u/Think-Degree1707

My husband (29) and I (27) are roughly 4 weeks and 4 days pregnant at this point. This is such an exciting thing for us as we’ve been wanting this for years, but really wanted to set and meet a lot of goals prior to even entertaining the idea. We have a home, reliable vehicles (only owe on one) and have really set ourselves up financially to take this on full force. To essentially say it’s the most amazing news is an understatement.

We’ve been VERY hush hush with our timelines and goals with everyone in our life. So everyone knows eventually it’s in the cards but they never have known when we would actually go for it! With that in mind, we are going to share the news with our direct families (parents and siblings) at the end of this week/in the very short coming weeks! We are only worried about the reaction of a couple of them due to potential for them to think we are taking away something from a very important time in their life.

I had an IUD for roughly 8 years but have been on birth control for well over 10. We removed our IUD in April and fortunately got lucky early in trying. I did some test progression from 8DPO to yesterday, at which time my test appeared to be darker than my control. I am SO hopeful despite it being so early!

Good luck to you all and I can not wait to see how everything pans out for you in this group!!! ✨

Hi, looking for input on our budget and current financial situation. We are hopeful to have a kid soon and would like to maximize everything that we can prior to the child and after, and want to see where we are sitting. My husband (29) and I (27) live in Nebraska. Sorry for the length 🙃 but thanks in advance. I grew up in a family with no concept of budget, so I’m self taught and am certainly open to any critiques, advice, etc. to better ourselves and be set up for success when we bring a child into the world!

Income, post tax: $9,566.00 $2,700.00 me $3,000.00 husband $3,866.00 other income

Expenses as budgeted: $5,528.00 Mortgage: $1,920.00 Car payment: $501.00 Car insurance (three vehicles): $335.00 Phone: $160.00 Grocery: $700.00 Gasoline: $500.00 Gas bill: $100.00 (varies but never above) Electric: $175.00 (varies but never above) Water: $50.00 Trash: $25.00 Subscriptions: $70 (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Kindle, Spotify, Blink, etc.) Prescriptions: $30.00 Cat Expense: $90.00 (often less as we buy things in bulk) Union Dues: $47.00 Dates/Lunch Out: $350.00 Misc/“Fun Money”: $350.00 Personal Care:$75.00 (haircuts, products, etc.) WiFi: $50.00

Income total: $9,566.00 Expense total: $5,528.00 Surplus: $4,038.00

$500.00 his Roth $500.00 my roth $900.00 kid fund (HYSA) $120.00 life insurance ~ $1,400.00 split however we see fit between a primary savings and secondary. ~$600.00 as a buffer or unfortunately something we over spend with 😬

Currently: $5,900.00 in primary (in CU) $3,200.00 in secondary/sinking funds (always varies) (in CU) $40,000.00 in Emergency Fund (in HYSA) $5,400.00 in primary savings (in HYSA) $3,270.00 in a “kid fund” (in HYSA) All HYSA, is the same account just mentally placed in buckets $36,267.00 in our Roths (combined) We also both have retirement at our jobs, I have a 401k with $28,000.00 and he has two pensions one with $9,300.00 and the other unknown at present but minimal.

Primary savings serves as a vacation/down payment etc. fund; secondary serves as a “sinking fund” for planned/known expenses (vet bills, car maintenance, yearly subscriptions/memberships, gift funds etc.) The only debt we have is our mortgage and one car payment.

Post kid: Income: $9,200.00 will go down slightly from our current income for various technical reasons Projected Expense: $7,500.00 (including daycare, diapers/wipes/formula, clothing etc.) Surplus: $1,700.00

Proposed movement: $250.00 his Roth $250.00 my Roth $100.00 529 $120.00 Life Insurance $980.00 split between primary/secondary accordingly

Give me all the thoughts, tips, tricks, etc.