EXCERPT FROM: Detroit Free Press
By Kristin Samuelson and Becky Yerak
Expecting children? Expect to cough up some big bucks.
The grand total for middle-income parents raising one child from birth to age 17 is $222,360, which doesn't include college tuition, according to the recently released U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2009 Expenditures on Children by Families report.
That's 22% higher than the 1960 inflation-adjusted cost of $182,857.
"Annual child-rearing expense estimates ranged between $11,650 and $13,530 for a child in a two-child, married-couple family in the middle-income group," the report's abstract says.
"We currently spend more than that on day-care alone," said Carlo Hontiveros, an associate director for SNL Financial in Charlottesville, Va. Eight months ago, he and his wife, a physical therapist, welcomed their first child, Mia. "Mia currently attends what we feel is the best day-care facility in the region."
Indeed, the report called child care and education expense "the most striking change in child-rearing expenses over time." Those expenses grew from 2% of total child-rearing expenses to 17%.
"Day-care costs are so expensive," agrees Berwyn, Ill., resident Sue Quinn, a letter carrier. She and her husband have three children, ages 13 to nearly 2.
"It's $90 a day for the babies," and the 13-year-old attends summer camp, she said.
Taxes keep rising and overtime for her husband, who still works full-time in construction, has all but disappeared.
The family sticks close to home and has become well-acquainted with Netflix, the local library, Aldi and Costco. When they had one child, they traveled everywhere, including Florida, Europe and Mexico. Now, vacation amounts to spending time -- during the week -- at a friend's place in Michigan.
Food percentage declines
While food was among the largest expenses in both time periods, proportionally the overall costs have fallen, due to increased competition and other factors. "Changes in agriculture over the past 50 years have resulted in family food budgets being a lower percentage of household income," the report said.
But some don't mind paying a lot for food that they believe is healthy.
She feeds her kids organic food and sends her older set of twins to Montessori school, which costs $18,000 per year for both children.
Housing was the most expensive expenditure in both time periods, and it increased in real terms over time. But a big house isn't a priority for Rives.
"We are looking to buy a bigger house but just haven't yet because it's cost-prohibitive. It's more important for me to stay home than have a bigger house."
But children's clothing and miscellaneous expenses decreased as a percentage and in real terms from 1960 to 2009, due partly to globalization, the report said.
To parent or not?
The cost of raising a child, particularly in a shaky economy, has some people wondering whether they should put off their plans to have more children.
Lindsay Murphy was eight months pregnant with her first child, now 11 months old, when her financial services employer in Skokie, Ill., laid her off.
She and her partner regularly discuss whether they should have another child before the economy gets on sounder footing.