Strollerderby

Wow. We outfitted our son for under $500. The only new thing we bought was his crib. Everything else was borrowed from friends, from Craigslist, or from Goodwill. Simple, and affordable! We buy supplemental formula and diapers and wipes with coupons and rebate checks that we match to sales for pretty cheap. With store coupons, manufacturers coupons, rebate checks, and sales, we can get a 23 oz can of powder for about $7, and a 100 pack of diapers for about $12. It can be done!

Because of health insurance costs, and the price of maternity coverage, in my family is is a financial decision.  There's no way to pay for a another hospital birth.

The real costs come from housing, daycare (or loss of income) and education. Saving a few dollars on second-hand clothes ain't going to help much with those.

I think they are saying you SHOULD have $5K to $10K saved for baby expenses. I know there are ways to save money, but I'll most people are not considering all their expenses when they say there is no way they spent $5K. We bought a lot of used stuff, and nothing that would be considered expensive. Still, the costs do add up. They did say that the average middle-income family spends $11K during the first year on baby expenses, so what they are saying to save for are probably just the essentials.

I for one think having solid finances makes raising a child much easier. That is not to say it is impossible to raise a kid without a decent amount of money, but it just makes life so much more difficult for everyone.

I think the $5K to 11K takes into consideration childcare.  Anyway, having the first is primarily emotional, for subsequent children, financial considerations move up the priority ladder.  

I concur with g8grl. We paid 13k for daycare for our daughter during her first year. The cost will go down when she turns two. I have to work because I get free health insurance for me and 50% off of health insurance for her. We actually were talking about trying for another, but after running the numbers it became obvious that we couldn't afford it with daycare costs, and if I stopped working the health insurance costs (through my husband's job) would bury us. I'm very sad about this, as I really want to have another, but I can't in good conscience create another child when we don't have the money.

They are probably including things like formula and bottles.  So people who breastfeed can save there.  Secondhand clothes, increased water and heating bills for washing more clothes, increased medical costs, increased insurance premiums, lifestyle changes, loss of income either for the entire first year if you quit, or however long maternity leave where you work is.....I could go on and on.  

Kids are expensive, and we gave it some thought, but I don't think anyone is really really ever ready for the impact having a baby or two or three will have on their finances, emotions, sleep...

This is quite and interesting discussion and it would be useful to know how exactly they (and many other websites/magazines/etc) come up with these figures.

The childcare and/or lost income issue is probably the biggest though. We just had our second and I am staying home with her, which presents an interesting trade off. Childcare is very expensive in our neighborhood so we have felt good about saving on that, but also it has been an interesting challenge to really budget our money with just the one income. We've made a lot of sacrifices (although really, we were never very big spenders to begin with) and now, ultimately, I think, feel better prepared for the financial meltdown happening around us because we have gotten so used to living on so little. In fact, when I do go back to work next year (and my healthcare salary will more than pay for childcare), I think we are going to feel incredibly rich!

Oh, and one more sidenote. Not on purpose, but just by luck, we had our children 6 years apart. So even if the baby were in childcare this year, our older child is in school all day so we wouldn't have to pay for 2 kids in daycare at the same time (shudder!). Just a thought.