Do they really "only get more expensive?"

[nanodyne]

I see this mentioned a lot in relation to kids, is it actually true? At their most expensive (so far) we've paid ~£1.5k for 4 days a week in a nursery and this takes into account the available funded hours and "tax-free" (🙄) allocation. Do teenagers seriously cost more than this per month..?! This is only the childcare component obviously, not including the clothes they're getting through at a rate of knots, the vast amounts of fruit/food they both consume/throw on the floor/smear on the cat, day trips at the weekends, classes on my day off with them etc..

Is this just something people who had kids before childcare became more than a mortgage say? I'm partly incredulous, partly panicking!

No nothing compares to the costs of early childcare.

If you take childcare out of the equation and just consider food, clothes, entertainment then teens are more expensive.

Guys round the corner from me keep quail on their balcony. They seem to shit out eggs like there's no tomorrow.

Childcare is a lot however things do get dearer

Adult trainers / clothing - prices jump .
activities - free trips to the park don’t cut it -phones , laptops for school work. Even a trip to McDonald’s is a Big Mac meal not a happy meal .

so lots of expenses go up . Depending on income lots of my Ds friends have been to Iceland on geography field trip not a trip to local farm ..

It's usually the teen themselves who are keen to drive.

@Footballwidow24 sure, and I'd have no problem with them funding it themselves, but I don't feel it's something I need to provide for them since I'd never move them somewhere without good public transport.

Driving lessons are expensive and we did shell out a lot for DC1’s but my friend did a lot more driving with her DC before starting lessons than we did and her lessons cost ended up
much lower.

We buy most clothing from vinted and that saves a fuck ton!

But in terms of kids meal etc and most things going up (hotel rooms etc) when they hit 12, yes it does get more expensive.

No more childcare to pay for though so really I think it evens out rather than goes up or down.

Oh that is tough @londonmummy1966 - mine works for a well known high street retailer when she is home in the hols - she's done it since she was 16, so she didn't work last year (first year) during term time, although she thinks she may try and get something in Notts this coming year. I think it's quite tough though; there don't seem to be as many student jobs available as when we were at uni. Can your daughter type?! I used to temp in the hols, and I guess now one could do Virtual PA/Assistant type things? Could she tutor - DS does quite well as an A level or GCSE tutor, although I guess the Oxbridge 'badge' helps.

We have four too, @DancingNotDrowning so we have a loooong way to go yet - DC4 is only just going in to Y10.....

if you have 1 or 2 kids then can book a Premier Inn family room for no more than their other rooms, 3+ is a different matter.

It's usually the teen themselves who are keen to drive.

There really wasn’t anywhere for me to drive to. For one parking in inner & central London is packed & ££££.

@londonmummy1966 what about a remote admin style job?

No compared to full time nursery, nowhere near as expensive even though one is at uni (and one at school) on minimum loan (we top up the rest to max) and factoring in more expensive holidays, phones, driving lessons/insurance etc. Still less than half the cost of nursery days! I also earn a lot more these days as I didn't have a career break and carried on climbing the greasy pole.

I think the people who say it gets more expensive are those who gave up an income or cut down to part time and never went back to work or not full time. Loss of income is a huge "cost" but it kind of gets forgotten/absorbed over the years. Childcare costs are therefore limited or non existent but in contrast other costs will seem to noticeably increase particularly in the teen years.

As a chicken slave keeper I can tell you that you are not missing out on any savings! * *Having your own chickens is fab, but it's not really an economic way of getting eggs. They're much nicer than shop bought eggs but my pampered girls definitely cost more to look after than buying eggs. I view them as pets that produce eggs as a bonus really.

My nursery fees were minimal, both DC went one day a week, youngest didn't go til eldest had finished. My parents helped (and still do) with childcare A LOT.
If you're paying £1.5k a month on nursery fees, there's no way that they get more expensive.
Eldest DC eats like an adult, they both have extra curricular activities that I pay for, and clothes / shoes for eldest are now adult sized too.
But no way do they cost me anywhere near £1.5k a month!

If your children choose a London uni and need to move to London, you’d easily be looking at £300 a week for a room, add on phone, cost of clothing, driving costs etc. Help with the cost of laptop: iPad as the A4 pad and biro which got us through uni isn’t sufficient any more.

Take them on a one week holiday, full price adult so another £500, if you can book one while they are on holiday but is still during school term. You want to see them one weekend? So another £200 on going to stay plus a big food shop (which you’ll almost certainly need to do!).

So yes, they really can be more expensive as teens!

@QueenofLouisiana The holiday point is interesting - we just booked out holiday for next Easter and the price is the same for 2 adults and 2 children in one room as it would be for 4 adults with 2 rooms. I actually expected our holiday costs to go down as I don't plan on doing AI once the kids are old enough to do restaurants in the evenings.

Luckily we have family in London so if either wanted to study down there then they'd probably live with them - I actually refused a place at a London uni myself because I couldn't see a way to pay for it.

No, of course it doesn't, if you are looking at everything you have to pay for and taking into account either childcare or lass of salary.

I would say there are more expensive things you can choose to pay for as they get older, but the crucial difference is, if you have a baby / toddler / small child, then someone has to be looking after them, whereas a ski trip or designer trainers or driving lessons are things you can choose to pay for if you have the money and see value in spending it that way.

@Campcritters @Panicmode1 - hadn't thought of remote - not sure where she'd look tbh.In the holidays she rakes it in providing childcare for local families - currently getting £25ph although that does mean looking after 4 children from 2 families at the same time. She's in a house next year so I suggested she try leafleting the local area where there is evidence of children (our local vicar will give her a character reference). Temping might be worth looking into as she has done quite a bit of receptionist work at a local NHS clinic and I know they'd give her a glowing reference as they picked her out for it on the back of her volunteering at a COVID vaccine centre.

Glassdoor website. Estate agents may have admin weekend jobs, babysitting as you say.

I hoping my dc choose a London uni so they can live at home for some of it!

Childcare costs a bomb! Teenage children cost alot as their clothes and trainers are branded. Shoes/trainers become more expensive past a size 5.5 too. Teenagers eat the same portion as an adult, so meals out cost more. But not as much as private childcare!

Yes and once 16 they count as an adult so can't have them and parents in the family room together

Completely depends on your choices and lifestyle. Everyone is different. Some parents give their children expensive material things and others would rather teacher the value of money or just don't have it to spend. My kids got less expensive from aged 16 as they all worked part time and used their own money/saved for driving lessons and their own cars. I believed working has been very good for them too

I agree with those saying that the key difference is that a lot of the costs in later years, whilst they may be highly desirable, are not actually essential. But there often isn't much choice about childcare. It may be that the only way you can reduce your childcare bill is to reduce your working hours and hence your income, so you're between a rock and a hard place. But a lot of the spending on older children is stuff that you can actually say no too, including University costs to some degree at least. You may not want to say no, but you can.

Nursery is the most expensive for us. 3 under 2, full time.