…it’s because we are expecting our first baby!
We are in the second trimester and the baby is due this summer. Fortunately, the nausea is getting much better now so the mere mention of food no longer causes a hurried dash to the bathroom.
But I know what you’re thinking…
So I suppose we might as well address the elephant in the room.
Within 10 seconds…
Invariably after announcing to friends or family, I can just about count to 10 before someone makes a remark in relation to our (in)famously frugal ways. Here’s a sampling. (I’ve taken the liberty to slightly paraphrase some of these in the interest of conciseness.):
“Congratulations! Your life with never be the same again…especially your budget.”
“There goes all your time…and your budget!”
“I’m SO curious how your spending is going to change now that you’re having a baby.”
“Babies are SO expensive, they’re really going to stretch your finances.”
“I can’t wait to hear how you guys save on baby and kids stuff!”
“Oh, we’ve got tons of stuff from our kids that you can use so you don’t have to spend so much to buy all of it.”
“You guys are so thrifty, you’ll probably get paid to raise your own kid!”
Of course we know we brought this upon ourselves by sharing so much of our finances in the first place, but we do appreciate all the encouragement and interest in our financial well-being!
Will Baby Crumb Saver bust the budget?
Actually, before we get to the actual affect on our spending, the biggest change to our finances is going to be the loss of one income. We knew since before we were married that when we had kids, Deb would become a stay-at-home mom. Since her income accounts for nearly half of what we make, we know our income is going to take a dive.
It’s a general assumption that having children is expensive. One estimate states that raising a child to age 18 in a middle-class home in the US will cost $245,340. Not exactly subscribing to “general assumptions about money”, we’re naturally going to try to apply crumb-saving principles in our childrearing while also teaching them to the wee one as well. But that doesn’t mean our expenses aren’t going to go up. Here a few areas where we anticipate increased expenditures:
- Increased medical costs. Prenatal, delivery, child wellness care, etc.
- Increased household utility usage. Since we won’t be out at work all day anymore, our utility bill is guaranteed to go up.
- Increased food. There will be an additional mouth to feed, plus there’s already a pregnant woman in the house. (Then again, with monthly food expenses of under $60, our food budget’s got no place to go but up anyway.)
- Previously unneeded baby accouterments. Diapers, wipes, nappies, car seats, Huggies, strollers, Pampers, diaper bags, etc.
- Lots of other stuff that all you seasoned parents are snickering about right now.
However, there are some things that will help mitigate the increase in expenses and decrease in earnings:
- Tax Deduction. Yup, we’ll get a tax break for the full year even though Baby Crumb Saver isn’t due to arrive until the second half of the year. (For this reason, I’ve often thought that December 31 would be the best day for a kid to be born.)
- Mortgage Payoff. If you’ve followed our story you know that we’ve been prioritizing the payoff of our home mortgage. One of the reasons for this is to have this single largest monthly expense eliminated in time for us to take a 50% pay cut.
- Generous Friends. We are so fortunate to have some of the most amazing friends in the world, many of whom have recently had babies of their own. Many have offered to hand down baby clothes and other stuff that they don’t need anymore. We’re happy to help clear out their storage space, and we look forward to returning the favor by passing the stuff on to the next baby that comes along.
- Education. We’ve been taking advantage of the collective wisdom of the many people who have gone before us, gleaning their tips and tricks on how to be good parents and also learn some money-saving techniques as well. It’s all a bit overwhelming, but we’re thankful for all our willing tutors!
Crumb Saver or Crumb Snatcher?
So we know big changes are on the way, and we know our financial picture will look very different a year from now. The big question is, by how much? So while we keep our first priority on being the best parents that we can be for the munchkin, you know that we will try to do all we can to accomplish that without breaking the bank. So do we have an up and coming “Crumb Saver” on our hands, or do we have merely a “Crumb Snatcher”? Only time will tell…and in time, we’ll tell you too. We hope you will stick around for this brand new chapter of our Crumb Saving story!
Oh, yeah. And it’s a girl. 🙂
We’d like to tap into the collective wisdom of our readers here. Please share with us, what are some of your best tips on saving money with a baby?
