Here’s How Much Our Daughter’s 4th Year Cost Us

This is our fourth post outlining details of kid-related items and costs we’ve encountered with our oldest kiddo.  If you missed the earlier posts + our post on tips for new baby items, you can check them out here:

• Our Baby Item Tips For New Parents
• Here’s How Much Baby’s First Year Cost
• Here’s How Much Baby’s Second Year Cost
• Here’s How Much Our Child’s Third Year Cost

Now that our family has expanded, we will keep going with Finn’s annual costs but refer to these emails as our daughter’s annual costs and we will start providing a second post with our younger son’s annual costs too so stay tuned for that. For items that we had for Finn but held on to until Parker was finished before selling, we will include in Finn’s post after the item has been sold (so those with single child can see the costs with just one child involved).

We’re now going to dig into the costs during our kiddos fourth year. My oh my, where does time go?!

Some caveats:

• We live in Canada where healthcare costs for doctor and ER visits are free.  Vision is also free for kids under 18. Thankfully she is healthy and the only medical related costs we have for her are dental visits.

The Breakdown:

• Diapers & Wipes: $0
  • Finn took to potty training early and we were fortunate that she was done with that phase before turning 2.5.
• Medicines/Hygiene: $157
  • Thankfully(??) with Covid, none of us were really exposed to any germs so there were no sniffles in our house requiring medicine.
  • Sunscreen: $9
  • Dentist:t $148 out of pocket this year.
    • This is for two cleanings, once every 6 months (after 70% of it was covered with my employer’s health plan).
  • She had her second eye exam this year which is covered through the province.  Last year, the only picture she couldn’t identify was a rotary phone…. no one has these now-a-days!  This year, I was shocked, without assistance she called it a phone – great memory kiddo!  Cost for the eye exam was $0 as Alberta Health funds all eye exams for patients 18 and under (and 65 and over).
• Random Things: $450
  • bath toys ($7, new),
  • popsicle holders ($5, second hand – awesome to freeze smoothies in the summer),
  • painting books ($7, new),
  • Daniel Tiger figurines ($8, second hand),
  • Twister and Life board games ($9, secondhand),
  • wooden figurines ($18, new),
  • bath mat ($12, new),
  • car activities/puzzles/mazes/crafts ($22, new),
  • 6 puzzles ($6, second hand),
  • waterproof mattress pad ($30, new),
  • portable drawing case for the car ($10, new),
  • large colouring books ($7, new),
  • Peppa & Frozen surprise bags ($4, new),
  • silly putty/colouring books/dominoes/math workbooks/telling time workbooks ($30, new),
  • bed sheets ($15, new),
  • Polly Pocket ($10, second hand),
  • Berenstain Bears stuffies x3 ($2, secondhand),
  • French leap frog book ($10, second hand),
  • puzzles/snakes & ladders/guess who ($5, second hand),
  • colouring books ($5, new),
  • grow in the water alligator ($2, new),
  • portable dimming night light ($31, new – best purchase of the year in my books as she likes it bright to fall asleep and then we lower it once she’s sleeping and can bring it with us anywhere – and looks even cheaper now for anyone interested),
  • bath paints ($6, new – found a recipe to make it ourselves now),
  • play doh ($5, new),
  • crafts/games ($27, new),
  • kids toy shelf supplies ($35, new to repurpose a bookshelf),
  • kids knives ($9, new),
  • workbooks ($5, new),
  • doll bed ($4, second hand),
  • 1/2 cost of Picasso tiles ($30 of total $60, other half to Parker, new),
  • books/barn/flamingo figurines ($10, second hand),
  • charades/magical magnet books ($18, new),
  • stool ($27, new),
  • dollhouse/gears building set ($19, second hand)
• Big Sister Gift: $36
  • We got her a “gift” from her new baby sibling as a congrats on being a new big sister to me!
  • Items included: Paw Patrol busy book (still her favourite figurines to this day), photo album with pictures of family and friends inside that she keeps by her bed, flamingo dinner plate, flamingo romper, bubble machine
• Christmas Items: $30
  • • $5: 3 pack of mini trucks
    • $4: doll
    • $10 dentist play doh set
