Seperate bank account for baby arrival???

[Amy_jellybean]

Hi girls,

I just wondered whether any of you started a seperate bank account when you found out you were pregnant with bubs?

My husband and I are TTC#1 and when we do eventually have a baby i am going to have to go back to work at about 3 months so we have the second income.

DH and I plan on putting $200 a week into a savings account when I find out im UTD and fingers crossed ill be able to stay off work for a bit longer. He earns a pretty good wage but we have a lot of outgoings. We live a rather good life and could definatley tighten the belt. eg. Cut out the fortnightly massages and have one a month etc. We average about $350 a fortnight on groceries and I know we can get that down a bit. We have just bought a new 4WD, I have a hatchback as well which DH will drive to work and I still have a loan on that and we will get rid of DH's old excel (a few grand to go into the baby account)

Just wondering if anyone else has done this and if it worked?

[Oorki Galoorki]

i would start doing it now..save then you will be able to have a longer time off with baby.

but no i didnt have an account for when baby arrived. i wish i had!
i wish i had learnt how to be "tight" when i had money

[Nai]

I set up an ING account with both girls and saved from when we started TTC - this enabled me to take 12 months off with both girls as the money saved covered our mortgage for that time. Basically my entire salary went into the mortgage and savings so from the time we started TTC we were living on DPs wage. That way once the baby arrived there was no difference to us.

I would highly recommend doing it.

[Floweryfields]

Alot of the financial wizards on Oprah etc, say that when you wanting to get pregnant, you should live off one income and save the other as practice for while you aren't working.

[Oscar&Grouch]

amy_jellybean- me and my DP did exactly that
before i met my DP my sister and me lived in a unit owned by my parents...
then meeting dp and eventually falling pregnant we then decided he should move in.
where he was living was totally out of the question for me to move in and enter a baby (he lived with 2mates) so he moved in and we have put what he would of spent on rent which was $220 a week in a bank account. it adds up and quick! so i think you should go for it... it will mean you have a little more time with your precious one.

think about $220x 40 weeks plus he is on a nice wage.
good luckkk xo

[Kailani]

Yes we opened an account as soon as we found out I was pregnant. It was so helpful for extra money we needed for things that just came up, i.e. I bought a breast pump that cost $500 when DS was only a month or so old. Highly recommend it. However there's nothing left in it now lol and DS has his own account!

[Amy_jellybean]

Hi girls,

Thanks for the replies....good to see that it has worked for some!!!

DH and I spoke about it last night and we are going to see if we can get an account with Westpac that will let us put money in but not take it out unless we go into a branch.....ie not connected to our internet banking.

We worked out that if we can put $200 a week away for the next 40 weeks (because of course im going to fall pregnant this cycle! ) then we will have $8000 for when the baby is born....woo hoo!!!

[Floweryfields]

I have an account which is a christmas club, but can be used for just saving. The benefit of it is that you cannot withdraw until the 1st December each year up till 31st Jan - if you withdraw earlier than that, it will close the account.

[Oscar&Grouch]

yay! good luck xxxx