this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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There's a really good question right there: While children are expensive as fuck, they do prevent loneliness and wild shopping sprees because they keep you from going online for long enough. So: Are children actually saving you money in the long run because they stop the root for buying stupid shit and keep you busy enough so that you ain't even thinking about getting said stupid shit?
Given that raising a child is, from a sourceless quick google, about $20-30k a year, they better not be. As for loneliness, a catβs about $650 a year, and makes a similar level of intelligent conversation for the first ten years or so.
It's ok though, the US government will pay you to have children, because come tax time, the only thing more important than revenue is guaranteeing future wage slaves
Or maybe proper care for a kid really does cost $20k a year and half the population could not care for one without assistance or a partner to help cover those costs.
Plenty of children go without in this country.
I have one child in daycare 4 days a week. The cost is $70 per day. It was actually one of the lower cost options in my area as it's run by a mom out of her home. For child care alone, I'm paying over $14k /year. Now a typical family may not have the means to pay that. But they need time away from their kids to work the same as I do. Maybe they're lucky enough to have family nearby that can help. But that's still a cost that has to be paid when you talk about the cost of having a child. In this case the family member is a covering the.cost via donated labor.
IMO, children in their early life are mainly expensive in opportunity costs, assuming you have a full time parent taking care of the child. Diapers are food are relatively cheap but taking a parent out of the work force or the alternate, providing day care, is very expensive.
What the? Where I live, a kid costs between 350 and 700 per month, 250β¬ monthly tax reduction/month/child by the government not factored in
Oh I'm so jealous. I've got two kids in the United States and it cost almost $3k per month in daycare alone. We're not taking them to an incredibly fancy daycare either!
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear... Those are the things people need to be reminded of when they brag about the oh so high average wages in the US. Daycare here is 400/Month max. I mean, you can go more expensive of course for some fancy rich-kid-establishment of course.
It could be including childcare, increased housing costs for larger housing, any myriad of things.
https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/cost-raise-child-2023#:~:text=The%20ongoing%20costs%20of%20child,the%20U.S.%20is%20%2420%2C813%20annually.
This was the article at the top of google. Looks like yeah childcare + housing are the majority of the costs.
Admittedly, I don't have a cat, but I would have thought they're more expensive than that. My parents had / have cats. A vet bill is like $150 a pop.
I think I'd want one of those self-cleaning litter boxes as well (if I had a cat). Those start around $600, right?
Well vets visits shouldn't be much more frequent than once a year, and believe it or not, $600 litter boxes are optional. Also, whatever litterbox you buy should last more than a year.
All fair points, but 2 unexpected vet bills in one year has a high stress tax as well.
Vet costs not included.
Sure, and the child could have an extremely expensive form of ass cancer. Unless you mean routine costs, which were covered by the article I yanked that number from without reading
https://www.aspcapetinsurance.com/resources/cat-ownership-cost/#:~:text=How%20Much%20Does%20a%20Cat,to%20around%20%2453%20a%20month.
Fair, for me that would be covered by healthcare insurance, while pet insurance is a massive scam.
I realize things are probably different in the US.
At first I thought that was hyperbole. Then I remembered my friendβs 8yoβ¦