6 Money Saving & Budgeting Tips for Young Parents
Although representatives of younger generations tend to wait before they start a family, there are always those who dive into parenthood rather early. The total number of young parents in the US and the rest of the world is pretty hard to calculate. However, as for 2013, there were at least 3.6 million people between 18 and 24 living with their own children in the USA.
According to experts, financial instability is one of the biggest reasons that make millennials delay marriage and parenthood. Young parents often carry huge student debts. In addition, they have somewhat limited employment opportunities and generally make less income due to the lack of experience.
Is there an easy way to overcome financial hurdles facing young families? In this article, we’ve collected some of the best and most effective budgeting and money-saving tips for young adults. Let’s dive in!
Young Parenthood: Top 6 Tips for Smart Budgeting
Youth experience plenty of challenges that include difficulty with continuing their education, lack of financial stability, and the responsibilities that come along.
To keep up with college studies, young parents should rely on smart time-management. There are tools and services that allow you to take some of the load off yourself. For example, essay writing services like https://essaypro.com/ can help you keep up the high academic performance, yet, having enough free time to take decent care of a child.
Handling the responsibility of having a child can be a bit harder. However, with some time and experience, taking care of a baby becomes easier.
The real challenges occur when it comes to handling expenses. There is no need to sugarcoat it – babies are pretty expensive. Young parents have to be prepared for their living costs to rise by at least 2 times. That’s when knowing effective money-saving and budgeting tricks will really help.
Here are the best tips and tricks to keep in mind.
Start Saving in Advance
Probably the best advice we can give is to plan your parenthood in advance and start saving money as early as possible. The truth is that you will start feeling the costs of having a baby far before the actual birth. There are plenty of early-stage expenses, including:
- Maternity clothing;
- Birth-prep classes;
- Doctor appointments;
- House alterations.
Pregnancy requires lots of money. Thus, the earlier you start saving, the easier it will be on your budget.
To ease the stress as much as possible, you need to understand how much it costs to have a baby. Figure out the approximate budget you need for a comfortable pregnancy, childbirth, maternity leave, and basic infant care.
Don’t Overlook Additional Expenses
Often, due to the age and lack of experience, families fail to set a realistic budget. They consider the most crucial costs but tend to overlook some additional spendings.
To help you estimate the right budget, we’ve compiled a list of the most commonly overlooked things.
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Extra medical costs.
Medical bills during pregnancy and after birth can be shocking. That’s why it is vital to consider everything when planning your budget. Be sure to plan including all the fees, prenatal doctor visits, tests, lab work, ultrasounds, postnatal care, pediatrician visits, medications, and so on.
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Maternity leave.
It is vital to include the costs of temporary loss of income associated with maternity or family leave. Although it may not be the case for you, it is good to be prepared for it.
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Parent-bonding classes.
Not everyone may use them. However, it is good to have an emergency fund that will allow you to cover them as well.
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Additional care and babysitting services.
Balancing between work and child care often turns out much harder than you expect. Thus, accounting for additional child care costs is also important.
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Nursing and feeding.
This is another big but often overlooked part of the budget. Breast pumps, bottles, lactation support, feeding supplements – all these have a price and may not be provided through your insurance plan. So, be sure to prepare for it as well.
Don’t Hurry With Buying a New Car or Home
Many new families consider buying a bigger home or a car an inevitable part of parenthood planning. And, often, they jump into these expenses way too soon. This is a common mistake made by youth planning to have a child.
For the sake of saving money and wise budgeting, it is recommended not to hurry with such large purchases. First of all, the American Pediatric Association recommends infant room-sharing for the first six months of a child’s life. Thus, there is no rush to expand your living space.
As for the car, as long as you can fit in all the baby supplies, there is no rush.
Save on Basics
When you have a baby, you will have plenty of daily essentials to cover. These basics include diapers, wipes, and other disposable items. Keep in mind that there are plenty of opportunities to save some money on this stuff. Be sure to opt for cheaper items, take advantage of special offers and discounts, look into reusable items. These simple tips will save you lots of cash!
Buy Used, Borrow, or Swap
All sorts of baby items, such as clothing, prams, furniture, and so on can be rather pricey. To complicate matters, most of these items will have to be updated shortly due to the active growth of a child. That is why buying everything brand new can cost you a fortune.
For young parents looking to save cash on baby items, there are always opportunities to borrow, swap, or buy second-hand.
Look Out for Great Deals
Shopping for baby items can get expensive, and many of them can only be used for several weeks or months. If it’s possible not to pay the full price, take every opportunity to do so. Plan your purchases in time for seasonal deals. Watch out for holiday sales, like Black Friday deals on Walmart, Costco, Amazon, Macy’s, and other major retailers, to get the most savings on purchases for your little tot.
Use Budgeting Tools
Last but not least, take advantage of the financial tools available to you. Budgeting can be rather complicated and confusing. If you have never planned your budget before, you can make some common mistakes. This is natural. However, with the help of modern budgeting tools, you can ease some of the stress and save even more money!