I did a post earlier this year about the cost of having a baby and raising it for the first year of life. I almost fell out of my chair when the total came out to $19,000. There's something I will not be sharing with my hubby who is already apprehensive about affording kids. Then I came across an article the other day that was saying you could get all of the baby equipment you need for under $2,000 which was nice to hear. I started to read all of the comments and now I am totally freaking out about all of the costs involved in actually giving birth. I think I have good insurance but who knows...
Most of you may know that I already have a "baby fund" in a separate bank account because I am baby obsessed and borderline insane about planning ahead for things. I am not too worried about clothing since I have about 9 huge bins full of baby & maternity clothes that I have been collecting from various people (some of whom dress their kids in designer clothes for some reason so this future baby will dress better than I do). I am not shy about accepting hand me downs from people I know and considering all of the hubby's friends are already done having kids, I will be hitting the mother load when it's time for them to get rid of their baby stuff. Also as long as my brother or cousin (who are both single) don't give us any surprises in the next few years, this future child of mine will be the first grandchild and great grandchild on one side so I am guessing my very generous family & friends will give us more than enough stuff for the shower.
So enough blabbing, should I be nervous about the costs involved in having a baby? I am planning to work (although Danielle does make being a SAHM very appealing so we'll see). And even though the hubby is in school now, he will not even think about a baby until he has a job so we will have 2 salaries coming in. I think that should cover it...I have seen people with a lot less make it work. All you moms out there...please share your advice on what I should be doing to prepare!
4 comments:
Hi, just found your blog today! I have a 7mo. old daughter.
All I can say is....I worked til I was HUGE, I was due in 5 days...working 10+ hr shifts. I was exhausted all the time....bc I thought that we would surely die once I wasn't working. I planned on going back in 2 mos. Well, it all works it's self out. 7mos later I'm still home, making baby items, check out the first link on my side bar.(top right corner) ANyway..it's not as bad as you think. It all works out and you won't understand until the time. Everyone told me the same thing and I thought it was out-of-the-question. Hubby and I just recently discussed that it is much easier..even $$$wise than we expected! Good Luck!!
I think you're doing a LOT to prepare...most that most people do! You find a way!
There's a LOT of control that you have over how much you spend on baby stuff. For example-- you can go out and buy a fancy several hundred dollar stroller... or you can buy a snap-and-go to use with your carseat for the first 6 months (I think those cost like $60?) and then buy a cheap umbrella stroller for the rest of the time. You can buy expensive clothes, or use hand-me-downs or buy Carters and Old Navy on sale. And you can definitely be choosy about how many toys you buy. I have a friend who has 2 kids, and says she's hardly bought a single thing, and almost all the toys she has have been gifts.
Kids will be expensive, but really the most fixed cost will be healthcare (do make sure you have good insurance, if possible-- we just started using Kaiser Permanente and well-checks don't even have a copay). As far as everything else, there are many many ways to go at it on the cheap if you so choose.
You can't plan for everything. In fact, when we were TTC we looked carefully at what everything would cost and our options for me working part time with the idea that I would become a SAHM when we had our second child. Well...at 21 weeks, after JUST registering at Babies R Us, we were told that it was TWINS. So much for all those plans and that careful research about the best, most affordable, baby products.
I think you have a great attitude about handmedowns and the fact that you're planning a huge step ahead of most people. The financial shock of twins meant that I spent a lot of time on craigslist.org and at local consignment sales hunting for bargains.
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