Financial Goal?
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Congratulations!!
Btw, I got the disability insurance! So that's good news for me when I finally get pregnant and deliver :-)0 -
@Kirstie155 You mentioned that in a different thread but I'm still so happy for you
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@VeryKatie congratulations!! ☺ and @Kirstie155 that's great and is probably a huge relief for you!! ☺0
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Congrats @VeryKatie! That must feel awesome!0
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Hmmmmm... we.. did not plan our cash flow all that well it seems. We have money in savings, so we're fine but Chris and I are trying to just use the money in our chequings account for our new expenses.
Basically we were like, "Ok we're in good shape"
And then a month and a half ago Chris was like "we should landscape the backyard before the baby comes!" and I was like "Yeah!!"
So... we have a bit of money sitting in our account.
But now we have to pay for:
Fence construction
Patio construction
Deck construction
Mortgage
Credit card
Utilities
(get paid a couple time in there... ok maybe we can manage)
and then... property tax bill arrives in the mail due June 30. Oops. Forgot about that. Looks like we're pulling from savings! We got too ambitious lol.0 -
I know how you feel...with all of our doctors appointments and house emergencies we are doing the bare bones one shopping. I'm like....how about sandwiches for lunch everyday, lol. Money is a bit tight here!
I'm sure your backyard will be gorgeous and you'll make it through. Maybe do some brown bag sandwiches for awhile? 0 -
When I was single I would help myself come up with cash for the holidays by eating out of my freezer and pantry as much as humanly possible. I would make it my goal to empty them and only buy the must-haves from the grocery store. As an added bonus, it forced me to use up some of the weird ingredients I bought for a recipe before they went bad and actually excavate the freezer.0
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Oye I read back through this thread now that it is something we have to start thinking about. I'm planning to take 12 weeks of leave (6-8 weeks paid at 80% on short term disability, and the remaining 4-6 weeks unpaid on FMLA) so we need to budget a little extra for that lost income. Sometimes, being an American woman is just depressing...what MAN came up with this system? ugh.
I also starting calling around to daycares, and it seems like in my area ~$340 per week is what to expect. So approx $1400 per month. We'll pay off one of our cars next Spring so that money will basically to go daycare + more money that we currently put directly into savings to make up the difference. We are both fortunate to have well paying jobs, but it will still be an adjustment and we'll need to look more seriously at our budget plans.0 -
@marianlyn I hear you with the pantry eating. Ive talked the husband out of ordering out twice in the last week, and am trying to only spend ~$30 on groceries each week. Things like milk, bread, cheese, fresh fruit or veg. This week I went over by at $50, but we did have holiday hosting and specialty items to bake and bring to a bbq so I'm not too stressed. Maybe I can skip a week, or get just the essentials, and keep it to $10 this week? We have a pantry in the basement and a stand up freezer so I think I could go at this for awhile
@jennamae102 Ouch on that daycare cost. Remind me, whereabouts are you? I dont have any friends with kids in the area so I have no idea what daycare runs...but Im in the DC area so I imagine a ton. I do have a mother, mother in law and sister that would probably help me out, but not for a full time thing. Im planning on staying home after baby, so hoping it works out that way and I wont need to worry about it.0 -
@Kirstie155 I'm in the Chicago suburbs, so probably similar to the DC burbs I would imagine?! We'll be fine, just have to re balance our spending. We just bought a house last year, so we've spent quite a bit of money this year on new furniture and fixing up some things on the house. We're also planning a small remodel of our master bathroom this year, so lots of these things are one time expenses and we'll be able to get back to more "normal" spending soon. And then any additional money will probably go to baby stuff for the foreseeable future haha!0
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This thread is a gold mine. I guess I never thought about a baby savings account before. Hmmm...I will have to bring that up with Josh. He is really big on savings accounts and planning spending with spreadsheets. Lots to consider. The calculator predicts $5-7k spent on baby year 0-1.
I have a feeling a lot of the baby "stuff" will come to me second hand from friends or via baby shower through the church. A few of my friends hit their baby stride a few years back, but don't have any new ones right now. Childcare is also probably not a problem again, because of these things called Grandparents and our friend support network.
My biggest concern right now is getting the right insurance plan for pregnancy. My current one does not have coverage. The AHCA froze old plans so that they cannot be modified in any way to add a maternity rider. It also put new restrictions on networks. So now, getting a new health plan means losing my doctors and favorite hospital, and traveling a greater distance to reach a hospital with a bad reputation, which also happens to be more expensive. (I live close to a state line, is the problem.) So I have to find all new doctors, as well as a new plan which gives less coverage. Part of me would rather go in debt and put all the prenatal visits and birth center cost on a credit card rather than lose my doctor team of 26 years. But that isn't very wise. I need a long term solution. So, I keep looking up plans and scratching my head over deductible vs. out of pocket vs. copay vs. lab tests, and what is going to give the best coverage of pregnancy costs? It's so confusing.
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@aloith I would count on needing to spend money on daycare if you go back to work. Even if you have friends or family that can help out, Id be really surprised if they did it 40-50 hours a week and didnt charge you. Its a huge commitment, and watching someone elses kid (even their own grandchild) can become a chore. I would plan to put money aside for child care, and if you dont need it...great! But I'd hate to be in the position to expect "free grandma daycare" and have them tell me "Sorry, I can only do 2 days a week, or you have to pick up by 2pm, or I wont take them to my doctors appointment/lunch with friends/other plans."
It is a huuuuge commitment to ask a family member or friend to watch your child, so just trying to offer a different perspective!
