To ask at what age were your children the most expensive?

[Invisiblewoman1]

I am trying to plan and prepare for being a single parent. I think the under 5 (childcare) and then teenage years are prob most expensive. Am I totally wrong?!

Teenagers are very very expensive
Boys all wear mens sizes in shoes and clothes and eat like 2 blokes every 2 hours it seems
My food bill alone is astounding... not to mention all the showers and moisturiser they use.
And then there's the washing of the giant clothes

7 yr old hardly costs anything apart from slime making ingredients which cost a bloody fortune too

older teens definitely.

adult size, especially shoes

school/college needs (including shoes)

sports activities (again shoes)

food

Mine are 5&9 and the most expensive years so far were when I paid nursery fees. I’d get annual statements from the nursery and I calculated that I paid them a grand total of £16k.

Teenagers are a different breed of expensive.

noway university of Florida - I’ve there that has a bit of a reputation as a real ‘party u I ersitu

I only have one and she’s in nursery but seeing as our fees are going up to £1,700 a month from January, I seriously hope this is the expensive bit because otherwise I’m going to have to send her to live with the foxes

Blimey posted in error.
Has rep as real party university which may be wrong - if so are the costs kind of ramped up for you ??

University- surely they can take loans

Of course they can. But they are based on parents income and rarely cover the cost of rent let alone anything else!

Mine are 17 and 15. They've never cost me as much as they do now.

Late teens/ young adult, but I was a SAHM with no childcare cost when mine were preschoolers, I appreciate that could be worse.

The one at uni currently costs me about £350 a month to supplement her loan during term time. The sixth former costs me £60 per month on bus travel and also needs feeding, clothing, lifts, train fares to open days/running around the country, and I’ve just paid a scary deposit for an Easter revision course to help make sure she meets an offer. She’s also sent up my car insurance as a learner.

A lot of the costs associated with teens (outside of uni costs) can be flexed or optional: second hand clothes, shoes, budget food shopping, batch cooking etc, school trips aren't mandatory. If you don't have family support around you it is much harder to flex childcare costs, you either find a working pattern that avoids the need of childcare (difficult, pay restrictive, at least pre WFH world), reduce working hours and take the hit or, depending on area, pay 4 figure sums for childcare.

I'm finding it hard to believe anyone who has experienced children in full time childcare could ever claim teens to be more expensive.

Late teens/ young adult, but I was a SAHM with no childcare cost when mine were preschoolers, I appreciate that could be worse.

Did you work before kids? The drop in income is still a cost of sorts.

It's all expensive and it gets even more expensive the older they get.

@PainAuChocowhat

I only have one and she’s in nursery but seeing as our fees are going up to £1,700 a month from January, I seriously hope this is the expensive bit because otherwise I’m going to have to send her to live with the foxes

It really is the expensive bit and you’ll get people telling you it doesn’t get cheaper but school is FREE so they’re wrong

University years- often involves driving lessons too.

@christmaspavlova

It's all expensive and it gets even more expensive the older they get.

I just don’t agree with this.

Once DS went to school I was no longer paying £400 a month on nursery fees and I could increase my hours. I’m bloody loaded now he’s 5.

Before teenage-hood they also will put up with cheap presents. Children under 13 don’t NEED £600 spent in them for Christmas

Teens - 15 +

I'm finding it hard to believe anyone who has experienced children in full time childcare could ever claim teens to be more expensive.

Agree. Not to mention teens can get jobs and despite the fact that in MN land you’re supposed to bank roll all you’re children til they’re 30, you are actually allowed to make them pay their own way at university and get a student loan.

My eldest will be 18 next week and definitely the teenage years are so expensive.
Mainly clothes, electronics, activities.

There is not one single year that is ever not expensive. Budget then times it by 5 at least.

@jamaisjedors

Teens.

Subsidised childcare in France and bought most things second hand for under 5s (and up).

But teens need adult sized clothes and shoes, grow stupidly quickly, and also need a lot more supplies for school and pocket money (even if they earn it).

My dc are 10 and 13. They have both been through 3 full shoe sizes in the last 15 months. It’s very £££, although not bc as much as nursery for 2 was.

I never had to pay childcare costs but university accommodation when they only get the minimum maintenance loan is eye-wateringly expensive!

Preschool. Repeated maternity leaves for a year each but only on full pay for 4 months (this is generous, expect less) then 5 months on statutory maternity pay (only 15% of my normal salary) then 3 months unpaid. Working PT took 20% off our household income and childcare was about 30% of our income (almost double our mortgage). Once our youngest went to school we increased our hours and childcare costs dropped and we could finally save again.

We have some teenagers now, we have no childcare costs and we work FT and the DC are far cheaper than preschoolers despite their need for expensive clothes, expensive sporting activities and constant food. I've costed up University (they will only get the minimum living costs loan) and reckon we'll be spending about the same per month as we spent on childcare for the time the eldest two overlap at University. But it's only two years, and we have a much higher income so the impact will be far less, we'll only be spending about 10-15% of our income on them at that stage rather than 30% of a smaller PT income.

I do think people who claim university is the most expensive time have forgotten just quite how large the impact of PT working and childcare is.

Was sahm so no nursery fees . I’d say uni years.

Christ my childcare bill is already £2k bill I can't imagine the kids being even more expensive 🤦🏻‍♀️