on lessons for all grandkids and they pay for them. Ours run about $25 per week for baby and me. My older one plays basketball red league and little league baseball. Registration for each is about $200 per season. He was invited to try out for a travel ball team in baseball, and with travel, uniforms, gear, etc, you are looking at a few thousand dollars if you do that. He has many friends who do it, but he didn't want to. So I saved money there, but I wanted to put it in as it is a cost for some. He also does swimming which is about $100 a month and then in the fall he will do a theatre class that runs about $100 a month. He did guitar lessons last year and those were $120 every 4 weeks.
As for camps, I need full time coverage in the summer, so these prices reflect that. We put together a mix of city run camps that cost about $170 per week and private camps. I think our most expensive camp this year was $360 for the week. I have seen some as much as $800 for the week for non-sleepover and vetoed those.
8. medical: My ex insures my older one and my dh insures the baby. Between those two, I think it costs about $150 a month to insure both - medical and dental.
9. Other: - birthday party gifts: in preschool, it seemed we were invited to a party a week for a while. Those gifts add up! I usually put a $10 limit and we did a lot of bargain books from Barnes and Noble. - subscriptions: I do Tinker Crate to add some extra science to my older one's life, as I don't think they do much at school and he loves science. It is $20 a month. He also has a Sports Illustrated Kids subscription at $20 per year.
Don't forget to account for a dramatic decrease in fancy DINK dinners. Most of our friends gave us the advice that outside of childcare and start up gear, babies are pretty cost neutral because your spending/lifestyle are adjusted. Obviously if you aren't spending money on dining and entertainment this wouldn't apply.
And if you take your kid to fancy restaurants, this also does not apply We thought we'd see a decrease in our eating out budget, but the kid is a food vacuum, is well behaved in restaurants and eats out with us.