Help me with a budget for this

brij2006

I'm also with @cbee817 We purchased a photo package that included maternity, newborn, 3, 6, 9, and 12 month cake smash photos.  They were worth every penny.  My H thought I was insane because I saved up my blow money while we were getting out of debt so that I could buy that picture package, but they're the only pictures I feel we can put into a frame.  I have a nice camera, but no way can I capture DD now that she's mobile. 

short+sassy

brij2006 said:

LillibetteV said:

maybe I'm missing something - but did all of you hit your OOP max by giving birth? My understanding was that after I hit the deductible I only will have co-pays until I hit my OOP max. Our deductible is $900 and the OOP max is $10k. The inpatient copay is about $250. Am I missing something?!

I did hit it with mine. My deductible was $1,000 then 80/20 up to $5,000 max OOP.  I had $600 maternity hospital stay co-pay, $60 co-pay on ultrasounds (4 of them), and $100 co-pay on NST scans (had 2 at the end since DD liked to not move for hours on end).

Honestly, I was pissed that my labor and delivery was so expensive.  I labored at home until 45 minutes before DD was born.  No meds, no extra monitoring, DD had nothing extra or special.  Yet my bill alone was $17k before insurance. 
I've joked with H that this time I'm using the midwives from the Amish community 2 miles out of town and delivering at home. I'm half joking. If the doula or midwife could have done a home delivery I totally would have.
Next time though, I'll bring my own nipple cream instead of paying $25 for the same tube I could have bought for $7, and if things are going well I'll push for the 24 hour release so I only have 1 night stay.  Night 2 is pure torture as it is, let alone doing it at the hospital.

Pathetic, but I'm so cheap that I'm beyond ecstatic that this pregnancy is mostly going to be in 1 calendar year. I'll even push our 20 week ultrasound back to 21 weeks so it's done after January 1 and applies to my 2017 max OOP.

Not birthing related, but I previously had a very thrifty coworker.  He always brought his own OTC medicine if he had a hospital stay, so he didn't have to pay $30-$50 for things like a dose of aspirin/ibuprofen.

Sounds smart to me!  With the way things are nowadays, I'd be figuring out how to "nickel and dime" the hospital with my own stuff before they "quarter and silver dollar" me.

hoffse

Can I ask what you all paid for your photo packages?  I'm sure it will vary by region, but I'm curious.

I enjoy photography, and H brought up the idea of getting me a better camera with a really fast shutter speed vs. paying for a photo package, but I just don't think I'm as skilled as a pro photographer, regardless of the camera I am using.

I also pointed out that photographing architecture (my hobby) is very different than photographing something that moves.  Architecture presents its own challenges with scale, angles, and low light, but at least it stays very still!

jtmh2012

I know I'm really late to this party, but it's the first day I've been upright since Friday.  I'd hold off buying a lot of the baby stuff until you actually know you'll use it and/or be able to take the kid into the store to see how they react.  My kid didn't like the swings or bouncers.  So buying them would have been a waste.  We also have a pack-n-play that kiddo also flat out refused once we were out of the newborn stage.

Crib was hit or miss.  We did buy all the conversion pieces and thanks to having the kid in there while the bumpers were being washed (we used them as rail protectors), the wood has teeth gouges in it.

As for the pump, go ahead and get the insurance provided one.  Doesn't cost anything if you don't use it.  Fortunately, ours allowed us a dual electric.  The only BS thing is we only got the pump and bottles.  No nipples for actually feeding the kid.  wtf?

You'll really want the bucket seat.  That thing is a god send for going in/out of stores and the house without waking the kid.  We found last year's colors with a stroller and base for less than half price at babies r us.

abrewer5

I'm not a parent so I don't have much knowledge in this area but I did want to comment I recently traveled with a woman from my work who is breast feeding, obviously her daughter did not come on the trip, so she was required to pump. She carried her electric pump and a hand pump just in case the electric had an issue. She ended up needing the hand pump when her electric one died in the airport and she could not find a discrete place to pump and charge it. So it may be worth it to get the free hand pump from insurance too as a back up, especially because you enjoy traveling.

