So if we also include the $2,500 RESP contribution and ~$75\/month of food ((75*12)=$900) we\u2019re looking at a total of $4,106 out of our pockets in her fifth year.\u00a0 Of course, the RESP is elective and we recognize our privilege of being able to contribute this $2,500 towards her education each year.<\/p>\n

There you have it!\u00a0 Short and sweet as we really didn\u2019t spend that much\u00a0<\/p>\n

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).\u00a0 And truly we are not sitting around doing nothing!<\/p>\n

Here are some of our typical low\/no cost activities that we do:<\/p>\n

\n
• playgrounds\/parks<\/li>\n
• ride bikes<\/li>\n
• play in the backyard (sand box, swing, play house, teeter totter, scooter, water table)<\/li>\n
• chill in the hot tub<\/li>\n
• read books (lotsssss of books daily \u2013 free from the library – we currently have over 100 library books checks out)<\/li>\n
• play with friends<\/li>\n
• play with figurines in her pretend world (her fav)<\/li>\n
• swimming (sports centre in the winters and creeks, lakes, outdoor pools in the summer)<\/li>\n
• splash park<\/li>\n
• walk through the dog park<\/li>\n
• hiking<\/li>\n
• skate park<\/li>\n
• pump park<\/li>\n
• go for a date to get a Timbit<\/li>\n
• play a board game, cards, play doh, lego, crafts, etc<\/li>\n
• sledding<\/li>\n
• skating at an outdoor rink<\/li>\n
• snowshoeing<\/li>\n
• watch hockey games at a local rink<\/li>\n
• zoo<\/li>\n
• science centre<\/li>\n
• holiday parades, celebrations, light shows, fireworks<\/li>\n
• weekly free classes: parented toddler preschool class, music & rhyme, lego day, Kindergarten ABC class, mindfulness\/yoga\/art classes, story time, rumble & roar class\n
  \n
  • It\u2019s 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<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Stay tuned as we will provide a similar update in the near future for Parker\u2019s annual spend report for his second year. Any guesses on what we spent on his second year??<\/p>\n

    Those with parents, are you as crazy as us and keep track of all of your kid-related expenses?\u00a0 Would you say you spent more or less than $706 on kiddo-related expenses (not including future education and food) during their fifth year?\u00a0 What was your largest child-related purchase(s) this year?\u00a0 How have your child-related costs changed compared to their first few years?<\/p>\n

    Those without kids yet, if you\u2019re 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. \u00a0The Wall Street Journal upped the cost to raise a child from birth \u2013 18\u2026 they are now tallying it up to $300,000<\/a>!\u00a0 That is NUTS!! There is no right or wrong way to parent.\u00a0 We are simply showing that the \u201cnorm\u201d $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.<\/p>\n

    Any questions for us?\u00a0 Hope this helps!<\/p>\n

    And again, if you\u2019d like to check out the related posts on this topic, you can check them out here:<\/p>\n

    \n
    • Our Baby Item Tips For New Parents<\/a><\/li>\n
    • Here\u2019s How Much Baby\u2019s First Year Cost<\/a><\/li>\n
    • Here\u2019s How Much Baby\u2019s Second Year Cost<\/a><\/li>\n
    • Here\u2019s How Much Our Child\u2019s Third Year Cost<\/a><\/li>\n
    • Here’s How Much Our Daughter’s Fourth Year Cost<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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      • How much are you paying for your phone plan?\u00a0 Canadians,\u00a0learn more about Public Mobile, and see how we are paying $3\/mo for our cell phone plan<\/a>.<\/li>\n
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        This is our fifth year outlining details of kid-related items and costs we\u2019ve encountered with our oldest kiddo.\u00a0 If you missed the earlier posts + …<\/p>\n

        Here’s How Much Our Daughter’s 5th Year Cost Us<\/span> Read More \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n