Pre-Birth Baby Expenses

Baby 2Million finally arrived last week and both mother and baby are doing well!! Suddenly we are a family. Everything has been a blur since her arrival as we are adjusting to family life and getting used to not sleeping much. While we continue to get settled in I thought I would share some of our expenses for having a baby.

Pre-Birth Baby Expenses
Forget all those people talking about saving for college education, etc - even before the baby arrives we have made a significant investment. We could even argue that at least part of our recent home purchase and car purchase were due to us expanding our family, but we will ignore that for now.

Here is a sample of the baby expenses we had before the baby even arrived. We had so many small expenses they aren't all included, but ones I could identify I have included:

Pre-Birth Expenses	Cost
Glider Rocker with Ottoman	$ 312.32
Used Crib/Changing Table/Mattress	$ 400.00
Clothes/Storage Baskets for Changing Table	$ 57.61
Lamp for Baby's Room, Curtains, Nightlights, Decorations	$ 85.66
Stroller/Car Seat Travel System	$ 224.16
Baby monitor, End table, DHA supplements	$ 146.73
Painting Supplies for Baby's Room	$ 118.71
Lots of Small Purchases of Baby Clothes (est)	$ 30.00
Yard Sale Baby Items Purchase (clothes, books, toys, etc)	$ 97.48
Boppy Bouncy Seat	$ 29.88
Diapers	$ 56.15
Bulk Baby Wipes	$ 6.37
Dr/Lab Co-pays	$ 394.84
Maternity Clothes	$ 84.57
529 Plan Contributions	$ 150.00
Total	$2,194.48

Ofcourse a lot of these expenses are personal decisions my wife and I made about how we wanted to prepare for our baby. Everyone's mileage will vary, but in the beginning I didn't even realize what we would be purchasing in preparation for our baby.

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Comments (14)

Congrats! Our baby's due date was on Saturday so it'll be any time now! Great list of expenses by the way, I wish I had seen a list like this eight months ago! :)

Posted by Money Beagle | May 18, 2009 5:44 PM

I'm just curious...Did you break these items out by wants and needs first? It seems like it would be such a challenge to determine what to buy, which brands to buy, and what channels to use to get the stuff.

Posted by Chris @ BuildMyBudget | May 18, 2009 7:52 PM

Congrats! I know you typically keep your personal stuff private, but any chance you'll share the first name you guys picked? I love hearing the names parents pick, it's fascinating - but that's the psychologist in me! :)

Having kids is expensive! My goodness. After reviewing your list, I'm not sure I want kids. Ok, to be fair, I've had doubts of having kids all my life, but still. We're talking pre-baby expenses here and that list is long. You've now got a lifetime of expenses to add to that list.

Regardless, I'm confident you and Mrs. 2Million can handle it! I wish you both the best of luck and glad to hear baby and mother are happy and healthy!

Posted by Kristy @ Master Your Card | May 18, 2009 10:12 PM

$56 for diapers? That will last you two days.
:)
Good luck!

Posted by Stef | May 18, 2009 11:09 PM

Congrats!
Did you get anything from baby shower? It would be nice to list all baby shower items & prices so that future mom&dad could get a total picture all expenses we need to spend.

Posted by jj | May 19, 2009 12:52 AM

Congratulation! After seeing the total expenses, I think I will think twice before I allow myself to be a father. :)

Posted by Harrison | May 19, 2009 3:54 AM

Enjoy your little one! I can relate to baby- and child-related expenses. Several of the ones you list above are going to be recurring on a monthly or semi-monthly basis (e.g., diapers, books, clothes, ...). My wife and I just welcomed our 4th child in January, also a darling little girl. Have you ever dug into the US Government's cost estimation per raising a child from age 0 to 18? In my view, it is greatly overblown, especially for estimating the incremental cost of adding an additional child to your family. It makes me a bit curious why "they" seem bent on discouraging folks to start a family. An article about the USDA's estimate of $299k total cost of raising a child from 0-17 can be referenced here: raise your kids.

Posted by Jonathan C | May 19, 2009 9:14 AM

Congratulations!!! $2, 000 is nothing compared with having a baby in your home :)

Posted by Sierra | May 21, 2009 5:59 AM

Congratulations! Best wishes for your family.

Posted by Matt | May 21, 2009 1:29 PM

Congrats on the new addition!

I can tell you from very recent experience that the first 3 months are pretty rough. However, the first time the kid looks up at you and smiles, it's worth every penny you spend.

-Grant
TheCornerOfficeBlog.com

Posted by Grant | May 22, 2009 9:54 AM

congrats. we had our baby girl last week too, on 5/14. the difference for us is this was our 2nd kid so our pre-birth expenses were almost zero. we paid about $10 for a pack of diapers and that's it!

Posted by Mike | May 22, 2009 1:47 PM

Congrats!!

Our first child just hit the 8 weeks mark, so this is all very recent for us, too.

Some of this is very familiar - although other bits differ a lot. For example, we got a gliding rocker on craigslist for $30, and a cosleeper also on craigslist for $80. However, we've put $3,000 in the 529 already (we will only be in a state that gives tax deductions for another year).

Oh, and we have no baby's room - so no decorating costs there - but we did spend a substantial amount getting our spare bedroom ready for the in-laws' extended stay (3mo), including $150 for a (used) futon, $30 for a new futon cover, and $75 for help cleaning... (TOTALLY worth it!).

I hope you keep up these posts - it's a great time for me to follow this topic!

Posted by T | May 24, 2009 11:11 PM

Agreed that mileage will vary. We cloth diaper so that was more up front but will be cheaper overall. I'm shocked by the $87 on maternity clothes - how in the world did you manage that? Borrow lots? I bought maternity clothes on clearance yesterday and spent far more than that and I still don't have enough clothes for a week!

Posted by Jill | May 26, 2009 11:53 AM

Jill,
Thanks for your comment. Yes I should clarify some of the other strategies we used it save in other areas.
1) My wife borrowed almost all her materinty clothes from family.
2) My wife got several bags of gently used baby clothes from others to build up a large supply of baby clothes that should pay big dividends over the past several months
3) Baby showers and gifts from friends & family provided a lot of additional clothes, gadgets, & misc items we needed.

Posted by 2million | May 26, 2009 6:36 PM