#003: The Cost of Having a Baby with Sarah Arevalo

We're joined on the show by Sarah Arevalo, DebtWave Credit Counseling's Quality Assurance and Compliance Administrator, who's also married to our beloved co-host Felipe, to chat about the cost of having a baby!

Wait, should I save money before getting pregnant?
Americans often severely underestimate just how much it costs to raise a baby in the first year.

According to a Business Insider article from July 2018: The average cost to have a baby in the US, without complications during delivery, is $10,808— which can increase to $30,000 when factoring in the care provided before and after pregnancy.

• 36% think it costs between $1,001-$5,000 to raise a baby during its first year
• 18% think it costs $1,000 or less

Half of all hopeful parents — and 48% of all Americans — think diapering items, including diapers and wipes, are one of the biggest expenses of the first year of a baby’s life. However, we estimate this expense at $743 for the first year — less than nearly all other cost categories in the analysis. 

By contrast, only 37% correctly believe child care is one of the biggest expenses. Full-time care in a center costs an average of $8,059 for the first year of life — more than any other expense analyzed.

How much will it cost for you to have a child? Check out Nerd Wallet's baby calculator.

For parents concerned about baby recalls, you can find info on the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's Twitter account or their website.

Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at talkwealthpodcast@gmail.com.

To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Transcript

Intro: 0:09

Welcome to Talk Wealth to Me, a safe space podcast where we chat about anything and everything related to personal finance.

Felipe: 0:19

The information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute as accounting, legal, tax, or other professional advice.

Katie: 0:31

In this podcast, we're talking about the cost of having a baby, and I was reading an article from business insider and it said that the cost of having a baby is a minimum$11,000 for just the delivery in the United States. It is insane, but even more shocking than that, there was a study that was done and most people that are actually expecting, there's between 25 to 36% of people who are expecting a baby, meaning you're already pregnant. They think that the cost of having a kid in the first year is between 1000 and$5,000

Sarah: 1:04

That's all?

Felipe: 1:07

Well, I think it's maybe a first time parents who, who might be thinking that and who may not have an idea of how much it really costs. I mean, that's just diapers and formula if that.

Sarah: 1:19

Well and sometimes you think, oh, I'm not going to even need formula. My first, I didn't even want to put anything baby formula baby bottles baby, any like I wanted to breastfeed and everything was going to be related to that. Nothing dealing with formula. So I don't want to even think about the cost of that now. Life changed and I needed to go out and get formula and bottles and replacement bottles and all that other fun stuff, which obviously adds up even more.

Katie: 1:48

Sure. So when you're, you guys have two kids and you're a littlest one is how old?

Sarah: 1:54

About nine months.

Katie: 1:55

Nine months. So you guys are really in the thick of this. How much does a baby cost?

Felipe: 1:58

Oh I have coffee, lots of coffee.

Katie: 2:05

When you, when you guys were having kids, did you guys sit down and talk about a budget? Like how much are we going to spend on this kid in the first year?

Felipe: 2:15

Yeah, to an extent. Not necessarily down to the pennies, but definitely something where it's like, hey, this is a little more expensive than a groceries and you can kind of guesstimate. There's a little unknown to it all though. Even even if you're, you've done it before, even if you do this all the time, uh, you know, is a little bit of an unknown. But definitely you do want to sit down and try and see and make sure that there's room in your budget and make sure that, I mean you don't always get to plan that way, but Ideally. You want to have it planned out if, if it's something that you're going to try and, um, all right, edit that out.

Chase: 2:54

I want to speak up So bad

Sarah: 2:58

I don't think it's completely realistic to have a sit down budget because as much as you think 1000 to 5,000, it's just reality is completely different. And my first was completely different than my second on, you know, my first it was the baby was exactly on point with all the clothes and then this one grows out through, he's like grows like a weed where he's already in 12 months clothes and not expecting. So there's certain things that, you know, diapers, yes, you kind of have an idea. But then when the baby actually comes, we went through, I want to say 20 diapers in a day and it was when, when did this happen?

Katie: 3:36

20 diapers in a day? just one day?!

Felipe: 3:38

You're just doing that all day,

Sarah: 3:40

so how can you really plan for that? And then now he might go through five diapers in a day. So it changes on different things. Um, my other one, my oldest, he didn't eat as much. This one he just eats and eats and eat. So it's like different kinds of things. Um, childcare. Childcare is completely different on that, that you can kind of have an estimate once you've kind of look around. That kind of helps out.

