The real deal on baby expenses and financial planning. Tips on freebies, savings ideas and the basics of family budgeting. 

A Snapshot of the Budget

If your baby just needed a new pair of shoes, that wouldn't be so bad. But as new parents know, a baby also has to have a car seat, a crib, a changing table, a playpen, a mobile, a stroller, and piles of clothing to spit up on. There are the 2,000-plus diapers a baby will soil, the hundreds of jars of strained veggies to be downed, the wipes, the swabs, and no-tear shampoos, not to mention the plush toys that will soothe your baby in the stressful moments. Baby Budgeting

That's just Year One. By the time a child born in 2002 reaches age 6, parents with an income exceeding $66,900 a year (the median for a family of three is currently about $53,600, according to census data) will have spent a daunting $149,450. (See How much will the baby cost you?) Those are the most recent numbers from an annual study conducted by the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The budget-busting doesn't stop there. Parents with a $66,900-plus income will have laid out about $315,000 by their child's 18th birthday. That amount doesn't include the cost of delivering the baby (about $6,000 to $11,000) or college expenses, which are estimated to run about $120,000 for four years at a public university in the year 2020.

Fortunately, babies are a pay-as-you-go proposition; you don't have to amass all the money up front. Gifts from doting relatives and friends defray some of the start-up costs. And despite what manufacturers tell you, keeping a sharp eye on the baby budget doesn't mean you'll be denying your child what he or she needs. Saving now can help ease the way later when expenses rise more steeply. What follows are costs you are likely to face and suggestions for paring them.

The Baby Bottom Line

Parents' biggest expense has always been housing, a category in which the USDA includes furniture, appliances, and utilities. That eats up about one-third of total child-rearing costs. As a result, child-rearing for couples in Western metropolitan areas, where housing is most expensive, runs about 10 percent higher than in the rest of the nation. Northeast urban areas place second, followed by those in the South. Midwest urban-area residents will shell out less than the national average.