While most Canadian parents struggle to keep budgets in check, Kristy Shen managed to save more than $10,000 in the year after her son was born. She bought a used $300 bassinet for $30, paid less than 40 cents per onesie at a second-hand shop, and took a business-class flight to Switzerland for just $200 per person.<\/p>\n
The same\u00a0strategies that let Shen and her husband, Bryce Leung, retire in their early 30s form the foundation of their new book, \u201cParent Like a Millionaire (Without Being One)\u201d \u2014 a road map, they say, that any parent can follow, regardless of income.<\/p>\n
The costs of raising a child are staggering \u2014 and growing.\u00a0Canadian families spend an average of $17,235 per year raising a child from birth to age 17, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada,\u00a0though that figure is likely higher since the data was released in 2023.\u00a0The global baby products market alone was worth more than $355 billion (U.S.) in 2025, according to Grand View Research, and is projected to\u00a0top $579 billion (U.S.) by 2033.<\/p>\n
Shen says it\u2019s easy for \u201cbig baby\u201d to target parents, because society frames spending on yourself as frivolous,\u00a0but spending on your child as virtuous.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s the secret,\u201d Leung says. \u201cHow much you love your child is not related to how much you spend on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The co-authors and other financial experts say parents can maximize savings by shopping second-hand,\u00a0investing in kids\u2019 education funds and ETFs, and renting homes and cars instead of buying.<\/p>\n
Buy\u00a0second-hand<\/p>\n
Shen has saved thousands each year by buying second-hand. She\u2019s purchased used BabyBj\u00f6rn carriers and bouncers, Babyzen Yoyo strollers and Lovevery toys through Facebook Marketplace and Karrot\u00a0\u2014 a neighbourhood-focused buy-and-sell platform. She bought a baby carrier worth more than $250\u00a0for less than $50, and a second-hand bassinet\u00a0that retailed for $300 new for $30, then sold it for $65. Many items were new or only used for a few months and\u00a0still under warranty. (Leung recommends searching model and serial numbers to check for\u00a0recalls.)<\/p>\n
The\u00a0couple has also scored free items through social media, including boxes of diapers parents gave away after their infant outgrew them.<\/p>\n
For toys, Shen takes her son, now three years old, to second-hand stores like Value Village and Goodwill, where he can try something out before she buys it\u00a0\u2014 eliminating the guesswork\u00a0of buying new.<\/p>\n
Shen also buys her son\u2019s clothes at a local Value Village, which offered a deal letting her fill a small bag with baby clothes for just $3.99. She once squeezed in 12 onesies, working out to about 33 cents per piece.<\/p>\n
Be strategic about child care<\/p>\n
Shen and Leung found that daycare is typically most expensive during the first few years because subsidized spots are harder to find.\u00a0These spots are often easier to find after a child turns three, since daycare centres can legally care for more children with fewer staff. Leung suggests looking for spots in August, as many kids move from daycare to kindergarten in September.<\/p>\n
For the early years, the couple suggests community-based solutions.\u00a0They\u2019ve shared a nanny with another family, splitting the cost,\u00a0and recommend babysitting co-ops, where parents with different schedules trade off child-care duties.<\/p>\n
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Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung, co-authors of \u201cParent Like a Millionaire (Without Being One),\u201d say great parenting doesn\u2019t have to come with a big price tag.<\/p>\n
Maxwell Giffen<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re considering leaving your job to look after your child,\u00a0make sure it makes sense\u00a0long-term. If a child-care situation is untenable, some parents decide not to work full-time, or\u00a0forgo promotions, says Bruce Sellery, CEO of Credit Canada. But \u201cthat can have financial consequences that could be lifelong, because they get off track or lose pensionable earnings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shen and Leung created free online calculators<\/a> to help parents find affordable local daycare and determine whether it makes economic sense for a parent to quit their job to care for a child.<\/p>\n Use apps to save on food<\/p>\n Shen says three apps made a big impact on her family\u2019s grocery bills.<\/p>\n Using Flash Food\u00a0\u2014 which lets users buy items approaching their expiry dates from local stores \u2014 to purchase bread, milk and meat in bulk then freeze it, saved her family thousands of dollars in a single year.<\/p>\n The couple also orders from Too Good to Go, an app that offers\u00a0unsold food from shops and restaurants at a discount, and finds the best deals on groceries through Flipp, a savings and price-matching app that shows local stores\u2019 weekly flyers and coupons.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t feel pressured into buying a home<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s this idea that when you have a kid, you have to buy a house,\u201d Leung says, but renting doesn\u2019t mean throwing your money away. Instead, it offers certainty about how much you\u2019re spending every month, while home ownership can come with unexpected maintenance costs that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n Shen and Leung stayed in their one-bedroom apartment for two years after their son was born. When they moved to Vancouver from Toronto earlier this year, they upgraded to a three-bedroom unit. They look for rent-controlled buildings for stability. (In Ontario, rent control applies to any residential unit that was first occupied for residential purposes on or before Nov. 15, 2018.)<\/p>\n They also suggest moving at the very end or beginning of the year, when holiday-season demand drops.\u00a0\u201cWe got this rental for hundreds of dollars below market value because we decided to move in January,\u201d Shen says.<\/p>\n Do you really need the car?<\/p>\n Owning a vehicle comes with recurring costs like insurance, gas, parking and maintenance. \u201cThe solution is actually quite similar to what we discovered with housing,\u201d Leung says. \u201cRent as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n He suggests Torontonians look into car-sharing services like Communauto, where you can rent cars by the minute, hour or day. \u201cThat way, you\u2019re only paying for the car when you use it,\u201d Leung says.<\/p>\n If you have two or more kids, or a car feels necessary, the couple suggests buying a used economy car rather than a new one.<\/p>\n Invest to save for kids\u2019 education<\/p>\n Shen and Leung\u00a0retired at 31 and 32, respectively,\u00a0through\u00a0aggressive saving and investing. Today, their portfolio is mostly\u00a0low-cost index exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that generate around $85,000 a year in dividends.<\/p>\n \u201cWe make investing so complicated, but it\u2019s really not,\u201d Sellery says, adding that the same advice applies to everyone: buy low-cost, diversified investments and hold on to them.<\/p>\n