moms (and dads) please help me budget

[rocio]

how much extra money do i need each month to take care of baby? I will be breastfeeding and using cloth diapers. I have all the clothes, furniture and other baby items I expect to need.

 

I thought I made plenty of money, but after rent, car payments, bills, groceries, student loans payments, and saving up to eventually buy a house, I have very little left over. Is it ok if I only have a couple hundred left over after all the monthly expenses (assuming I have savings in case of emergency)?

[Ash]

If you have the couple of hundred left over a month after paying all that (inluding the savings for a house??) then it sounds fairly decent.

 

The cost per month is not high for the first little while. Formula can be a relatively big expense, but you're avoiding that. Depending on how birth goes, you may need some supplies for yourself for the first little while. Are you using a diaper service? If so, you already know the price. If not, put some extra in your budget for cleaning. You'll have to a little more cleaning anyway.

 

The expense will creep up as your baby grows of course. Baby food, diaper wipes (even if using cloth diapers I'd recommend them as they do a great job of cleaning, they're chemically okay to use on baby's bum etc) bigger clothes.

 

If you already have most of what you need though I don't think you'll find the addition expenses all the large. What will make a huge cost impact is if when you start using daycare or a baby sitter. That will take a big chunk of change. That can easily run something like $40 to $50 per day. That's the one you really have to watch out for and budget for.

[justpaisley]

That's great! Looking back, I do wish I had gone with cloth diapers. Now the investment wouldn't make much of a difference, but it sure would have been cheaper from the start. I think all you need to budget for, then, is baby wipes and diaper rash cream (assuming you go through a tube a month - my son's never had a diaper rash, so I haven't even gone through the first tube I was given). I spend probably $20 a month on baby wipes.

 

You might want to prepare for the possibility that you can't, or even don't want to, breastfeed. I wanted desperately to, but my son never caught on, so I pumped for 4 months, hating every minute of it, and started feeding him formula at 5 months. I buy the organic stuff, which is expensive at $28 per can, but you can get non-organic at around $20 per can. At the height of his consumption, my son went through around 5 cans per month.

 

(I'd normally be converting all of these amounts to Canadian, but my son's in my lap and it's tedious enough typing with one hand. )

 

Also, if you're going to be working outside the home where you can't nurse, you can rent one of those newfangled high tech electric double milking machines, if you haven't already bought one. Mine was $45 a month.

 

For later on, baby food. I think my son goes through $2.50 a day, approximately, on baby food (that's with coupons). Again, though, that's the organic stuff. Non-organic would probably save me 50 cents a day or so. Oatmeal isn't expensive at all. The stuff I buy is around $3, and it lasts him a couple of weeks. He hasn't started on "grown up" food or baby food with meat, so I'm not sure how much that'll cost.

 

My son was premature, and wore preemie clothes for about a month, then went to newborn/0-3 month stuff, which he wore till he was 6 months old, when he went through this major growth spurt and jumped right into 6-9 month stuff, so I skipped having to buy 3-6 month stuff. I probably spent a little over $100 on something like 10-12 onesies and 10 or so pajamas, and a few pairs of pants. A department store near here had a HUGE sale, it was nice! I'll probably have to buy more in the next month or so. They grow fast, these children. You won't need to worry about that for a while, though, because if your family/friends are anything like mine, you'll be swimming in newborn onesies.

 

Daycare is a gigantic expense, too, if you're going to use it. I don't know about where you live, but it's about $400 a month around here, approximately. I don't know about for little babies though, but it's probably more. It's also really hard to get into daycares around here (one of my friends is on a waiting list that doesn't have an opening till next year - and she's not even pregnant), so maybe if that's the case where you live, start looking for daycares now.

 

Oh! One more thing - if you have a swing or a bouncer or anything else that requires batteries, definitely fit that into your budget. It's small, but it's IMPORTANT. When your baby won't sleep unless he/she's in his/her swing and you realize you're out of batteries, you're going to want to fall off a cliff. Or maybe that's just me.

 

That's all I can think of for now

[rocio]

Paisly, good for you for using organic baby food.

 

I don't have to worry about daycare for the first year since I'll be staying home. After that it's $800-$900 per month where I am now. But I'll try to go on a waiting list for cheaper ones. That's totally unaffordable!

 

batteries are one thing I hadn't thought of. Thanks!

[Ash]

batteries are one thing I hadn't thought of. Thanks!

 

We have a battery operated swing, and it wasn't too bad on batteries. However, it's a REALLY good idea to make sure if you get a baby monitor that it will work or comes with rechargeables. Luckily that's getting easier to find.

 

For ongoing needs, check out places that carry used and recycled baby, toddler and children's items. We have a place in town called Recycle Kids that both buys and sells this sort of thing. Our little super active guy pretty much walks out of any clothes other than overalls, so that's what we have a lot of and the good ones are quite expensive new.

[Jetta]

Babies are always going to cost you more than you expect. It's easier to budget for them once they are here. You may not be successful at breastfeeding, I don't produce enough and have very sensative nipples (the pain was too much for me). Some things you just don't know until they're here.

 

You'll buy toys, clothes and shoes often, and you can use washclothes instead of wipes. Rinse them in the toilet and then launder.

 

Daycare is a huge expense, check around. Home run daycares are less expensive and IMO better for baby's. They'll bond with the caregiver and get more attention.

[ImThatGirl]

Sounds like you have some great advice already! Better than I can give when it comes to budgeting, that's for sure!

 

When my children were infants, I was not so great at budgeting. "AAwww - look at that cute outfit! They don't need it but I'm getting it!" You know the drill - go to the store, see a bunch of items on sale, buy it all, leave with a bunch of stuff you don't need!

 

How will medical work? I know some people here have a co-pay for well-baby visits. If that's the case, make sure you work that in.

 

Make sure you have as many items on hand as possible. Like the baby tylenol or the diaper rash cream. That's where I always went wrong! I'd stop in to buy one thing and buy 5 things from the baby aisle.

 

Sorry I couldn't be more help! I think it's great that you are looking at your budget and that you are holding tight to your money rather than spending it all on tons of baby items that you won't be using much!

[rocio]

How will medical work? I know some people here have a co-pay for well-baby visits. If that's the case, make sure you work that in.

 

Thankfully I have private insurance for myself, baby and my boyfriend. Such a relief.

 

Sorry I couldn't be more help! I think it's great that you are looking at your budget and that you are holding tight to your money rather than spending it all on tons of baby items that you won't be using much!

 

Ha, yeah right. Did you read my thread about the diaper bag? And I've had this obsession with things that smell pretty. I go to the mall and walk around smelling every soap, lotion, and perfume I can get my hands on. (I guess because of my hightened sense of smell due to pregnancy.) And sometimes I break down and buy some. Bad bad. I'm new to all this grown-up budgeting and saving. I can do it on paper, but can I stick with it? We'll see...

[justpaisley]

I don't have to worry about daycare for the first year since I'll be staying home. After that it's $800-$900 per month where I am now.

 

Good gravy, you almost made me spit out my Diet Coke.

 

I wanted to add though, just be expecting to spend more than you thought you would in the first few months after the baby's born. Not on just impulse purchases (stay OUT of the baby clothes aisle!!!! ) but on stuff you never thought you'd want or need. Although you're avoiding the major expenses by breastfeeding and using cloth diapers, there are still going to be things that will come up that you couldn't have anticipated.

 

And better still, there are the things you know you absolutely need, but never ever use. For me, it's been the sling (my kid HATED it), the snugli (ditto, plus it KILLS my back) and now the hip hammock. Basically anything that helps me carry my giant child has been useless to me. Coulda saved $100...