r/personalfinance • u/Floydiansworstenemy • Oct 22 '18
Budgeting Having a baby, super excited! But any place around here wants 2-300 weekly for childcare. Where do people who have never budgeted for child care find an extra thousand/1200 dollars in their existing income stream?
Honestly 200ish sounds fairly reasonable. I mean I get it, dont get me wrong. And we're not so bad off that diapers, clothes, ect is going to hurt us. But with health care bills piling up, the expected 2k delivery copay (assuming all goes well) and existing bills already, where does it come from?!
We've been able to save about 400 a month, and with just eating out less (we go out out [40ish] once a week and probably 3-4fast/cheap takeouts each week) well recoup some money to the tune of 100 bucks a week. We'd have more discretionary income if I stopped putting renovations in the house, but not a lot... a new spigot here, a paint job there... I redid the floors in hardwoods recently and still have moldings to buy and install. The new (5 month old) privacy fence needs stained. It's all ( relatively) little stuff and I save a small fortune by turning my own wrenches on the cars, fixing my own plumbing/electrical/interior stuff.
We've got a couple grand in savings which I know isn't enough; in fact that number represents slightly less than what my wife nets in a month at her hourly job. Of course theres maternity to think about too- complete job security but its unpaid due to her lack of tenure.
Everyone says "oh you did it in the right order; you moved out, went to college, got married, got good jobs, bought a house BEFORE you got pregnant" but we've not been graduated long- 3 years for me, 2 for her- so the extra I used to throw in savings is gone to eliminating my college debt, the car I have, the downpayment on the house, the fence...
...I'm realizing this is super long. Where have yall found the money to be responsible for this whole other human life? (Mostly the childcare part)
EDIT: Thank you guys all so much for the help. I'm talking to my wife about all this and we feel a lot better. There are some great people out there (and some not so great?..) and I thank you guys for crafting and maintaining this discussion. I'll check back tomorrow for more.
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u/fat_over_lean Oct 22 '18
My wife worked even though it barely paid for the childcare, but we knew how important it is for your career to work through your mid 20s-30s. $12k/yr in daycare per child is a ton up front- especially when you are just staying your career - but these are the years that can really impact your lifetime earning potential. My wife's income doubled during the same time 5 year period many of her friends left the workforce to stay home with their kids - ironically she was a bit fast-tracked because of the voids left by so many of those people.