Since Baby Hopscotch won’t be paying his/her way, I want to manage expenses the best that I can. So today, I added up everything I have spent so far in relation to the baby. Duh duh duh.
We still have A LOT that we haven’t purchased yet, and have not had a baby shower at this point. So it’s hard to anticipate what we will ended up buying before baby arrives (and of course, all of the things after baby arrives when we may end up buying anything/everything out of desperation).
At 25 weeks, we have spent a total of: $3,274.05 on baby and maternity related items. This breaks down to:
- Maternity Clothes: $963.01
- Nursery (crib, dresser, fabric): $590.72
- Rocker: $590
- Baby Clothes: $216.97
- Cloth Diapers: $193.00
- Healthcare (insurance co-pays, deductible, birth class): $587.83
- Breast Pump: $237.99
Things we haven’t purchased/paid for yet, but know we will, are:
- Crib mattress: $130-ish
- Doula Services*: $500-$600
- Childcare Class: $60
- Car Seat (if not gifted to us): $180
- Stroller (if not gifted to us): $200-$400
- Miscellaneous medical bills: TBD
- Breastfeeding Supplies: $100-ish
- More cloth diapers/diapering supplies: $150-ish
*We recently started looking into a doula and I really think it’s a good idea for us, especially with my interest in having a natural birth, although it wasn’t something we were originally budgeted for.
And, of course, anything that isn’t gifted to us at our shower but things we will need – stroller, car seat, pack-n-play, etc. I’m assuming, based on what I typically give at showers, we will have onesies coming out of our ears. No need to worry about Baby Hopscotch being adequately clothed.
I’m also (apparently) adequately clothed at this point in time, judging from the biggest line item thus far being maternity clothes. It’s just so difficult going into your closet and not finding a thing to wear. And even $963 dollars later, I only have 2 pairs of maternity jeans, 3 pairs of work pants, a few work dresses, and a handful of long sleeved t-shirts, sweaters, and tank tops. I definitely feel like I have enough to get by until the end of April, but I’ve also found that it’s such a learning curve knowing what you will want to wear as you expand. A blog post of maternity clothes is definitely forthcoming!
Maybe keeping a spreadsheet of baby-related purchases is slightly neurotic, but it definitely keeps me in check on my spending and knowing that every little thing adds up. And that what I’ve spent on baby clothes equals or exceeds the price of a big ticket item (mattress, breast pump, car seat, etc).
My hope is that tracking of expenses keeps my impulse buying at a minimum.
Are you keeping track of your baby related expenses?
nectarine / 2504 posts
I’ve been pretty lucky with maternity clothes. We found a great consignment store for maternity/baby gear and I’ve been able to buy pants for $10 a pair. I even scored a pair of designer maternity pants regularly sold at $200 for $10! I’ve been stalking Groupon and other couponing websites like a hawk lately for deals on baby items and keeping an eye out on Babysteals.stealnetwork.com for potential items we may need.
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
This makes me feel so cheap! I haven’t even had a shower yet, and so far we’ve received our stroller, car seat, crib with matress, video monitor, diapers, lots of clothes, bouncy seat, and two diaper bags! While I’m sure you’ll get a lot of clothes at your shower, you’ll probably get some big ticket items as well, especially from family and close friends.
guest
$963 on maternity clothes? Oh my gosh! Have you looked into consignment stores? And if that’s not your thing… places like Gap, Target, Old Navy, etc. have great sales on maternity items. I personally survived by mostly buying up a size or two larger until my last month or so, when I really needed the extra-long maternity shirts. Also… my friends share their maternity clothes with each other (again, this is great if it doesn’t gross you out). I’m due this week and I know that I haven’t spent $100 on maternity clothes… I can’t imagine spending anymore (but I realize that everyone’s bodies and life/work-styles are different).
Best of luck!
clementine / 889 posts
I was lucky to find that there is a second hand/consignment shop in my town. I got about half of my maternity clothes there and the rest I got off the target clearance rack. I wore the same stuff over and over, but I don’t really care much about clothes to begin with so I didn’t mind. I think I spent about $200 total on maternity clothes for 5 pants, 3 tanks, and about 8 shirts/sweaters.
We also got most of our baby stuff there. I kept baby clothes to the minimum and went for convenient basics. I like to have two or three cute outfits that I love, and then basic stuff that won’t matter if it gets stained or spit up on moments after I dress him. I also kept the number of clothes to a minimum so he wore the same outfits often, but didn’t end up with clothes he never wore. I think we spent about $50 on baby clothes for the first 3 months. Now, at 9 months, I’ve spent about an additional $60- and my big boy is currently in 12-18 month clothing.
We were gifted his crib, but I got a used dresser and used a rocker we already had. I also bought all of our cloth diapers on diaperswappers FSOT board. I got them all new or like new for a huge savings.
I really HATE spending money and buying things at full retail. Were were gifted a travel system and pack in play. The biggest purchase we made was the jogging stroller – we dropped the big bucks on a Baby Jogger Summit XC.
Babies are expensive, but they certainly don’t require you to spend thousands on new furniture, clothing and toys. They really just need the basics.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
i dare not add it up. Our medical bills after the insurance paid their portion are higher than what you’ve spent so far!
squash / 13199 posts
I am keeping track and so far I am very happy with how much everything is costing us. Most of the name brand stuff I have bought has been on sale, or a freebie and then I search at stores like walmart and target for products with great reviews that might not be big name brands. Walmart, target and somtimes amazon have WAY better prices than babies r us
cherry / 146 posts
I’ve also spent about $1000 on maternity clothes to date (buying only clearance items at Pea, Gap, Target, H&M, etc.) – and I still feel like I don’t have anything to wear to work! Plus when you’re pregnant during a harsh winter (like a Chicago winter), you can’t get by with just cotton t-shirts and dresses. I had to invest in some new sweaters, maternity tights, pants, etc.
