Justine spends 425.5 euros a month for her daughter: “We try to make her understand the role of advertising in her desire to buy”

How much does it really cost to take care of one or more children each month? What is the parental budget? Do the costs incurred vary according to the age of the children? Every two weeks, in our meeting “When we love, we count”, parents open their accounts and share with us how much one or more children cost them, monthly.

This week it’s Justine who lends herself to the exercise.

Income of Justine and her spouse, parents of one child

• First name : Justina

• Age : 38 years old

• Work : civil servant for her, engineer for him
• Number and age of children: a 7 year old boy

• Net household budget in total: €7150

• Place of life: In a commune of 50,000 inhabitants in Burgundy

Justine and his wife are PACS partners and have a 7 year old son. They live in a 105 m² terraced house with a garden, near Justine’s workplace, in a quiet residential area. They are owned by the house and have three houses in all:

Before we met, we each had bought an apartment and we own a house together. So we have three units in all.

Monthly, Justine earns a salary of €2850 and her husband €3150. In addition to this income, they also receive €1150 rents and dividends for their other homes.

The couple spends 1696 € loans including real estate repayments for their three homes, as well as a works loan, e €160 current bills for water, electricity and a maintenance contract for their heat pump (CAP).

Expenses for the care and hygiene of a 7-year-old child

After explaining her total income, Justine shares the amounts she spends on her daughter.

When your son was born, the birth gifts were appreciated:

Her bed was made by a family member, and the family donated a stroller, travel cot, high chair, and various toys, clothes, and accessories. She helped us a lot.

For her part, Justine explains that, for the birth of her daughter, she bought a chest of drawers for 300 euros, a changing table for 70 euros, a car seat for 400 euros, a mattress for 60 euros and sheets for 30 euros. These daycare purchases cost him around 860 euros.

Hygiene sideJustine estimates a monthly budget of €5 of shampoo and conditioner for long hair, only for his daughter. For the rest of the washing products, they all use the same things.

For the HealthJustine spends, for her son, €10 per month of pediatrician or non-reimbursed drugs, with a budget leveled over the course of the year.

The clothing, toys and leisure budget for a 7-year-old boy

When it comes to her son’s clothing budget, Justine splurges €100 per month, including shoes and sportswear, almost always new:

Sometimes I buy secondhand clothes, never shoes, from practical and pretty brands like Okaidi, Vertbaudet, Gemo and Decathlon. Given the use made of it, I prefer not to spend too much, a child of this age needs to work hard so as not to arrive super stylish at school.

Of course, from time to time, for bargains, we buy more expensive brands like Sergent Major or Desigual.

For the toysJustine estimates spending €15 per month and €20 per month of books (although also enrolled in the library), this being a budget smoothed over the course of the year, also including the toys offered for birthdays.

As for her daughter’s hobbies, Justine has an approximate budget of €50 per month for film screenings, amusement park outings internal, bowling and tickets for amusement parks. In addition, there is also a subscription on the Disney + platform for €9 per month, but also €17.50 for licenses in archery and athletics, sports practiced by his son.

Grocery expenses for a family of two adults and one child

As for the food budget, Justine explains that her daughter eats at the cafeteria every day except Wednesdays, and that they eat the same things as her when they’re at home. Just for her son, Justine spends €25 per month for snacks and his food budget for the whole family is €450 per month.

Justine tells us that her daughter doesn’t ask her for special requests while shopping with the family:

Sometimes she asks me for a package of sweets, for example, but I prefer to go shopping by car, it’s more practical and there are few requests from her like that.

For family food, he prefers to shop at the supermarket:

I shop at Leclerc, as it is good value for Marque Repère products and is close to my home. From time to time, I also buy some products from Grand Frais.

Childcare costs for a 7 year old

Her daughter in school, Justine has no childcare costs. She never calls a babysitter, not even occasionally, but she relies on her family:

I never hire a babysitter because the grandparents can babysit her if we need or want to.

For her son’s school, Justine spends €30 per month of extracurricular, as your daughter is enrolled in the mornings and evenings and some Wednesdays during term time, €50 per month canteen e €4 per month of civil and corporal liability insurance. She also spends $120 on supplies for the school year, which is smoothed out €10 per month. In total, the amount spent on the daughter’s school is 94 euros.

Transmission of the value of money and pocket money

Justine believes she is managing her budget correctly, she is satisfied:

I don’t have a budget that I would particularly like to reduce, I don’t have any spending sprees or big expenses that don’t fit the way we spend. We earn reasonably. Our biggest cracks are for the moment destined for our house which we are renovating little by little.

Justine tells what was the relationship with money in his familywhat has been passed on to her and her current relationship with her son:

I come from the middle class, with two active parents who have taught me the need to be financially independent. I was taught to handle money prudently and sensibly.

Justine tries to teach her daughter the value of things and money:

We try to make him understand that it is important to take care of his things, for example his school bag, which is not changed every year.

If she asks for something we think is too expensive, we explain why we won’t buy it. We try to teach them to spend responsibly by limiting waste (energy, accumulation of gadgets, etc.) both for the planet and for our finances.

We also try to make him understand the role of advertising and marketing in the desire to buy. Fortunately, for the moment he doesn’t expect too much.

Justine has opened two bank accounts for her daughter, in which she invests everything €80 per month :

We opened for him an A booklet from birth and life insurance to prepare for his studies. We felt it was important to pay him every month to prepare for his future.

Justine sometimes talks to her daughter about money, but still finds her too young to have pocket money, for example.

At the end of the month, it stays 2276.5 € to the family. When the total amount spent solely on his son, Justine, is added up you spend €425.50 monthly.

Thank you Justine for answering our questions!