We finally stopped buying formula this week. I haven’t run the hard numbers, but I estimate that we now now have an extra $50,000 - $100,000 per month. We will enjoy our bounty until he’s old enough to eat fresh fruit and we fall back into debt.
Bananas are your only hope.
Last week, my toddler looked over at me in shock and asked “why are you eating one of my bananas?”
... why were you doing that?
I also happen to be in Boston, assuming you are given your u/name. I also happened to have my toddler ask me the exact same question. Almost choked on the banana. He was serious.
The other day I bought three bunches on Saturday and they were gone Monday. Chimpanzees I tell ya
We developed a fruit fly problem last month. I fought it for a week... counters, sinks, fruit basket. Nope. Turned out there were 4 banana peels behind the couch. What kind of a barbarian behaves like that.
You haven't met my wife, have you? #LearnedBehaviors.
Why would she do that?
lol, she's a little special. As are all of us sometimes...
You know what the key to solving that problem is?
She wants another one first. Can you imagine the horror?
A mon-key.
Respectfully, sir, I don't think that would fix the problem.
That's why food is only at the table in our house. At least while the kids are awake.
You want a snack? No problem, but you have to sit down at the table.
There's always money in the banana stand.
100 upvotes to you
Bananas are berries so....
What are bananas? I've heard of this mystery fruit, and my wife claims to buy them, but they never seem to be in my house by the time I get home.
How much could they cost? 10 dollars?
Bananas and apples, strawberries aren't bad either.
Under no circumstances are you to even allow a glance at raspberries.
This is the best comment. We buy so many every week. Cheap and they eat them up. Too much potassium is probably a problem I should maybe look that up
Beware the constipation, though. We had some pretty rough times the first few times we introduced banana.
No kidding. My daughter loves bananas but they turn her diaper pail into a category 5 superfund site the next day. We just can’t.
3 bananas in a day. Everyday. This chimpanzee is aiming to be the next Kong.
Our son used to love bananas, but as soon as I had to return to office where they have too many bananas that I can take home, he stopped liking them…luckily he likes a banana bread so I just take a few and wait for them to wilt
Dude for real. We’re buying fresh berries every 2-3 days. It’s my kids favorite snack.
I was at the grocery store yesterday buying more berries and Boar’s Head havarti (she won’t eat any other type of Baby Cheese, the little diva…) and the manager came up to me.
He said “If you keep spending this much time in our store each week, I’m going to need to start charging you rent.”
At times it feels like we’re single handily keeping our local target and Ralph’s open. Lol
Plant some bushes. It’s my half joking recommendation to my friends having kids.
We now have strawberries, blueberries, and hopefully raspberries growing in our backyard. None of this has put even a little dent in our fruit purchases.
Have found that this just creates an appetite for them and they just end up wanting more. Then you have to explain seasons to a toddler and why I’m not paying $10 for a punnet of strawberries.
Ugh - we had raspberry & blackberry bushes when I was a kid.
The Japanese beetles made them not worth it.
I’m so angry right now reading this. I just planted a whole big patch of strawberry and raspberry and even a blueberry bush. And we already have had the worst problem every year with Japanese beetles. I didn’t even realize they liked the berry plants
They LOVE berries. At least raspberries. (I have no firsthand knowledge for strawberries.) I remember it getting worse every year as a kid until my folks finally had them removed.
One year they got a Japanese beetles trap - and it probably made it worse. It killed a ton (there was entire grocery sized plastic bag filled with them) but by its nature - it attracts them to the yard.
Ugghhhhhhh. I’m screwed.
Actually - I think strawberries alone would be okay. My folks got a few strawberry plants after I moved out, and they'd likely complain to me if there were major Japanese beetle issues.
They might just be eating your strawberries because they're already in town for the raspberries. :p
We planted strawberries but the squirrels got all of them.
We have: Red and black currants, gooseberries, jostaberries (black currant-gooseberry hybrid), strawberries, raspberries, trying to grow bilberries (European wild blueberry), apricots (greenhouse), 6 apple trees, walnuts, cherries, plums... Especially the red currants are popular with our oldest, who at the age of two started systematically plundering all berries.
EDIT: Forgot hazelnuts and elderberries
Already on it, planted 36 strawberries plants a few weeks ago (~75sqft). Already have a decent sized raspberry bush that I planted last year that should produce nicely this year.