Xstatic3333

Our NB photo package will be $125 for the session plus digital files. This is VERY low for our area. We found the photographer through WOM. She's young and just starting out, but we like her portfolio. More typical in our area was $500+ just for digital files. Many of the photographers I really liked charged $325 for the session but then had a $500 minimum print purchase! I'm so grateful we found a more affordable option because H was not having that. 

ETA: I'm skipping maternity and will book family photos and 1st birthday later. 

cbee817

hoffse said:

Can I ask what you all paid for your photo packages?  I'm sure it will vary by region, but I'm curious.

I enjoy photography, and H brought up the idea of getting me a better camera with a really fast shutter speed vs. paying for a photo package, but I just don't think I'm as skilled as a pro photographer, regardless of the camera I am using.

I also pointed out that photographing architecture (my hobby) is very different than photographing something that moves.  Architecture presents its own challenges with scale, angles, and low light, but at least it stays very still!

We have a nikon D5100 with a 70-300 mm lens and I still regret not having professional photos taken. Our pictures come out amazing for daily things, but to have those newborn ($400) and maternity pictures ($250) done would have been so wonderful. I think we'll get family pics ($300) next fall- there is also a local photographer that has super cute fairy costumes with mini photo sessions. We might do that too before the girls get too big. 

bmo88

We are going to start TTC in the next month or so and this is our planned budget so far:

OOP Max: $2,500
Nursery: $750 or less 
Car seat/stroller/carrier/etc: $400
Monthly Healthcare premium: $290 (our insurance plan sucks, though that is for one or 20 kids)
General purchases (photos, toys, clothing): $500
Diapers: $60 monthly
Child Care: $1,100 monthly
529 plan: $300 monthly


I am sure other stuff will come up, but we will likely cash flow it. We have about $5,000 in a savings account specifically created as a baby fund.

mmabe

I never expected to need a pump as soon as my baby was born, but my son was placed in the NICU and I was put on bed rest.  Because of his feeding issues, the hospital told me that I had to pump and he had to be fed with formula  Thus, I had to start pumping in the hospital.  I continued to pump at home because he had issues with latching.  While I initially thought I would not need the pump until it was closer to the time that I was scheduled to go back to work, I was very happy that I had a pump at home.  The last thing I wanted to do with a 5 day old baby was schlep him to Buy Buy Baby to buy a pump.  I could have rented a pump from the hospital, but it would not have made sense in the long run.

hoffse

OK thank you for everybody's help.  I think for the purposes of the "fund" we will set aside $8500:

$5500 - OOP max
$2000 - nursery/gear/maternity/misc.
$1000 - 529 kick-start

We will cash-flow as much as we can, wait until any and all showers have been completed, and shop sales to the extent we can.   With any luck we'll have enough left in the nursery/gear category to do some pro photos.

brij2006

Our photo package cost $385.  That included 5 sessions (newborn, 3, 6, 9, and 12 month) as well as the cake for her 1 year cake smash pictures. That gave us the rights to all of the photos as well.  We're in a LCOL area though.
I will for sure be doing that again with #2.  I have a Nikon D3100 camera with 3 different lenses to play with.  But like you, my hobby is to photograph landscapes, food, cars, and architecture.  I tried taking my own of her this past Easter and I got 1 picture to actually use.  Our photographer is worth so much more than she charges.

vlagrl35

Dh did our photos but we've been using one of his friends who is amazing. We spend $200 for roughly 200 photos retouched on a cd

bmo88

@brij2006: That's a great price for photos! We live in an MCOL area, but we don't have very many good photographers who would take photos for that price. Ours are more in the $750-$1000 range for a package like that.

brij2006

@bmo88 We're in a LCOL area so that definitely helps.
I'll most definitely be using her again for #2.  She just did DD's 18 month pics a couple weeks ago and DD was being a defiant toddler and wasn't having anything to do with it.  She even offered to do a 2nd session after work so she could snap a few more to work with.  To which she was defiant again.  But yet I easily picked out the 5 pictures to have rights to and was impressed she even got that many to work with. 
A good photographer is worth every penny.

splotch716

I'm a little late to this! One of the best things we purchased for baby was an ergo. However, I made the mistake of thinking they were all forward facing. As a result we bought a new one a few weeks after DD was old enough to be worn facing forward. She is almost two and we still use the Ergo. In fact, the clips recently cracked and Ergo sent me a replacement under warranty. They had great customer service!

