Have only been for short time, but for my family of four, it looks something like this, very roughly.

Obviously accomodation is the big variable..

Apartment:                  3-4k 
Creches/Schools:       not so far
Insurances:                7-800
Car expenses:            not so far
Groceries:                  5-600
Others - TPG             150
Others - Lunch           150

Apartment 3-4 k 

Creches 450 to 900 pm for each child

School - free if local school is used, if international/private school is used then budget 14'000 to 21'000 per annum per child

Insurances; 

Health 800 to 1200p/m

car ins is 400 to 1200 per quarter depending on car size and power

house insurance 250 to 600 p/y

liability insurances etc 300+

Car expenses are variable - figure 400 plus per annum for road tax, add insurance as above, parking costs (up to 450 pm in town) etc etc

Groceries; 600 -800 pm

TPG 70pm in town per person

Lunch...variable 10chf pre day for workers ++

Creche depends entirley on your income. If you are able to afford an appartment for 3-4k, then one can expect to be in the highest fee category for the creche. Depending on community, this would be around 1500-1800 CHF/child for 100%.

Thanks folks,

Mimi - best if you fill out the template with your estimates and I'll then try to calculate averages.

Oded

It depends a lot on the living standard you're aiming for, so here are my low and high estimates.

Apartment: low 2.5k, high 4k

Creches/schools: no idea

Insurances: low 600, high 900 (depends on number of children more than living standard)

Car expenses: low 200, high 500 (depends mainly on kilometres driven so distance to work; if the driver goes to Lausanne every day gas expenses may be even higher)

Groceries: low 1000, high 2000. I agree with Mimi_crobe that this is higher than others estimate, even if you shop in France. Again, it depends on the number and age of the children. 

Other: 

- Mobile: low 150, high 400 (for 2-3 subscriptions)

- Public transportation: low 250 CHF, high 100 (substitute of car expenses; so reverse)

TOTAL: low 4.7k, 7.9k (excluding schools/creches).

Creche prices quoted above refer to public creches (BIPE), which are very good but have 1-2 yrs wait lists for kids 0-4 years old.  If you need to get your children into a private creche while waiting for an opening in a public creche, you better budget 2500 CHF/month and up. The good news is that once you kids are 4, they are given a spot in the neighborhood public school and the prices get way more reasonable.