Monthly living expenses with a child

Since I am currently planning our budget but have little experience in this area, I would appreciate tips from parents. Regarding the framework conditions: We are planning to build/buy a house and are currently calculating how much money would be available for the monthly installment. We understand that a general statement is difficult, but it is more about an approximate value. A family car is available. At my wife's workplace, there is an in-house daycare that is completely free. Thus, a major cost factor (daycare here in the area costs between 500 and 700 € per month with a good income) is already eliminated. We want to exclude the increased water and electricity consumption. We also know from friends what to expect for initial equipment (stroller, children's room, child seat, etc.). It is more about how much money one should roughly expect to spend on food, personal care, and clothing (neither luxury nor basic, but solid middle range) and occasional activities on weekends (like going to the water park, zoo, or indoor playground). Thank you very much in advance

Difficult question! For us, about 1,000 per month would be normal (with one child), holidays or special expenses like for birthdays are added on top. However, children get more expensive as they get older = more/more expensive clothes, pocket money, leisure activities, riding/music, etc.

Ongoing maintenance costs such as insurance, TV, telephone, car should also be considered, as well as building reserves for any unexpectedly occurring expenses. It is advisable to keep a household budget book over several months in which income and expenses for every little thing are documented meticulously. This helps enormously to get an overview.

Regards Sigi

Thank you very much for your answers. I expressed myself somewhat ambiguously because I only meant the expenses per child. For ourselves, I have created the following monthly calculation:

1. Wife’s car: 450 euros (short commute) Included: depreciation over 7 years, gasoline, maintenance, wear and tear, taxes, insurance. Since I have a company car, I only have to pay taxes accordingly, which are already taken into account in the net salary.

2. House additional costs: 600 € (property tax, insurance, garbage, street cleaning, electricity, water, heating, renovation reserves, chimney sweep, [GEZ], telephone)

3. Garden maintenance and minor repairs: 100 €

4. Vacation: 200 € (amounts to 2,400 € for vacation per year)

5. According to the household budget book, we spend about 600 € per person per month on average annually for food, clothing, and leisure, whereby with children, restaurant visits are less frequent and instead fun pools and similar activities are preferred.

6. Kindergarten costs are waived due to a free company kindergarten.

7. Per child, I plan about 400 to 500 euros for food, clothing, and leisure activities.

With a buffer of another 100 € per month and a bonus payment, the amount of which fluctuates and which I want to use as a buffer or for special repayments, about 1,700 € per month remain for the house payment.

Where I am unsure is point number 7. Is it set rather too high or too low? Of course, small children constantly need new clothes, but then you have other expenses as children grow older (pocket money, club membership, hobbies, brand clothing, etc.)

Guys, he's only asking about the child.

I have no personal experience but according to various sources and surveys on the internet, a child up to 6 years old needs on average about 6000 euros per year, so 500 euros per month.

But these are just average values. After a comparison with relatives, these seemed quite accurate.

Because of our planning, I wanted to get some information on that as well.

Guys, he is only asking about the child.

I have no personal experience but according to various sources and surveys on the internet, a child up to 6 years old needs on average about 6000 euros per year, that is 500 euros per month.

But these are only average values. After comparing it with relatives, these figures matched quite well.

Because of our planning, I also wanted to get some information there.

I think so too. Gifts, parties, food, clothing (very important), shoes, higher costs for vacations