Post-baby budget is a nightmare

Dec 23·1 min read

I thought we planned for this. We had savings. But we didn't account for:

Copays for all the appointments
Diapers/formula being more expensive than we budgeted
My wife working part-time now so we lost her income
Childcare costs ramping up
Having to replace literally everything we outgrow

We're 4 months in and our savings is down 30%. I'm trying not to panic but has anyone figured out the actual costs or are we just slowly bleeding money for the next 18 years?

5 comments485 views

Comments(5)

RRob K.RegularDec 24

Dude copays and formula are INSANE. We went through $400/month in formula alone. The budgeting advice people give about kids is all out of date - everything costs way more than estimates

SSean A.RegularDec 25

Did you account for all the stuff you don't think you need but suddenly do? Like a good humidifier, blackout curtains, white noise machine... that's another $200+ easy

GGreg W.RegularDec 25

This is exactly why I kept working full time. I know not everyone can but if your wife wants to go back to full time eventually, that's when the budget actually starts making sense

DDale J.RegularDec 26

The part-time work thing is brutal. That's basically a pay cut that nobody warns you about. Have you looked into any childcare subsidies or dependent care FSA? Might recoup some of it

TTyler H.RegularDec 24

The diapers thing - have you tried Costco or Amazon subscribe & save? We cut our diaper cost almost in half. Still adds up but at least it's not soul-crushing