    • $11: crafts and stocking stuffers
• 4th Birthday Items: $53 (wow same exact number as last year!)
  • • Animal figurines ($0, second hand)
    • Frozen activity book ($4, new)
    • Small lego set ($4, second hand)
    • Bean bag ($10, second hand)
    • 4th Birthday Party Supplies ($35)
      • Had a low key backyard birthday party with some family – snacks for adults and kiddos, auntie made cupcakes, piñata, animals and books to take home
• Clothes: -$349
  • Purchased clothes for a total cost of $120 (wow, same exact figure as last year again!)
    • $3: 3 shirts 4-5T
    • $10: MEC rain paints x2
    • $20: MEC Merlino wool base layer
    • $3: Jack and Jan winter gloves (had a $27 store credit from a gift we returned)
    • $10: Native shoes
    • $20: Gloves
    • $20: Mountain Warehouse 5-6T Snowsuit (crazy sale, normally $140!)
    • $20: Mountain Warehouse 6-8 Snowsuit
    • $5 Flamingo costume
    • $9 Balaclava
  • Sold clothing items: -$469
    • Finallyyyyy I could sell our baby clothes once Parker was out of them – which was quick! This was broken down into lots of different lots and some items were sold individually as one-off items.
• Activities: $1,022
  • Spending at the cabin: $30
    • Two long trips which included swimming pool, ice cream, and the petting farm both times
  • Camping items: $71 (hydration bag, water bladder, poncho, sleeping bag)
    • Finn finally went on her first overnight camping adventure and it was an amazing blast!  Spider hotdogs, bush pies, popcorn over the fire, admiring the full moon, projector stories on the tent walls, hiking in the hoodoos.  Her favourite part you ask? Getting to spit outside on the ground when brushing her teeth!
  • Outside school: $660
    • Fall and Winter term – 1 half day per week from early September – early March (6 months)
  • Gymnastics: $35
    • $5 drop in per class, we went randomly from October-February
  • Corn Maze: $22
  • Sports Centre: $175
    • This is 1/2 of the cost to have the family membership from November – February.  We put the other half under Parker’s expenses.
  • Skiing: $51
    • Her annual pass cost $21 for the year and $10 for an adult to enter the bunny hill.  We only made it out 3 times this year 🙁 Tricky with a 6 month old in the house!
• Things we received for free as gifts or for free from random other parents in our community on FB Marketplace / Varage Sale: $0
  • Gifts from friends & family:
    • Christmas: Princess lego set, human body kit, flamingo light, Frozen figurines, stickers, puzzles.
    • 4th birthday: $17 in coins from grandpa, Polly Pocket, crafts, lego, $4 from a few friends for turning 4, doll house (which she tried to buy with her newly given coins but the lady at checkout insisted it be free), Tinker Bell doll (we are currently really into fairies)
  • Free items (mainly from random other parents via the Varage Sale app):
    • I honestly stopped tracking this but I know there were lots of puzzles this year!  The highlight was a Tiana barbie doll.
• Items we sold: -$522
  • $10: baby cups/food feeders
  • $70: Books (multiple lots)
  • $55: Sleep sacks
  • $10: Maternity belt
  • $26: Dora, Curious George, and Frozen busy books
  • $10: Leap frog book
  • $5: Doll crib
  • $20: Peppa play set
  • $5: Baby toys
  • $5: Puzzles
  • $8: Dollhouse
  • $5: Barbies
  • $15: Berenstain bears stuffies
  • $15: Bottles
  • $10: Playmat
  • $8: Cars
  • $5: Connect Four
  • $5: Bowling Set
  • $20: Jolly Jumper
  • $10: Waterproof kid mattress pad
  • $15: Kid throw pillows
  • $20: Diaper bag
  • $20: Book sling shelf
  • $150: Double stroller

How Much Did We Spend?

Drum roll pleaseeeeeee…..

We spent a grand total of $877 during our little lady’s fourth year.  That comes out to $73 per month.

Wait – I swear, kids are supposed to be expensive dammit!

We should not gloss over that we “made” a lot of money this year selling items.  In total, we sold $991 of kid related items for the year.  Without this included, we spent $1,868 – which still is lower than I was expecting since many activities did begin to open back up.  I don’t see why we wouldn’t include these sales though as these items were things we had picked up for kiddo and now no longer use/need.

