Hellobee Boards Topic: Budgeting & TTC

Hellobee Boards Topic: Budgeting & TTC https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 14 Apr 2026 02:00:10 +0000 DesertDreams88 on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861936 Thu, 13 Dec 2018 13:58:41 +0000 DesertDreams88 2861936@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Here's what we did. Goal: Save for L&D & OB bill to pay in cash in full. Amount: $4500 Timeframe: 10 months of savings Method: Deposited $450 monthly into my HSA, which was $225 each paycheck (I actually rounded up, bc my pregnancy was split over 2 calendar years, as most people's are) Goal: Save for 8 unpaid weeks of maternity leave Amount: $4000 Timeframe: 10 months of savings Method: Deposited $400 monthly into a separate, online-only bank account, labeled "baby" Then, when the time came, I "paid" myself every 2 weeks from that account during my maternity leave Goal: Purchase some big baby items not covered by gifts / baby shower Amount: $1000 (I downloaded my registry into Excel and made an estimate) Timeframe: 10 months of savings Method: Deposited $100 monthly into that "baby" savings acct and purchased the items in a couple of big purchase chunks using my "complete registry" discount Incidental / Monthly expenses will vary greatly as mentioned above. Clothes, formula, diapers, etc. I BF exclusively ages 0-6 months, used only hand-me-downs, used cloth diapers (that was separate purchases only with my first, I think I spent $600 or so), etc. In my budget I have a line item for "Baby supplies" and I spent on average $100 monthly with 1 and now $150 with two. Formula and diapers are NOT included in that total, they are under "personal care/groceries." Also, I ask for specific clothes (coats, hats, items we need) and shoes for holidays and gift-giving occasions. I also ask for big items from grandparents, like water table, bike trailer, tricycle, balance bike, etc. ETA: We use family for childcare and I know what that costs me monthly and I knew I had that room in my budget. ETA2: Basically, in order to figure it out, I suggest you write out a monthly budget of income, fixed expenses, changing Monthly expenses, and irregular expenses. Then you'll know how much you have left over for your savings goals. looch on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861905 Thu, 13 Dec 2018 12:29:05 +0000 looch 2861905@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I personally think that if you budget $1000, you'll spend $1000. We had very few hand me down items and did have to buy a lot of things ourselves and made some mistakes along the way, which caused our expenditures to be high. Then, we still went on vacations and I found we needed things to do, so we had the added cost of memberships to contend with. LCTBQE on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861891 Thu, 13 Dec 2018 11:43:46 +0000 LCTBQE 2861891@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Agree with @Mrsbells: . It sounds a little like a platitude to be like, “there’s never a good time so just do it”—but it’s true. Or, there is a good time and it’s after you’re too old to conceive :) it sounds like you guys are in better financial shape than most. We spend a LOT on daycare (v high col area) but something I didn’t consider pre-kids is how much I wasn’t going to spend anymore on myself. Not to be depressing but I hardly go out to eat or blow money on girly stuff at all anymore, we don’t travel much right now, etc. so, do I spend $600/year on clothing for my two (diff genders) kids? Yes, but pre-kids I spent a helluvah lot more than that on dinners, drinks, concerts, brunches, high heeled boots, manicures, beautiful and impractical coats, blah blah blah. Mrsbells on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861748 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:38:03 +0000 Mrsbells 2861748@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I personally think theres never a perfect time to ttc or have a baby. For us I think daycare is the biggest expense, but there are always ways to make things work with the budget you have. Ajsmommy on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861744 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:32:40 +0000 Ajsmommy 2861744@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Honestly, DH and I were worried about the "expense" of having a baby and in reality we hardly even noticed a difference.. as PP's said I was lucky that I had 100% paid maternity leave and my delivery didn't cost us much thanks to our coverage. And as for the other expenses I feel like somehow it all balanced out.. and I guess maybe it speaks to how Dh and I lived prior to kids... meaning we went out to eat often and spent freely.. once the baby came we didn't go out nearly as often and honestly I feel like that alone helped us absorb the difference, like the money we normally spent on us eating out and doing recreational things just went to daycare and diapers :silly: For us it wasn't much of a change financially.. it was more of a lifestyle change if you will... and i'll add that you sound like you are in a great spot as first time parents!! saving 25%?!!??!?! good for you. catgirl on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861734 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 14:55:49 +0000 catgirl 2861734@https://boards.hellobee.com/ It sounds like you are in a really good place. I would confirm with family about watching a baby though. My friend assumed her parents would watch her future LOs based on casual conversations but once she was pregnant they said they would only do 1 or 2 days a week. She is now looking at spending way more on childcare than she anticipated I agree with others to figure out insurance costs. Our premiums went up $150 a week when DD was born, our deductible and out of pocket max also went up. We thankfully knew it was coming but it was still a shift. Pollywog on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861710 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 13:53:58 +0000 Pollywog 2861710@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @imsandradee: the thing