I read somewhere that no one tells you your kid will decide to eat only one fruit and you better pray it’s not raspberries.
it's a miracle of production that raspberries ever make it to the shelf without mold on them. from the store to your house, though, no promises.
Omg this. We’re a blackberry household but same thing.
But if you want a trick that kinda helps (if you can remember when you get home from the store) a quick vinegar & water soak. It supposedly kills the mold spores
I didn’t know my kids could put down an entire pail of strawberries in one sitting; in fact, any berry will be devoured in lieu of dinner
We got TWO strawberry plants (shrubs?) and my monster noticed one day and just went to town. Picked clean. Even ones still yellowish white and not ripe yet.
It’s weird…my kids won’t eat fruit. Idk why. We keep offering they just keep…not eating them.
My oldest will at least eat freeze dried strawberries. That’s it
laughs in fruit
Where do I put my feet, Dee?!
Strawberries AND blueberries were on sale this week and I was so happy.
No one tells you about the berry budget
Berries…wow. 2.5 year old. We’ve spent more on his berries than I’ve spent on clothes in the last 10 years.
I will be able to park my yacht next to yours after my son is out of daycare.
I’m still buying, can I land my mini helicopter on your yacht? It doesn’t have to be an upper deck
Both kids out of daycare and our prop tax went down. I immediately got back into sports cars. It felt like hitting the lottery.
Plz let that happen to me too. I miss em too. $3100 daycare just insane nonsense
Stop, I can only get so erect
Lol, I am getting a bonus for work this year and will be buying a vintage sports car before number 2 shows up.
I’m so glad our property tax is fixed, but I guess on the flip side, it never goes down either.
When my kids are out of daycare I plan to retire with all of the income I’ll have because it will be millions.
Just 15 more months for me and I'll be the 1%
My buddy just bought a nice used boat for 40k. That's a year and a few months of of daycare.
Oh my eldest is out of childcare and I swear the first Ferrari you buy is the most fun you’ll ever have. It can get a bit tiresome buying a new one a month but hang in there!
Nobody tell him daycare is $20k+ a year
Yep! We’re about to get a massive raise next month.
I've heard people say oh they have other expenses and no friggin way does a 7 year old have $24,000 in expenses
Hey now, someone has to send their children to after-school equestrian camp!
I mean I don't, but surely someone does.
$20k a year? Damn where is this because I gotta move there! Could buy a car with the savings
Clearly you aren’t paying for daycare. I’m pretty sure college is cheaper.
I’m paying like $37k for two kids to go 3 days a week…. Not even five days 😭
Jesus christ!
Yeah nobody having kids because we’re all broke.
He couldn't even afford daycare
Dear lord where do you live
Chicagoland Area
Same area and pay 48k for 5 days 💀. Oldest starts public school next year!!! 🤑
Holy shit.. 3.1k a year for two kids in kindergarten 5 days/ 45h/ week here in Sweden..
Same. $25k for one, 4 days/week. We were interested in the Montessori in Wicker until we learned they charge $4800/month for one kid. We laughed ourselves right out the door…
That's like $30 an hour assuming 24 hours a week...
My god.... An expensive daycare in my city is around $30-$40 per day. There's even laws where I'm at that cap daycare costs at $10 per day for kid aged 0-6 at licensed daycares.
Put your kid in daycare for the year for less than $15k? Sign up for that.
I'm always blown away about those US daycare prices...we pay 215$/month (max. 140h) for two kids in Finland. More you earn the more you pay, but max pay for one kid is about 320$/month. And second child daycare cost is atleast 60% less.
Daycare costs are outrageous in the U.S. and we need to absolutely do something about them, but I think the thing Europeans miss a lot of the times is just how great the earning power in the U.S. is.
I make $220k (€203k) per year as a middle manager working in insurance, in a medium cost of living area (I don’t live in a city). I was making over the equivalent of €100k by age 27, working as an analyst at an insurance company, again not in a city.
My wife makes ~$100k (~€93k) per year as a nurse in the same area. She has friends that make $125-150k per year in HCOL cities. Nurses in the uk for example, make about £45k ($57k). From my preliminary research, nurses in Finland make about €44k per year ($48k).
So while the bulk of things that are public services in the EU/UK are not in the U.S., we have the earning power here that makes up for it in a lot of cases.
I’m not saying this makes it right, and I would love for things to change, but I never see this talked about when this comes up.