Katie: 4:05

Sure. Unless just even take a step back. Pre-baby there are certain steps that you can take when you're maybe planning on starting a family. I know Sarah, you probably saved my own financial life. She, she told me when you're getting married, highly likely that you want to have kids, you should probably start contributing to supplemental disability. Now, what does it, a year you have to, you have to,

Sarah: 4:32

you can't use it for a year from when you sign up.

Katie: 4:34

Yeah. Saved me.

Felipe: 4:35

Yeah. You don't want, you don't have it. It's not something you could just step out. And when we go get that right now because it might be too late.

Sarah: 4:43

And my first child, I did actually not know that. So I signed up for it and I had just found out I was pregnant and the insurance companies said, unfortunately you can't sign up for it at this point.

Katie: 4:55

Oh my gosh

Sarah: 4:55

So my first one, I did not have it. This one. I was a way more planned for that.

Katie: 5:00

And just for the people that don't exactly know what we're talking about, we're talking about how much of your paycheck you get while you're on maternity leave. So if you're on maternity leave and you don't have that extra contribution through supplemental disability, you're getting how much of your paycheck?

Sarah: 5:14

all California, it's 60% 60% of your, um, your paycheck.

Felipe: 5:18

Yeah. So it's definitely something where it's having that 60% is, is nowhere near where it needs to be. But that, you know, supplemental disability is definitely something where it makes up that gap.

Katie: 5:33

Okay. So you have to plan that at least you have to start at least a year in advance. And then anything else that people need to think about expense wise before you actually ha you're pregnant. Prenatal vitamins is that,

Felipe: 5:50

yeah, I was, I was mentioning earlier, you know people think prenatal vans. Okay that's 30 and a little thing and then I'm going to drink, she has, I'm drinking any of them one a day and then you think nine months there. But then you have to do the calculation. They want you to start this ideally before you get pregnant as you're trying. And then once you have the baby, you don't stop drinking them. You got to keep drinking them some more. And then there's the ones that you drop and then there's like, you know, so it's adding up. Of course you can go find like deals, buy stock up on them when they have a buy one get one 25% off deals. But you know, it's little expenses and those big ticket items, you know, you have big ticket items like cribs, car seats and strollers. You know, if you wait until you have the baby or you're pregnant to start saving for em. You know, we tell people all the time when, when you say for things, you want to start as early as possible and the earlier you start, the more time that will give you, the easier it'll make it for you to accomplish whatever your goals are. If your goal is to buy a crib and a car seat and Oh, guess what, you both drive, you need two car seats and you needed a stroller but they'll grow out of it and you'll need a different stroller in a few months. You know, the bigger ticket items and

Katie: 7:02

Wait wait wait, a new stroller in a few months?!

Felipe: 7:04

Yeah. Cause the first one has a little basket thing that you carry. Like it clicks into the car seat.

Sarah: 7:09

Just ways to make more money

Felipe: 7:09

You could buy one that grows with your child. Uh, which might be a better option. But you know, sometimes, um, you know, shoulders are expensive. Like you go out and you get like a Bob Stroller or if you're a jogger and you need like a jogging stroller, that's a whole nother level of like I can't bring the stroller that we have hiking. Um, they got different baby carriers. The one facing out, one facing in when we wear like a backpack. And so these are all separate carriers. It's not one, there are some of the transform but at some point you know if you're going to go hiking, you can't wear the little farewell at forward facing thing or the branches are going to be hitting your kid in the face the whole time

Sarah: 7:51

And those carriers can be$150.

Felipe: 7:53

Yeah. You go to REI and get a nice hiking carrier that's good for your back, but they're not cheap

Katie: 7:58

and are these items that are passed down and families or amongst friends.

Felipe: 8:04

You definitely can

Katie: 8:05

Baby showers.

Sarah: 8:06

Yeah, the definitely something where you know, if you, I love hand me downs, especially with baby things. I mean honestly they're going to wear some of the things the baby is worn. He warm once, had some milk, didn't agree with them. Put It on this shirt, basically threw it up and then, sorry listeners and then washed it didn't fit after that anymore once so, and I think I've mentioned it to you Katie, because Katie gets to sit next to me all day. Um, you know it's frustrating when you buy something you're like, oh yeah, this is great. It's going to look, oh we he wore it once. Um, so you definitely want to set up a, Sarah is the one who sets up a little system of oh look, that person has a baby and now this person has a baby and she just has me deliver things. Well I think that it's helpful because I know how the babies grows so fast, so newborn clothes, if we were lucky, he got to wear them once before he was already onto the next thing. Felipe's family has,

Katie: 9:06

Wait, IF, IF you are lucky?!

Sarah: 9:07

if I was lucky, Felipe's family gave me a lot of newborn clothes, didn't like kind of like spread them out. So everything's newborn. Well he was already almost past the newborn when he came home from the hospital.

