new resources on YM: baby budgets
When I was a young single mom-to-be, I planned ahead for the days of caring for my little one. I was lucky to find an apartment in a good neighbourhood that was not too terribly expensive and still clean and safe. From there, it was a matter of sticking to the basics as well as making use of lots and lots of hand-me-downs, food cupboard supplies, and second-hand-store purchases. I created regular budgets to keep track of my spending.
I’m surprised it’s taken until now to realize how useful sharing these budgets on the Young Mommies site would be, but better late than never! One thing I hear often from young women who are just finding out they are pregnant is “How much will this baby cost exactly?“.
I realize the cost of living has changed since 1998! but a lot of the general estimates are still roughly the same. Especially with baby gear – you can always spend as much as you want on that stuff and there are options ranging from “free” to “$500″ for almost each thing, whether it’s a crib or dresser or travel system, etc.
So what I did was update and transfer over 2 of my old budgets…
One from when I was a young single mom of a new baby, and one from when I was a young single mom and full-time student. Both budgets can be found on this page, which also includes a little box with rough estimates on the cost of baby gear. If anyone finds that my calculations are off or out-of-date, please feel free to send me your own budget or baby gear shopping research so that I can update the budgets and/or add different ones!
There are 3 copies of a blank budget that anyone can download (for free!) and fill in as they’d like before printing it out. Two of the versions (Excel and Open Office) have spreadsheets that automatically calculate your yearly amounts based on your month amounts entered in and it will calculate how much you are over budget if your income is less than your expenses. The other version (.pdf) can be filled in (either on the computer or by hand if printed first) but the calculations aren’t active.
I hope there’s at least one young mom or two (or more!) out there who will find the info and freebies helpful… and really it’s not just for young mothers, any mom can benefit from having a good budget plan!
July 12 2010 08:15 am | contests & freebies and work/career
