We know that parenting can be expensive, and the occasional study will try to quantify just how expensive it is. But if you’re a parent, you probably know your mileage can vary quite a bit. There are plenty of ways to cut certain costs, and there are plenty of expenses you don’t see coming. We want to know: what was your most unexpected child care expense?
It can be a costly one, or it can be one that’s not huge but still caught you off guard. Either way, tell us the one expense you didn’t see coming, and let us know how you budgeted for it, too. If another reader has covered yours, feel free to reply to their comment with your own experience.
Photo by Timothy Kraus.
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10 responses to “What Was Your Most Unexpected Child Care Expense? ”
Prams, and car seats – Did not see how much a kick in the pants they would cost.
They are shocking. Also, you don’t need a super powered off road pram. We got a pretty modest one and it’s great.
Also, there is a HUGE second hand market as there is a steady stream of people who have had their last kid.
I knew a couple who bought a new car because their new Bugaboo didn’t fit in their existing car.
We have been through so many different prams and strollers it is ridiculous. Best Pram we had was a Jeep branded one from memory (velcro strapped steering wheel was great as well) and the best stroller was like a $15 thing from Toys R Us which we only had to get rid of because child 2 was fussy as all hell about the foot rest being broken.
But yeah Car seat and Pram were 2 of our biggest outlays.
This may be Vic state dependent only. For attending 3 year old kinder, your child needs to turn 3 before 30 April.
So if your child turns 3 on 2nd April, they need to wait until that day to attend their first day of kindergarten. This is due to the differing teacher-child ratios of 2 and 3 year olds.
… but even though you need to wait until their birthday – you still have to pay for kindergarten from the first day of term. You therefore find yourself in the situation of paying twice – once for childcare and once for kindergarten (that you can’t attend).
This is a Vic state government issue.
Other than the above mentioned pram and car seat our biggest expense was travelling interstate to see the family. We have also had to move states a couple of times for healthcare for our child (and looking at doing it again shortly) so that was a bit of a shock to the money system.
Childcare. Yes, we all know it’s ridiculously expensive, but the real pain for me comes from the bond ($600, thank you very much), four week notice period, and – here’s the killer – the fact you pay the centre for public holidays, even though you can’t send your kids there.
Also on childcare, the fact that you need to earn about $70k (before tax) just to break even on childcare costs. And that’s after the rebate.
Until recently I had two children in childcare and after the rebate it cost around $500 per week and included meals. That’s around $25,000 per year, which is a lot less than a $70,000 pre tax salary. Either you are the Brady bunch, or your kids are attending the most expensive childcare in Australia.
I think Tim meant that on $70k including all other living expenses you come out with a break even situation where you dont commit anything into savings etc. Which is probably right if the cost of childcare is $25k per year alone… I mean you can make cuts elsewhere to get a little back but I think the point was that childcare is pretty expensive 🙂