with kids is that it's so hard to know how you'll parent. I cloth diaper and exclusively breastfeed and use baby led weaning. My kid only wears hand needs downs. Other than daycare and college savings, I haven't spent a dime on my 8 month old. My oldest was more because I needed to buy the diapers (about $600) and clothes (maybe $300). I made his food (maybe $400). Both kids my insurance stayed the same and my delivery was covered. Neither kid had health problems. Compare that to my best friend who didn't breastfeed and her kids needed super expensive formula that was like $10 per day ($3,650 for the year) and used disposable diapers ($750) and cute clothes (I don't want to know). She had to pay twice as much in health insurance and had a $20k hospital bill for a NICU stay. Her maternity leave and 10 weeks of hospital bedrest were also unpaid. There's a lot of variation, but all is less than $1k per month per kid (excluding college savings and daycare) skinnycow on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861699 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 13:21:08 +0000 skinnycow 2861699@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @BUNBUN: This is a good point I hadn't considered. My maternity leave was 100% paid and delivery only set us back about $1k so I was lucky but babies can certainly be expensive depending on your situation. BUNBUN on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861698 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 13:17:56 +0000 BUNBUN 2861698@https://boards.hellobee.com/ For me, it was the cost of delivery (~$4000 with insurance, $3K deductible, but not everything was covered and DS had his own deductible once he was born) and the lost income on maternity leave (short term disability paid 60% of my salary) that really set me back. I talked with my insurance company about what to expect for expenses and budgeted accordingly, but I ended up paying more than they "estimated". I also saved as many PTO days as possible to extend my mat leave. We had family childcare too, but I was nervous about that working out. I'm glad I did some research on childcare costs just in case because those are totally dependent on where you live. The more cushion you have for emergencies, the better you will feel. DS needed some ultrasounds and ortho appointments for hip dysplasia and some other issues. We had a pipe burst when DS was just a few months old that required a whole new shower. Sh!t happens, but you'll get through it! ETA: the "cost of delivery" was actually the cost of the entire pregnancy, pre-natal through hospital discharge skinnycow on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861697 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 13:17:24 +0000 skinnycow 2861697@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Your spending doesn't sound out of control to me and you're certainly in a better financial position than most first-time parents. Having a six-month emergency fund and saving 25% of your income is great - we definitely weren't doing that when my daughter was born and we had about $1,300 in childcare expenses every month. Babies can be inexpensive (especially if you decide to breastfeed). We spend more than $1k/month on my daughter but $1,300 of that is childcare. periwinklebee on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861693 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 12:56:50 +0000 periwinklebee 2861693@https://boards.hellobee.com/ The main expenses we have are childcare and healthcare. Childcare in my area is (a lot) more than $1,000/month, but if you have free family care, that will cut down costs enormously. For us, the main healthcare expense is that our premiums went up a lot. If you have a high deductible plan (assuming here you are somewhere w/o public health care), then it may be in the form of meeting deductibles. These expenses can start right away - i.e. I needed a D&C and a ton of followup bloodwork. But you should be able to look at the cost of deductibles and premiums to know exactly how much to budget. All our clothes and much of our gear were hand-me-downs, so few expenses there. We staid in the same apartment, though it won't work long-run (one bedroom), so ultimately that will be another expense. I breastfeed - so there the main costs were the pump/parts/and some health issues around it (mastitis, tongue tie, etc), which I suppose aren't that likely. Ultimately you would probably want to change your financial goals - i.e. saving for college - though I don't think that's immediately necessary. imsandradee on "Budgeting & TTC" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/budgeting-amp-ttc#post-2861690 Wed, 12 Dec 2018 12:46:34 +0000 imsandradee 2861690@https://boards.hellobee.com/ 2018 has been a crazy year for us in terms of expenses and career decisions, and our February goal to TTC is nearly here. Everyone talks about how expensive a baby is, which is scary, since we are only 7 months into home ownership and are still growing in our careers. We try to be fiscally responsible, but is our budget realistic? Currently 34% of our take home pay goes to our mortgage. Another 12% goes to utilities, transportation & insurance 4% goes to student loans 13% goes to groceries, entertainment /restaurants and personal spending 25% goes to savings 4% goes to helping a family member The remainder ends up unallocated as a slush fund / cushion. We also do not count my husbands commission in our budget. If he makes his full monthly commission, our take home income is increased by 31%. We are both expecting raises in the new year which will help, but I still can't help but be nervous about the cost of a baby. We plan to budget $1000 a month for a baby (our family will likely be our source of free childcare). We would reduce our savings and slush fund slightly to allow for this baby budget. Again, commissions are not counted. Is our spending out of whack? We have a 6 month emergency fund set aside, but have pretty much depleted our other savings purchasing and renovating our home earlier this year. We just started saving again last month, and I think that's what making me nervous.