A lot of you have probably heard Megan and I talking about our Baby Budget over the last few months, although you might not really know what we’re talking about. So instead of letting you think that we’re saving to purchase a baby ((Nice Madonna reference, huh!)), let me explain.

With our wedding – Our 101108 – approaching rapidly plus Megan and I starting to talk about growing ((We already have children, remember? Well, critter children!)) our ((We do understand that we’ll always have our families too, but starting our family consists of us having children)) family, the discussion of having children occurs often. We’re pretty much in agreement with just about everything when it comes to starting our family:

• Megan is hoping for two children; a baby boy and a baby girl
• I’m hoping for 1.5 children; a baby girl, but we’ll try for the #2 ((Sounds like we’re trying to poop))…
• We would both love to have twins ((Yes, I’m willing to make an exception to the 1.5 rule for twins))
• We’re going to move to a bigger house and, most importantly, a better school district, before school starts
• For the first few years we would both like Megan to not have to work ((Well, not be employed. She would still work because she would be taking care of the kid(s), house, me, etc – but I think you know what I mean))

With us not wanting Megan to be employed for the first few years plus wanting to move on-wards and up-wards to a bigger and better house, we decided to start planning for the future back in February of this year. We realized that while it would be great if my salary continued to increase to the point that it covered Megan’s salary, it would be more realistic if we began to change the way in which we live and spend money. If the future does happen to offer a substantial salary increase for me, at that time it will be more of a bonus in earnings than something that is required and depended upon. We figure that changing our lifestyle now would not only be a good test to see if we can do it, it would be less stressful than if we were to wait until Megan stops working and we’re feeding additional mouths. As an added bonus, we’re contributing more to our savings account now instead of randomly spending money on anything and everything. That’s a good feeling! 🙂

So now you’re probably wondering what exactly does the Baby Budget mean and what are we doing differently?  Here you go – a listing of everything ((Well, everything that I can remember)) we’re doing differently or better:

1. First and foremost, we’ve stopped spending money without thinking about what we’re buying. I know that may sound stupid, but it really helps curb impulse buying. Now we still buy almost anything we want and can afford ((Megan and I have always had an agreement that we’d discuss a big purchase with each other before buying though)), although we think about and discuss the purchase before doing so. Sometimes we still end up making the purchase, but often we find ourselves realizing we don’t need the item at all. The great part is that if we do decide to make the purchase so much thought and discussion has been put into it that we know what we’re buying will meet the goal we’re trying to fulfill. The odd thing is that sometimes what we end up purchasing is completely different than what we originally thought was needed!
2. Using a kick-ass Excel budgeting spreadsheet that I created, we budget every bill and required expense. We know that most people do this, although we have it so granular to the point where we might save a few dollars a pay check for a bill that due yearly. This way that yearly bill doesn’t hit us all at once since we saved throughout the year for it. Plus we don’t just budget monthly, we budget for monthly, quarterly and yearly bills. In addition, we also budget for anything that we know we’re going to purchase that might not be considered a bill ((for example, we budget for our web hosting, oil changes, groceries and even Megan going to the salon once a quarter to get hair stuff done)).
3. We don’t always purchase name-brand groceries any more. Instead of paying over two dollars for a can of name-brand tomato paste, we now at least try the generic-brand to see if there’s any difference! So far we’ve found that Giant generic frozen pizza actually tastes better than it’s name-brand comparison with one major difference — it actually tastes better and it’s a quarter of the price! Of course certain items, like Texas Toast, still need to be name-brand because their generic equivalent is horrible. But hey, at least we tried to see!
4. Speaking of name-brand, we also now research items instead of trying to purchase the best we can afford. This way instead of purchasing the best, we purchase the best for our needs. A great example for this is the HDTV we purchased for our bedroom. We wanted HD for future use, plus a built-in DVD player just in case we decided to watch a movie when home sick or on a lazy Sunday ((Which we’ve oddly enough never done)). Instead of going out and spending up wards of $2,000 on a kick-ass HDTV, instead we spent a little over $600 for something that works just fine for the bedroom. Sure, it’s not as good as the HDTV’s we have on the other two floors, but come on we watch it when we’re half asleep. We don’t need great quality there!
5. We’ve changed our drinking and eating habits too. Instead of going out or ordering out because we’re hungry and don’t want to cook, we now cook regardless. This is actually turning out to be great because in addition to saving money, we’re also getting much better in the kitchen. We’re also trying to save money on alcohol too. One thing we’ve been doing is purchasing Sky vodka instead of Grey Goose. While we both still like the taste of Goose, we’ve realized that Sky tastes almost as good, if not better, and costs one-half of the price.
6. We have been trying to reduce our debt load and pay off any debt we have sooner rather then later. We no longer leave tons of lights on around the house plus we’ve switched most of our bulbs to the new fluorescent type which offers a savings on our electric bill ((I really hate PECO – I think the amount of money they charge is borderline extortion)). In order to save on gas expenses, we try to take the Versa out when we run errands instead of the Murano. For the past two months now we’ve also started paying off our mortgage at the 15-year rate instead of the 30. This should hopefully pay off in the long run when we go to sell.
7. And finally, Savings. Since we’re not spending tons of money all the time for no reason, we’re taking everything we don’t spend and placing it into a high-yield savings account. While this isn’t going to generate enough money to retire, making approximately $50 of interest a month is better than .40 cents ((And no, we do not not use Commerce Bank/TD Commerce for this high-yield savings account)).

After a few months on the Baby Budget things are actually going rather well! We’ve been able to save a lot more then we used to, plus we haven’t really changed our lifestyle that drastically. I mean we still try to watch what we spend and limit/research what we purchase, but so far everything is going rather smooth! And a great benefit that I don’t think either Megan or I realized was going to happen is that the Baby Budget has not only made us both more conscience of the money we’re spending, but it’s also brought us closer as we now spend time together working on home improvement projects!

So far the Baby Budget is working perfectly and our goal of having Megan take a few years off after the little one(s) arrive should actually happen! Yippie!