Quote:
Originally Posted by Bullseye
It's the 'cost' of having both parents not working full time that jacks that number up the most, I'll bet. For us personally, we miss out on $50K per year by having us both work part time instead of full time. Worth it, of course, to be home with our kids instead of putting them into daycare.
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We have lost some income because of that, as well. Of course, we've never paid a dollar for child care over the 5.5 years of my oldest son's life, so there is some payback.
To this point, our kids are very cheap (affordable? what's the right word here
) They don't eat much, their entertainment costs are low (this last year is just the beginning of sports leagues), they don't need a lot of stuff beyond the gifts they receive every 12 seconds (it feels like). Our RESP contributions are definitely the single largest payout during the year for them.
Obviously this will change as they play sports (maybe we'll stick with basketball and ultimate frisbee instead of hockey and polo) start doing things with friends, begin to explore their own hobbies/needs/wants/etc and of course head off to school, but during their younger years, kids are pretty easy....er....financially.