Friday, April 5, 2013

baby's first year in dollars

Shep is turning one-year-old next week (crazy, right?). To commemorate his birthday, I thought I'd tally up just how much he's cost us.

Total cost: $4497.67

clothingtoysdiaperinghealthcaremiscellaneous
$615.62$73.04$554.11$2289.65$965.25

Just a few notes about these figures:


  • We've spent a pretty decent portion of the diapering portion on cloth diapers, which we started doing gradually after Shep was bigger. I think the savings by using cloth diapers are going to start factoring in more in the future, since it was a large upfront cost. We use a mix of cloth and disposables, so we do have some disposable diaper expenses still.
  • We purchased most of Shep's clothes and toys second-hand.
  • There is no "feeding" category because Shep hasn't needed formula or specifically formulated baby food. He's just breastfed and/or eaten real people food.
  • We received several things as gifts both before he was born and since. These gifts aren't totally accounted for here, but I estimate the value of everything we received to be probably somewhere around $500.
  • The "healthcare" category includes our coinsurance responsibility for the hospital birth and a (partially subsidized by insurance) breast pump. That's all the expenses in that category.
  • The miscellaneous includes a lot of the big things: a crib (which we don't use! argh!), glider/rocking chair, car seat, stroller, 2 Ergo baby carriers (I lost one, sadly), a bike trailer, and 7 nursing covers. (Seriously, I have purchased 7 nursing covers. I lost 2, bought one I didn't like, and then bought 4 more that were being sold in a bundle. I figure I'll use them!)
Has anyone else tried to estimate the cost of their child in the first year? How do we compare? We've tried to be frugal, but I'm not sure if we've succeeded.

5 comments:

  1. we EASILY spent double that. $3640 on formula alone because Henry was on special predigested formula. I am obsessed with baby clothes and I am absolutely sure I spent $1000 for the first year, I mean you have to buy new ones every 3 months! probably only $500 on healthcare because of insurance, and easily $500 on toys.

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  2. This is so interesting. I have no idea. I'm sure it's a lot. Morgan's almost 4 and not potty trained. That's a whole lotta diapers. Really wish we would have done cloth. We will for the next one. Diapers ain't cheap.

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  3. What about baby checkups? This is fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. This makes me someday want to keep track. It will be interesting. I have a feeling we will be significantly over your numbers.

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  5. Whoa, this is really eye-opening. Now I want to assess what Scarlet's cost us in the first two months!

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