Oops!!

I drove 40 minutes to my HALF-DAY job today and they told me I was early....a day early. Oops!! Darn, that was a waste of time. I ended up dropping some things off at the Salvation Army and storage so it did end up being a productive afternoon afterall, minus the 80 minutes of useless driving!

How to Save for a Baby (Guest Post)

*Todays post is not written by me but by a special guest writer, Fred. He is providing us with his ideas on how to prepare for a new baby.*

Saving for a New Baby

You may do all the preparation in the world for the arrival of a new baby, but when the big day arrives there are still going to be things you have to learn on the go. However, one of the things which can be easier to plan and manage with the arrival of a new baby is the money, if you take the time to be organised, make budgets and stick to your plans.

Why You Need to Plan to Save for Your New Baby

The expenses for a new baby will begin long before the baby is born and will continue right up until they start college or move out of home. That is why you need to be prepared with a realistic idea of how much a new baby will cost, and how you are going to pay all these costs.

Costs of a new baby:

• Health insurance for you and the baby. Having health insurance when you are planning a family will give you pace of mind and will help cover the costs of a lot of expenses associated with a new baby, and with raising a child. However, some health insurance policies will only cover mother and baby expenses if you have been with the health fund for a certain period before you got pregnant and this period can be as much as a year. Therefore, you need to make sure you can afford your health insurance premiums now, during pregnancy and throughout your child’s life.
• Reduced income. Whether you or your partner plan to return to work after the baby is born, there is still going to be a period of time where one of you will have to stop working to look after the baby until it is old enough to go to childcare. Then if you do plan to be a stay at home parent, you need to know whether you can afford this option, or whether you would earn enough returning to work to cover childcare expenses and the normal family bills.
• Baby needs. In preparation for your new born you will need new furniture for their room, clothes, toys, prams, car seats, baby baths, bottles, not to mention all of the disposable items like baby powder, milk, nappies, and the list goes on. As your child grows you will need to spend a bit of money baby proofing your home to buy safety covers for your power points and baby gates for your stairwells. Then of course as the child grows you will still need to clothe him or her, send them to school then to university, college or help them get started in their own place.

How to Save for a New Baby

Saving for a new baby can be much like saving for any other goal in your life, and a great place to start is with a high interest savings account, and regular deposits. However, it can help to know whether you are entitled to any extra payments from your employer to boost those savings, and to find out how to make the savings you do make, go further.

Ways to save for a new baby:

• Know how much you need. This is where you can start deciding how you intend to live after you have your baby. Whether one parent decides to stay home with the baby, or whether both parents will return to work will affect the amount of money you need to save before the baby arrives. If one parent plans to stay home with the baby, start living off of one income as soon as possible – this will help you get an idea of whether you can afford to live on one income, plus by spending just one income, you can transfer all of the second income to your high interest savings account. Also find out whether you will be entitled to any parental or maternity leave and whether this leave is paid; you may also be able to have your long service leave paid out as a wage while you stay at home looking after the baby and this regular income will mean you need to draw less on your savings.
• Make a budget. Once you have made some of the decisions from the point above, you can start to make a post-baby budget to see just how much you will need to draw on your savings to supplement the family income. This means you need to include all of your regular expenses, plus ongoing baby expenses like nappies, doctor’s appointments and clothing. To help with this budget consult someone you know who is already a parent for their advice on expenses, or read up on a baby book to help with baby budgeting. Making a pre-baby budget, or reviewing your current budget can also help you see where you can cut back on your spending to direct even more funds to your high interest savings account.
• Make a list of the things you need to buy. If you know exactly what you need – finding this out from friends and family members with babies – you’ll be able to save money when you do your baby shopping and you won’t feel pressured by the staff at the baby stores who will want to convince you that you need every single product that they stock. As well as not spending money on things you don’t need you can also use your list as a baby registry so the gifts you get for your baby shower will fill out your list, and when the baby arrives you may only need to dip into your savings account for a few items.
• Start your savings plan. Transferring just a little money each week to a high interest savings account when you start planning for a baby will give you a head start on your baby expenses. If you make the transfer automatic each pay day you won’t even notice the money being moved, and if you plan to life off of one income and transfer your entire wage each week you will soon see impressive increases in your interest earning too. Making regular deposits to a savings account also gets you into a good habit to be able to save for your baby’s future too, to cover expenses such as their education which can really add up down the track if you’re not prepared.
• Transfer your savings to a term deposit. Building up your savings account balance is great, but you can get even better returns on your baby savings by transferring your balance to a term deposit. Term deposit accounts offer the best interest rates and returns on larger investments, secured for the longest term, so transfer some or all of your savings account balance to a term deposit when it is large enough and watch it grow even more.

Raising a child can be hard work, but saving for their arrival doesn’t have to be. Just take a little time to make some financial preparations and think about the way you plan to live after your baby arrives and you will be able to find a savings plan and strategy which suits you, and covers all your baby expenses.

Fred writes for Credit Card Finder, where he helps people compare and choose the best no annual fee credit card.

Little by little...

Debt: I added $300 to my family loan. I'm now at 50% woohoo!

