My 8-Year-Old Needs Braces. Why is Everything so Expensive?

Today was a very expensive day. Next to the house I recently bought, I haven’t written a check this large in a while. Not only did I have thousands of dollars worth of dead trees removed from my property within the first month of moving in, but my tweenager just had braces put on. Why are braces so expensive? She’s only 8, but she’s already sporting my mother-in-law’s overbite, so the orthodontist wasted no time in dental redirection. 

I’m sure this is a common lament for most parents these days but please allow me to vent. Holy (insert expletive here)! Raising kids is expensive! Not only do they have the most expensive toys: laptops, iPhones, iPads, Wii’s; and the most expensive hobbies: skiing, ice skating, horse riding, etc….but they need braces too and they get them before they’re even 10! Why are braces so expensive? And that’s only the first set of braces. The second set she’ll have when she’s 12 and they’ll be on the top and bottom. Right now she’s just got the top (sounds like some weird match.com code).

My girlfriend sends all three of her kids to private school and I don’t know how she does it. Wait a minute, I do know how—she’s leveraged up to the eyeballs! Her and her husband both have very demanding, full-time careers that leave very little time for their family. In fact, her nanny picks up and drops off her three kids to their fancy private school every day; my girlfriend leaves the house by 5:45 a.m and doesn’t return home until about 6:30 or 7:00 p.m at night. One of her sons is physically disabled so their nanny has to be specially trained and their cars have to be specially outfitted as well. So…..the spending never ends. I really have no right to complain about a few trees being removed and braces…but I’m going to anyway.

My teenage daughter just turned 14 last week and she wanted an iPod. Needless to say, I got her a cheaper mp3 player instead because I just don’t have $200 to spend on the modern version of the Walkman this month…nor do I want to spend that much on one child’s birthday. Heck, the cable bill alone is about $200 a month, so I just couldn’t swing it.

Between the cable bill, cell phones, home phone, internet, food, all the insurances (home, life, auto), water bill, gas, oil, electricity, mortgage, taxes and basic necessities we’re just making it. When did living in America get so ridiculously expensive? Rather, when did raising children in America become so ridiculously expensive?

I remember my dad complaining endlessly about bills when I was a kid. Now when I look back, it’s easy to see that due to inflation, an over-valued stock market, a poor credit market and the weak dollar, we’re paying more for things now than our parents did years ago—and we didn’t have half the expensive toys our kids do! It’s definitely all relative but I do think that living in today’s world is much more expensive than when our parents were our age…and our kids will unfortunately be saying the same about us.

So what’s the key to making ends meet in America now? Is less more? Should we teach our children to expect fewer things in life and value relationships more? Yes and Yes. And those are not such bad notions either. Now that I have purchased the house, I’ve made a point of telling my daughters that this summer is going to be all about having our friends over for the weekend to enjoy the home, the pool, and the barbecue. 

Hopefully, it’ll be another long, hot summer.

What is the key to living in America these days if you are not rich? How are you cutting costs, making ends meet, and still buying things for your kids? Any tips to share?