Monthly living expenses with a child

Do you really calculate exactly how much your children cost you??

If every parent couple did that, there would "probably" be fewer offspring

I think it is absolutely realistic to think about possible offspring and their costs _beforehand_. Once they are born, parents can no longer give them back.

However, I increasingly notice that the topic of children divides into 2 camps. One is very focused on money and what can be bought with it, the other leaves its offspring to themselves; I miss the middle ground. What both have in common is that the frequent commonalities are missing: playing, playing, and playing. I am glad that I no longer have to work - at least I hope so - when this generation thinks about building a nest.

Rhenish greetings from the road
Building expert

If you didn't buy luxury, then you got fooled

Matter of definition. If that's luxury for you... we just live in different worlds. That's just how it is. I certainly don't consider myself to have been "fooled." Sure, there is a buggy for 29 EUR... and yet a Quinny is not luxury because of that. Likewise, a VW Passat is not luxury to me... just because there is also Kia. For me, luxury begins somewhere else.

Another example: The young mother... who lives on H4, gets about 300 EUR for the initial supplies. Where do you think luxury begins there?!!!

Regards, Steffen

I believe the initial equipment is also higher there - additionally, you also have the chance to receive support from charitable or other nonprofit organizations.

Luxury in the true sense is rather negative - €8300 simply buys things whose price/performance ratio one should consider; if in the end you come to the conclusion that the higher price buys you a proportionate added value - why not; to each their own.

So our initial equipment cost around €3000, including a brand new stroller, Maxi Cosi with Isofix station, nursery, new furniture and clothes. For the latter, however, there was a lot from the bazaar, as we didn’t see the point in buying the entire range from 50 to 62 new and then dressing in size 56 for a maximum of 2 weeks.

But to reach €8300, you really have to shop extensively, especially when I see that the Quinny is not really expensive. Our Teutonia, including accessories, cost around €900, and a few months later a bicycle trailer costing €1000 was added (not included in the €3000³).

And overall, the additional costs have probably settled at around €400-500, since the second child it’s probably around €600-700, as you really need less. Above all, the stroller is often still in good condition.

Just for a bed, a dresser, a wardrobe, a lamp, a few curtains, one can spend ... more or less 8000 euros. This applies to children's rooms as well as youth and "adult" rooms. Everyone will do it as they can and as they like.

Putting aside the loss of income, in my opinion, especially in the first months and years, it is possible with very, very little additional money if the parents are willing (you can do without a stroller) and if there are in-kind benefits from family/friends (our children are not the first children in the world). (This applies particularly if the mother can fully breastfeed and if the children are healthy.)

The bigger the children get, the more money is needed (their own room, their own bike, school, leisure activities, ....) up to open end depending on demands and possibilities (ski vacation with ski lessons; boarding school in Switzerland; iPhone; whatever). One can clearly see that the gap widens even further.

Just my two cents ...

Whoever starts imagining what they could do with the money that the child costs should maybe reconsider whether they really want to have a child. Yes, children cost money and that should also be sufficiently available. 500€ costs _ein_ child, especially in the first years certainly not per month. That can be the cost, but it definitely does not have to be.