Camping with the Mediocre Dad

Camping tips, tricks and advice from a fairly average parent and a reformed dad blogger

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Camping
  • Family Days Out
  • Sponsorship
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Why celebrate mediocrity?
Menu

Fatherhood²: The Real Economics of Baby Number 2

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Henry Elliss

Let me start this post with a disclaimer: As a father, I would never advocate having or not having a child based on anything but a desire to start a family. Kids can be a pricey business, but if you are telling yourself “I can’t afford to have kids yet”, you could be waiting for a while. However, unlike weddings, where you can (like we did) go for a cheap option to save yourself waiting forever while you save up, you can’t really do kids “on the cheap”. Well, I wouldn’t want to anyway. So thinking about your finances before baby is born is probably a wise move.

Having said that, I won’t state the obvious by telling you how expensive it can be when stocking up for your child’s imminent arrival. Instead, I wanted to explore a question a few friends and colleagues have asked me recently. Namely: “Having another child must be expensive, right?”…

Now there’s an obvious caveat I should point out here: We’ve not actually GOT a second child yet – at least not out in the open, so to speak. So I could well be very wrong in my assumptions (please do let me know in the comments if I am!) – but having gone through one cycle, I feel reasonably well entitled to opine a little on the costs associated with children.

The reality is – at least for the important first year – having a second child isn’t much more expensive than before. The clear exception to this is maternity leave, and the loss of one parent’s earnings. But there are so many different ways that could happen, there’s no point in me speculating on that. But aside from earnings, the actual COSTS you’ll have to incur for child number 2 are pretty minimal.

I’ll give you some examples, from our own experience and current planning:

  • We’ve already got all the necessary furniture and equipment that we need – a moses basket, a cot, changing equipment, car seat, pram, baby monitor, bottles, cutlery etc. So long as you haven’t given all these away between Child 1 and Child 2, this should save you a big chunk of money for starters.
  • Provided you don’t mind having your children sharing a room, you won’t need to consider moving house for a while yet. Luckily for us, we’re going to have two boys, so that’s even easier from a room point of view.
  • You won’t have to spend much more on food. With the economies of scale that you tend to get with supermarket shopping these days, along with the default position of most product makers to offer things in 4s, your food bills will probably only go up by a tiny amount, if at all.
  • Assuming your first child isn’t so protective and/or bad at sharing that they won’t share their old toys, having hand-me-down clothes, toys, books and the like will also save you a bunch of cash which you probably had to fork-out when baby number 1 came along.
  • You will already have had to make big changes to your lifestyle, socialising, holidaying and leisure time when the first child came along, and none of this will change with number 2 – so any costs you might incur will stay the same. Holidays will only be marginally more expensive (if at all – flights are the only real extra cost, if that’s the mode of transport you choose).

As I said at the start of this post, there are some obvious exceptions and caveats here. One that I haven’t mentioned so far is the cost of any child-minding you might need for baby number 2, though the scale of this will most-likely depend on the difference in ages of the two children. But given how many other costs you will be saving with number 2, I still think the overall expenditure is going to be a lot smaller than it was the first time out.

If you’ve had two children or more, I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments?

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Print
  • Children
  • Costs
  • Economics
  • Fatherhood²
  • Money
  • Parenting
  • 3 thoughts on “Fatherhood²: The Real Economics of Baby Number 2”

    1. Adrian L says:
      March 24, 2011 at 7:40 am

      I’d concur with most of that, and any holiday flight costs don’t really kick in until they turn two. You will of course need a new car seat for #1 and depending on their age gap, a lightweight stroller too (and that’s a load of logistical fun when you want to take the newborn pram out as well). But yes, 4 can live almost as cheaply as 3, certainly for the first couple of years. And then you start buying shoes…nn(Now, can you do one of these for Baby Number #3…)n

    2. Trouserpressbaby says:
      March 24, 2011 at 9:46 am

      We had two kids less than two years apart, and to be honest we didn’t notice a difference in our outgoings once the second came along. We were able to use the same clothes, pushchair, high seat, etc. And we had bought washable nappies first time around, so we didn’t have to pay for those either. And we only ever got friends to babysit so that didn’t cost extra either!nnI would be more concerned about the mental cost than the financial cost if I were you…

    3. BigDaddyFurn says:
      March 24, 2011 at 1:55 pm

      The thought of a second kid terrifies me….not just in terms of an extra child and the mental cost but then being responsible for 3 human beings (wife and 2 nippers) as yourself……..even though we’ve had one kid, having another one would just increase the pressure, which is why it terrifies me!

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    henweb

    henweb

    Pun-loving, 👨‍👦‍👦 dad-blogging, 📷 photo-taking, 🏰 Lego-making, 🎅🏿 beard-wearing, 👶 child-caring dad of 2. 💍 Husband of 1. 💩 Strategist

    View Full Profile →

    Instagram Gallery

    Obligatory snow shot ❄️ Obligatory snow shot ❄️
    A few photos from my slightly hair-raising morning A few photos from my slightly hair-raising morning walk. Some lovely sunrises, lots of ice on the canal and a couple of rivers and lakes that were quickly merging together, at the expense of the newly-laid track. At least my wellies stayed strong!
    Instagram post 18021846115464989 Instagram post 18021846115464989
    A photo from my Thursday morning walk. One good th A photo from my Thursday morning walk. One good thing to come from this week’s rail strikes (and the subsequent week WFH) was my daily sunrise walks - something I really miss when I have to go into London. Fingers crossed that 2023 allows for a few more of them.
    Merry Christmas, instagram family and friends. Ple Merry Christmas, instagram family and friends. Please enjoy this photo of our beautiful but low-key Christmas decorations, hung in the splendor of our delightful Tudor home.
    Good morning from Somerset #NoFilter Good morning from Somerset #NoFilter
    Load More… Follow on Instagram

    A little ad for some stuff




    Subscribe by RSS

    RSS Feed RSS – Posts

    Recent posts

    • 5 Tips to Make Family Travel Easier December 2, 2022
    • 5 Great Camping Blogs You Should Follow August 18, 2022
    • Summer Holidays in the Mountains? 4 Reasons Why You Should Go for it! June 7, 2022
    • Family Camping for Beginners – A Guide to Buying a New Tent May 31, 2022
    • The Best New Beauty Treatments to Prepare for Summer May 31, 2022

    A bigger ad for some stuff

    Recent Comments

    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | Camping with the Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Food, glorious food
    • Tiana on Fatherhood²: The Ultimate Octonauts Quiz
    • The best camping gadgets for your next trip with the family | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Dynamite dad blogs | Samuel Windsor on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Camping with Babies & Toddlers

    My Brimpton Village history website

    My Mastodon profile

    © 2023 Camping with the Mediocre Dad | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme
    Find me on Mastodon