When you know what your income will be, sit down together and work out your expenses.
The CoupleConnection has a free to download template to get you started. Find out more and download it here.
Online calculators can also help take the headache out of this exercise. The online budget planner by the Money Advice Service lets you compare your current budget situation with how things will look once your baby arrives.
As well as helping with the maths, the calculator makes sure you don’t overlook occasional expenses like insurances and car tax. Going through your recent bank statements will remind you of where all the money goes, and to when.
Once you’ve worked out your budget you’ll have a good idea about how much is left over for personal spending. It may not seem much but, remember, you won’t need so much either. When you’re not working you won’t be spending money on travel to work, lunches or a working wardrobe. Packed lunches and the bike may have to replace the tapas bar and the taxi for a while!
Img Source: kiplinger.com
“From reading the baby and parenting books it sounds like you have to make a huge financial outlay before the baby is born. I’d say this isn’t necessarily true. We certainly didn’t need all the baby paraphernalia that the baby books suggest you buy…” – Rob, Yorkshire.
Click here to continue to activity 3 of Pregnancy and Finance, or return to the main Pregnancy and Finance article by clicking here.