As a mom expecting twins, I definitely would’ve spent less on cute skinny jeans/pants and more on elastic waist band bottoms. As I get closer to the third trimester, I find that I only want to wear my leggings everyday.
Also, do you have a flexible spending account (FSA) through your employer? I use my flex dollars to pay for prenatal classes, insurance/prescription copayments (which were astronomical due to IVF), breast pump and supplies. medical equipment, etc. Helps when you’re only paying for things pre-tax versus after-tax!!
honeydew / 7968 posts
i’ve kept track of the baby stuff and i keep track of all expenses, but hospital deductibles and stuff, i just categorized as “medical”, rather than baby. and i spent about $125 in maternity clothes, but classified it as “clothing”…. and prenatals under “medical” too….
so far, spent about $300 on actual baby stuff – 2 crib sets, a book, knitting stuff for booties and the “free” nursing cover and car seat cover (that’s not really free because you’re paying a bunch for s&h)….
after calculating what we got from our shower, i’m estimating another $4,000-$4,500 in baby gear…. give or take. eek~!
grapefruit / 4671 posts
I have been rocking one pair of mat jeans and one pair of mat work trousers. I haven’t botehred with any maternity tops or dresses yet. Mine are holding up okay if I wear the right things. I’m just hoping to make it through the winter without buying more stiff because i know that once it gets warm I can live in maxi dresses.
blogger / apricot / 366 posts
@mrs. tictactoe: Nice! Our showers will be about a month before our due date, so I have no clue what we’ll end up with before baby arrives and what we’ll be buying ourselves. That’s so great you’ve been gifted so many big ticket items!
@Jill: Actually, every single item I’ve bought has been Gap or Old Navy and I’ve never paid full price for anything (they do have awesome sales, don’t they?!). I’m the first of my friends to get pregnant, so I don’t have anyone to share clothes with. But, I have a few nicer dresses from Gap with the tags still on them – they don’t look great on me, so I’m hoping to re-sell them.
@Mrs. Bee: I’m hoping our medical bills post-baby/post-insurance paying their portion won’t be crazy! We’re delivering at a hospital in Chicago with an average cost for a birth much lower than the big hospital most people go to. Hoping it won’t be astronomical
@Birdieputt: I know – stretchy pants all the way! I wear leggings every chance I can to work, and yoga pants at home. I didn’t enroll in FSA in time (we were busy with moving at the time of open enrollment, so I missed my chance) – would have been great to take advantage of!
@Plantains: That’s great you haven’t had to buy much yet! I wish I could have held off but pre-pregnancy I wore fitted dresses or pencil skirts to work every day…and once I started to get a belly nothing fit! Hence, some shopping sprees
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
I apparently have a lot of maternity clothing too – probably have spent around $1,000 and my mom has gifted me at least $300 worth. Yikes! But, I have been wearing maternity clothing since week 10 and really had no clothing that worked as maternity clothing (and now at 22.5 wks I’m kinda big!). I too shopped at Gap/Old Navy/Motherhood and with the exception of one nice pair of jeans (Citizens) everything has been on sale. Also, I’m really petite and none of my friends have been able to share with me. Finally, it’s winter in New England so need a coat (winter and spring) and can’t wear any dresses. Hopefully we’ll have more kids in the future and I will be able to get more use out of this stuff!
I have bought a few outfits for baby boy (ok, more than a few…around $150 total…had to!) and my husband bought a child hiking pack for me as a Christmas gift ($200). We also purchased the dresser ($700) and my parents gifted us the crib ($500). I also bought a snoogle pillow ($50ish). I haven’t had any out of pocket medical expenses yet (unless you count hemorrhoid cream and the like).
Other than that we are waiting until after my shower to purchase other items. I’m sure we will need to purchase our stroller and breastpump and likely other items too! We plan on purchasing a glider, but haven’t found one yet.
So, I guess my grand total is $2,100 (and my parents $800). With 17.5 weeks to go, I’m sure that number will be much higher.
guest
Doula = best money spent. We couldn’t have been more thankful on the day to have had ours.
pomelo / 5820 posts
I love the cost breakdown! I would totally keep track too
I can’t wait to see your posts on maternity clothes… I’m a bit of a clothes addict, so getting pregnant would mean I’d probably be spending a lot in that area as well!
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
Haha, I feel like a total cheapo. I probably only spent $300 or so on maternity clothes, but it is easier to get them for cheap when it’s warm out. Also, I benefited from some stuff borrowed from friends, too.
persimmon / 1255 posts
We kept track of our expenses as well because we were genuinely curious how much the first year was going to cost us. I think the final tab for year 1 was about $9000.
My awesome neighbor gave me her entire maternity wardrobe so I only spent about $150 on some needed pieces.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
We bought everything for our son ourselves, with the exception of clothing and few toys my MIL gifted us. I kept track in a spreadsheet with different tabs (too much time on my hands before the baby came). It’s been a year and I am sure it is close to what Red spent. YIKES!
guest
Mrs. Hopscotch– I hope my comment didn’t come off as offensive! It just seemed like such a high number… but it is true that it’s really nice when your friends get pregnant before you and are open to sharing their wardrobes (my staple pieces, I’ve just realized, are mostly out of their closets). So I have been lucky in that department. Again, I hope I didn’t offend you