Raising children and purchasing a home are the biggest financial investments for most American families. A middle-income family will spend $226,920 to raise a child born in 2010 to the age of 18, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the median sales price for homes is $234,500 reports the U.S. Commerce Department.
Buying a home and starting a family often occur at the same time. One in 10 mothers say they purchased a new home while pregnant, while another 8% bought one when their child was a year old, and another 12% when the child was two years old, according to TheBump.com. Moms shopping for a new home consider the quality of the local school district almost as important as home size and price, according to BSM Media.
Moms with children ages 5-10 are most likely to consider school district important, since young children benefit most from better schools as they advance in levels of study, says BSM Media’s Maria Bailey.
While women and men concentrate on similar factors when purchasing a home — i.e., price, size, location — the inside décor is primarily women’s domain. Women tend to prefer homes with kitchen windows looking out over a yard, says Bailey.
The area of the house moms most frequently focus on when shopping for homes is the kitchen (40%) followed by the living room (21%), per BSM Media. When it comes to furnishing their homes, 42% of moms say they spend more money on home entertainment than on any other household item. Decorative accents, such as pillows and paint, rank as the second highest household spending category (20%).
Although moms spend less annually on furniture than on other types of home furnishings and décor, 52% of moms say furniture is the most important element in turning a new house into a home, while 35% say decorative accents transform a house into a home.
Women become increasingly interested in landscaping and maintaining their homes’ exterior as they age. No moms in their early 20s cite spending on the yard, garden, or home exterior as a top priority, compared to 8% of moms in their late 20s, 11% of moms in their 30s, and 17% of moms in their 40s.
Opening The Bedroom Door
Women (89%) and men (85%) purchase bedroom furniture and products primarily to improve their sleep, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Women, however, are more likely than men to choose bedroom products that make the bedroom more livable when they aren’t sleeping (75% vs. 69%)).
Mattresses are most likely to be the oldest items in the bedroom, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Two thirds of women (67%) say it’s been at least two years since they last purchased a mattress. Nearly half of women (49%) say it’s been at least two years since they last purchased curtains, per the National Sleep Foundation.
Two in three women (65%) currently own or are considering buying curtains for their homes. One in three (35%) have shopped for curtains online, and among those Internet shoppers, 52% actually purchased curtains online. Men place a higher priority on having curtains that block out light: 47% of men have room darkening curtains, compared to 33% of women. Similarly, 82% of men manage their bedrooms’ darkness by using these types of curtains, compared to 71% of women.
Contacts and Connections: BSM Media, Maria Bailey, CEO/President, 2335 E. Atlantic Blvd., #300, Pompano Beach, FL 33062; 954-943-2322; maria@bsmmedia.com; www.bsmmedia.com.
The Knot (The Bump), Jacalyn Lee, 462 Broadway, #6, New York, NY 10013; 212-219-8555, x1013; jacalyn@theknot.com; www.theknot.com.
National Sleep Foundation, Jennifer Cowher Williams, Marketing and Communications Manager, 1010 N. Glebe Rd., #310, Arlington, VA 22201; 703-243-1697, x211; jwilliams@sleepfoundation.org; www.sleepfoundation.org.
USDA, Mark Lino, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, 3101 Park Center Dr., #1034, Alexandria, VA 22302; 703-305-7600; info@cnpp.usda.gov; www.cnpp.usda.gov.
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