What age kids become expensive?

[Glassofredandapackofcrisps]

Just that really. My dd is nearly 2 costs creeping up slightly and so wondering is it a gradual rise or does it come as a massive shock around a certain age? Thank you!

Oh and they eat a lot and no more children's menu if you can afford to go out. It sounds silly by makes a big difference.

When/of you send them off to board.

Teens. Then it costs, and not for a fancy lifestyle, just general things. More food, clothes, activities, personal care things, school trips etc.

My 2 & 3 year old cost me £1200 a month in childcare fees. I don’t believe it’s physically possible for two teenagers to cost me more than £1200 a month, so I’m going to say toddlers are more expensive!

My teens easily exceeded ft childcare costs with the combination of activities, trips and ordinary household costs (lengthy boiling hot showers for three teenagers, plus electricity for a shit ton of electrical equipment, heating on full blast at all hours so they can walk round in a towel, don't talk to me about the laundry...) Now one is at uni, so we have slightly less costs at home, but even more outgoings. With two more off to uni in the very near future, no one is allowed to get married until they can pay for it themselves.
(I do make them work btw. But I ended up paying for the courses that was necessary in order to set them up with those pt jobs...)
Yeah. Birth. Right about then.

@mamaryllis honestly?! Really?!

I do £600 per month PER CHILD on part time childcare. Is a teen honestly more than that (especially since you said “more than full time childcare”). Would a teen honestly cost more than £600+ per month on activities/trips/ food & household bills?! Shittttttt if so.

Ha, ha, ha, the brillopad. £1200 pcm . Even with no school fees when they are at uni that will be 2 x £7k rent plus subsistence, plus food when they're home, want to go on holiday with you. driving lessons, phones,

Teens!

When they go to uni
< if not years before >

DDs are 3 (almost 4) and 6 and cheap as chips at the moment

@raindropsandsparkles

Definitely not a “school fees” kind of family here I was hoping tuition fee loan & maintenance loan would mostly cover university costs, especially for low income families, but who knows what will happen in 16+ years time when my kids are uni age!

I can cope with £40pm phone bills, £80pm driving lessons etc etc. I am still firmly sticking my head in the sand and refusing to accept any age is more expensive than the childcare age!!

Urgh reading this gives me anxiety can my baby girl not just be my baby forever?! Dreading teenage years already

I'm with you Brillopad. My loan paid for my university. (Still paying it off).
Nursery costs are £1,600 per month for part time. (London).
No help from family for childcare here.

I'm in a lull right now, 2 junior kids in wraparound and school holidays. Thou every now and then they freak me out and eat twice as much as me and grow 2 inches and I get a sign of what the teenage years will bring. So I'm making the most of it

Once they need adult size clothes and shoes. Mine are 12 and 14, I can no longer pick them up cheap clothes in the Asda sale, instead of £3 for a top it’s now £12, shoes are £40 and things like coats and hoodies are double the price. And now they want to go out with friends, money for the cinema, youth club and trampoline park, expensive school trips, money for swimming and cooking at school. I could go on .

Nursery costs are £1,600 per month for part time. (London).
@BakedBeeeen Ye gads! What would full time cost?

My teens get good shoes and clothes in charity shops. Dirt cheap. Go on great holidays abroad on language exchanges. Price of the plane ticket. Do great activities which are free.

I didn't have childcare costs but I did send mine to a fee paying elementary school.

School fees apart, the first big expense came with extra curricular activities and sports - kit, gear and participation fees plus travel - from age 5 to about age 13 for five of them. After that sports in high school were far less expensive. They learned to drive in school as part of their PE curriculum, which was very nice.

I suppose, the general cost of living in a good school district (property taxes or rent) can be factored in - in order to send them to a very good public high school here I pay a good deal more rent than I would have to if school quality wasn't a factor. However, house prices remain high in a good school district so this is a good bargain for a home owner.

Then there was the clothing thing. It hit about age 13.
DS in particular went through a phase where he outgrew basketball shoes and his other shoes too really fast - he needed new footwear every four months for about two years. He finally stopped growing when he was in size 13 US. The next biggest size for him would have been custom-made shoe territory.

University education was not that expensive for us even though I am in the US. My DCs so far have had financial aid packages and scholarships that have been great.

My DCs all had jobs throughout their teenage years - babysitting and odd job work, and they worked during school holidays too. In university they had jobs to support themselves. I did not send any of them any money to any of them while in university. They all lived at home during summers while at university, and the increase in the food bill was noticeable. But food and utilities and any toiletries they did not buy for themselves were the only things I provided. They were all buying their own clothes and footwear by about age 16

Teens. The amount of food they can consume is quite something.

Hmm DD is 6. From 10 weeks til 4Y3M childcare was £1050 pm- hard as single mUm. After school club is now £200p/m do cheapest she’s ever been but I do put money aside still but so far now cheaper than rver

My eldest is y5 and I'm feeling the pinch with 11+ tutoring, music lessons, clubs, school residential trips etc. It's the first year other than paying for nursery I've had to cut back on other spending to cover the costs.

Mine haven't been that expensive. Yes, ds eats a lot, but then dh and I are moving on in middle age so eat rather less than we did (and quite frankly, should probably eat less than we do). We still do the shopping so still have enough control to make sure he fills up on cheaper spuds and has smaller helpings of the expensive stuff.

Hobbies have to be kept within budget, otherwise they can't be done. Ditto school trips. Clothes can be bought at Primark (which apparently is no less ethical than some of the more expensive chains). Footwear does come expensive though.

I’ve noticed an increase in costs in the last year- the start of high school.
Bus pass (£900/ year), uniform (£millions), shoes, trainers, phone, internet, entertainment, petrol (rural area, little public transport- biking encouraged in summer), trips, food, more food....
Another unplanned expense is his sport, he’s competing at regional level so monthly training fees, competition fees, travel, extra coaching, kit, nights away to deal with early starts- current estimate is £2500/ year. I’d guess it’s the same for music/ drama/ dance.

@TheBrilloPad Be prepared for costs that don't come as a monthly childcare bill but are still massive.

Unless you stay at home, holiday clubs for my DC(10) are £150/week x 10 weeks of the year. School residential is £400. Uniform, shoes and sports gear probably works out at £40/month if you average it all out. Trainers are £40/pair and need replacing frequently. Family holidays cost ££££ when you are limited to school holidays and no longer have free child places. Meals out, trips to the cinema and days out are expensive, we can easily spend £250 a month - the kids menu or a bag of chocolate buttons no longer works. Oh, and Christmas and birthdays - games consoles and other electronics...

The list goes on.

Support at uni is the biggest expense, big jumps at secondary transition and entering 6th form.