We are continuing to save for a house (per my ticker) and hope to buy before baby comes. We have always lived on a budget but have been kind of lazy about it over the summer so we are tightening our belts and getting back into it. We have also decided to put aside some money each month for misc. baby expenses.This will slow down our house savings rate a little but we think it's worth it.
We plan to shop at thrift/consignment stores and accept hand me downs as much as possible for baby things and maternity clothes. We are also being sure to look at all my medical bills closely to make sure there aren't errors.
What are you doing to prepare?
Re: What are you doing to prepare financially?
DH and I have followed Dave Ramsey's financial plans for about 3 years now and are on target to have my SL's paid off by the end of 2013. With that I'll be able to come home and only do photography. We'll have the money set aside to pay off the medical bills.
Make a pregnancy ticker
Way to go! We followed DR's plan too to pay off our debt and it really works. Good luck with your SL's and photography!
Started TTC July 2012. Missed m/c & d&c 9/12 11w. Natural m/c 1/13 6w. Chemical pgs 3/13 & 8/13 around 4w. Currently TTA while saving for adoption.
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” -Helen Keller
There is a show in Canada called "Till Debt do us Part" and the budget that the host has is AWESOME!!! We have been following it for a while now and our debt is going down really fast and we have money going into savings and we still have money at the end of the week.
If I get the urge to spend some money that is not in the budget I have a window shop day. DD and I go for a walk to the really rich areas and we look around. It's fun to see the crazy prices for some things.
https://www.gailvazoxlade.com/resources/interactive_budget_worksheet.html
That is the link to the budget for anyone who wants it.
Paid off everything except the mortgage and my partner's grad school loans.
Starting this month, we're going to live exclusively off my partner's salary (to be sure that really is a sustainable model for us) and sock all of mine away into savings. (I plan to stay home with the baby.)
Last year we created a fund for getting pregnant (sperm is expensive, y'all) and fortunately only spent about a third of it, so we have those funds available for "setting up shop". This is our first baby.
I have 100% maternity coverage, DD's and this LO's college funds are paid-for, and we own our home. We aren't rich, by any means, or extremely well-established (we are 24 and 25), but we did the belt-tightening last year and have made decisions that best utilize the benefits available to us. Our concentration, now, is paying off the rest of our low-interest student loans and our small balances on CC's from renovations when we moved in. We have also put off some major home renovations (kitchens and baths) until a later time, while we make the adjustment to having a family of 4.
DH gets raises in October and January, so we are using those extra funds to pay for baby needs (we don't need much because we saved EVERYTHING from DD and it was all gender-neutral), increased life insurance, a larger emergency fund, and a family vacation back home to introduce the baby to the extended family next summer.
All of your thriftiness will pay off, I promise! Just remember to put some pre-baby date nights (or a small, weekend babymoon) into the budget NOW, as it will be a while before you can go out again-- and sitters are expensive.