Budgeting For Our Growing Family
We’ve learned that firsthand over the past four years, bringing home not one, not two, but three little ones. When Matt and I decided to expand our family, budgeting and sacrifices became a focus. I would stay home. Managing finances for our growing family has been a learning curve. Today, I want to share some of the approaches that have helped us reach financial stability. We've balanced everything, including some fun with the Aviator Game app in our downtime!
The Decision to Stay Home
Early in our marriage, Matt and I decided that I would stay home while our children were still young. Before having our first child, Brooks, I spent five years as a teacher. Although I loved my career, I was eager to step away and focus on being a full-time mom.
Of course, this would need some lifestyle changes. During my first pregnancy, we started planning and preparing for this transition. Here are five things we did that have helped us budget for our growing family.
Budgeting for Your Family
Seek Professional Financial Advice
Now is the time to educate yourself! There is so much to know, which can be overwhelming, so learning from professionals is crucial. I recommend a free resource: the lessons and tools at Mainstreet Credit Union. These financial "lessons" are in collections by category.
These lessons are practical and easy to understand, guiding you through each subject. Plus, they’re completely free! Mainstreet Credit Union is dedicated to improving financial education and awareness. It wants to improve them in teachers, students, and the community.
Re-work Your Budget from Scratch
Before having Brooks, our budget was much more flexible. Before kids, we both worked. We lived below our means. This gave us flexibility to spend as we wished. Adding a baby and losing a salary threw a bit of a wrench in this “relaxed” approach! We realized we’d need to establish a stricter budget and develop financial discipline like never before. Between baby supplies, higher insurance costs, and other expenses, we had to trim some nonessentials to create room in our budget. We manipulated a few things in our budget that first year. It was to leave room for the new "unknowns" in our uncharted territory.
Gym membership. We value fitness. But, we decided to skip a pricey year-long membership. We'll allow ourselves to adjust this commitment as needed. During the pregnancy, we set up a home gym in our garage, eliminating the need for a costly gym membership.
We were amazed at how many subscriptions we were unknowingly paying for! After reviewing them, we realized we needed to make changes.
Cutting out unused subscriptions saved us enough to buy a couple of boxes of diapers a month!
Bills/Utilities—This was the most helpful strategy! We reached out to our service providers, including auto insurance, home services, and utilities, and successfully negotiated lower rates. Switching a few companies helped us reduce our monthly expenses significantly.
Fast Food and Eating Out—We didn’t cut this out cold turkey but significantly cut back. By becoming more strategic with our grocery shopping and cooking most of our meals at home, we opened up more flexibility in our budget. It's been part of our lifestyle since then!
The budget calculator from Mainstreet Credit Union has been incredibly helpful in organizing our finances. It’s a great tool for identifying areas where we could cut costs.
It shows the "big picture" of your spending. It's a great first step for identifying areas to reduce costs and create a financial plan!
Pay off the Debts
When we reworked our budget, it became clear that cutting back on expenses was necessary. This would prepare us for any unknowns. We chose to use this time, while we're both still working, to focus on paying down as much debt as possible. We couldn't pay off all our debts, like our mortgage and car loans. But, we could "chip away" at a few with our extra cash from a second income. We decided to double our car payments for as long as we could. This helped us pay off our cars faster and drop that expense! Mainstreet Credit Union also offers a "debt payoff calculator" and other useful tools to help manage and eliminate debt. I've found them very helpful!
Bulk up your Emergency Fund
The reality of needing an "emergency fund" truly sank in when we saw those two pink lines! We quickly realized that with a baby on the way and only one income to rely on, we were in a vulnerable position. Now, more than ever, having a solid emergency fund is essential. Growing that fund can be a slow and sometimes tedious process, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to make it a top priority! Mainstreet Credit Union offers great tools to help you grow your savings. They can provide guidance if you need support— like we did!
Final Thoughts
Budgeting for a growing family requires planning, discipline, and a few lifestyle adjustments. By seeking advice, restructuring our budget, and paying off debts, we found peace. We also built an emergency fund. It lets us raise our three little ones. These steps have made a difference in managing our family’s finances.