How much do babies cost during the 1st year?

I've heard people say that they don't want to have kids because it costs too much, and at first I kind of laughed at that. We had a GIGANTIC baby shower for Katara and only had to spend a few hundred on supplies, most of which went to unneeded things like paint and decorations. And then for the first few months she didn't need anything except diapers... she wore hand-me-downs and nursed exclusively, and it was really nice.

Now it's a different story, since she's started on formula and baby food. I thought it might be helpful for some expecting parents to know how much an average couple spends on a baby for the first year.

To get set up with everything you need for the first year, assuming you pay for everything at low-end retail value and don't have a shower, would be about $2,000 dollars. This could be cut down by shopping at thrift stores or going without some things on this list:

Travel:

• Baby carrier and/or sling $30


• Diaper bag $50


• Pack 'n Play $70


• A rear-facing infant car seat with base. $80


• Stroller $120

Changing:

• Diaper pail $20


• Plastic Bags $20


• Diapers $30


• Disposable wipes. $20


• Diaper rash cream $10


• Changing pad $20

Sleeping:

• Baby monitor $40


• Crib mattress $50


• waterproof mattress pad $30


• 2-3 fitted crib sheets $30

Feeding:

• 6 bottles $20


• High chair $50


• Bowls $20


• Spoons $10


• Sippy cups $20

First Aid/Grooming:

• Thermometer $40


• First Aid kit $30


• Sunscreen $10


• Infant medications, like infant Tylenol or ear drops $50

Bathing

• Baby bath set (shampoo, lotion, oil, ect) $20


• Hooded towel $25


• Washcloths $10


• Baby Bather $30

Clothes

• Everything - $100 (at the most... babies get lots of clothes as gifts!)

Other

• Burp cloths $20


• 1 or 2 pacifiers $15


• 4 to 6 receiving blankets $50


• Teething rings  $10


• Dye and fragrance free laundry detergent $35


• Books, toys and rattles $50

Nursery

• Vibrating bouncy chair $50


• Crib $200


• Changing table/Dresser $80


• Swing $60

Nursing

• Breast pump $300


• Nursing pads $30


• Nipple cream ointment $10


• Nursing bras $45


• Nursing cover $20

After the initial set-up, babies need these things every month:

• Clothes - $40


• Diapers - $50


• Wipes - $5


• Incidentals - $30


• Food - $250 (only for the last 6 months)

Here's a breakdown of how I reached those numbers:

Clothes - Assuming you buy at thrift stores or use hand-me-downs for the most part, this cost should be fairly low. For me, it has been virtually non-existent until now. We are starting to buy her some things, but we still try to keep it to about $100 for each stage. That's about $40 per month.

Diapers - My baby has always used about 7 diapers a day. You can find diapers for about $0.22 each, 7 diapers a day X 31 days in a month = 217 diapers per month. Add in the occasional unexpected blow out and you'll need about 230 diapers a month. That comes out to almost exactly $50 a month.

Wipes - A Costco box of wipes costs $20 and lasts me 4 months. So that's $5 a month.

Incidentals - This covers everything from the emergency pacifier purchase to new toys. We try to keep this to a minimum, around $30 a month if possible.

Food - This one varies the most. If you're nursing, you will save a LOT on formula. If you make your own baby food, you'd probably save a lot on that too. So I'll take a middle-of-the-road approach and let's say you switch to formula at 6 months of age, at which time you also start baby food three times a day. Formula costs about $1.25 per 6-ounce bottle, which your child will probably be drinking 4-5 times a day. That equals just under $200 a month. Baby food is $0.50 a jar (if I'm remembering right), so that adds up to just under $50 a month. Babies also eat rice cereal, crackers or cheerios, but those things are cheap and can be easily absorbed in the family budget.

So the average monthly cost of babies for the first year is $125 for the first six months, and $375 for the last six months. In total, that's exactly 6,000 dollars for the first year.

GRAND TOTAL (Set up + First year): $8,000

However, I feel that this is a very worst-case-scenario number. This doesn't factor in gifts, sales, coupons, or do-it-yourself projects. It also includes a lot of extemporaneous things you could do without - such as a breast pump and BOTH a swing and bouncy chair. I'm pretty sure the resourceful parent could do it all for $5,000 or even less.

EDIT: This also doesn't include prenatal care and hospital bills, which depends so much on your insurance it's almost impossible to make an estimate. If you have AWESOME top of the line insurance, you might not have to pay more than $400 for all of that... the next step down is estimated at $2,500 and if you have poor insurance or no insurance at all you could be looking at $10,000 or more, especially if you have a c-section or a premature baby. (Source: experience and some online reading.) We decided to budget for the middle ground number and if the worst case scenario happened, we would treat that as a family emergency rather than a baby expense budget-wise. For us, not being totally prepared for an emergency was not a good enough reason to not have a baby- we knew emergencies could happen at any time to any member of the family and God would provide as needed.

