Raising a child to the age of 21 is now reckoned to cost hard-pressed parents over £200,000!

That's the conclusion of insurer LV=, which has been carrying out this survey every year since 2003. This year is the first time the total has gone past the £200k barrier.

Where does all the money go?

According to LV=, the following categories account for the expenditure:

The total adds up to £201,809 - an increase of 4% on the same survey last year.

Perhaps those who are already parents aren't too surprised, but Mike Rogers, LV= chief executive, suspects that "many new and prospective mums and dads will be a little shocked to see the potential financial burden ahead of them."

You're not kidding, Mike!

Leaving aside the question of whether these really are 'average' costs (£50k on education?), let's see if there's some leeway in that frankly frightening figure.

Some less expensive alternatives

Childcare

We're sure many parents are able to opt out of prevailing childcare costs for a simple reason — grandma or grandad. The figure is so high because it assumes both parents working, paying nursery fees, after school clubs and holiday clubs.

One way that mums returning to work can do so without high childcare costs is to train for the education sector, where hours and holidays are a better match for children.

Holidays and fun days

49 per cent of parents say they've cut back on days out and treats, and unfortunately for the tourism industry, this is the first thing we'd cut back on too. However, there's no reason you can't cut costs by holidaying closer to home (see last summer's tongue-in-cheek guide to staycationing…)

Furniture

We presume they're including furniture for children's bedrooms and play areas, rather than replacing worn-out / damaged / food-stained furniture around the home?

The latter we're counting as inevitable. The former can be cut right back: every day, teenagers in your neighbourhood must be clamouring to get rid of furniture they've grown out of, so try your local Freecycle group to pick up second hand versions for nothing.

Food

There are lots of ways to cut back on that £17,490 for food, without resorting to cheap junk — or missing out altogether on treats. Think ingredients instead of than ready-made. Think ahead: make double for tomorrow, or portions for the freezer (and for packed lunch). Think about soups: they're filling, they can be home-made from almost any vegetables, just add some decent bread and you're away.

Clothing

Clearly this isn't just keeping up with the latest trends: the problem is the speed at which children grow up. However, a generation ago this would have been dealt with through hand-me-downs — a recession-friendly measure if ever there was one, saving approximately 100% on buying brand new.

Pocket money

According to the LV= survey, children are noticing the financial pressures on their parents and are willing to accept a freeze or a small cut in pocket money. If that seems just a little mean, you could always encourage them to do jobs for it (e.g. helping out with cooking, if you're now taking extra time to peel and chop your own ingredients).

To encourage your children to moderate their demands, here's one way to make pocket money go further: pay it directly into your child's bank account. Every grown-up knows that readies disappear faster than money in the bank; your children can think a little more carefully which purchases are really worth withdrawing pocket money for.

A way to make child rearing money go further

The problem with these child rearing costs is that there's no catching up on them once you get started. Unlike a mortgage, they won't go down over time: from Year 1 to Year 21, there are always new expenditures to be met. Especially if you hope your kids will be university-bound.

This is why we'd suggest some form of regular savings account, allowing your provision for children to gain ground on inflation (see the compound interest section of this story for why regular saving is a great idea).

I'd consider putting the following strategy in place:

• budget for likely income vs expenditure, without taking into account child benefit
• look at your expenditure list and cut it back 10% through the tips above (and the comments below?)
• put 100% of the child benefit into a regular savings account

It's not a definitive answer to the "where to find £200k?" teaser posed by the LV= survey, but it might just cushion you from some of the financial insanity that is modern parenthood.

All comments welcome — from parents and non-parents alike!

Choosing where to buy your first home or where to move next can be a daunting task. For most people, finding the right home means finding somewhere safe, secure and affordable. After all, it's in these types of areas where demand should grow and in turn prices rise, enabling you to step up the property ladder when the time comes.

Yet who'd have thought that some of the most dangerous places to live and with the highest life insurance premiums in the UK could see property prices increase dramatically over the past 50 years?

Manchester's Coronation Street, London's Albert Square, Chester's Hollyoaks and Yorkshire's Emmerdale are perhaps the most dangerous places to live in the UK yet prices have rocketed since Corrie first hit our screens in 1960.

Barely a week goes by without tragedy hitting one of the four areas, from ghastly murders, child and adult abductions, street and sexual assaults, various robberies, arson attacks, assisted suicide and gangland warfare.

Staying alive

You need to be as sure-footed as John Travolta in order to keep your wits about you in soap opera land.

As the British Medical Journal pointed out as far back in 1997, staying alive in a soap opera is not easy. Even back then London was a more dangerous place to live with a character in Eastenders more than twice as likely to die during an episode than a character in Coronation Street.

The BMJ also found that people moving to Coronation Street between the ages of 30 and 44 went on to lead charmed lives, while their peers living in Albert Square "dropped like flies".

One common fact across all the soaps is characters tend to die young and from a variety of obscure and often violent causes, ranging from mystery viruses, plane and car crashes, mad psychopathic killers, sexual assault and characters coming back from the dead.

