It has now been over one year since Calvin was born. In celebration of this momentious occasion, I decided it was time to figure out how much we spent on him. Since February 2009, when I started acquiring baby stuff, we have spent around $5,000 on Calvin. This number does not include any medical visits, daycare, jarred baby food, or gifts we were given. In addition, this doesn’t include the cost of the extra seat we pay for whenever we fly to visit our parents (we choose to buy Calvin his own seat as it is generally deemed safer than being a lap-infant). Here’s a breakdown of the more expensive items we have bought:
| Items | $$ | Notes |
| Formula | 470 | This is an estimate and is on the low end of what we spent. However, we saved a huge amount of money by buying generic Costco brand formula after Calvin’s pediatrican said it was ok. If we had bought Enfamil formula, we would have been closer to $1200. |
| Breastpump Rental | 460 | Because of my breastfeeding problems, I had to rent a hospital grade breastpump. I started out with a cheaper hospital pump but the more expensive one worked better for me. |
| Cloth Diapers | 450 | I bought the expensive FuzziBunz. If you use prefolds, it’s much cheaper. |
| Bob Stroller | 345 | Now that Calvin’s too big for the infant stroller, this is the only stroller we use. However, I’m considering buying a smaller more portable stroller for quick trips. |
| Clothing | 320 | I buy most of Calvin’s clothing from a 2nd hand children’s store. Also, Calvin received a lot of clothing at the baby shower and for Christmas/Birthday. |
| Convertable Car Seat | 300 | We could have gotten away with a less expensive car seat but I felt this one was one of the safest. |
| Disposable Diapers | 300 | Calvin mainly wears disposable diapers at daycare and when we take long vacations. |
| Crib | 280 | We bought a nice midline crib that hasn’t been recalled yet! |
| Arm’s Reach Co-sleeper | 150 | I wish we had bought this sooner. We really only used it for a couple of weeks before Calvin was moving around enough I didn’t think it was safe anymore. I preferred this over the crib and bassinet because it was easier for me to open one eye and see that he was still breathing. Yes, it’s silly but I still creep into his room sometimes to listen and make sure he’s breathing. |
| Crackpot Therapy | 150 | When we were trying to get Calvin to breastfeed correctly, I actually spent money on a variety of things, such as craniosacral therapy, that I knew had absolutely no scientific validity. However, I was desperate so I tried them. They didn’t work. I suspect the placebo effect is much more effective when one believes in the treatment . . . |
| Beco Baby Carrier | 140 | Amazing. I wish I had this carrier from the beginning. Instead, I started out with the cheaper Bjorn carrier. It wasn’t bad. It just isn’t as versatile and comfortable as the Beco. |
| Mattress | 100 | I got a good midline mattress for Calvin. |
Medical Costs
I had a lot of abnormal things happen in the course of my pregnancy. That, coupled with Jaeger’s phenominal health insurance, makes my numbers meaningless for anyone else. I went back and counted and it looks like we visited the pediatrician’s office about 12 times in the past year. Most of these were routine checkups but a couple were due to Calvin being sick. However, he is a pretty healthy baby so we didn’t need many sick visits.
Daycare Costs
Most daycare centers will not take part-time infants. As a result, not only did we take a pay cut when I went to part-time work but we had to pay for full-time daycare. Since Calvin started daycare in late May, we have paid just over $12,000 in daycare expenses. We probably would have paid significantly less for in-home daycare. However, I didn’t know anyone offering the service and couldn’t find any personal referrals so I didn’t feel as comfortable with that option. While it’s a lot of money, I’m very happy with the daycare center Calvin is currently in.
Things we were given and didn’t have to pay for
- Infant Car Seat
- Snap N’ Go Stroller – amazing
- Changing Table
- Activity Center – essential for when you need to shower
- Many, many toys
- Many clothes
- Bassinet – though I bought a new mattress for it
If you’re amused by my recitation of infant expenses, you might also like poking around at the Cost of Raising a Child Calculator from the USDA.
Yes, I know the formatting is messed up. Serendipity is doing something really funky with the table that I haven’t taken the time to track down.
It just keeps going up from there. I am glad I did not calculate the entire cost of my children over all the years.
Something I did not accomplish (started, but other things occurred) is a college fund. You might consider doing that soon to get a nice head start.
BTW, you guys ready for another one yet?;)
Yeah, I’m probably not going to keep a running total. However, I was really frustrated when I was trying to budget before we had the baby because I didn’t know how much to set aside so I thought it might be useful for any of our friends considering children. Well, that and I love running numbers :)
We have started a college fund. We’re not contributing as much as I prefer but I guess it’s a start.
No, no more children. One is plenty for us :)