Katie: 9:21

WHAT

Sarah: 9:21

So then we get to the zero to three months clothes and then he got to wear them maybe once or twice because they're just gaining weight, gaining weight, gaining weight. So it's, you get to wear them but not sometimes it's only two times newborn. There was literally clothes that I put a uh, put away in a box and it was already let, let's pass them over to your best friend. Let's pass them over to my cousin who thankfully were also having boys. Um, our best friend has been the, um, the retail store, another retail store, the uh, kind of re-used

Felipe: 9:54

Like a second, used baby store. Yeah. Cause you can go down there, you know, food, he's going to wear it once or twice and they're just not going to fit. Or you can go spend four times as much and get it new to wear it two times and they're just not going to fit. So I'm actually a big fan of those because the other kid probably were at once or twice and it's perfectly good clothes and it's not like they're going to, it's not like babies move around or get things dirty. They just eating sometimes spill on it, but that's pretty much it

Sarah: 10:24

and they just grow out of it. So it's not where they're like completely used. They probably only got to wear it once or twice. So why not share the wealth around and we've used it. We've done it for car seats, not car seats. Excuse me. Um, yeah. Car seats expire. I don't recommend reusing them right now.

Felipe: 10:46

Car seats have an expiration date

Katie: 10:48

I understand. So NerdWallet has a baby calculator on their website and you go through and you select which city you live in and then it's yes or no questions. Essentially when you're feeding your kid, would you like to keep it simple or go deluxe? Organic? I tried this tool in preparation for today's show. It's estimated for me between my choices, it's going to cost me between$47,000$52,000 to have a baby just taking care of it for one year. I was crazy

Sarah: 11:18

and I bet majority of that is childcare.

Katie: 11:21

Yes, Sarah

Sarah: 11:23

Childcare is so expensive.

Katie: 11:26

So there was another study. A lot of newborn parents think that diapers are going to be the biggest expense in the first year. Diapers in the first year will cost about$743 daycare was the biggest expense, but the one that took people by surprise the most.

Sarah: 11:43

You want to make sure that you're putting them with someone that you, you're trusting, you know, this is your, everything that you might be putting into a stranger's hand. You want to go ahead and be willing to spend that extra money. Now, I'm not saying to go spend$5,000 a month because that's just not realistic financially, but it is something that that is something that you want to spend the extra money with personally that I do feel that.

Felipe: 12:05

The other thing about childcare though is that's one of the few things you can plan ahead of time because you can start shopping childcare. I mean, yeah, some places fill up and you might not be able to get it when when you need it, you know, but that's something you'd price wise. You start planning for ahead of time. You don't have to wait for the baby to be there. Yeah. I mean you can start planning that as soon as you find out. Oh Wow. Babies coming. What are we gonna do with the baby when you go back to work? Um, we got lucky in our case we had my mom pseudo retire and because my brother and a sister in law were having a baby around the same time. So yeah. So my mom watches him. We still pay her, but not as much as we would pay a traditional childcare place. Plus we didn't have the background check her.

Katie: 12:51

I would hope not. But you mentioned something about shopping around. Can we talk about that too? Because it's not just with the cost of daycare, but it's also with insurance policies and where you're actually going to deliver your kid.

Sarah: 13:05

Yeah.

Katie: 13:05

Did you guys have to shop around and figure out which hospital or insurance plan would best meet your needs?

Sarah: 13:12

Uh, we were very thankful on our job giving, having an amazing benefits on health insurance. So the insurance that I currently have, I had two hospitals that I had the options going to him. We went to one of the hospitals and I did not like it and I chose to go to the higher end hospital. Either way the price is going to be the same cost. So I went with the one that I felt more comfortable and one that I was going to be. Um, you know, if I'm going to be doing all that, I want to be feeling comfortable and clean and comfortable with the doctors and nurses and things like that. So I did feel more comfortable at the one that we ended up delivering to

Felipe: 13:51

it was a little further drive depending on traffic.

Katie: 13:55

But having that time to shop around, did that make a difference for you?

Sarah: 14:02

When I first found out that I was pregnant, I just kind of randomly got a doctor and I did not like that doctor. Um, so then I really went ahead and I sat down and started doing my research to make sure I found the right doctor and I ended up falling in love with my doctor and it definitely helped me just spending that time doing my due diligence.

Katie: 14:24

How many times you have to go to the doctor?