ETA: I would also pay them, even if it is only a little bit. If you pay them, its a job. If you dont pay them, its a favor. Things can get sticky if it's a favor.0 -
@VeryKatie It used to be you could set up a Health Savings Plan, for such things. I had one as a teenager, but the federal government regulated them out of existence 8 years ago. But since I have time to prepare and make the insurance switch, I think it'll still be ok, just frustrating.
@Kirstie155 I'm a part owner of my family coffee shop. I'm planning to work part-time after 6 weeks maternity leave. Basically, I can work as little or as much as I want to, and make my own work schedule. I'm really blessed in that way. (I typically work about 50hrs though). Now, as for pay while working less, I will probably be paid less. That's a bridge I'll cross when I get there, since the business changes so much year to year. I've also thought about getting QuickBooks and remote access on my laptop and work accounting and advertising for the business from home. I will just miss making customer's drinks and such. As a boss, I've had several pregnant employees coming or going. We try to be very flexible with scheduling them, because we don't want to lose them and train new people.
But that's a really good idea about paying people. With friends I definitely will....grandparents...I'm afraid if I offer them money, they might hit me. Haha. They'd be so offended. But you're right about favors. Maybe I could sneak them gift certificates to nail salons or restaurants?0 -
@Aloith, I know my parents, MIL and sister wouldnt accept money either, but I would be expected to "return the favor." Like my MIL would want me to run errands, pick up (and pay for) groceries or dinner and with little to no notice. She calls me now at 3 or 4pm and asks me to get her a few things, which adds extra time to my day that I didnt plan. Had she let me knwo before my lunch hour, I could have gone then, or let me know earlier in the week, it would be worked into my schedule. Which is neither good nor bad...it just is. She would be doing me a huge favor (watching my child for 60+ hours a week!) and I wouldnt like losing control of my own time to run unexpected errands. Daycare would cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of $1000-$1500 for a newborn, so offering to pay even half of that would be saving a ton.
All that to say, Im with you on they'd hit you and be offended. Haha, my family wouldnt take my money, but I would not feel right about getting all that care for free. Its great that you can work from home and do part time, so our situations are very different. I currently commute and am gone from the house from 8am-6/6:30pm, 5 days a week. That is significant amount of care to give to old gramma!0 -
@Kirstie155 I feel you on that MIL and sister relationship. It sounds very tiring and requiring a lot of patience. Your schedule sounds intense. Hmm, have you looked into care agencies? The same agencies that run errands for seniors also will run errands for new mothers--even grocery shopping and delivering food to your house. I don't know how much they cost though.
My MIL lives 90 minutes away. She is going to be the biggest challenge though, because she does not respect or understand boundaries, is very dominating, and is easily offended/insecure whenever a boundary is put up. I'm stubbornly independent, so I've been having to strategize and pre-plan every encounter with her so that the hubs and I don't get bulldozed, but without starting a huge war over silly things. It's a learning experience for sure.0 -
@alioth I plan to stay home with baby, so no issues there. My mother and sister are great and I know would help with errands when I needed it.
My point when mentioning my work schedule is that I am away from home for a lot of the day and the number of hours of child care I could need would be pretty overwhelming I think. I live in a high traffic and high commute area.
I'm sorry your mil is a bulldozer. Hopefully you don't have to see her too much.1 -
Our finances are screaming and crying uncle. A broken AC ($900) my broken car window regulator ($500) hubby needed a crown at the dentist ($1500) all paid yesterday. And this was after paying for the hail damage to the roof, the flood, hubbys allergy to peanuts ($??) a broken windshield....I could go on. 2017 has been so hard financially for us!0
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@Kirstie155 Wow! What a lot fixes. I'm sorry you've had to struggle with all those broken things. Hope you get a break for at least a few months after that.
Ok, so, heard back from my insurance agent. She confirmed that health insurance may not pay for ultrasounds or blood screenings, genetic testing, or diagnostic tests which may not be deemed "necessary" and are also not considered preventative care by the company, even if they are routine tests. Ha! I read online, people can be charged anywhere from $200-1500 for a prenatal ultrasound, especially if a picture is taken. Pictures are considered a vanity service. I had no idea! A lot of insurance plans pay for part of the ultrasound if taken at a certain number of weeks though.
I've started squirreling money away in the savings account for this. I'm back to working part time as a volunteer election official to get a little bit of extra cash. I also just paid off one of my education loans. The money I would have put towards that payment, I'm going to put into savings now. I had other plans for it (home/auto repairs) but I've decided I need a cushion more.0 -
@alioth where do you live?that certainly sounds very expensive, most of my medical care will be covered by insurance although I will admit I haven’t considered the cost of things like ultrasounds.
Yes, we are going through a really rough time financially right now. We had a healthy emergency fund which has been completely drained because of all the emergencies we have run into! Our luck has got to change soon or we’re going to be in some dire straits. We need to rebuild the emergency fund back up, which will take several months…and we simply can’t afford to pay for an emergency every other week!
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@Kirstie155 I live in Martinsville, Virginia. It'll probably just be $200-300 here. The $1500 number came from the internets (Howmuchisit.org) from someone in New Jersey. I haven't had an emergency fund, or even a credit card, for at least 8 years. I live paycheck to paycheck, not spending what I don't have and living frugally. Since I've gotten married, it seems that's all changing. Time to adult!
At least the fixed stuff should hold up a while longer. Hopefully, the emergency fund will slowly build back up. It's very good for you that it was there when you needed it. Fingers crossed!
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Yay I got a phone call today that my Employment Insurance application for maternity/parental leave benefits was approved (though I did forget to update the file with Keith's birthday oops). So yay for getting paid for the next year!4
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That's fantastic Katie!0
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Yay! Except nothing showed up in my bank when it should have... hopefully it will on Friday...0
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