We are NTNP right now for baby #2. My insurance deductible is a lot higher now and resets every 6 months. 

We did get a convertible car seat once she outgrew her infant carrier. I looked for the highest weight/height when shopping around. For the stroller we went into the store and tried them all out. How heavy was it? How easy was it to fold? How did it maneuver? The one we picked out is light and can collapse or set up with one hand. We also had to make sure someone could still sit in the front seat with the car seat rear facing. DD is still rear facing and will be until she reaches the height/weight limitations. Initially we thought this would be in December but it might be longer than that.  

We did get a convertible crib as well. However we did a lot of cosleeping so the crib is still in good condition. We did add a mesh bumper once she started getting her limbs through the crib slats. She recently got her own twin size bed, which honesty has been the most expensive item for her.

We used our pack and play for the bassinet/changing feature until she outgrew it. Then used it maybe 5 times. She did not like a swing but loved the bouncer and walker. 

I coupon a lot and received most of the bigger items as gifts from the grandparents. I loved the registry completion discounts and planned my shopping trips around their expiration dates. Target actually sent me 6, 15% off completion discounts with about 8 months to use them all.

 We had to put her in part time daycare this past April. This by far has been the most expensive cost associated with having a child. Once we have a second, we will be paying over $27,000/yr for 3-day-a-week care. This includes a 10% family discount at a center with up to 10 hours of care each day. Although, my MIL has mentioned taking care of a second baby the first year then doing daycare. 

Good luck in your TTC adventure and hoping for a BFP for you soon!

jtmh2012

Oh one other thing......especially if you're on a high deductible plan.  Ask about global billing for your pregnancy with your doctor.  Except for the tests they had to send out, our doctor billed everything as one event.  Useful if you're going to cross plan years.

The only bad thing is our hospital beat the dr to our insurance after the birth and our Dr required you to pay the calculated deductible up front (or by payment plan).  So we had to call them and get them to submit and then refund our pre-paid deductible.

blondie42107

Baby gear is hard.  Not every baby likes the same things so this area is very gray!  This is what we had that we had/used:
car seat (we did a travel system and extra base then convertible)
stroller (we did a travel system)
crib and good mattress
changing table (rarely used with the first, used all the time with the second)
baby monitor (we had an AngelCare)
pack n play (with changing area and newborn napper)
excersaucer (triple fun - used a ton!)
swing (some people love the ones that you can plug in verses batteries)
boppy pillow (nursing and tummy time)
Moby wrap (personal choice, loved and used a lot)
breast pump (if using, I loved my Medela PISA)
bottles (might not want a ton until you know they work for baby - we tried 4 before Dr. Browns were a miracle)

FabulousMrs.P

We have a smaller house and I swear that helped us to keep the non necessary baby gear down. Don't spend a lot on things like swings, bouncers. They only use them for such a short time. And some babies don't even like them. Borrow from a friend or buy gently used. 

Have a a little room in the budget for take out, buying emergency formula, etc in those first months. We were so tired that sometimes ordering a pizza in the first few weeks was all we could manage. Also, we ended up having to use formula and it took 2 formulas until we found one that agreed with her. (Not that it will happen to you...but just have a little extra cash for all the extra incidentals in the first few weeks.)

Also don't forget to save money to cover anything you may owe your company for your insurance if you do not have a paid maternity leave. I was not paid during maternity so I owed my health insurance paycheck deductions when I returned to work.