Comments on: Budgeting for a Baby – What I Wish I Knew

By: Barry Choi

Barry Choi — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 11:29:27 +0000

In reply to James Heidebrecht. Hey James, Yeah, the baby cost more than I expected but I feel those extra expenses were more about keeping my sanity.

By: James Heidebrecht

James Heidebrecht — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 02:46:04 +0000

Great article. I had my son late in life and have to admit I was a taken aback by how much it costs. The good news is I am frugal by nature so we got most of our nursery furniture second hand. We had family members that were kind of us to provide us with hand me downs and as you well know Kijiji is a fantastic tool. Now on to saving for university 😉

By: Barry Choi

Barry Choi — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 16:32:11 +0000

In reply to Leonidas.

Leonidas,

It’s totally a psychological thing. Once we realized that our baby didn’t NEED new things, we ended up saving so much more money. Good tips about sporting equipment, I’m going to check that out when my daughter is older.

By: Barry Choi

Barry Choi — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 16:29:57 +0000

In reply to Jenna. Hey Jenna, Great tips. We also did a dry run on a tighter budget so we would have a sense of how our income and expenses would be. It helped a lot as we were able to identify things that we really could afford to cut back on.

By: Leonidas

Leonidas — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 14:47:02 +0000

As first time parents, it can be difficult to buy stuff second hand. We always think our baby needs the best so if has to be new. We definitely got caught up in this initially.

We bought quite a few things used as our 2 boys went from babies to school age. Once you get into things like sports, its amazing how cheap stuff can be on Kijiji. You can get skates for $20 that are virtually brand new.

By: Jenna

Jenna — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 01:08:18 +0000

In reply to Barry Choi. Another tip for parents to be is to figure out their monthly childcare cost and sock that amount away every month in a TFSA during the pregnancy. That will help you figure out your budget in advance and make some necessary adjustments so things won’t be so painful when you have to start paying for daycare. You can use the extra cash during parental leave when your salary drops! It’s a win-win!

By: Barry Choi

Barry Choi — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 13:31:47 +0000

In reply to GYM. You mean the amount of money we spend on our babies =P

By: GYM

GYM — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 13:25:44 +0000

We almost bought a tent pod for our baby to sleep in but then I thought what if he doesn’t like it? I we bought a new tent instead lol! To fit the pack and play (previously we had a dole tent which would probably just fit pack and play but not us).

The things we do for our babies!

By: Barry Choi

Barry Choi — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 12:56:34 +0000

In reply to Jenna. Jenna, Honestly, you are a star! I feel like everything you did would be perfect for a blog post. I may need to write something based on your experience.

By: Jenna

Jenna — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 01:21:12 +0000

In reply to Barry Choi. Yes, it was my first child! I am a bit of a type A personality so organization and planning are my way to deal with stress and worry. I was very worried about having a really rough time with my first as I hadn't been around babies much as well as the financial hit my maternity leave would cause. But the planning really paid off! I got the world's easiest baby and we even had some money to spare. My mat leave was the best vacation of my life! I don't anticipate having a second will be near as easy!