BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids WOW -- Kids ARE Expensive!!!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that my sister bought her eldest daughter, who is now 22, an IPOD, for $200 last year, and the kid either lost it or it got stolen, so that's $200 down the drain.

How can a kid have an IPOD, camera cell phone and a laptop computer and STILL not be satisifed when I have none of these?

Let's not even get into them wanting to drive and wanting a car. Oo-wee......really, really sad.

My parents were pretty generous when I was growing up, but only as generous as they AFFORD to be - they certainly weren't going to jeopardize their retirement savings or wallow in debt so that I could have everything my little heart desired. That's the problem with so many of these people....one couple is trying to raise FIVE kids on a measly $30,000 a year?! I think I'd be hard-pressed to raise a cat on that in this day and age.

After taxes, rent, and the various bills, I'd be surprised if a single person living alone could live without having to constantly scrimp and save.

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Oh, man. If my parents bought me an iPod and I lost/broke it....I'd just not come home that night. It wouldn't be worth it, man. Might as well just go shoot myself in the head myself and get it done with!

I was always taught to take care of my "toys" - and still do. Plus I've worked since I was 16 so I learned to respect a dollar earned early on. Actually I worked before I was 16...a few ill-fated attempts at babysitting. One ended with the kid falling out the window...luckily we were on the first floor and the shrubbery broke his fall. I guess it's good for all involved that I decided to be CF:)

[color:"purple"] I put this on another forum on a different website. 1 month of birth control pill pack: $30, 12 months of birth control pick pack: (only) $360, 18 years of birth control pick pack: (only) $6,480. Total price of raising a baby to age 18: (a whopping) $269,000 (not including college, $100,000 if your teen doesn't get a scholership b/c he/she got too poor of grades in High School) [/color]

Here is an even cheaper route. I mentioned in earlier posts that my out of pocket cost for my vasectomy was $200. That $200 covered all the doctor visits, lab fees, prescriptions, etc. Another way to look at it from the numbers below about the cost for raising one kid: for every dollar the vasectomy cost me a kid would cost me $1845.00. Bottom line guys, if you are 100 % certain you never want kids, get snipped and make your special lady VERY HAPPY!

I do think buying tons of dresses and presents for kids is excessive. Its just silly and it doesnt teach anything baout responsibility. That said I can see why parents occasionally want to indulge their kids with a nice gift, I think its similar to buying a gift for my husband or my dogs. I just love buying gifts. My mom and dad bought me a pretty nice prom dress about 80$ and they paid for me to get my hair done for them it was lots of money. They didnt do it all the itme. I think we all enjoyed it because it was a change of pace I really appreciated the dress becuase it was special. I cant remember other toys I got that where special because I wasnt getting tons of stuff. I think that when you throw gifts at kids you dont let them appreciate things. Also most parents buy cell phones because they have safety concens. Of course that does not mean they should have camera phones. I also dont really agree with kids and cellphone at all at school. That said I honelsty think one of the fun things about having a kid would be shopping for it, but thats probably just cause i like to shop and buy gifts.

I totally agree with you. I think that many women see "cute" babies and want one of those. They don't stop to think that the baby will not stay small and will one day be a rebellious, expensive teenager.

Kids are way too expensive, and especially today there is a lot of pressure on the parents and kids to give them everything. If I had kids they would be mad at me because I would not give them all of the gadgets that their friends have.
I don't have a cell phone... why should they?
I got a ride to high school, and took the bus home so they definitely would not have their own car.
I bought all of my own clothes starting at age 14... so I would expect them to get a job and start earning pocket money at a young age.
I didn't go to a prom, so I would not spend hundreds of $$ to buy a dress for them.
And as for college... ONLY if I had saved up all of the money I needed for retirement would I help out. I hear so many parents today complaining that they don't have enough money for their retirement so they'll have to work until they are 80 because they are paying for their kids' college education! I tell them that there are LOANS for college but there aren't any loans for retirement so that they should put $$ in their 401K first... and they say "oh no, I couldn't do that" ... FYI people - good luck finding employment that pays more than minimum wage when you are over 65.
I guess it's a good thing that I don't have kids!
Kids are waaaay too expensive... Personally, the cost benefit analysis for kids does not work out positively in my mind. What is the BENEFIT of kids anyways?
I'd rather spend the $250,000 on paying off my house and having nice vacations.