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There is no denying that having a family costs money, everything costs money. Just how much having a child will cost will totally depend on how much money you have, what you spend it on, and what free stuff you have at your disposal. There are so many factors that go into determining the cost of raising a child. The US Department of Agriculture releases a report every year that breaks down just how much children cost. It does a good job of giving us a glimpse of what can be expected.
The report entitled, Expenditures of Children by Families, details how much a family will spend on raising a child from birth through age 17. According to the report a family can expect to spend between $139,110 and $279,450 on one child throughout its life. Now there are many factors that play into these numbers. The report looks at seven different areas that families spend money on, housing, food, transportation, clothing, health care, education, and miscellaneous. There results are broken down by income level and then further by age of the child.
The amount of money a family spends on their child is greatly impacted by how much money they have to begin with. For example, according to the report a family making less than $43,200 a year will spend approximately $7,300 on their child in the first two years, a family making over $72,600 will spend approximately $15,190 during that same time period. As would be expected, those who have more spend more.
The costs associated with having a child have a pretty big impact on when a couple will decide they are ready start a family. Men have a particularly hard time swallowing the numbers. But what everyone needs to remember is that you do have control over how much you spend, and you don’t have to come up with all the money up front!!
Having a child costs money, just like everything else in life. The benefits, however, far exceed the money spent. I encourage you to sit down with your spouse and crunch the numbers, but at the end of the day remember there are ways to trim the costs and that having a baby is about more than money.
Here are a few helpful websites that have great “baby cost” calculators.
Just in case you needed another reason to get pregnant, besides the joy of starting a family and having a beautiful little baby, it turns out there may be some fringe benefits. Pregnancy causes many changes in your body and is responsible for the creation of hormones in your system that wouldn’t be there otherwise. Well it turns out that all those changes and all those hormones help in more ways than just creating life.
Here a few of the fringes benefits of pregnancy:
Reduced risk of breast cancer: studies of shown that pregnancy many reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer by as much as 40% to 50%. It is thought that a protein produced in the body only during pregnancy may be responsible for this reduced risk. (source: Breast Cancer Week)
Reduced risk of ovarian cancer: research has shown that the risk of ovarian cancer in women who have been pregnant is reduced by as much as 40% to 60%. Just how much your risk is reduced is greatly impacted by how young you were when you first got pregnant and how many pregnancies you had. (source: Kaiser Network)
Reduction of migraine headaches: migraine headache suffers (like myself) will completely understand how great this fringe benefit is. Many migraine suffers will experience a significant reduction in the number of migraines they suffer during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters, and may even see them completely disappear. Some women do, however, experience an increase in their headaches, but fortunately that is a small minority. (source: Your Pregnancy Week by Week 
)
Endometriosis growth is stopped: endometriosis occurs when the endometrium lining of your uterus attaches itself outside of the uterus. Endometriosis causes painfully cramping, heavy and irregular periods, gastrointestinal problems, and infertility. During pregnancy the growth of endometriosis stops as do the symptoms. Although the symptoms will come back after pregnancy and the growth will continue again, many women find their symptoms are less than prior to the pregnancy. (source: American Pregnancy Association)
If you have questions about these and other benefits of pregnancy you should talk with your doctor or midwife.
It is nice to know that not only do you get the wonderful joy of knowing that you are creating life and expanding your family, but that you are also helping yourself in a few ways as well.
Did you experience any other fringe benefits during your pregnancy?