Baby Budget Tips

Baby Budget Plan - Get your finances in order for parenthood

Having a baby is a big financial responsibility and will bring many changes to your income and outgoings.  It's important to get your finances in order and plan for a bright financial future throughout parenthood.

Consolidate & reduce existing debts - It's easy to accrue debts on credit cards, store cards and personal loans.  Why not consolidate your existing debts into one place to reduce your monthly interest payments.  You can consolidate debt from credit cards using a balance transfer offer such as 0% on balance transfers for 6 months.  During these 6 months you should focus on reducing the debt as much as possible.

Make extra repayments on your mortgage - If you have a mortgage and are both currently working you should use your dual incomes to make as many extra repayments on your mortgage as possible before you go down to a single income.  Make sure your home loan has a free redraw facility so that you can pull any extra repayments back out at a later date should you need it.  Even if you pull most of the money back out after you have the baby you will still of reduced your interest payments in the meantime and further reduced the principle balance.

Check your Health Insurance cover - Having a baby can rack up some big healthcare bills especially is there are any complications.  If you don't have private health cover you should consider taking it out in advance of getting pregnant as many funds have a 12 month wait before they pay out for maternity expenses.  If you already have health cover, check the policy and ensure maternity cover is included.  If not, you may need to upgrade or shop around for another policy.

Protect your income - While an additional expense, it is seriously worth considering income and life insurance should the worse happen.  A child is a big responsibility and you need to know that your mortgage could be paid off or educational and living costs could be covered should an income be lost or something happen to one of you.

Save for the future – Consider opening a savings account with a good interest rate to save for future costs such as education.  Following the spell of recent Australian interest rate rises many banks are offering interest of 6% or over on savings accounts.  If you looking for bigger returns with a long term investment then you could look into managed funds or shares.

Think ahead - is your Super working for you - Make sure you have your entire super in one place to avoid paying multiple account fees. Look for super funds with low fees and strong performance results.  It may seem like a long way ahead but you need to ensure your money is working for you for when your little ones are all grown up.

Practice living on a single income - Moving from a double income to single income household when you have a baby can be tough.  To make things easier why not try and live off one income for a while before the baby is born.  The other income can be put towards extra home loan repayments or reducing debt as suggested in the other tips.

Don't spend money when you don't have to - The great thing about having a baby is that friends and family are keen to help out.  If you've have friends who have had babies before you why not see if they have toys, clothes or equipment that they don't need anymore. Classifieds ads in your local paper and Ebay are also great sources for second hand baby goods. You can also use toy libraries for a small fee which saves on expensive toys that your baby will soon tire of.

Having a baby can save you money too! - While there are plenty of costs associated with bringing up a child, you're bound to find the money you spend on going out for meals, drinks and entertainment drops right down after having a baby.  They will provide you with plenty of 'entertainment' and keep you occupied day and night.

More parenting tips: For a whole range of information relating to parenting visit www.essentialbaby.com.au – and benefit from the experience of 100,000+ parents at your fingertips.  Essential Baby is Australia’s largest parenting and family site providing information and resources for conception, pregnancy, birth, parenting and beyond.  Also contains one of Australia’s largest women’s forums – Between 5-800 online in daily peak periods.

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