With a new baby on the way, you likely have all sorts of worries and concerns. You want to provide the right environment for your child and you want to ensure they have everything necessary to be happy and healthy. One of the biggest worries for expectant parents is money.
Let’s face it, babies are expensive. A study found that in a single year, parents can spend more than $17,000 on a single child annually. With a new bundle of joy on the way, your financial decisions are more important than ever. So how can you manage your debt with a growing family? With proper planning, you can continue to pay off debt while providing the best care for your new baby.
Keep reading to learn tips and tricks to manage debt with a new baby on board.
Change Your Spending Habits
One of the first and sometimes hardest things to do in order to manage debt with a growing family is to change your spending habits. In order to save money and become more financially responsible, the nights of eating out or hitting up the town every weekend may need to wind down, at least for a little while.
Welcoming a child doesn’t mean that you can’t eat out ever again or enjoy your favorite concert venue, but you’ll need to partake in these activities a little less often, or find ways to cut the costs. By making and eating meals at home and finding joy in less expensive local activities, you’ll quickly find that you have more money available each month. This money can then be put into a savings account or spent on must-have baby items.
Create a Budget
Changing your spending habits is a good way to increase your available income, but it’s also important to take the time to sit down and create a budget. Write down all of your household income and then write down bills and debt payments that must be made. Subtract your debt from your income to determine how much you can expect to have leftover each month.
Using this dollar amount, you can determine how much money you have to purchase baby items, make necessary home upgrades, or to set aside in a trust or college fund for your child.
Creating a budget can be tedious, but you can make the process a lot less cumbersome by using a mobile app. There are all sorts of apps dedicated to making budgeting easier. Top options include:
- Acorn
- Mint
- You Need a Budget
- CountAbout
- PocketGuard
- Wally
No matter if you prefer the old-fashion pen and paper budget or use a mobile app, what’s important is that you have a clear picture of your finances each month.
Pay Off Debt Before the Baby Arrives
If after budgeting you find that you have money left over, you can put some of these funds towards a credit card or loan. Make a plan to Get Out of Debt by figuring out how you can pay down or completely pay off your debt before your baby arrives can ease a lot of financial stress and burden.
Depending on your financial situation, it may make sense to pay off the smallest loan first. Or, you may want to throw more money at a high-interest rate credit card.
By paying off debt before your baby is born, you have one less thing to worry about financially. Minimizing or eliminating debt also frees up your income so that you have more cash available to you once your baby arrives.
Shop Around for Discounts & Coupons
To make your money go further, there’s no shame in shopping around for discounts and coupons on must-have baby items. These days you can price compare baby items at various stores to find the cheapest price. Saving a few dollars here and there can add up to hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars saved! There are all sorts of price comparison websites such as Google Shopping, Price Grabber, and NexTag.
Another option to save money on baby items is to use coupons. Just as you’ll find coupons for baby food and other grocery store products, you’ll also find savings on strollers, clothing, diapers, and much more.
Before shopping online or in-store, do a quick search online to see if there are any coupons. You’ll find savings on certain items as well as percentage discounts, such as a friends and family promotion. Check top websites like Coupons.com and RetailMeNot before making a purchase.
Conclusion
Managing debt with a growing family is possible! Before your newest bundle of joy arrives, use these tips to save money and to pay off debt.