How Much Does it Really Cost To Raise A Child?

According to a calculator at Bankrate.com, it will cost you $190,000 to raise a child to age 18. Multipy that number by the number of children I have (8) and you get the insane figure of a MILLION AND A HALF dollars to raise my family to adulthood. Hoobaby. NO wonder people assume that my hubby must make bucket loads of money.

I found that number so outtasight crazy that I spent some time looking at it carefully. Here are the numbers it cites.

Childcare: $300/yr between birth and 11.
Groceries: $1525/yr
Clothing: $606/yr
Gift giving: $303/yr
Bigger home: $2900/yr
Bigger car: $1250/between ages 5 and 18
Education: $600/yr
Recreation: $330/yr
Additional insurance: $330/yr
Health care: $300/yr
Misc: $330/yr

Now, I’m not claiming this is a complete list, and certainly different families spend different amounts of money. Some large families MAY very well spend that much over 18 years to raise each and every one of their children. But we don't. I thought it might be encouraging to some to see how costs break down at my house, using the same categories suggested by Bankrate.

Remember, the numbers in bold are PER CHILD per year.


Childcare: $2/yr/child
I am a homemaker, so no day care. The rare babysitter is usually grandma or, more recently, an older sibling. We’ve probably paid a sitter 20 times total. At $15 a time, that’s $300 total for all 8 children, or divided, $2/child/year.

Groceries: $840/yr/child
I cook most food from scratch and we eat lots of food from our garden. The garden alone probably saves us $100 a month on groceries, year round. We pay $700/mo for groceries for 10 people. That $700 breaks down to $70 per person per month, or $840/yr per child.

Clothing: $200/yr/child
I shop at thrift shops, yard sales and dept store clearance racks. I also happily accept hand-me-downs and pass down our clothes from child to child. (And the kids always look well dressed, thankyouverymuch!)

Gift giving: $200/yr/child
I shop carefully for Christmas and do homemade or clearance items for gifts for kids birthday parties, etc.

Bigger home: $900/yr/child
We built our current home when we had only 3 kids and with 5 bedrooms it is still adequate. The difference between our first home and our current home was $130,000 including interest. Dividing that cost over 18 years gives you $900/yr/child.

Bigger car: $139/yr/child
We paid $20,000 for our current van, which we hope to make last during the ‘largest’ years of our family. Already our oldest is off at college. Most likely by the time the bigger vehicle is retired, our family will have shrunk enough to fit into a more affordable standard sized car.

Education: $60/yr/child
We homeschool, visit our local library for many resources, and use reusable textbooks for most subjects past 3rd grade.

Recreation: $150/yr/child
Kids do 1-2 extracurricular activities per year each, such as baseball, swimming, piano and choir. We go to dollar movies. We go to the water park on the ‘free’ day sponsored by hubby’s work. We camp at state parks. Fun does not have to break the bank or involve large black ‘mouse’ ears.

Additional insurance: $75/yr/child
Family plan at hubby’s work charges $50 extra per month to cover the family, no matter how big.

Health care: $200/yr/child
We have excellent health and dental insurance. Preventative care is free. The maximum family out-of-pocket is $2000 per year.

Misc: $100/yr/child
Because I’m sure I’m forgetting something.

TOTAL EXPENSES

1 child for 1 year: $2866

1 child for 18 yrs : $51,588

As you can see, this total of
almost $52,000 to raise one child to age 18 is a far cry from the ‘expert’ estimate of $190,000.

I think what many people forget, finance-wise with a large family is that we do not need to rebuy everything for each new child. A minivan that works for 2 will also work for 5. Baby strollers and cribs and bunk beds can all be reused. Ditto for clothes. Yeah, you will probably have to buy a bigger house, but not for every. single. child.

Granted, the numbers for a family as big as mine STILL sound a little staggering. To raise 8 children for 18 years, even on 'Mary’s Economy Plan', will be around $413,000 total. However, divide $413,000 by 18 years, and it averages to a mere $23,000 per year.

And that doesn’t even take into consideration that a large family does not have the whole clan at home at once. My hubby and I had a decade of parenting four or fewer kids at the beginning, exactly ONE year of parenting the full 8 children all at once, and most likely we have at least another decade of 4 or fewer children in the home still in our future.

All this goes to show that if you are willing to be frugal, you do not have to be RICH to have a big family. And let me tell ya, my kids are very worth a little frugality.

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Mary is the mother of 8 children ranging in age from 1 to 18. She also writes at Owlhaven and at Adoption.com.