Baby Expenses To Date...

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Rumor has it, my baby will not come out as a bag'o'money. Since Baby K won't be paying his/her way, I want to manage expenses the best that I can. So today, I added up everything I have spent so far in relation to the baby. Duh duh duh.


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We still have A LOT that we haven't purchased yet, and of course, have not had a baby shower at this point. So it's hard to anticipate what we will ended up buying before baby arrives (and of course, all of the things after baby arrives when we may end up buying anything/everything out of desperation).

At 25 weeks, we have spent a total of: $2,684.05 on baby and maternity related items. This breaks down to:

Maternity Clothes: $963.01
Nursery (crib, dresser, fabric): $590.72
Baby Clothes: $216.97
Cloth Diapers: $193.00
Healthcare (insurance co-pays, deductible, birth class): $587.83
Breast Pump: $237.99

Things we haven't purchased/paid for yet, but know we will, are:

Crib mattress: $130-ish
Rocker: $500-ish
Doula Services*: $500-$600
Childcare Class: $60
Car Seat (if not gifted to us): $180
Stroller (if not gifted to us): $200-$400
Miscellaneous medical bills: TBD
Breastfeeding Supplies: $100-ish
More cloth diapers/diapering supplies: $150-ish

*We recently started looking into a doula and I really think it's a good idea for us, especially with my interest in having a natural birth, although it wasn't something we were originally budgeted for.

And, of course, anything that isn't gifted to us at our shower but things we will need - stroller, car seat, pack-n-play, etc. I'm assuming, based on what I typically give at showers, we will have onesies coming out of our ears. No need to worry about Baby K being adequately clothed.

I'm also (apparently) adequately clothed at this point in time, judging from the biggest line item thus far being maternity clothes. Ugh. It's just so difficult going into your closet and not finding a thing to wear. And even $963 dollars later, I only have 2 pairs of maternity jeans, 3 pairs of work pants, a few work dresses, and a handful of long sleeved t-shirts, sweaters, and tank tops. I definitely feel like I have enough to get by until the end of April, but I've also found that it's such a learning curve knowing what you will want to wear as you expand. I blog post of maternity clothes is definitely forthcoming!

Maybe keeping a spreadsheet of baby-related purchases is slightly neurotic, but it definitely keeps me in check on my spending and knowing that every little thing adds up. And that what I've spent on baby clothes equals or exceeds the price of a big ticket item (mattress, breast pump, car seat, etc).

My hope is that tracking of expenses keeps my impulse buying at a minimum...

1 comment:

Terese said...

i'm scared to add up all my baby expenses! the way i think about it is that a lot of these are one-time costs that can be spread across future children. at least that's how i've justified my stroller purchases :)

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