Similar here in Germany. In Bremen where I live, it’s even free from ages 3-6.
Good lord. $23k last year for 2 kids 2 days a week.
Final price tag for our daughter to go to daycare full time from 5 months until she started kindergarten was almost exactly $100k. That would be three years of college at the local university.
Don’t worry by the time she enrolls that 100k might cover three semesters. If you are lucky
Logically, I know we are paying for daycare.
Emotionally, I bury that fact in a deep, dark place that I don’t have to think about.
Come to New Mexico, both are free here.
College is insanely cheaper, tuition at least. He’ll even board I paid like $650 a month to live in the frat house w unlimited food and decent house party fund.
Literally is here in Maryland. I pay more for my kids' daycare than I would to send them to UMD by a small amount. It's also significantly more than our mortgage for the two of them.
I recall someone once saying something like "what's your berry budget?" To me when I was either expecting my son or when he was an infant.
I really did NOT realize just how much fresh fruit and berries we would go through. Holy cow.
It's actually kind of opposite for us. My son was breastfed and cloth diapered (with cheap/free ones we got on Marketplace). Basically zero expense until he started eating solids.
Then he started eating and it wasn't much.
Then he became a toddler. He's 3.5 years old and I have no idea how he can eat so much.
I love bananas. You can get fifty of them for the price of a single strawberry. I wish everything was a banana
There was $250,000 in the walls of the banana stand, I can only imagine how much there would be if it was a chocolate covered strawberry stand.
It’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost, $10?’
Tons of fruit also makes diaper time twice as fun.
Just wait until he's a teenager. If he's any kind of active, buffets will be your friend.
Lemme tell ya, I made a mistake on Mother’s Day. Picnic with champagne, cheese, cured meats, and good fruit. My daughter apparently loves pomegranate seeds. I’m fucked.
Just move to UT, pomegranates grow like crazy out here. I got like 15 bushes in the backyard. Every year we make pomegranate jelly, juice, lemonade, fruit salad. So good.
I’ll keep Washington for a whole lot of reasons.
Too wet for pommys up there but it is a great place.
You can see why it’s a little more expensive. But the state-mandated paid family leave and mormons not controlling our laws helps.
Sure sure. Religion and Christianity definitely still play a part in all the lawmaking lol as shitty as that is. I can definitely say tho it's gotten better as the years go on and more exmos or nevermos continue to move to the state. I'm an exmo myself.
It’s an unfortunate thing in much of the country. But good to know it’s getting better.
Wife and I moved here from Texas, and really enjoy having four seasons and comparatively more-progressive politics. Though that isn’t hard considered the state of that State.
Don't forget that in Washington you have access to good beer/alcohol everywhere. Those of us here in Utah have to deal with the cartel known as the department of alcohol and beverage services and their sin taxes.
I feel like that was covered in the “Mormons not controlling our laws” bit, but I can sympathize. Back in Texas we had the same (though a bit more lenient) puritanical bullshit.
I dont get it
Pomegranate seeds are expensive I assume
Ohhhhh i get it now
You can get 4 of those little pom cups at Costco for what my local grocery store charges for 1
I’ve found a similar thing with a lot of stuff at Costco. Especially kids snacks, it’s buy 2 get one free for apple sauce pouches compared to my local store.
Aren't they full of little seeds though?
My 3yo has started asking for ramen for lunch every day. My 1yo is obsessed with hot dogs bulk bought from Costco.
My G700 is set to be delivered in September.
The blue Kayem box, I assume?
My wife has amazing breast's.
I don't have a dog in the "formula vs breastfeeding" debate, except that if you consider the balance sheet having those breast eliminate the formula expense. It's like a part time job.
Just the luck of the draw. I really got lucky with those breast's.
Does anyone else appreciate their wife's breasts?
I also appreciate OP's etc etc
I appreciated the lack of money but the extra lack of sleep and sanity.... that's a tough trade off
Eh, the extra food they eat to get back those calories evens it out. Hell, I had to buy a deep freezer for the frozen milk.
I appreciate my wife’s breasts but they were a financial disaster for us. She sadly had very low milk production so we had to supplement with formula (it was like 80% formula). To make matters worse, my daughter couldn’t tolerates cows milk formula so we had to get the very expensive hypoallergenic formula.
Father of an 18 month old, who drinks two bottles a day, and I think we buy one $10 tin of formula every two weeks or something?
