Guest Post // How Much to Win on the Lottery to Cover Costs of Starting a Family

Starting a family might seem like fulfilling a romantic dream and this is indeed exactly what it is to most parents! However, the arrival of a child in the family also presents parents with the heavy burden of extra monthly costs to cover everything from food, clothing and childcare to a bigger home and tuition fees. Below you will find a review of the expenses of children from baby to university graduate.The first childThe arrival of the first child in the family presents parents with a long list of new expenses. Except for the regular costs of nappies, clothes, furniture, pram and other baby accessories parents should also consider costs of a bigger family home, car, daycare or lost income if one parent stays at home with the child in the first year.According to a recent report the average cost of one child is expected to be £8,873 a year over a period of 18 years based on a minimum socially acceptable standard of living in the UK. In total this amounts to £159,721 in expenses for one child during an 18 year period. Now the child is ready to start university and this is when it really starts getting expensive. According to a recent report by LV= costs associated with school and university attendance have soared by 124% since 2003 leaving parents with tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year and the overall annual cost of a child between 18-21 years at £17,459.Dreaming of another child?Once your newly established family is happily settled in you might be considering if adding a baby brother or sister is about time. But before you do make sure you are aware of all extra costs so you won’t have to make unexpected compromises later. While adding another sibling to the family is not as expensive as the first, the difference is not impressive either. The average annual cost of a second child is expected to be £136,490 which leaves parents with a £23,231 “discount” over a period of 18 years equivalent to £1,290 a year. You’re expecting twins!What happens to your budget if all of a sudden one turns out to be two? This of course depends on how many children are already in the family but parents should expect at least 50% higher costs compared to having only one child as your first child. This means a total cost of £239,582 over 18 years or £13,310 a year.  University tuition of course is double at up to £18,000 a year.How to payTo many parents this presents them with an almost impossible budget making it very hard if not unrealistic to realize their dream of raising a family without making difficult compromises. So let’s look at alternative ways to cover these costs. Click here to see how many numbers you need to guess in the lottery to cover your costs.  Written by Camilla Hansen, Content writer at theLotter