No matter how you slice it, kids are expensive. Even if you try every cost-saving measure in the book — from relying heavily on hand-me-downs to becoming a coupon-clipping fiend — you’ve still got to cover the costs of their diapers, food, transportation, health care, education and day care.
That’s a tall order for many parents of one, two or three children. But how about if you’re a single mother with 14 children — including eight newborns?
With news of the first surviving set of octuplets dominating headlines in recent weeks, TODAY set aside time on Tuesday to provide a reality check about the true costs — both financial and emotional — of raising so many children from birth to age 18.
Needless to say, the price tags are staggering.
According to one estimate from Stacy Francis, a certified financial planner in New York City, it will cost at least $1.5 million to raise all 14 kids to age 18. Francis based her calculations on the assumed annual income of $44,000 or less for 33-year-old Nadya Suleman, the California mother of the octuplets and six other children.
Francis broke out a variety of eye-popping cost estimates on TODAY:
- $22,000 a year in food for the kids.
- $500,000 in total housing costs until they turn 18.
- $225,000 in total transportation costs. “That’s a huge nugget for her, even outside of maybe having to buy a specially outfitted car,” Francis said.
- More than $90,000 for clothing.
- Almost $125,000 in health care costs if the children have no special health needs.
- Nearly $150,000 in day care bills.
And with 10 children under the age of 2, Suleman also must foot the bill for at least 23,296 diapers a year. That, of course, could cost her thousands.
Francis did not factor in the cost of sending any of the children to college.
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