House prices

Soap opera land doesn't exactly sound the safest place to live yet latest research from FindaProperty.com reveals you'd be quids in on the property game should you ever take the plunge.

If you'd have lived in Eastenders' Albert Square for the past 25 years for instance your property value in the fictional East End borough of Walford would have rocketed 436%, taking the average house to £574,764, compared to £122,813 in 1985 when the soap began.

In real life the Square is based on Fasset Square in Dalston in London's E8 district. 

And analysis shows that house price inflation here has outperformed the most popular purchase on the Square – a pint in the Queen Vic. Some 25 years ago you could have got a pint for 93p yet today that cost has risen to £2.83 – a rise of 206%.

Overall properties on the Square are 515% more expensive than in rival soap Coronation Street.

But while EastEnders has the most expensive houses, it is Coronation Street that has seen the biggest house price appreciation in the time the TV soap has been running.

The Street has benefited from house price inflation of 7369%, with the average house in 1960 costing just £1,514 compared to today’s average of £111,581.

Ken Barlow, the only resident of the Street to have survived the last half century, will no doubt be rubbing his hands in glee.

Characters

According to FindaProperty.com's findings, former prostitute Pat Evans has the most expensive house on the Square, with number 31 valued at £847,821.

The tardis-like property currently houses seven people; Pat Evans, Ricky Butcher, Bianca Jackson and her children Whitney, Liam, Tiffany and Morgan. The house was left to Pat in the will of her former employer, gangster Andy Hunter.

"Addresses like Albert Square remain sought-after places to live for the sense of community enjoyed by the residents, in addition to easy access to local amenities and transport links," Nigel Lewis, property expert at FindaProperty.com told Money Hospital.

"The characters in Albert Square are certainly sitting on a profitable asset – and house prices set to increase further still with the knock-on effect of the 2012 Olympics."

Albert Square property facts

• Pat Evans is the person who has lived in the greatest number of residences throughout EastEnders history.
• Ian Beale is the only property millionaire on the Square and currently owns the most properties; his main family residence is 45 Albert Square. He also owns 55 Victoria Road (his former residence, he is now renting this out to unknown occupants), 15a Turpin Road (flat above Beale's Plaice chip shop, is being rented to his brother-in-law Christian Clarke) and 89 George Street (flat was being rented to Amira before her wedding to Syed, currently empty).
• 3 Albert Square is the most lived in address. This was owned by Tony Carpenter in 1985 and has since been split into three flats. The current residents of flat 3a are: Minty Peterson, Darren Miller, Manda and Adam Best.
• 43 Albert Square has had the second highest number of residents and was originally owned by Andy O'Brien abd Debbie Wilkins. This was also subsequently converted into flats.
• Flat 43a is currently rented in by Janine Butcher and Ryan Malloy. Flat 43b is rented by Shirley Carter and Heather Trott alongside her baby son George.
• 45 Albert Square is the only house that has always been owned by the same family, the Beales and Fowlers.
• 46 Albert Square is the Queen Vic and was originally lived in and run by Den and Angie Watts.

BMJ soap opera facts

• Staying alive in a television soap opera is not easy. There is more chance of dying than any other occupation in the UK.
• In a soap opera you are almost three times more likely than normal to die a violent death.
• It's more dangerous being in a soap than it is driving a Formula One racing car
• People suffering from many forms of cancer and other serious diseases have better five year survival rates than characters in a soap opera.

- get first-time-buyer advice

- use our mortgage repayment calculator

- life cover from £4.99 a month

With Valentine’s Day out of the way, summer wedding plans are now getting into full swing. But who can afford a big Beckham-style bash nowadays?

Please don't accuse us of being unromantic, but we think 2010 could just be the year of the extreme budget wedding.

We look at the six big expenses of a wedding day and how you might use a bit of budget know-how. Expect some, uh, creative suggestions…

Wedding photos

Sensible: It's always best to hire a tame snapper; do your friends have anybody in their social circle who'll offer "mates' rates"? Alternatively, try the local arts college for anyone on a photography course who's hoping to build up their pro reputation (and yet to build up their pro price list).

Extreme: There's an even better way to harness your friends' know-how. Invest £100 in a prize, then hold a photo competition among your guests! You're guaranteed hundreds of submissions, and instead of an hour away from the party, you can pose as long as you like while still enjoying the vibe with your friends. Then get your entrants to upload their shots directly to Photobox.com where you can print out the 40 best ones for free!

Dresses

Sensible: Instead of a brand new dress with a £1,000 price tag, why not look on preloved.co.uk for a second-hand version of your preferred design? If it fits your figure well enough, it'll certainly help fit the slimmer budget. Or if you prefer brand new, Oxfam bridal departments deal in donated dresses, 95% of which are unworn (just the trick for bridesmaids' dresses too).

Extreme: Why not incorporate a common wedding list item and just be married in a white dressing gown? Combine it with some tasteful underwear (just in case guests get an unplanned glimpse) and you'll also be one degree readier for the honeymoon…

Reception venue

Sensible: All you need is a big enough space with room for eating and shimmying, right? In summer, you've a reasonable chance this could even be outdoors. A marquee, a bit of flooring for a dancefloor, and away you go.

