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How much did you have in savings by baby's due date?

  • poll: How much did you save before baby arrived?
    <$1,000 : (11 votes)
    10 %
    $1,000-3,000 : (8 votes)
    8 %
    $3,000-5,000 : (8 votes)
    8 %
    $5,000-10,000 : (13 votes)
    12 %
    $10,000-20,000 : (13 votes)
    12 %
    >$20,000 : (53 votes)
    50 %
  1. blackbird

    wonderful grape / 20453 posts

    We're 26 and 29 and we have way more than 20k in savings. But it has nothing to do with the baby...Dh was deployed and a lot of his hazard pay went straight into savings. Between the two of us, we've been socking away a few grand a month for awhile now. Neither of us have student loans, which makes it much easier.

    If i was saving specifically for a baby, i'd want a year's worth of expenses, though. I'll always err on the side of more money when it comes to financial security!

  2. Anagram

    eggplant / 11716 posts

    Oh, this question is a two part answer for me.

    How much do I have in savings? pff...maybe $4,000.

    How much does DH have in savings? Not counting his retirement funds and investments....well, more than I make in a year. More than I make in two years, probably. He's such a good boy.

    BUT. How much would DH part with for soon-to-be-LO or anything else, short of his being out of work for a very long time? $0. Seriously. The man won't part with that money (I've tried--heh. I'm worried about day care expenses, so I wish he would magically decide to pay for a year up front with his money. But that won't happen).

    So....I can't really answer this poll? =)

  3. prettylizy

    GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts

    We saved up a little less than $10000, but it was mostly because we wanted to cover our expenses during my year off. We ended up using it to renovate our kitchen!! lol!!

  4. Bao

    GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22276 posts

    @prettylizy: holy crap that's more than our house! lol

    I'm wondering if this is a regional thing too...since cost of living per month varies from one area to the next.

  5. MrsBrewer

    coconut / 8854 posts

    @Bao: Did you read prettylizy's number as 100,000? it's actaully 10,000.

    Before we TTC we will definitely wait to have at least 5k-10k in disposable savings.

  6. Bao

    GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22276 posts

    @MrsBrewer: haha yes I did!! Well that makes me feel better

  7. MrsBrewer

    coconut / 8854 posts

    @Bao: LOL! I had to count the zeros because I thought the same thing!!

  8. Mrs Hedgehog

    pear / 1812 posts

    Right now we have about 50 K and I don't see us spending 30 of it before the baby is born. Neither of us make a TON but it was Mr. Hedgies determination that we have at least 30 and a house before we consider starting a family. I am terrified to see how quickly it disappears post baby.

  9. Mrs. Lemon-Lime

    wonderful pea / 17279 posts

    My goal is to have $15,000 specifically earmarked for baby expenses. That money would be used for baby gear (very tiny chance we will have a shower), daycare for the first year (9k), 1st birthday party and maybe a sip & see, and initial contribution to college fund.

  10. prettylizy

    GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts

    @MrsBrewer: @Bao: lol!!! I came back and recounted too!! Dude, if we had 100G's floating around I would not be going back to work next month! lol!

  11. LindsayInNY

    bananas / 9229 posts

    We would have had 20K+ but are using most of it for our down payment. On the plus side, I'm not pregnant yet so we'll be able to save until LO arrives and hopefully build some of the savings account back up. Our future mortgage isn't much more than our current rent.

  12. LuLu Mom

    GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts

    We had 3 months of my salary saved (in addition to our other savings we had that was a no touch unless completely necessary.) We did end up needing that when DH's truck unexpectely broke on us! othewise we planned as best we could, we cut it close due to the holiday's and present buying!

  13. MrsH

    honeydew / 7667 posts

    We have over six months of expenses saved.

  14. mlm2934

    grapefruit / 4311 posts

    @Anagram: wow, your DH is good

    @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: we plan to pay for as much baby expense as we can by budgeting it out over the next 7 months, separate from emergency savings. Then while on maternity leave, I'll get 100% pay, so hope to save up 3-5 months worth of daycare costs as well.

