The cost of raising a kid

The other day I heard an astounding number. It said that the cost of raising a kid from birth to age 18 (not including college funds) is $200,000. That means if you have 5 kids, you’ll be spending a million bucks not including 30 or 40k a year per kid for college. That’s ridiculous. That equates to slightly more than 10,000 a year per kid. Wow. Is it any wonder that people go broke and bankrupt? I guess you can’t really put a price on a child though. All of their growing up moments sure are priceless.

Well, for me the first year is going to be relatively cheap. We’ve spent pretty much nothing so far (except $100 on pictures) on our baby and he’s going to be 11 weeks tomorrow. We’ve definitely got enough clothes and diapers from our baby shower to last throughout the first year. Plus all of our big baby supplies like the swing, bouncer, car seat, etc… were all given to us as gifts. I suppose we’ll more than make up for it once he becomes a teenager.