Savings: I added $100 to Travel Fund, $250 to TFSA (planned spending/EF), and $60 to Christmas/Gifts.

I want to try to up the amount I give to Travel and Gifts next month (depending on how much work I get this month). This is because I want to be able to give about $500 to BF's family to help contribute, and about $150 or so in spending money. But I only have 4 months left to do it. *Moved the progress goal to $500 instead of $300 since we are going on a bigger trip than previously expected*

I want to also up the Gift savings account because I have a wedding to go to the day after we get back and would like to make a gift basket or something to say thank you to BFs family for taking me on vacation, all will be in July. I also will have no income coming in for July ahh!

Now to update those progress bars, yay!

I'm Moving Out!!!

In my last post I mentioned that I decided to move in with BF for the rest of the summer after we get back from Holland. This is very exciting yet a bit scary for me.

I always thought that I would not move in with my partner until after marriage. But I guess this is kind of like a trial marriage for us, plus I think it makes the most sense. We have been together for over 6 years as well.

I want to eventually work where he lives, to be closer, since it is easier for me to move my work because he will be established and working full-time very soon.

We are already going to Holland together for 3 weeks, so as a teacher that takes up almost half of my summer off. Where am I going to work for the month of August? So we talked about it and decided that I could live with him for that month. I would apply to places in his city to work for that month and hopefully work at least part-time for the month while he is working full-time at his new job.

ALSO, this works out because I thought about it, and staying until at least mid-September would also work out very well for us. I do not start getting supply calls until closer to the end of September, so if I stuck around with him until I started receiving calls I would have an opportunity to volunteer in the schools in his area to hopefully gain some experience and get noticed to better my chances of getting an interview with the school boards in his area.

There is an apartment available above the clinic he will be working at. His mom owns the clinic and apartment, so hopefully a good deal on rent could be negotiated, especially if BF does some work around the clinic, shovelling snow, clean up, repairs, etc.

Nothing is set in stone yet, all just things that could happen. But the apartment is very nice. He is having this meeting that will negotiate rent, salary, benefits, etc in March. I am already getting anxious for this meeting, as I want to know the numbers now. You know how we PFers are. But right now I am very excited, we have already looked at furniture!!

Why I've Been MIA

I had an excellent weekend. I dropped my parents off at their hotel on Wednesday and then continued to BF's house.

The highlights are that on Thursday we went to a concert and got a meet and greet with Deric Ruttan!! I was super excited, but unfortunately we both forgot our cameras, it's okay though because I got a signed CD.

Friday we spent the day together, and BF has been planning a party for this night for about a month. He picked up some supplies. Fun party, I met all his friends from his program, and some of my friends even came.

Saturday I bought some thread to crochet more with, still learning. That evening we went to see a musical. It was called The Last Five Years. It was really well done although a sad ending. Later that night we went to his friend's house who were celebrating a birthday.

Sunday we visited where he will be working when he finishes school and looked at the apartment he will be moving into after we get back from Holland. It is still a work in progress and people are fixing it up a bit more, some painting and cleaning, but it looks REALLY nice, also I've decided I will move in with him for the remainder of the summer. Eeeeee!!! More on that soon.

Total cost for the 4 days was about $50 with gas and yarn expenses. He took me out a lot, sometimes I get spoiled, he really is too nice.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Willie saw his shadow in this area so for us that means another 6 weeks of winter. Did he see his shadow in your area?

This weekend I had a great time with friends. We did a lot of pretty inexpensive activities and we all had a great time :) Friday we just hung out discussing life and teaching, and playing a bit of rockband.

Saturday we made breakfast together and then went snow tubing. It was $16 for two hours. They decided then that they also wanted me to teach them how to sew so we went to Fabricland and got some material. We then came back and played some wii fit plus and they cut out the pillows that they wanted to sew.

On Sunday we made another big breakfast together and then played some wii fit plus. It was fun having some competition. Then I taught them how to sew and they made pillows. They turned out pretty well and they enjoyed making them. They are quick learners.

In total, I spent about $60 on groceries and a tubing pass. Overall I think it was pretty good. Always nice to catch up with friends.

Also this week I worked a half day yesterday and a half day today. It is annoying when I get a call when I'm WORKING for another job. I turn my phone on silent when I am teaching, and soo many times when I have a half day I receive a call for the afternoon when I am teaching.

I am working tomorrow at the rec centre and then driving my parents to the airport for their vacation and then continuing on to BF's house for a long weekend. Yay!

How Much Do You Spend on Wedding Gifts??

One of my good friend's is getting married this summer, the day after we get back from Holland (please no delays!!!). So I have a lot to save up for. This friend was my university roommate for 4 years. We meet up about 3 times a year for a weekend. We send birthday and Christmas gifts, and send e-mails every couple of weeks.
 
I am not in her wedding but I am pretty sure I am doing a reading at the church service. I don't know how much to budget for this exactly. I have not been to very many weddings, I've only been to one friend's wedding in my life, the rest have been for family (and then I usually go in on a gift with my parents).
 
They have just purchased a home but are renovating it and will be moving in together after the wedding. They will be doing a registry which helps to know what to get them exactly.
 
How much do you spend on a wedding gift? Do you always buy things on the registry?