Your Pregnant -- Now Open Up Your Wallet!

I’m five months into my pregnancy now. The newness and disbelief that I have a little person residing in my belly is starting to wear off.  With the belly bump inching larger every week its a sure sign that its time to start preparing for Baby Fultz.

Since this is our first child JC and I are both naive and unsure about everything we need to have to be prepared before baby arrives. We’ve browsed through the baby section of just about every store we’ve entered that has one in the past few months. We comment on how cute outfits, toys and other accessories are, but deep down I also have an extreme feeling of being overwhelmed. How will we ever learn what we really need to have and then afford to get those items? There are so many things out there to choose from.

 

 

After revealing the news to a former co-worker and friend a few months ago she offered up an excel sheet she had created before her first child was born which listed necessity items to get for baby. It has now circulated between a number of her friends. Great, I said! Send it my way because I’m clueless, plus I don’t have enough time in the day to research everything.

I got this little miracle list early this week. Upon seeing the arrival of the message in my inbox I was excited and happy to hopefully get advice and reassurance that this preparation process was doable. Lo and behold, my feelings changed a few seconds later after loading the excel sheets. The list of items, in my mind, were never ending! Everything from bath and diapering items to bottles, playpens and lots more.

A wave of panic creeped through me as I thought "how am I going to get everything ready in four months!" Not to mention the cost of everything! To say that I was a little overwhelmed was an understatement.

I replied to my friend, thanking her for the excel sheet. I also revealed my feelings and how I wasn’t sure how it would all get done in under four months. Her advice, don’t worry there’s always online, overnight shipping for last minutes items you don't get around to buying or get as a gift!

 

With my recent feelings I decided to find out a little more information about the cost of raising a child. I stumbled across this really cool calculator that Parenting.com has. You can put in your household income, geographical area and year your child is/was born, then the calculator gives you the total. It also breaks down where the money is being spent. 

Baby Fultz is going to cost us an estimated $14,000 for the first year alone! More panic ensues …