Updated: You really need to read the comments below. And for those of you that had emailed me replies but I didn't save the email to post here, please leave those comments below too! (You can do it anonymously if you want.) There is some GREAT info in there for you. :)
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So, as we expected, R&I have had to change our spending habits this year with me on a leave of absence from work. We knew our budget would change but we've always had a 'budget' so I wasn't worried about it one bit.
But.
You see, our old idea of a budget was to say how much we were going to spend on certain things a month.... but.... if there was something I 'needed' (or could convince R that I needed), we would transfer money from savings to checking and we'd get it. This didn't happen a lot. But it did happen.
Most of the time we would do really (okay, relatively) well on not spending money. We don't buy expensive things. We don't buy too many wants. We aren't name brand snobs. We hardly ever (I mean, really) shop. And R is in charge of the groceries so we spend a lot less there than we used to.
So. When this year came around and we were going to get serious about the budget, I knew I could do it.
Until I needed something but really couldn't afford it this time. It was kind of a shock to me that we actually couldn't afford for me to get it. And that's when I realized this budget really is a budget. And I pulled an R and got just a little bit nervous about the money situation.
Okay.... This is where you come in. I need your help!
How much did your budget change after baby?
What do you think a reasonable baby budget is for a month?
What did the baby budget money go towards? (How much for diapers, etc. We hope we wont be buying formula, but just in case- give me those numbers too!)
What are some costs that you did not anticipate that ended up being added to the budget?
And because this is the biggest thing looming over us right now..... how much did you spend before baby even arrived? We just realized with 10 weeks (we hope!) to go that we may need to start getting serious about buying some things. Yikes!
Thanks, friends!
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