Is formula expensive where you guys live?
Why is your 18 mo still on formula…?
Until recently a bottle was the only way she would go to sleep. Half before her nap, a full one before bed, and she'd wake up at 1am like clockwork for another half.
She's had torticollis since birth which has caused her and us a lot of stress, so we decided to let her keep her bottles while we sorted that out. A year of physio/chiro/daily stretches and exercises...
I am happy to say though that she doing wonderfully now, we've just today finished a 2 week sleep training plan and now she's going to sleep on her own and rarely finishes her bottles as we've moved them to immediately after dinner/lunch, and she now sleeps through the night!
What a change!
We probably could have made the adjustment sooner, but honestly no regrets
I'm just surprised that your pediatrician hasn't recommended trying to switch to milk. We switched around the 12-mo mark and its been very helpful. The kiddo took the transition without much issue and its been otherwise fine. She takes about 4 oz upon waking from every sleep.
Costco brand is $25 for the big tin and it lasts 2-3 weeks. My last kid couldn't stomach that and the stuff we had to buy for him was $25-30 for literally half as much.
.... I pay more than that per day in formula.
I spend about $500 a month on lactose free formula
We were insanely lucky because we were able to get insurance to cover our daughter’s formula. Every month I would go to the pharmacy and walk out with like 40 bottles of the ready-to-drink Alimentum formula for $60. If we had to pay out of pocket it would have been like $500/month.
How?
Our daughter had surgery at 3 weeks old to put in a shunt to drain a cyst in her brain. The shunt is connected from her brain to her stomach and so it’s critically important her GI system works like it should. Our claim was initially denied but after an appeal they approved it and then we were golden.
Oh wow, that must have been stressful
I am trying to get my youngest hooked on red lentils... so far it has not work, next week, I am going to try cooking them first.
I’ll be a brazilliannaire when my twins are out of daycare and into public school.
Just be sure to never alert your toddler to the existence of blackberries. Huge mistake on so many levels, financially they’ll certainly close that gap on what you’re saving.
They grow wild like weeds where I live. Kid knows we can go pick blackberries for free 4 months a year and he luckily hasn’t yet discovered that you can buy them off-season in shops.
Diapers and daycare are on my countdown list. I can't wait!!
Blueberries, cantaloupe and watermelon have bankrupted us twice.
Welcome to $20k berries per year.
Formula+diapers… felt like I got a raise (see:could survive again) when the formula went away… then felt like that again when the diapers went away!!!
Then daycare started….Immediately onwards into preschool. Begging for the diaper and formula days again. I’ve never made more and been more broke in my life.
Worth it.
The berry and cheese budgets offset the savings on formula completely.
congratulations!
but yeah, more seriously, i'd recommend setting aside that money for other child expenses, like throwing it into a 529 plan (if you're american).
Whole milk from Costco isn’t a bad deal. Mines been on it since about 13mo and now 3.5yo. At 1yo appointment she was a little behind in weight, ped said drop the boob and formula. At 18mo appointment we were at 55 percentile and held steady ever since. YMMV.
Berries from Costco, especially frozen, really help as well
Also, in general, Costco is great for dads
Now that one opened closer to us that we can get to without fighting traffic, abso freaking lutely! This one even has a lake view where you can picnic eating pizza, chicken bakes, ice cream, etc. You can even put your travel potty down in the plant beds so your LO can do bush wee.
Get them on that Aldi produce early
I just discovered Aldi and, in related news, my wife recently said “you need to stop talking about Aldi.”
German order meets wild west lawlessness, in a grocery store
Just wait till they’re out of diapers. You’ll have enough to start your own space program.
Formula funds become daycare dollars. Stash em.
I thought this was going to be another thread about GameStop. LOL
The berries vex me to this very day
After being on Elelcare during Covid, I get it man…it was ROUGH
Wanna save on berries/fruits? Buy the frozen ones. They’re picked and frozen at peak, just let them thaw out overnight.
But then you have to eat mushy berries. Freezing changes the consistency too much to be enjoyable as a snack. Ok for putting in pancakes and smoothies.
Feel ya. Saved $1.27 billion dollars on diapers and wipes just last week. Kids man…spensive…
I look fondly at the day we left formula behind and saved the equivalent of the GDP of Azerbaijan.
im sorry but there isnt a gap between stopping formula and eating fresh fruit, infact there is probably a 6 month overlap of the two!
