[lovepink]

Hi all

DH and I are planning to TTC in the next few weeks and Im just thinking about our budget ...

DH earns $75 - $80K per year

I currently earn $412/wk (working 3 days)

Our mortgage repayments are $2000/month.

Bills/Insurances/Other expenses icl shopping total approximately $500/month

Once baby comes I wont be working, and unfortunately dont get Paid Maternity Leave.

For those of you who are good with this sort of stuff and have experience, how do you think our finances are going to cope with a new baby? How much should we set aside for "Baby Savings"?

Looking forward to hearing your opinions and experiences.

ETA - would love any budgeting spreadhseets or anything similar you can share with me

This post has been edited by lovepink: 28/12/2012, 01:12 PM

[jks91]

What we plan on doing is just living without the salary you won't have once bub is here. We're not TTC just yet but from first pay next year we plan on putting my entire wage into our mortgage. We have free redraw access and it will obviously have the benefit of reducing interest payments. This is on top of our usual fortnightly payments being made from DP's salary.

I have to admit we have a lowish mortgage at the moment and don't live an extravagant lifestyle but even doing this we're unsure of whether it will be plausible.

[lovepink]

Thanks JKS91.

We might try this during the pregnancy then!

Anyone else?

[jayskette]

I think you should think about how much pregnancy will cost + baby's first year, then save based on that figure.

Pregnancy include cost of appointments, classes, hospital and GP fees if private, but also include potential sick leaves you will take from work and the cost of possibly taking the last month off earlier than expected, cooking food for mat leave etc.

For baby - if desperate just count the formula/expressing/nappy costs. You may not need daycare now but it helps to have a brief look at the costs anyway

Any other things you can do to lower costs - eg review all bills/insurances and get better rates, or a better deal on mortgage will be great too.

[beebs09]

We did a similar thing of trying to live off one salary before DD was born. We couldn't manage all our expenses on the one wage unfortunately by about $300 fortnight. So we saved the $300 a fortnight to last 6 months to cover my maternity leave as I also didn't qualify for any as i was new to my job, although we did get the baby bonus which we did use for everything baby. I think the baby bonus of $5000 in fortnightly repayments was plenty as we got what we could 2nd hand.
With DS born this year, we didn't put any extra money aside as I could access the 18wks of the government paternity leave and 6wks maternity leave from work. I went back to work 1 day a week at 5months, then back to 2 days at 6months. Any new things for DS I just bought along the way and fitted it into the regular budget.

[pinkpineapple]

In my opinion it would be totally doable on ur DHs wage. Im a single parent on less and easily pay my mortgage, pay bills, insurance, childcare etc and put extra on my mortgage.

I would try an put all you possible can on your mortgage (if you have redraw available). It would cut down interest and be there if needed. You might get some FTB and baby bonus as well.

Good luck

[trishalishous]

We started living off one wage when we started to TTC. it took us a while to finally be blessed, so every month we rolled my salary onto the mortgage, but still made the budgeted repayment out of DHs wage.
When I finally got the BFP we stopped getting ahead in the mortgage, and put the money into a high interest account to use for the bub. By the time bub arrived we had 6 months of my salary aside, used 1 months salary for the baby stuff (cloth nappies, bassinet, clothes, carseats) and had the 5k BB to supplement the first few months (DH had to leave work to care for me due to a high risk pregnancy and traumatic birth), so we had no employment income for 3 months. Luckily we were ahead in bills/mortgage etc, so had very low expenses.

[greengoddess]

These are all great suggestions. I'd also add in that babies don't need to be expensive.

- if you have family/friends with stuff, see what you can borrow. A baby doesn't NEED a baby bath - we had one given to us and used it maybe twice, as we found it easier to shower with the baby.

- Accept ALL offers of hand-me-downs. Don't be one of the "oh, no, my baby has to have everything new!" types, as honestly they grow out of, tire of etc things so quickly that you're forever replacing clothes etc. I have some lovely friends nearby who pretty much have outfitted my child with their son's cast-offs and every time I think to myself, hmmm, those pants are getting a bit short, another few bags of clothes appear on my doorstep! (The kids are obviously growing at the same rate!)

- Babies pretty much live in sleep suits/baby-gros for the first six months, so don't waste money on "outfits". People will give you clothes/outfits as presents, so if you know in advance that they are, ask for 12, 18 or 24 months. Trust me, you won't believe how fast it goes. We received so many lovely little outfits for DS most of which he never wore!

- Cloth nappies can be an expensive outlay, but end up cheaper in the long run (plus are much nicer on your baby's butt!). There are different trading sites on FB. If you're going with disposable, stock up in advance, but again, get the bigger sizes rather than too many of the smaller ones. Get a pack each shop whilst pregnant.

- Living off one wage, saving the other/putting it on the mortgage and start paying a little extra on all your bills - $50 here and there - to build up credit so you have lower/no bills whilst you are working.

- Do a realistic budget of what you spend now - every cent. You'll see where a lot is wasted and can start tightening the belt now - put all excess every month or so into your mortgage or savings account.

- There are so many gadgets that you think you will need. If you use disposable nappies, don't get a nappy wrapper. Is it so hard to put it in a little bag and tie the ends? No. I can't think of others off hand as I did a lot of research, asked around and only got what we thought was absolutely necessary.

Good luck!

GG

[Kalota]

I think you will be fine on your DH's wage. It's all about how you choose to live and spend your money. People on wages much less than that have raised children comfortably Why don't you practise just living on DH's wage and put your entire wage in the bank for extra savings when baby comes?

[jobo77]

This website has a great budgeting calculator that helps you see all your outgoings etc so might help you in planning for when bub arrives
https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/