When you start a family it is not just another mouth to feed. It may be that mother decides to give up work so there is suddenly only a single pay check coming in each month. That in itself means a lifestyle change before you give any consideration to the extra time you will have to devote to the baby and the house. There is even the cost of baby-sitters unless you always have willing parents yourself. Often you may live far away from relations anyway. It will be a while before mother wants to go back to work, perhaps when baby is old enough to go to a pre-school nursery?
You will have a few months to make your plans before baby arrives and ensuring your finances are in order will certainly be part of those plans. Hopefully you have not overextended yourselves after getting married. If you were planning on children you certainly should not have been spending all of your joint incomes each month knowing that you will not always have that much coming in by the month.
Debts to Pay
You may still have part of your student loans to repay and often credit card balances can be built up without realizing. They should certainly be paid off because they incur a high level of interest. You can get an affordable personal loan to pay off credit card balances as long as you can demonstrate you can make the required instalment payments for the whole term of the loan. While your current joint income may well justify the loan you must think about its affordability once you only have a single pay check per month. Affordability is the key. Traditional lenders tend to rely on your credit score which is calculated using entries in your history up to seven years old. If you have had problems the online just right lenders may well be a better option because they want proof of income and your ability to repay your loan in full rather than what has happened to you in the past.
Budget and Money Management
All this highlights the necessity of a budget that includes income and all expenditure to identify your current starting point which hopefully shows a surplus because the extra expense of a baby is only one financial aspect for you to consider. With the added responsibility of a child it becomes even more important for you to have the correct insurance in place and to have due regard for the possibility of medical bills. While retirement may be many years ahead the sooner you start to make provisions, even in a small way, as early as possible.
It sounds as though there is plenty of competing demand for your money and there is. Money management may not come naturally to you but it is a reality. There is nothing wrong in asking for help and once your budget is prepared you will need to monitor it each month and make changes as your circumstances change. You should both discuss your budget as time goes by and maintain your discipline; it doesn’t automatically involve real sacrifice.
You will probably need to look at economies on your regular spending. That means groceries, food and clothing. There is usually scope to look at insurance, utilities and even your telephone network for more competitive quotations. Circumstances have dictated that you will spend more time at home. It provides you with an opportunity to eat more healthily by buying fresh produce and cooking it yourself.
Married couples need to work together when it comes to finance. It can certainly be a source of discord if they don’t. The arrival of a child will just be one of the things that changes throughout your marriage. You will almost certainly aspire to owning your real estate and over the medium to long term it is always a good investment for the family. There is education to consider as the children grow because you will naturally want the best for them as well as your own needs for funds once you have retired. If this sounds like a challenge then marriage itself is a challenge.
