Author Description

According to reports, it costs upwards of $190,000 just to get a child to the point that college is a possibility. But none of these studies takes into account the hidden fees of parenthood: the doubling of caffeine expenses to combat sleep deprivation, new membership dues for exciting clubs such as Weight Watchers, and escalating photo-processing bills. While other parents resign themselves to covering these necessities without a word of acknowledgment, Betsy Howie decided to keep a running account of her daughter's first year of debt: her hilarious memoir, Callie's Tally. "I want my daughter to know how much life costs and what things are worth," she writes. "I want her to know what she's worth." "I would also like to get some money back." Describing how having a child turned her bank account (and her life) upside down, Howie debates such topics as whether babies should pay for post-partum candy binges, in-utero rent, and travel expenses incurred while being shown off to in-laws. Part Bridget Jones's Diary(after Bridget snags the boy) and part Operating Instructions (for the fiscally obsessed), this witty chronicle offers a receipt-by-receipt answer to the question: exactly how much does a baby cost?