It Now Costs $233,000 to Raise a Child, Not Including College

Children change your life and give you a new purpose and blah blah blah. You know what else changes your life and gives you a new purpose? Having tons of extra cash to spend on whatever you want.

According to the latest stats from the Department of Agriculture, it now costs $233,610 to raise a child from the day they're born until they turn 18. And that doesn't even include college.

That's roughly $13,000 a year for their entire childhood.

The biggest chunk of that goes to housing, since you need an extra bedroom now that you have a kid. The other main expenses are food, childcare, transportation, health care, and clothing.

On the bright side, sort of, the costs of raising kids aren't going up as quickly as they used to. The costs have gone up an average of 4.3% per year since 1960, but this year they're only up 3%.

Read more at CNN Money.