Every time I think about changing a diaper, I run a little bit harder and a little bit faster to make sure I can afford a nanny until my daughter's old enough to take care of that herself.
All that chatter you hear from yuppie parents at the playground about how expensive it is to 'do' bathrooms? It's all true. Every word, and worse.
I spoke to my dad, and he said it took close to 90 dollars to raise me. But that was me and my sister, and my sister moved out when she was 16, so sometimes it can knock you up to triple digits to raise a kid.
I have two step-kids and one of my own on the way. That's three college funds.
I feel I'm fortunate compared with a lot of parents in being able to afford a nanny but, you know, it's expensive. When we've looked into trying to find a full daycare place in London it's just been impossible. You just cannot get one.
This is the other thing: we make the cost of raising kids higher than it has to be just because we feel they need all this stuff, like gadgets, certain schools, and activities that are nice but aren't really necessary.
Kids don't come cheap.
I do know what it's like to worry about bills, I do know what it's like to worry about even finding a child-minder, never mind paying them.
When you have children, you can't say you're not interested in money.
First grade is very cheap. It's the later grades where you have to spend a lot of money if you don't do it right.
