If you are young and considering starting a family of your own, you may want to consider the financial implications of your decision, after a new study revealed you may need a cool million pounds to support your kin.

The survey, carried out by Your Home magazine, tallied up the average cost of all the basic necessities required to sustain family life over a 55-year period. And the grim news is that you may well need a seven figure sum just to provide an average lifestyle, let alone a life of luxury.

First up is the cost of a property to live in, which will set you back an average of £100,000 according to most of the house price indices. But with an average residency of just 7 years, you are likely to move seven times before the end of a 55 year period, at a total cost of nearly £230,000.

Filling the bellies of an average family of four costs a little over £100 per week, which tots up to £140,160 over the study period. Other household bills can total more than £30,000 in the first five years alone.

To cover all these costs, many mothers take on work, but this means that childcare has to be catered for, which will set you back almost £25,000, while private education for a couple of little nippers is likely to cost at least a couple of hundred thousand pounds. And those parents who are persuaded by their offspring to take on a household animal are also likely to be left counting the cost, as the average dog will run up food and medical bills of £8,000 and the average cat £4,200. As Your Home Magazine Editor Sue Rose said: "With the cost of basic living so high, it is easy to see why we are a nation in debt."