When you get pregnant you hear a lot of people say babies are expensive. After 12 months with Baby HutchLife we can say that our baby is only as expensive as we want her to be. It’s important to remember that during the 9 months you’re pregnant you can set aside money for baby things so that you’re not surprised/overwhelmed when the baby comes and you need to buy things. Now, things for babies being expensive doesn’t necessarily mean that the baby has to be expensive.
What can be expensive? The hospital bill if you don’t have an FSA/HSA account or fantastic insurance to cover the costs. After having Baby HutchLife and staying in the hospital for 2 nights the total for our bill was ~$10,000. What did we end up paying out of pocket $0. Not everyone is able to say that. What I will say from talking to other parents is you should have at least $4000 set aside to cover and remainder hospital/doctor bills that may come up over the 3-4 months after the baby comes. One of the things Dave Ramsey talks about and it makes a lot of sense is, if you are on your debt free journey, you should stop the debt snowball and save up your cash until after baby comes, make sure mom and baby are ok, pay your bill and once home restart the debt snowball. GREAT ADVICE even if you’re not on the debt free journey.
If like me, you struggle with producing breast milk because of a medical issue, such as PCOS, buying formula can be very expensive. Asking your doctor for samples is helpful, signing up to the website for the formula is also helpful because they send you coupons that cut the cost of formula drastically. There is also the option of asking your doctor for a prescription of Reglan to help with milk production and/or using herbal supplements like Mother’s Milk Tea.
The Baby Industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Strollers can be expensive, car seats can be expensive, cribs, high chairs, baby clothes and more can be expensive depending on how much you want to spend on them. The key when baby shopping is to look for things with multi-use and that can be/or are convertible.
Strollers
Strollers that can go from single to double if you want to/plan on having more kids – we should have thought of that, but didn’t expect any more so now we need a double stroller.
Car Seats
Car Seats that can go from rear facing to front facing – we didn’t think of this and had to buy Baby HutchLife a new car seat a month ago. What we are doing now is using her old car seat for LittleBit HL and will set aside money for the bigger car seat when LittleBit reaches the height requirement – either 30 lbs or 30” whichever comes first.
High Chairs
High Chairs can be pricey. We were smart with this one and have a convertible high chair that also has a booster seat. This can be used for both Baby HutchLife and LittleBit HL.
Baby Clothes
We were blessed to have family/friends who purchased items from our registry and because they were gender neutral all of Baby HutchLife’s clothes are being passed down to LittleBIt HL. We were also blessed by sister-in-love to get hand me downs for Baby HutchLife so we don’t have to buy clothes. To save money on clothes, second hand shops are also a gold mine. Another sister-in-love showed me Once Upon A Child. YES! I will definitely be using that store as Baby HutchLife gets older.
Cribs
Cribs can be expensive. One of the key things to look for is can the crib be convertible. The crib we got for Baby HutchLife will convert from a crib to a toddler bed into a daybed to a full size bed. We won’t have to buy a bed for her for a long time. We will be doing the same thing for LittleBit HL as we’ll and getting a convertible crib.
The same way we do with a budget for food, travel, etc is the same way we do a budget for Baby. It’s important to take the time, figure out how much you want to save and split it up monthly so that you’re not going into debt for a baby or anything else. We have so much information at our fingertips, there are plenty of hacks to get things second hand as well as ways to save on baby food, etc.
Any moms or dads out there have any hacks or tips?
