Baby Budgeting Tips

Bringing a baby into the world brings many responsibilities, one of which is the management of your finances. A baby and child will create many changes to your income and expenditures. By getting your finances in order early you can look forward to a bright future through parenthood where finances aren't a cause of stress or worry.

Consolidate & reduce existing debts - It's easy to accrue debts on credit cards, store cards and personal loans. Why not consolidate your existing debts into one place to reduce your monthly interest payments. You can consolidate debt from credit cards using a balance transfer offer such as 0% on balance transfers for 6 months. During these 6 months you should focus on reducing the debt as much as possible.

Make extra home loan repayments - If you have a home loan and are both currently employed you should use your dual incomes to make as many extra repayments on your home loan as you can manage before dropping to one income. Make sure your home loan has a free redraw facility so that you can pull any extra repayments back out at a later date should you need it. Even if you pull most of the money back out after you have the baby you will still of reduced your interest payments in the meantime and further reduced the principle balance.

Check your Health Insurance cover - Having a baby can rack up some big healthcare bills especially is there are any complications. If you don't have private health cover you should consider taking it out in advance of getting pregnant as many funds have a 12 month wait before they pay out for maternity expenses. If you already have health cover, check the policy and ensure maternity cover is included. If not, you may need to upgrade or shop around for another policy.

Protect your income - While an additional expense, it is seriously worth considering income and life insurance should the worse happen. The upbringing of a child create a large financial repsonsibility. You need to be confident that your home loan could be paid off and essential costs such as education and living costs covered in the event that an income is lost or something happens to one of you.

Save for your future - Think about saving for education and other future costs by starting a high interest savings account. Online only savings accounts often have higher interest rates and lower fees than tradtional banks. If you looking for bigger returns with a long term investment then you could look into managed funds or shares.

Think ahead - is your retirement plan working for you - Make sure you have your entire retirement plan in one place to avoid paying multiple account fees. Look for retirement plans with low fees and strong performance results. The thought of your children growing up may seem a long way ahead but you need to get your money working for you now to ensure a good financial position for yourself when they eventually flee the nest.

Try out living on just one income - It can be a shock moving from a dual income household to a single income household when you have a baby. To make things easier why not try and live off one income for a while before the baby is born. The other income can be put towards extra home loan repayments or reducing debt as suggested in the other tips.

Don't spend money when you don't have to - The great thing about having a baby is that friends and family are keen to help out. If you've have friends who have had babies before you why not see if they have toys, clothes or equipment that they don't need anymore. Ebay, online classifieds and your local newspaper are also excellent places to find baby goods second hand. To save money of expensive toys that your baby will soon grow bored of you can use local toy libraries for a small cost.

Babies can save you money as well! - While there may be no shortage of costs around bringing up a child, you'll probably notice you spend less money on entertainment such as going out to restaurants and bars, especially in the first years after having a child. They will provide you with plenty of 'entertainment' and keep you occupied day and night.

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About Richard Greenwood

Baby Budget Tips by Richard Greenwood, the Director of Australian finance and credit card comparison website http://www.click4credit.com.au. The site features expert articles on a wide range of financial topics including budgeting and saving.


And here is another random article you might be interested in...

9 Warning Signs of Stress

Stress is the nastiest 4 letter word you ever met. Don't stress, I know it is six letters but it packs the wallop of the meanest 4 letter word you ever heard.

Stress can affect your health and keep you from being all you can be to borrow a phrase recently made popular by the U.S. Army.

Psychologists, scientists and those who study this particular beast say its origins may be physical, financial, environmental, social or emotional. I say that covers everything in which we as humans engage so to bypass a long discourse, let's just say stress is all around us and manifests itself through one or more of the aforementioned categories.

Given this is true, there must exist commonalities that are recognizable so, if we choose, we can deal with it regardless of its particular origin. Of course, the medical types may disagree and say its source must be known before treatment.

I don't know about you, but just sitting in a waiting room stresses me out. Therefore, I'd rather have general recognition parameters so I can at least sound intelligent should I have to transmit my self diagnosis to my doctor.

This way, we both have something we possibly recognize and may be can come to the same conclusion about it. Then, we can discuss treatment.

If you think this way, the following 9 warning signs will be what the doctor ordered, pun intended.

  1. Anger at parents, siblings, friends. Comes on suddenly with no apparent real cause.
  2. You feel overwhelmed at what use to be routine and want to withdraw to get away from it all.
  3. Anxiety and/or constant worry are your new companions.
  4. Depression and a lack of pleasure not only in what you used to enjoy but in everything.
  5. Exhaustion accompanied by sleeplessness where you were at least half way energetic and enjoyed a tumble with the pillow.
  6. If you have chronic conditions, they seem to be worsening yet your activity level hasn't changed.
  7. You are irritable at the drop of a hat. Anyone, anytime can trigger your irritation.
  8. You no longer have the ability to concentrate. Your are disorganized and devil may care about it.
  9. You let your appearance and/or your environment (home, work area, etc.) go to the dogs.

I know these are mostly general in nature, but think about it for a moment. Most of us non stressed homo sapiens don't get angry or irritated at the least little thing, we get an almost good night's sleep with regularity, our tasks/job doesn't overwhelm us and we love what we love and we continue to do them.

I present this list because as a former caregiver, I noticed it happening to care receivers and some caregivers. If 4 or more of these conditions apply, it is time to have a talk with someone. It is time to stop and smell the coffee/roses/catnip or whatever you like to smell.

It is your life and your health. As long as you have the power to control them, why wouldn't you?

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About Tom Koziol

Tom Koziol is the Secretary for a nonprofit giving away a free caregiver manual at: http://www.senior2senior.org. The manual was written as a blueprint for everyone whether they are currently a caregiver or not.

deadrun@jps.net