how much do you budget a month for baby?

I am an expecting mom and I hate to use the word "budget" and baby.....but We are trying to foresee what to expect in expenses a month.

Can you help break down the expenses for me?

TIA!!!!!

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

Maybe $600. I am not sure to tell you the truth. I pay $110 in daycare per week so about $440/month. I only work 2-3 days a week though.
Then the rest is diapers, formula, baby food.

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

I cant pick any because I dont budget for my dd.

I guess because she is the 1st...... majority of the baby stuff came for my shower so I didnt have to purchase ALOT of what is needed.
Even when she was born, clothes and more clothes came in as gifts from everyone.

As for formula and diapers, I dont pay for forumula, she is on special formula taken care of by my ins company. Diapers is my only expense, as well as wipes and small misc things. I also really havent paid for those as well due to GC from BRU or BBB.

They say the 1st yr isnt really the hardest financially..its after the 1st yr or so.

ETA: I also dont pay for daycare.


Each month is different since they eat more as they grow.

Message edited 9/5/2007 10:13:01 AM.

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

I don't budget anything... I don't spend that much money on him outside of Daycare, food, diapers, wipes etc. If you are worried about money...breastfeed!!!

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

I had to say $1100+ because daycare alone is $1500

Here's what I have:
Daycare: $1500
Formula: $50
Diapers: $50
Wipes: $20
Diaper Cream/Vaseline: $10
Clothes: $100 (try not to use that all every month though)

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

My expenses so far. DS is almost 11 weeks. I am in the $100-300 category per month.

- Diapers + wipes + creams/shamoo, etc
- Dr. visit co-pays
- clothes. DS is outgrowing his clothes quickly (really depends how much clothing and where you shop)
- Health: vitamins, Mylicon, prenatal vitamin for me
- I BF and bottle feed so I buy liners for the bottles. Will have to replace nipples when old/ripped, etc
- I use the same detergent for all our clothes
- Extra gas to do all activities related to DC
- Toys/books


Other possible expenses
- formula
- daycare
- activities (saf t swim, gymboree, etc..)

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

the big question is formula or breast feeding.

formula is ~ $100-150/month

BFing does have costs - ie pump and supplies (Ifigured mine paid off at 5-6 months of BFing and now with #2, it's all savings)


diapers ~ $30/month

clothes - depends on your spending habit. we got a huge amount of hand me downs, so i rarely spend more than $50/month on cloths - if that

copay/coinsurance/basic meds/vitamins - ~$50/month

toys - can make or break your budget - it's all about self-control - they really don't need much, but it's hard to pass some up..LOL



ETA: oh yeah - daycare - too much on that!

Message edited 9/5/2007 10:10:22 AM.

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

Posted by NewlyMrs

Posted by racheeeee

I don't budget anything... I don't spend that much money on him outside of Daycare, food, diapers, wipes etc. If you are worried about money...breastfeed!!!

I actually was planning to breastfeed regardless.

It's not that I am persay worried, but we are planning a move, a new house, new jobs, and we are trying to figure out what we need. Parenting is a new expense for us!

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

I don't.

ETA: It doesn't really cost that much. Baby food is inexpensive, esp if you use coupons and so is formula. If you BF it is even cheaper.

And now he eats what we eat so we don't spend more except on milk which is about $20 a month.

And diapers and wipes I stock up when places go out of business ( ) or when there is a huge sale.

Message edited 9/5/2007 11:27:34 AM.

Re: how much do you budget a month for baby?

I am a SAHM so I have no daycare expenses.

Right now my son is 3 months old and I have not yet bought a thing for him ( well I have but I didnt need to)..except for Formula

We got all his basics at the shower...anything we didnt get we used gift cards for.

We still have diapers we received as gifts to last about another 2 months as well as a stockpile of wipes we received as gifts.

I get a ton of formula coupons and so we spend about $15 a week ( or less) on Formula. And we buy Baby water to mix it. About $6 a month of that.

So I would say right now we spend $50-$80 a month on neccesities and thats a high estimate.

We will obviously spend more as time goes on.

Basically we figure with coupons diapers are about $20 a month, Wipes about $8 a month and Formula /Water $60 a month.

Extras like lotions etc dont add up to more then $20.

So after we sue all our stuff up about $100-$125 a month. Plus clothes, but we dont need much of that either, and the occasional toy.


Eta- I also have enough, shampoo, diaper rash cream, lotion, wash and that type oif thing to last till he is at least 6-7 months all from my shower .

Message edited 9/5/2007 12:03:41 PM.