First of all, congratulations on becoming a parent. Having a baby is one of the most beautiful moments in life. Know that you ought to be lucky to have a child when creating humans was supposed to only be God’s ability. Isn’t that great?
Now on to more pressing matters.
While I know no one is ever really ready for parenthood, do you at least know how to budget your money now that you will have a kid? Because it’s going to be really hard if you don’t even realise it.
Create a budget for the arrival of your baby
No more reckless spending and wasting money on bad habits. It’s time to create a budget that evolves around not just you, but your child. Especially your child. Priority really takes place here and you need to make sure that it is revolved around the safety, care and future of your kid.
Start now if you’ll need child care
You may need to start thinking about this if you and your spouse are both employed and have paying jobs. There are good facilities that actually offer waiting lists where you could explore options at your leisure. Might as well go into that while it’s still early so you won’t have to worry about it later when you’re busy looking after the baby.
Settle all debts and build an emergency fund
This goes without saying. You can’t raise a kid and feed your family if you still have debts. It will be extremely hard to do all those things at the same time. You should settle all the debt you have before anything else happens. In case you might have to borrow money again in the future, it’s better if you have none left before you do that. After that, save for an emergency fund in the event that bad things happen to you and your family. Bad things like disasters, accidents and so on. They are very unpredictable, after all.
Make your Will
Now that you have an heir, so to speak, make your will and appoint a future guardian in the event that you disappear. The money you have accumulated should also be stated there and to whom it would belong to, like the savings and finance for the baby. It is very emotionally but it’s very important to do so, just like how important it is to build an emergency fund (even though you wouldn’t like it if there really WAS an emergency).
Buy baby gear early on
You probably would not have the time and energy to go out to BUY baby gear while the baby is there with you. Parenting is very hard but worthwhile, my friend. Make sure that you have everything you need to raise your kid and shop for the gear you will need for the kid’s care and health. This would include strollers, diapers, bottle and so much more. Also, it saves time and money if you do it now than later.
