|
How can we afford a child?
This information is on a non-adoptive child. Add your adoption expenses to this...pretty scarey! But definitely worth it.
According to Smart Money, the US Department of Agriculture estimated that in 1995, a child costs approximately $145,320 in a middle-income family over 18 years; a more realistic estimate, based on expenses from birth to college, might be closer to $400,000. The first year of a baby's life is just the beginning: The average family spends about $10,000 (we're counting delivery, hospital stay, baby furniture, clothes, food, diapers, daycare, toys, books, and well-baby visits and immunizations) with some smart shopping, borrowing, and budgeting.[b]
|