Des Moines Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
baby budget
did anyone here start living on your baby budget before you were pregnant? we need to start adjusting our expenses/budget as we get closer to trying to conceive.
so...i know money can be a taboo topic, but if you are willing/comfortable to share what you budgeted, i would really appreciate it. and if you aren't comfortable sharing $ amounts, please let me know expenses i should be thinking of that might not be top of mind.
thanks!
Re: baby budget
Don't forget to budget for the well-baby checks. Between the birth, 2 week, 2 month, 4 month, 6 month, and 1 year check; that's a lot of copays you don't want to forget! Also, if you will have a savings account, 529, etc don't forget to budget those deposits.
We used cloth diapers and I breastfed, so our expenses were pretty minimal besides any random baby supplies and cute new outfits everytime I saw one
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It is hard to put an exact number on it, but we've been putting money away so we can go on a big stock up run before baby #2 arrives.....new stroller, diapers, bottles, etc.
I think our biggest expenses are daycare and insurance. Sometimes people also buy bigger cars when they have kids, so that is a factor too.
I don't think it's made a huge difference in our budget because at the same time we had kids, we stopped spending money on other things....like going out every weekend or going out of town on weekend trips which is a fast way to eat up money.
We've been living on our baby budget for a few months now. We figured $800/mo for daycare & an additional $400/mo for diapers, wipes, formula, clothing, etc..
I want to breastfeed but am budgeting for formula just in case.
You can save money on a car seat if you buy the convertable one now, and wear the baby when you shop and go out. until s/he is big enough to sit on their own. I wish we would have done this. The car seat I have now, goes from 5lbs to 40lbs rear facing.
We would do as others did, buy diapers once a month towards the end, like a pack of size 1's 2's & 3's... I also found which brand of diaper I like better that way too! (Cloth diapering was not for us- I suck at laundry!) Also deturgent, I know a lot of people use Dreft, but we already used All/Era/Tide Free & Clear, So I just stalked up on that.
Having those extra diapers/wipes on hand the first few weeks SOO helped, and really, you can never have enough wipes! And if you have a sams/costco membership, that really helps with costs, on buying more. So it's a little catch 22, you can have enough, but not really budget for it.
Sorry for the letter! LOL And I gave tips too!
Babies are as cheap or as expensive as you want them to be. Honestly! They don't need much. Food/boob, diapers, some onesies, and lots of love. It's just easy to get sucked into the cute clothes, fancy bouncers, name brands, etc. That's where your costs can get out of whack.
The one thing you need to absolutely budget for (and do so on the HIGH range) is daycare. Another thing that people don't consider are the missed wages while you're on maternity leave. I received 68% of my pay on leave (and I'm guessing your work plan is fairly similar) but I budgeted for those three months like I would get nothing. This helped me feel more confident as I was unsure quite what to expect after he arrived
Married 10.11.08
Baby LJ 05.21.10
TheRookieChef.com
I agree with all the previous posts.
Honestly, I feel like G doesn't cost us alot. We buy lots of things off craigslist-toys, high chair, etc. We use coupons & checks for formula and buy diapers off Amazon. We've also decreased our spending on going out, etc so it pretty much evens out.