The Cost of Raising a Child

The Cost of Raising a Child

For the twelfth year, Liverpool Victoria has reported calculations of what it costs to raise a child in the UK from birth to 21 years old. The costs have now reached £229,251 which is almost £2,000 more than last year and 63% more than what it was in 2003 (£140,398).

The report shows that the early years are the most expensive due to costs of nurseries, babysitting and after-school care. The cost of education later on is also one of the biggest costs and has reached it’s all-time high at £74,319.

Watch this video of young parents guessing the cost of bringing up a child and see the shock when they find out the actual number:

There are some interesting numbers in the image at the top too. (Here is the full infographic.) The total cost means that each child costs you £30 a day! That is a lot! The cost of childcare and university is crazy in the UK. The nursery costs alone make it very difficult for mums to go back to work and often makes it not worth it at all if you only make a few pounds more than you spend on childcare. That’s why you see so many mums running their own small businesses from home now.

We definitely do not spend £30 a day. The child benefit of £20 a week covers all the costs of our daughter. I look after her and work from home, she was breastfed (free!) and eats food that we eat most of the time. When I buy food for her at the supermarket, I look for special offers and use vouchers and I’m very savvy when it comes to buying her clothes and entertainment. Ebay is great for barely used or even new children’s clothes and I always check sales in my favourite stores for children’s clothes (H&M and BabyGap) and buy items then but only buy things we actually need. I keep an inventory of clothes in upcoming sizes so that I always know what we have. I buy books and toys from Amazon where they are often cheaper. Children don’t need that many gadgets, clothes and things. They need love and attention!

Childcare is not a cost that we’ve had to worry about yet. We’ve not actually been out without our daughter yet but when we feel ready, we will ask grandparents for help. If you don’t have any grandparents available, you can always ask friends or other family members to help you or even take turns babysitting for each other so that you get to have nights out.

University costs are extreme in the UK. I’m Swedish so my daughter can go to university in Sweden if she wants to. In Sweden education is free so that’s another cost we do not need to worry about. University education is not as important as it used to be and many high paid jobs do not require it so wait and see what your children are interested in and remember that they can always help save up when they are old enough to have a part time job.

There’s a child cost calculator with a breakdown of the costs available on the Liverpool Victoria website. I think that most of the areas can be reduced massively if you are savvy and think about your spending.

What do you do to save money when it comes to your kids?