It is wild for me to see that of the overall $1,868 out of pocket for the year, $660 (or 1/3) was towards outside school (1 day a week for 2.5 hours for 6 months).  We love having her go there, but we’re really not sure if it’s worth it in all honesty. She *seems* to enjoy it but every time we ask how was class, what did you do, etc we get the same response “oh Mom/Momma you already know because you were there!” (she carries a picture of us in her backpack). Oy…

We recently decided to switch things up for this upcoming year and instead she will be going to a Reggio inspired indoor preschool.  It’s 2 days per week and 3 hours long from early September – late June.  The government of Alberta launched it’s child care subsidies in January 2022 and with the subsidies in place, this comes out to a whooping cost of $0.  Yes, you read that right and we honestly didn’t believe it for months.  (We may end up paying the full price of $195/month during February and March 2023 if we travel then and want her to go back in when we return, but still a steal of a deal!)

We also contributed $2,500 towards her RESP education fund to get the full 20% match ($500) from the government so a total of $3,000 was invested into her future education this year.

I’d say her eating has plateaued and if anything she’s eating a bit less compared to last year (makes sense as her growth has slowed).  We are likely spending $75/month on food-related costs for her.  Here’s her typical day:

• breakfast – some combo of waffles, pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, French toast, yogurt with sprinkles, oatmeal, cheerios, fruit
• gummy vitamin “treat”
• pre-lunch snack – garlic peas, seaweed, and/or a fruit cereal bar
• 1 treat a day, which we try to do around lunch
• lunch – typically some sort of carb related meal with fruit
• afternoon snack – trail mix, olives, yogurt drink, apple sauce, rice cake, salami, or pretzels & cream cheese
• supper – whatever we’re eating, although she’s gotten more picky this year so we might have to tweak it a bit for her – mainly that she doesn’t seem to want anything spicy anymore
• stories & snack – apple, fancy old cheddar cheese, cucumbers, and red peppers

So if we also include the $2,500 RESP contribution and ~$75/month of food ((75*12)=$900) we’re looking at a total of $4,277 out of our pockets in her fourth year.  Of course, the RESP is elective and we recognize our privilege of being able to contribute this $2,500 towards her education each year.

There you have it!  Short and sweet as we really didn’t spend that much 

It really is shocking to me how we have yet to spend over $2,000 in any given year so far (excluding RESP and food).  And truly we are not sitting around doing nothing!

Here are some of our typical low/no cost activities that we do:

• playgrounds/parks
• ride bikes
• play in the backyard (sand box, swing, play house, teeter totter, scooter, water table)
• swim in the hot tub
• read books (lotsssss of books daily – free from the library)
• play with friends
• play with figurines in her pretend world (her fav)
• swimming (sports centre in the winters and creeks, lakes, outdoor pools in the summer)
• splash park
• walk through the dog park
• hiking
• skate park
• pump park
• go for a date to get a Timbit
• play a board game, cards, play doh, lego, crafts, etc
• sledding
• skating at an outdoor rink
• snowshoeing
• watch hockey games at a local rink
• zoo
• science centre
• Heritage park (historical village, kids rides, train rides, reenactments, etc)
• holiday parades, celebrations, light shows, fireworks
• weekly free classes: parented toddler preschool class, music & rhyme, lego day, myths & legends STEM class, mindfulness/yoga/art classes, story time
  • It’s a bit of a Catch-22 that those of us who are not working Monday-Friday can access many free activities going on during the week

Stay tuned as we provide a similar update in the near future for Parker’s annual spend report for his first year. Any guesses on what e spent on his first year??

Those with parents, are you as crazy as us and keep track of all of your kid-related expenses?  Would you say you spent more or less than $877 on toddler-related expenses (not including future education and food) during their fourth year?  What was your largest toddler-related purchase(s)?  How have your child-related costs changed compared to their first few years?

Those without kids yet, if you’re reading this blog you likely are not part of the herd mentality and hopefully you too can stay well under the average of $8,000-$13,000/year.  Not sure if you saw, but the Wall Street Journal just upped the cost to raise a child from birth – 18… they are now tallying it up to $300,000!  That is NUTS!! There is no right or wrong way to parent.  We are simply showing that the “norm” $8,000-$13,000 (or more) annually in the first few years can be challenged. We completely recognize our privilege to not have costly childcare costs in the picture.

Any questions for us?  Hope this helps!

And again, if you’d like to check out the related posts on this topic, you can check them out here:

• Our Baby Item Tips For New Parents
• Here’s How Much Baby’s First Year Cost
• Here’s How Much Baby’s Second Year Cost
• Here’s How Much Our Child’s Third Year Cost

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