So if you were to budget $2,500 for the hospital bills and prenatal care, your total worst-case-scenario cost for the first year would be $10,500.

Time Management

This graphic from salary.com puts the life of a stay at home mom into perspective. I think our culture is beginning to value mothers more and more now that the peak of feminism is behind us, but it is still pretty affirming to see it spelled out like this.

Of course, it's nice to know how much we are worth, but the bigger question on my mind is, "How on earth am I going to accomplish all of this on a daily basis?" I only have one baby right now, and I still don't get everything done that I should. The idea that some mothers (like mine) manage to keep a tidy home while also homeschooling 4+ children and taking up personal projects on the side is mind boggling to me.

I have spent way too much time trying to manage my time on paper, only to fail over and over again at keeping to the schedules I've made. Recently a friend and I had the privilege of meeting with an experienced mother of six who gave us her wisdom on the subject of organization, and since then I have been trying to work out the best system of time management for me. Here is what I have learned so far...

1. Make daily, weekly, and monthly to-do lists.

At least, this is the system that works for me. Weekly lists won't change from week to week- this is your basic laundry, cooking, cleaning, and desk work routine. I have each of these chores assigned to a certain day, but if it doesn't happen on that day I don't stress about it. The monthly list will change based on the needs of that month, like taking the car into the shop or buying someone a birthday gift. Make your daily list off of the weekly and monthly lists, tacking on any little extra things that come up. Then when you're done with you're daily list you are DONE, and can put everything else out of your mind and do something you love!

2. Give every moment to God.

For me the most exciting part of time management is working out what I need to do and how fast I need to do it. Racing the clock is fun, and so is checking off neat little rows of boxes. But I have learned that I have to think of my to-dos as goals, not mandatory requirements. Otherwise when Katara wakes up early from her nap or the phone rings with a request from a friend in need, I find myself becoming grumpy and unkind. Instead, I try to think of every moment as God's, and keep my mind open to however He wants me to use it.

3. Spend half an hour cleaning every day.

I read this on another blog somewhere, and I have been doing it ever since. After breakfast, while Katara has playtime, I make sure the whole house is in a general state of order before moving on to my devotions and shower. This leaves me feeling in control and ready to tackle another day, even if all that day holds is a more in-depth kind of cleaning.

4. Prioritize

Start with the things that are going to drive you bonkers unless they get done. Maybe that means forsaking housekeeping to get caught up on scrapbooking... maybe that means taking a nap if you are totally sleep deprived. Whatever the case, try to actively decide what things are most important to you.

5. Save computer work for nap time.

The last thing I want is for my daughter to see me constantly glued to the screen when she's up. I also find computer projects more absorbing and therefore I'm much less attentive to what Katara is up to. (The other day she got into the dog food for this very reason. Haha!)

6. Find ways to make it fun.

I make myself fold laundry by watching a show while I do it, but I will often stand up the whole time so I don't get too distracted. I also like the idea of bribing myself with candy or ice cream after completing particularly ugly chores, like cleaning the bathroom. And I try to break up the unpleasant chores with fun ones, and space out errands throughout the week so we always get out of the house.

7. Check dinner off your list at breakfast.

This is something I learned from my mother-in-law. If I can throw something in the crock pot or pull something out of the freezer at breakfast so that dinner is taken care of, my whole day will feel a lot easier. Even if I am planning a stove-top meal, checking that we have all the right ingredients and pulling out the recipe early in the day will help to get me over the 4:00 hump.

8. Have designated days to stay home and get stuff done.

Rather than spacing out work equally throughout the week, I have hard days and easy days built into my schedule. This enables me to know better how to plan get-togethers with friends, doctors appointments, and other non-regular errands. It also gives me enough flexibility to move things around if I don't get everything done on it's designated day.

9. Learn when to say no.

This one I learned from my Aunt. It's important to value the work that you as a stay at home mom have to do. When someone calls and asks if I'm busy, and all I'm doing is housework, my temptation is to say no. But the truth is, if that work doesn't get done, I'm going to be stressed and frustrated by the end of the week. So within reason, I have to learn to say no sometimes when other non-essential demands on my time arise.

10. Keep it simple.

I'm constantly trying to make complicated schedules that nail down exactly what Katara and I should be doing at every moment. But this tends to create a knot of stress in my stomach that overrides all my ambition. My husband is constantly reminding me to make a list, and start working. Don't get lost in the whole, just focus on the task at hand- and as usual, he is right.