Extreme: Why go to all the hassle and expense of bringing your guests to you? Have you never heard of video conferencing? Set up a video cam, email out a link and others can join you ("in spirit", of course) as you broadcast your nuptial extravaganza from the living room…

Catering

Sensible: More than half the reception expense is providing a sit-down meal. Even a finger buffet can cost over £20 a head. You could always invite the local mobile doner kebab man to come and make a whole night's business during the day for a change?

Extreme: The key word is 'participation'! If you make it a bring-and-share occasion (Americans call it a 'potluck wedding'), everyone can enjoy the chance to contribute culinary talents to the occasion while cutting your biggest bill at a stroke. But we don't suggest you ask them to bring cutlery and plates too – that just looks a little too cheap…

Honeymoon

Sensible: Opt for an off-season wedding and leave your planning 'til the lastminute(.com) to take advantage of highly discounted travel offers

Extreme: Let's face it, you need two very basic things: privacy, comfort… sounds a lot like home, right? If everyone thinks you're away anyway, why not fill the fridge with ready meals and just leave the phone off and the curtains closed?

Rings

Sensible: Instead of the crazy money that is today's gold and platinum prices, go for a non-precious metal such as titanium (usually made into aircraft) or tungsten carbide (often found in drill bits, but still polishes up a treat). Some extremely fashionable designs are available for around £100, or a plain band can cost as little as £40. You could even be a style radical and go for black zirconium?

Extreme: Tattoos! For £20 each, you can have just the same fun choosing "his and hers" designs as you would do with a piece of metal. They'll never need re-sizing and they won't go 'clink' on the banisters. Better still, you never have to worry about insuring or losing them.

Some of these ideas might not be your cup of tea champagne sparkling wine…

…but we're sure there are many of you daunted by the average £15,000 spent on last year's "big day", and we'd love to know what you think! If you’re getting married, how are you planning to cut your costs creatively?

Suggestions, questions and objections in the comments below…

...it sounds obscure but could well be costing you dear!

Putting customers' interests first on credit card repayments. Now there's a novel idea!

That's what UK credit card issuers have suggested they may do, in response to a government review of their practices. The UK Cards Association has said that the lenders it represents will be willing to phase out one of their favourite 'card tricks' - one that catches out many balance transfer cardholders.

That 'trick' is called Negative Payment Hierarchy. Following last week's piece on credit card debt repricing, we decided it's time to shed some light on this practice as well.

If you've ever been tempted by a balance transfer credit card and ended up paying a lot more interest than you thought you would, this guide is for you.

Read the Money Hospital Guide to negative payment hierarchy »

What was your best Valentine's ever? Can't remember? Let me help. Maybe it was the one where you forgot - and ended up buying expensive last-minute flowers and chocolates to make up? Or was it the one when you both decided you weren't doing Valentine's - because it's a commercial conspiracy to part you from your cash? That was a fun one, wasn't it? No, wait - it was the one where you maxed your credit card on dinner out in an effort to make an impression? Or the one where you spent the whole day mourning the fact you were on your own? It's easy to assume that either Valentine's Day will cost a lot, or that it'll be a failure. But if money's tight, this is one occasion when you really don't need to blow the budget to say you care.

So here are our four tips to make Valentine's Day a day to remember - not one to forget.

Accept it - and plan ahead

There are two basics to a successful Valentine's Day. The first is remembering it. The second is working out in advance what you're going to do. (In contrast the Valentines that end in tears are those when you forget – or should that be 'forget'?)  It doesn't have to be an expensive dinner out – cooking a meal together, or for the other person, can be just as romantic. But to make it work, you have to plan ahead. So if you're cooking a meal, know what you're going to serve, how to do it, and make sure you've got the ingredients in. But if your plan is to prepare food together, best check your soulmate's up for that in advance.

Give time - not cash

It's easy to throw cash at Valentine's to make it work. But rather than setting high-spending standards you might not be able to live up to in future, give time instead.  Spend a few hours doing something you both enjoy, whatever it might be. Important note: for this to work it has to be something you both really do enjoy. Watching the football or spending an afternoon in a spa may not be the answer for all.

Go back to basics

The traditional St Valentine's Day saw lovers express their feelings with flowers, sweets, and a handmade card. So forget the shop-bought card – making your own and writing a heartfelt romantic message will score far higher points. There's no need to splash out on the bouquet of red roses sent via a pricey delivery service. For the real wow factor, there's nothing like a single red rose delivered in person. And as for handmade sweets – why not make them yourself?

Make somebody else's Valentine's

Let's face it, everyone likes to get a Valentine's card. Even if it's just from their dad. It doesn't need to express undying love – an affectionate message is welcome too. So if you have no special someone to send a Valentine's card to, send one anyway.  Or offer to babysit so friends or relatives with children can go out.  Either that, or you have a cast-iron good excuse to ignore the whole thing, and do exactly what you want. From experience, I can tell you that School of Rock is not a good Valentine's movie. But that's not going to bother you today.

Do you have good ideas for celebrating Valentine's Day without breaking the bank? Share them in the comments below.