DP and I had a big discussion about the amount of time I wanted to take off, the standard of living we wanted during that time (and in the future) and the things we wanted for our future baby/s. We worked out that we would need about $10,000 of savings in the bank, and rent would need to be capped at a certain amount, allowing for it to rise to a certain amount over the next few years. We took into account EVERYTHING and then drew up a budget accordingly.
At the end of the day, we just want a baby and will make the sacrifices necessary for that to happen. You have to weigh up what's important. We are in the pre-TTC stage as well, so you and I are in the same boat!
Hi Aimz! Nice to meet someone that's in a similar situation! :-) Congrats on being able to write up a budget! I'm a little scared of doing such, myself! I've never been good with numbers (hence why I'll need to do it WITH DH as he is very good with numbers!). You're right about sacrifices, though. I think the both of us also need to sit down and talk about this as well, as there will obviously need to be some sacrifices made. I guess it's hard knowing where to start!
We started by looking at our existing budget - simply a table which has our combined income at the top per month, and then a list below of all of our monthly expenses - rent, credit cards, bills, food, phones, gym memberships, health and general insurance etc. This gives you an idea of how much is coming in and what fixed expenses are going out. Whatever is left over I like to call "mad money" or money that we can do whatever we like with. We are saving most of it now, but have also allowed for a holiday to New York next year before we start TTC.
If you do up a basic budget of your income and expenses, you'll have a clear idea of what you have to work with for baby.
We then used the above budget and forecasted for the next 3 years - allowing for standard increases in our expenses, but also in DP's wage. That's how we worked out how much savings we would need to continue living as we are (with a few small sacrifices) and start our family
I'm happy to email you my budget if you like, just send me a PM
Jellyfish: Yeah, that's what I thought! It sounds like babies can be relatively cheap, but as they get older, well... I'm not too sure what we'd end up doing!
BeautifulMadness: Wow, third?! Congrats! At least you're managing!
Aimz: That would be great, if you don't mind? Except for some reason I don't think I can send PMs. I seem to have limited capabilities on the forums... not too sure why? Could be because I'm new?
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