Having a baby is a time of excitement and joy! You’re bringing a new life into the world, a new member of your family. There are so many new experiences coming your way, like gender reveal parties and baby showers.
Along with all of this fun comes real life, especially paying for the baby’s needs. Food, clothes, diapers, toys and more cost money. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2015 it cost an average family $12,680 for the first year of a new child. If you aren’t prepared for those costs, it could spell disaster for your financial wellness. To help anticipate and prepare for it, here are some great ways to adjust your budget, lower the overall cost, and keep your finances healthy.
Budgeting for the Future
Pull out your budget and see how much money you currently have for your new baby’s needs. Compare your current income versus required expenses such as rent/mortgage, utilities, groceries, auto loans, and other necessary items. Then you should account for the unnecessary expenses you regularly have such as eating out or other luxury items.
From there you can get a better sense of how much money you have available and how much you’ll need to adjust your budget. This is the starting point to planning how you are going to afford your new child and their future.
If you need help understanding and taking control of your budget, myPioneer’s Budget Manager is the tool for you. It can track your purchases and expenses for you in real time and show you where your money is going. By breaking down each expense, you see how much you spend on essentials and non-essentials and even help set limits to prevent overspending.
Use Aid Programs as Necessary
There are a variety of programs to help those with lower income cover the costs of having a child. From healthcare to groceries, there is assistance with most expenses related to raising a child.
To see if your children (or you while pregnant) qualify for Medicare, visit Idaho’s Medicare Eligibility page and compare your income to the charts provided. If you and your family are below a certain point, you’ll qualify and have one less expense to worry about.
Similarly, expecting mothers and new children can apply for help paying for groceries through WIC. By visiting the WIC Income guidelines, you can see if you qualify for benefits. They can help with all, a majority, or some of your groceries depending on your circumstances.
Accessing Your Home’s Equity to Help
Whether it’s help covering regular expenses or the hospital bill from the birth, your home’s equity can be a useful financial tool. With a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC), you can pay for bills you may not be able to cover otherwise.
Especially with larger expenses, a HELOC can give you flexibility. Pioneer offers traditional HELOC programs, but if you need assistance quickly, our QuickLOC program can get you approved in days with no minimum credit score.
Utilize a Credit Card for Extra Flexibility
New expenses are likely to pile up because of your new child. There will be last-minute diaper runs, random visits to the doctor, and other unexpected costs. These can really throw off your monthly budget, especially if you have the majority of each paycheck going to other items.
A credit card is a useful tool to have in case of emergencies. You can use it to pay for baby needs in case you can’t afford them right now. This flexibility can help you make purchases you need right now and pay for later. Just be sure you don’t go overboard; keep your credit card bill low enough that you can pay it off every month.
Pioneer’s VISA® Credit Card is a great tool for this because every purchase you make earns Rewards! points. You can redeem these points for gift cards to help cover baby costs, experiences if you are looking for some time away, or even cash you can use for day-to-day purchases.
Open a Youth Savings Account
It’s never too early to teach your child the importance of saving money. Open a youth savings account for your new baby, or any of your kids, as a great place to store their money and earn interest. From birthday gifts to allowances, having your kids deposit it into a savings account will help them learn good financial habits and the importance of saving money. Open a Super Star Youth Savings Account today to get started.
Open a Super Star Youth Savings Account!