    @jessiejo17: that's another topic we have been avoiding - the fact that we will likely need to upgrade vehicles after baby arrives since DH drives a gifted manual truck that we hate and really wouldn't feel right about having a rear facing carseat in

  15. tysonja

    nectarine / 2217 posts

    we have pretty much 0$ saved, -- every time we get some saved we end up using it or giving it away, but we also never have had any kind of debt before. we have an 8 mnth old and one more on the way! we're in our mid 20's, and i'm a SAHM we would love to have more saved (obviously) but don't worry about money :).

  16. oliviaoblivia

    pineapple / 12793 posts

    We had a lot, but we've been saving for a house for three years in an expensive market.

  17. LuLu Mom

    GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts

    @runnerd: Yep, we unexpectedly had to upgrade my vehicle due to a car accident at 18 weeks, that also didn't help the savings!

  18. Ree723

    grapefruit / 4819 posts

    We have a lot in savings, which I think is partially due to age, (we're both in our 30s and are well established in our careers, even though I'm a SAHM now), but is also due to the fact that we don't own a house yet. We're still in Australia and we know we're not settling here, so we just keep adding to our savings and will have a huge deposit once we settle. We're pretty fiscally conservative though and I don't ever see us letting our savings drop below $20K, barring some kind of emergency.

  19. LaughLines

    clementine / 880 posts

    We have a lot in savings, but mostly because we plan to buy another investment property. Right now we're waiting to try to get pregnant until we get another property so the rent from it can help cover the loss of my income because I plan to be SAHM. I will instead be the 'property manager' which is much more hands off (we already have 4 other tenants in 2 properties, so I have some practice).

    We also need to buy another car because we only have 1 and we will probably have to upgrade the one we do have because it has almost 200,000 miles on it.

    AND we need to buy a house for ourselves because we've been living in a one bedroom while buying rental properties.

    Lots of money considerations - but I don't think you need to have any set amount to have a kid.

    That being said, a huge part of me wants to screw the plan and go get pregnant tonight (well, try... i know it's not that easy!) I think focusing on the financial side of it is something I can control and plan for while I wait to try.

  20. PrincessBaby

    cantaloupe / 6610 posts

    We had 6 digits saved...However we'll use a good bit of that to pay our 20% down payment on the house we're building...

  21. Dandelion

    watermelon / 14206 posts

    To be fair, we didn't work for our savings. DH inherited most of it from his dad a couple years ago. We're about to blow it all on a house, though.

  22. runsyellowlites

    coconut / 8305 posts

    That would be ZERO... well 35 bucks to be exact!

    We did pay out of pocket for all my pregnancy & birth care though... in our defense. lol

  23. yellowbird

    honeydew / 7303 posts

    We had about 4 months worth of expenses, but 2 months of that went out the window during my unpaid maternity leave. We're back up to having about 3 months worth, but thinking about spending a big chunk of it on a house. I can't decide!

  24. mrsmate

    persimmon / 1081 posts

    I voted $5-10k but we bought a house at the beginning of my third trimester. Add to that all the repairs we had to do and we were almost wiped out!

  25. hummusgirl

    persimmon / 1233 posts

    We have a lot but a good part of that will go to a down payment on a house eventually. My threshold for emergency savings keeps going up as we save more - I remember when I was 22 and in my first job, my big goal was $500. Then I reached it and my new goal was $1,000. Then $10,000 became the bare minimum. Now it's many times that. Once we have it in savings, I never want to give it up, it helps me sleep at night! We're never going to be able to buy a house...

  26. Smurfette

    GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts

    I voted 5-10 because we just bought a house and after buying washer & dryer, new tv's, mattress, and other stuff our savings isn't what it was. Sad!

  27. jedeve

    pomegranate / 3643 posts

    About 5k. We finished grad school in the spring, but DH didn't start his job until August and me until October and baby came in January. We saved all of my salary. It's enough to pay for his bitth. After that will start saving more!

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