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Thanks for the article We didn't do much to prepare. I already was a SAHW so we knew it would be fine for me to be a SAHM. We were living pretty comfortably so we just came up with some areas to cut back on because we knew we'd have to spend that money on LO instead. I think we are more of cross that bridge when we get there kind of people. I would have loved to be able to save more.... but I just wasn't willing to wait until "a good time" to have a baby. Then we'd never have a baby!

We didn't do much, things were tight because when I was 10 weeks pregnant I became a SAHW. We made it work though

Saved!! Our goal was to have between 4-5K in a specified baby fund, which would be used to cover the unpaid portion of my maternity leave, and to help cover my mortgage when day care costs started up (we will have about a 500$ gap in expenses and income every month).

I'm 32w and we've managed to save about 4500$, so I'm thrilled!

We also scrimped pretty heavily on the baby stuff, getting all the furniture from IKEA and buying diapers ahead of time.

There are definitely people out there who can have a baby with no financial planning ahead of time, but we couldn't! Thanks for sharing the article!

I took an additional 4 months of maternity leave (only 8 wks was paid) and I saved about $20K so we wouldn't have to worry about going broke while I didn't have an income. We did spend most of that though b/c I am the primary breadwinner.

Nice!! I also put away a lot of extra money while I was pregnant so that I could pay my student loan payments and incidentals while I was on leave. We managed to have enough to pay all of my hospital bills and also buy a couch and get gifts for the holidays (since my maternity leave was end of November - February) using the money I had saved.

We saved the equivalent of 3 mths pay for me since my whole maternity leave (12 weeks) was unpaid, for my medical bills I only had to pay the deductible otherwise it was all covered.

Good job saving!!

I saved our tax return (around $2k) to pay for medical bills and we saved $250 a month for baby related expenses (gear and clothing). I'm a SAHM so without a paycheck it wasn't hard on my behalf.

DH budgeted like crazy for the year that I am off on mat leave. He is always adjusting the numbers, adding new expenses etc. I'm glad I have him!!

We made sure we were in a financial position that I would be able to quit my job before baby arrived. Success!

We definitely budgeted and made wise purchases. We adjusted by cutting down on eating out, buying less clothes and "toys", etc... I wasn't working while I was pregnant due to issues with my previous job so we did what we could with just DH's job. We didn't save much, but once I was actually a sahm things were rough. It's been a lot better since I've been working!

We didn't really "plan" BEFORE trying to conceive, and since we got pregnant on the first try, we had to just plan after the positive blue line. But in the past 8 months, I've managed to:

1) pay off the little bit of wedding-expense related credit card bill

2) start saving as much as possible from my own paycheck, with an end goal of $12,000 total--$2000 for baby stuff (we aren't having a shower) and $10,000 for my 5 months mat leave, which is 2k a month, or 1/2 my usual take-home salary. I have 3 paychecks left, and I'm at $10,000 so I just may make it (hopefully!)

My husband has found us a condo and bought it, so we can have a slightly bigger space. He makes more money than I do, and he came into our marriage totally debt free with a large savings, so he does the "heavy lifting" of our finances, which has allowed me to save more of my salary.

That's about the extent of our planning!

Oh, man... I used to have lofty goals about having an emergency fund, a baby fund, AND being out of debt before we had a baby. We'll probably have one out of three by the time our LO gets here. Right now we are trying really hard to just sock away as much as we can in our emergency fund. Once we hit 3 months expenses, we'll keep on saving until LO gets here, but I think LO will probably get here first! We're moving in my parents soon so we can cut back on expenses and work on paying off our debt.

Nothing. We waited to start our family at a time when we would be pretty comfortable on DH's salary alone.

We were already used to lack of my income because I was finishing grad school, so when I nannied over the summer I put that all away for student loan payments. I was able to save enough for a year of payments.

I look at the whole financial planning situation a little differently, I think. For me, financial planning is lifelong, it doesn't just end when an event happens.

My son was born when I was 35. My husband and I are obviously a little older and have longer working histories that afford us really good salaries. So when I do something like calculate the percentage of my salary that it would take to cover day care, it doesn't make sense for me to stay at home. I also look at things really long term, like what would our retirement plan be? Do we want to stay where we are or downsize? What are the plans for our son's college and higher education? Do we have to help our parents in anyway?

As long as I am able bodied, I will probably work in some capacity. I worked hard to get where I am and the paycheck doesn't hurt my wallet, let's put it that way. We're pretty basic in the sense that we live within our means and we could easily both scale back hours and still maintain our standard of living. That's the critical point for me.

Thanks for the article! We will celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary June 5 & this will be our first cycle TTC.

We have been planning since we got married for me to be a SAHM once baby comes. We have very little debt and are saving all of my salary for a down payment on a house.

I've been bugging DH lately about setting me up a section in our budget for baby stuff! Not sure how much to budget for maternity clothes, baby stuff, etc.

We actually had no money whatsoever when I got pregnant because I was in professional school. I got a job 3 months before I was due and saved basically my entire income those three months. I completely covered our expenses and had some leftover during my 10 week leave. After I returned to work my student loan payments kicked in, but we were still able to save enough to put a downpayment on a house and have the same amount left in savings.

Now that that's out of the way, we will work on building up the savings ( I would like to have 6 months expenses) and saving for retirement! No more little ones for us until our incomes increase and my loans are paid down.