Budgeting

hullabalou · June 2017

We are reworking our budget now to prepare for a second baby in daycare. We will pay more for daycare than our mortgage, power, and water bills combined!

We plan to start following our new budget now and funnel the extra budgeted daycare money into savings so we have more of a buffer for my unpaid maternity leave.

What are your best tips/tricks for squeezing more money out of a budget? Are you making any changes due to your pregnancy?

the_other_mother · June 2017

We are using the "Every dollar" app from Dave Ramsey. Even if you don't follow his plan, it can still be a good tool to use because it makes you give every last dollar a name.

sabriel1 · June 2017

I try my best to coupon and cut back where I can. We don't have cable or super high speed internet or even cell phones. We have a program around here where someone will come to your home for free to make it more energy efficient (wrapping the hot water tank, changing light bulbs, etc) so that helps. We love in a small town so I try to walk e every where I can to save on gas.

We took glass coverage off of our vehicles because for the money it saves it ends up being cheap per to fix your own windshield as long as it only needs to be replaced every 3 years, which for us is longer than that.

Meal planning also really helps. Planning meals based on what is on sale. We try to go meatless at least 3 days a week and that helps. For entertainment we pick things that are free. Going to the park, a hike, the library.

For baby items I buy all used for the most part on the local swap groups on Facebook (except for car seats and crib mattresses of course) and in the past I have cloth diapered which helped by getting to reuse them for 4 kids

supercoolstephy · June 2017

I'm right there with you @hullabalou. I really am not sure how we're going to afford a second baby in daycare, but we will figure it out. Nice to see some suggestions on this thread.

hullabalou · June 2017

@sabriel1 I do meal plan but need to get better about using food we already have in the pantry/fridge instead of buying more ingredients. I am cutting cable this month too, we hardly watch it other than sports and we will just figure that out as we need to.

@the_other_mother I love Dave Ramsey! We use paper planners to budget but I follow his concepts to an extent.

hudson202 · June 2017

No advice, but I am right there with you. We loooooove our daycare, so I would hate to have to find a cheaper option, but that might be where we are headed.

neener*neener* · June 2017

We've followed Dave Ramsey's plan for a few years but had been getting off track recently. We're funneling our money from eating out and vacations into one "maternity leave" fund starting as soon as we found out we were expecting. I'm also doing a lot of grocery shopping at Aldi instead of our local Kroger.

sunday6711 · July 2017

Any tips on budgeting for childcare?? FTM here and I will only have about 8 weeks paid maternity leave. We cant afford for me not to work. I am trying to find a way to work from home but would still need at least part time care. I just cant imagine handing my two month old baby over to someone else to care for and missing out on everything

There arent any bills we can get rid of, trust me ive looked. We don't qualify for assistance either. Tips very welcome!!

smorzandoj · July 2017

sunday6711 said:

Any tips on budgeting for childcare?? FTM here and I will only have about 8 weeks paid maternity leave. We cant afford for me not to work. I am trying to find a way to work from home but would still need at least part time care. I just cant imagine handing my two month old baby over to someone else to care for and missing out on everything There arent any bills we can get rid of, trust me ive looked. We don't qualify for assistance either. Tips very welcome!!

Find a SAHM that wants to stay home but needs extra money. I had one as a nanny for three years with my older boys. She was fabulous and much less than a traditional nanny.

BelhurstBride · July 2017

We utilize mint.com to track our spending and make sure every dollar spent is accounted for. We have an agreed upon budget and any purchases made outside of that budget are discussed first.

We made massive changes 8+ years ago, before we started TTC for our first child; we saved up for two different levels of emergency funds, we switched from paying off car loans to saving up and paying cash for new cars... stuff like that. I left the work force after DD1 was born, so it's all second nature to us now. Now we look back to when we were DINKs and shudder at the money we bled.

marissajc · July 2017

We use the Mint app, it's connected to all of our accounts and reminds us when bills come up due. It also alerts us if we over spend in a category so we can review our spending and not do the same thing the next month!

jessilee15 · July 2017

For those considering cutting cable - look into an Amazon fire stick or sling tv. Way cheaper than cable, but you can still stream most TV.

also - second finding a SAHM of 1 or 2 who will watch yours. It usually helps them make extra money while avoiding paying for child care themselves, plus all the kids have someone to play with! Maybe find another first time mom and trade off? Or maybe someone you know has a retired or semi retired wanna be grandma who would love to play with your baby part time?