Formula until 12 months.
Fresh fruit from 6 months.
My boy is leaving diapers (during the day) we've already saved about $25,000 in four days of no diapers. For him. His sister though...
Just wait until 80% of the fruit you don't eat because you're leaving it for him goes to waste!
This makes me think about Kid’s Meals at restaurants. Nice to know it’s only $7 for the chicken nuggets and fries that my son isn’t going to eat
I can’t wait to stop buying diapers! They are very expensive in this part of the world 😂
My oldest basically eats fruit until he shits himself and refuses to learn his lesson. He's 8 and went through 2 Costco boxes of black berries...in 2 days. Rip budget.
My toddler asked for blueberries in a bowl. When he finished, he asked for more. I said that he couldn’t have more blueberries because they would give him a tummy ache.
He locked eyes with me, drank the remaining juice/water out of the bowl, then announced “I want to have a tummy ache.”
Rule one of prison...assert dominance and never break eye contact. I think he just did this to you haha
Makes me appreciate my wife so much more for breastfeeding
Just feed them potato chips like my ex wife does instead of healthy meals.
The day I no longer had to buy diapers or wipes was a glorious day. Suddenly the math was mathin' and the budget looked good.
He does seem to have hit the "eat you out of house and home stage" a few years early, unfortunately.
My kids' daycare costs more per month than my mortgage payment. The day both of them finish using daycare is going to be like having two more paychecks per month without any of the extra work.
Can’t wait for kindergarten for the youngest!
Chillingly accurate.
Just wait until you have to pay for daycare. Formula seems cheap by comparison.
I too plan on being a millionaire. If the twins could just get out of nappies (sorry, diapers) I estimate we’ll save a thousand dollarydoos a day.
Formula? It’s daycare I can’t wait to end . Even when the first one gets out and the younger grades up it will be so much cheaper
Nah, all that saved money goes right into after school programs, sports, private tutoring... Ugh it never ends.
Yup. Then orthodontics and college …
The day we gave up buying the liquid gold was indeed quite a day to remember. Our two year old was going through packs of it like it was water. Oh the hundreds of dollars we saved for about two weeks before it was replaced by more snacks, more veggies, more fruits…yea, there’s no “saving” money when you got kids lol.
There is quite a a considerable overlap between the them needing formula/baby milk and their ability to eat fresh fruit lol.
Yeah fresh fruit is definitely more expensive than formula now, good god
Wow this is the first solid argument I’ve seen that’s made me consider breast feeding. That’s so much money
I have 6 and 3 year old boys / bottomless pits and I used to think people were exaggerating how much their boys eat, they are actually relentless
Like the sheer amount of getting up i have to do to find them food is a problem in itself let alone the financial ruination
In two years, we’ll be done with daycare payments. I’ve already started shopping for beach houses.
We just bought a blueberry shrub, surely money does grow on trees now.
Yes it does, for about 4 weeks a year.
Is formula really expensive in the states? I never found it to be a very significant cost, especially as a tub lasts a good while. Maybe it's cheaper here?!
The real money is when they stop shitting their pants.
Can confirm. Ours just went fully potty trained and I now have a retirement fund!
Now start getting em potty trained!
I've tried telling my wife that this having kids hobby is really expensive and we should consider cutting back. And then she gets upset with me idk why.
Weaning our 1 yo off formula and 3 yo is almost fully out of diapers. I'm about to become a billionaire apparently.
Now when they are done with daycare...move over bezos.
My 4yr old told me yesterday, “Blueberries are my favorite!” So if anyone needs me I’ll be at the bank working out a loan to get me through the next couple years
My kids would live on yogurt and strawberries if possible
Happy for you.
I was able to retire at the ripe age of 30 when we stopped buying formula. Bless.
We buy so much goddamn fruit! At least the kid has the same favorite fruit as I do. I never keep strawberries around just for me but now....it's for the kid! Thankful we live near a bunch of strawberry farms.
Taking them to you-pick farms is the way.
That last sentence hits hard. Our two discovered fresh mango, pineapple, and raspberries at about the same time. I'm happy they're eating healthily, but damn.....
Guess you never got your formula from Costco then
Lmao
My toddler have developed an appetite for steak and prawns…at this rate, very soon he'll graduate onto oysters and caviar…and I'm not even joking 😢
Those berry prices will surely eat up that excess