November Budget Review

A solid month late but better late than never I guess.

Very surprised that we set any money aside at all after all the extra spending going on with Christmas AND a baby on the way.
Hydro - Unfortunately I had not realized on our first bill that it was not for a full 2 months so I was very dissapointed to open this month's bill and see how big it was.  And this is without the electric heat being turned on yet!
Other - We needed new bedsheets for winter, a vaccum, plastic to insulate all the windows, and gas as we had my mom's car for quite a while.  At least we found the sheets and vaccum on sale.
Misc Income - I got an HST cheque for $99, and I definately cannot remember what the $10 is from.  But for the last year all of our spare change, and any change that came with our tipouts has gone into our Christmas Change Jar.  We counted it up and rolled it and had $245 :)  And still have at least $45 in change left in it that we couldn't roll because we didnt have enough of each coin.  We also got a ton of cash and gift cards from the baby shower, but it was too much to keep track of so I did not include it. (To keep things consistent I took off whatever was spent with this money from our expenses).

Misc Spending - Spent a ton on gifts, but I will make a post specifically for our Christmas shopping.  Misc Christmas shopping was for decorations (we need to start working on that now that we have our own family holidays to start).  We bought Christmas lights and I started making cross-stitch stockings for Kyle and Willow, like my mom had done for our family when we were kids.  Despite the massive amounts of baby supplies and clothes we received at the baby shower (and in the weeks that followed) there were still a few things we needed to pick up like bottles, moniters, and a dresser.

And after all that we set aside $170 :)  However I'm sure I lost track of some money with everything from the baby shower because our net worth and bank accounts show that we set aside more than our budget says.  So it's not a bad thing.

Welcome To The World, Willow!

It's a little late but I would like to announce the arrival of my very healthy and beautiful baby girl!  Willow Elizabeth is finally here and doing very well.  Of course, this is why I have not posted in, what, a month?  She's definately keeping us busy, but soon we will be getting into a schedule.  I can't believe she is 3 weeks old today!  I will be catching up on the main posts I've missed and will hopefully find time to come back and post every couple of days.  A lot has happened, especially financially, so I have plenty to write about.

Why Your Baby Doesn't Have To Break the Bank

I am officially 32 weeks pregnant today!  It feels like forever when I'm faced with something I love but can't have because it's not good for baby, but when I look back on it, it's flown by!  I don't want to stop feeling her kick and wiggle around :( (Or lose the 'yes I'm eating again, I'm pregnant' excuse)

But it's definitely getting my ass in gear trying to pick up as many shifts as I can.  Whatever I make now will affect what I earn for maternity leave, plus once the baby comes and my income is cut in half there will be very little wiggle room, and not much extra being set aside each month.

One of the first things I did after I found out I was pregnant was go online and search for a baby cost calculator.  I knew babies were expensive!  Although we were already sitting on a large chunk of money we had saved to move and pay for school, I didn't want to have to start all over in saving for it.  I found a great calculator on Baby Center.  It breaks down all the different categories of supplies you will need, as long as give you the average prices for each item.  You can check off items you will or won't be getting (for example, if you're going to breastfeed, you won't need to worry about formulas).  It then adds up all the numbers, based on whether it's a one time purchase (stroller) or monthly purchase (diapers) and then gives you a total for your baby's first year.

I was actually surprised.  When I filled it out, saying I was going to breastfeed and I believe I said I would be using cloth diapers, my total for the year was around $6,000.  I was expecting it to be much more!  Maybe with everyone's dramatization of how expensive babies are, I had this huge unbelievable number in my head.  So it was definitely a relief, especially since I was still in shock.

That being said, have we spent $6,400 on the baby?  Not even close!  I believe as it stands I have spent a total of roughly $20 on baby stuff.  An adorable fancy dress covered in cherries which was just too cute to pass up, and two button pins that say 'my daddy dressed me' and 'daddy did my hair'.  Oh, and about $47 and paint and supplies to paint her room, which looks wonderful.

So what about all the necessities? Furniture, clothes, baby toys, where's the $6,000 worth of stuff?

The very happy answer: FREE!

Yep, and it's not like we entered some baby contest and won everything.  What people don't tell you about having a baby is how much STUFF people will just give you.  It's almost as if you're the one doing them a favor!  As far as clothes go I'd say we have too many!  Of course who knows how big she's going to be or how fast she will grow, so we will see what fits her.

So far we got a leather highchair (which was imported from Italy, fancy eh?), a baby swing, a playmat (which can go for almost $100, can you believe that!?), a baby walker,  vibrating baby chair, baby books, shoes, tons of blankets, breast pump, and we still have a crib coming from Kyle's parents and I believe a stroller and car seat (that has 3 years before it expires) on the way.  That's a TON of money we saved.  And the baby shower's not till next month!

Also, if you're planning on using formulas, or disposable diapers, both have much cheaper alternatives!  You can still get a breast pump so that you can actually go out on your own and someone else can feed the baby, it will pay for itself very quickly when you compare it to the cost of formula.  And people think cloth diapers or gross, but you'll be changing a dirty diaper regardless, it's still going to be smelly and gross!  It may as well not cost you an arm and a limb every time you do it.

So if you're expecting a baby, and also a huge chunk of your money gone, ask around. Anyone you know that has kids but aren't having any more, a lot of them might have basements with baby stuff just sitting around collecting dust. More than half our stuff came from people we work with.