Cost of raising children on the rise, according to new study

Many of us know raising kids puts a dent in your wallet, and a new study shows us just how much.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it will cost a little more than $240,000 to take care of children born in 2012; which breaks down to about $13,000 a year for 18 years.

Working mother of two, Shantell Goodenough, said she and her husband did double the planning when they found out they were expecting twins.

“You know the cribs and the car seats, but you don’t think when you start buying toys and everything, that you have to buy two or one will feel left out,” said Goodenough. “So double everything.”

The recent study by the USDA shows raising kids born in 2012, like the Goodenough twins, will cost parents around $241,080.

That number doesn’t come as a surprise to family economist, Luke Erickson.

“I’ve heard different figures ranging from $200-300,000 so right in that ballpark,” said Erickson. “This is right in the middle of that.”

But where does the money go, exactly? The biggest portion goes to housing with child care, education and food close behind.

And if you’re looking to save money, Erickson says try avoiding cutting that 8 percent for miscellaneous things like sports.

“While you can do that, the majority of your expenses are going to come from housing your child and transporting your child from here to there,” said Erickson.

Believe it or not, the more kids you have, the cheaper it is because you can recycle clothes and cribs and that’s what Goodenough plans on doing.

“We switched them out of their baby car seats to big girl car seats so we will save one and if it’s a boy, we’ll just switch out the cover,” said Goodenough.