Budget – Before and After Baby (In Theory)

Baby RB40 is scheduled to be here in just over 4 weeks!  In light of this, I thought I would take a look at our budget now, and what I may look like after she arrives.

Obviously if you are reading this, you have probably done a budget for yourself (and maybe even others) at some point in your life.  With that said, have you ever done a budget anticipating a major life change?

I hope so!

I hope so for two reasons.  First, because major life changes are good!  Not all may seem good on the surface, but I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason.  Second, I hope that you have done a budget for a major life change because that means you are thinking ahead!

Right now, our budget looks like this: (if you click the image, it will get bigger so you can see our craziness :-)

Our expenses are a little crazy already, and in less than 6 weeks, we are having a BABY! The Big Guy and I are having a little girl, who will forever be known as Baby RB40 ;-)  See how that works?

Everyone knows that kids are expensive, even if you try to err towards frugality, so I sat down and looked at our budget to (try) to determine how the little on will affect our budget after her arrival.

Diapers – Confession time:  I love couponing!  That may make me a little bit crazy, but I make no apology for it :-)  I am an accountant, so I love numbers, and couponing is like a game to me!  The money savings is just an added bonus!

For months, I have been couponing for diapers and wipes.  I know, I know, I could cloth diaper and save a ton of money, but I hate it, so I coupon for disposables!  As of right now (4 weeks until my due date) I have set up quite the stockpile of diapers!  Below, you can see the breakdown of what I have bought, what I think I will need, what I paid, and what buying then at Walmart would have cost me :-)  See, I love numbers! (click to make it larger)

The “My Cost” column is based on the price I have paid for the diapers I have accumulated so far.  For example, I have accumulated 244 of the 560 size 2 diapers that I will need, and so far I have paid $0.13 per diaper.  So, the “My Cost” Columns would say $0.13 x 560 = $72.80.  Make sense?

Basically what I am saying is that before the baby is born I am anticipating (and have spent part of) $405.20 in diaper costs, but I don’t anticipate buying tons of diapers after she is born.  I am sure that she will grow slower or faster than my assumptions, and if we have to buy a few packs of diapers at *gasp* full price (!) it will be OK!

Medical Costs – Not to get too deep here, but I have great insurance (Tricare), which covers all of my prenatal costs, with the exception of $3 per prenatal vitamin prescription.  So, to date, I have paid $21.00 in medical costs.  After baby, we have a out-of-pocket cap for the year of $1,000 for me, and $1,000 for the baby.  Basically, medical costs for birth, doctors appointments and the like through the rest of the fiscal year with cost us a maximum of $2,000.

Daycare – As of now (and it might change), The Big Guy is working second shift, which means that we only need a babysitter for 2 hours a day.  This could be a challenge or it could really simplify our lives – just not sure which one yet :-)  We are planning on having grandpa come over for 2 hours each day and watch her, which would be free – YAY!  If, in our worst-case-scenario, we have to pay someone to watch her, we are looking at $320-$400 per month in daycare costs.

Other/Miscellaneous – Ummmm, I haven’t had a baby before, but I am sure that they are many little things that we will either want or need to buy.  I truly am not sure what these things are, and I don’t even know how much to allocate for this portion of our budget.  Anyone had a baby recently, or remember what it was like?  What extras did you buy?  How much did you spend?

So, here is what I am anticipating for our after-baby budget:

Once again, click to enlarge :-)

If you notice, our car payment amount went down, as did our car insurance, and I am not going to give an explanation for that right now because I don’t want to jinx it.  More on that to come, I promise.

Also, we are going to put $700 a month towards anything we owe the hospital until it is paid off.  Once that is done, it will be a huge weight off, and our budget will become much freer.  If we end up having to pay someone to take care of Baby RB40 for 2 hours each day, then the amount we can put towards the medical bills will be reduced, but we will still be taking quite a chunk out of them each month.

Finally, you can see that we have $193.67 left over each month that can be used for miscellaneous baby things :-)

What do you think?  Have I forgotten anything?  I would love to hear from people who have been there and know what I might be missing :-)

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