Cost of Raising a Child

Only had I read this Newsweek article a little sooner, I would have learned that...

To raise a kid to 18 costs $191,000. Throw in lost wages for a stay-at-home mom or dad, plus the cost of college, and by adulthood the little bundle of joy really will be a million-dollar baby. A $1.6 million baby, to be exact, according to the USDA.

Also found in this article, is that how a couple thought that they can save money on baby products, but it turned out that the baby just knows better...

It started out with little things—inexpensive diapers gave him rashes, prompting an upgrade. The Baby couldn't tolerate standard $3.99 baby wipes, either, and now his mom stocks up on an alcohol-free, hypoallergenic brand at $10 a pack.

The bright side, I supposed, is that my wife could be earning a 6-figure income before I even realize it...

Stay-at-home mothers just got a little more ammunition against their working counterparts in the mommy wars. It seems that if homemakers were ever paid for the myriad jobs they perform—from chef to chauffeur to psychologist—they'd command a whopping $138,095 annually, several times what most working mothers earn in the workplace. This according to a new survey from Salary.com, which based its calculation on a 92-hour workweek and the median national wage for the assorted jobs that mothers must perform each day.

This should give Amy one more argument for quitting her job after the baby is born.