How to prepare your finances when you’re expecting?
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
As a new and expecting mama’s, our number one priority is probably to keep our baby safe and healthy. What’s often overlooked as part of healthy infancy is financial planning to prepare for their lives and yours as things get flipped upside down. Luckily, whether you’re in your first trimester, or third, it’s easy to start preparations so you feel more comfortable bringing your little one into the world knowing you’ll be financially secure from month to month.
So, what are the first steps to successfully preparing for your baby’s future? The end goal is to have a complete baby budget to follow and tweak over the course of your child’s first year. Start out by listing the one-time expense you’ll expect during your baby’s first year of life. Doing so will help you organize your wants versus needs so you can prioritize the most important items you’ll need right away, and what you can hold off purchasing until your next paycheck.
Next, you’ll want to roughly plan your monthly expenses. Here, you’ll come up with the hard numbers that you’ll need to spend on your baby each month — from doctor’s visits and daycare, you’ll be able to calculate your monthly expenses easily.
Lastly, you’ll compile the information from your one-time expense sheet and your monthly expenses into a comprehensive and custom budgeting spreadsheet where you can organize expected versus real-time costs including your monthly payments on loans and any income month over month.
Feeling overwhelmed? Start with baby steps, no pun intended, then work your way towards creating your full budgeting spreadsheet in the coming months. Download the step-by-step printable worksheets to budget for your baby here.