Felipe: 14:28

Oh, coming from someone who doesn't, I like to try and avoid it as much as possible. You know, just going in there makes me nervous. And um,

Katie: 14:36

it's that sterile smell

Felipe: 14:37

that like white coat syndrome where you're like, oh no, a doctor and my blood pressure just goes up the roof. Uh, yeah. Sometimes I have to ask him like, can you redo that? I'm just a little nervous. But you know, I never really, how many times you're going to have to go and then later on in the pregnancy you have to go again and again and I just want you to come back in a week or just come back in a couple of weeks. And you know, depending on your job situation, you might have to start missing work, especially as the, the nonpregnant partner, you know, that doesn't mean you get to, so you might have to miss work, you got to drive up there. There's that commuting costs, there's, you know,$4$5,$10 worth of parking every time you go to depending on, you know, the parking situation there. And it all adds up

Sarah: 15:27

when, not to mention that, I mean, our insurance, thankfully we didn't have to pay per visit, but there's some insurances you have to pay every single time that you go see the doctor. So

Katie: 15:37

sure.

Sarah: 15:38

Imagine that being, what, five, 10$20. Thankfully we didn't have to pay every single time because for a while it was every six weeks and then it turned into once a month and then every two weeks and then twice a week. So it was like, and then at the very end it was three times a week.

Katie: 15:54

Oh, so that would add up real quick.

Crosstalk: 15:56

Yeah. Yeah.

Katie: 15:57

Even if you had a$20 Copay,

Felipe: 15:58

right

Katie: 15:59

So even$5

Sarah: 16:00

because you're also still paying for parking and gas, time away, all that stuff.

Katie: 16:06

Yeah. and as Felipe mentioned you may have to take time off of work, you may not get paid.

Sarah: 16:12

Exactly,

Katie: 16:12

and even speaking to that, are you having to be mindful of your sick and vacation time for when you do have the baby?

Felipe: 16:19

Oh, once you have the baby, they take up all your sick and vacation. I used to collect a lot of that, Katie, and let me tell you like, oh, I'm looking at him like, wow, I never used up that much and I haven't even gone on a trip. I used to collect it so I can go on a a week away somewhere. I know DC a lot of times, but it was, it was for fun. Now I use it. I mean I have a day off coming off for a doctor's appointment or for the baby and then I have another day off and a couple of weeks to go to a farm. Yes. That's a kindergarten field trips at a farm.

Katie: 16:57

I was going to say, where are you going?

Felipe: 17:00

It's a dairy farm actually quite interested now.

Sarah: 17:04

And our oldest being in kindergarten, he's getting sick from all the kids at school. So then he's getting the babies six. So it's just, yeah, sick time definitely is something that you really don't expect.

Katie: 17:16

And so then how about the doctor visits after baby's born? Is there now a copay for that?

Felipe: 17:22

There is. It's a copay now. Thankfully there's not as many and they start to, you know, there was a couple there early on, um, that, that you go to the, the first few months, but then after that it's a three month month increments. So it, it slowed down. And after having gone so many times during pregnancy, it just seems, it doesn't seem that bad anymore. The amount of times that you go, but that, that is a copay every single time you bring him to the doctor. Okay.

Katie: 17:47

Oh Wow. So we're in, in San Diego, oftentimes we're labeled as one of the most expensive states or cities to live in cost of having a baby. We ranked number 11.

Crosstalk: 17:59

Oh Wow.

Katie: 18:00

I know we're not even in the top 10

Felipe: 18:02

I could try and give, take a shot at some of those top 10 yeah.

Katie: 18:05

I was going to ask you, you guys have any guesses at top five most expensive states to have a baby states?

Sarah: 18:10

I would say New York first.

Katie: 18:12

It's actually not New York, but it is in the top five.

Felipe: 18:16

Okay. I know the top one. You mentioned it to me, so I won't guess, but I'll guess some of the other ones. Um hmm. Florida?

Sarah: 18:28

Texas?

Katie: 18:31

Neither Florida or Texas. Alaska is the most expensive state to have a baby currently in the United States.

Sarah: 18:37

That's crazy.

Katie: 18:37

With insurance, it's almost$11,000 wow.

Sarah: 18:42

With insurance?

Katie: 18:44

Yes.

Sarah: 18:45

Wow.

Katie: 18:45

Yes. Without insurance, a vaginal birth is$20,000

Sarah: 18:50

Oh my God.

Katie: 18:51

A C section without insurance is nearly$30,000

Felipe: 18:56

Oh wow.

Katie: 18:58

Any guesses for the five states where it's the most affordable to have a child in the United States?

Felipe: 19:04

MMM, Alabama.

Katie: 19:09

Alabama is the cheapest state

Felipe: 19:13

is it? Is it? the sunbelt? Are they are there, I was just wondering if it's like regions, obviously Alaska

Katie: 19:22

It's kind of all over the place. The top five most expensive Alaska, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

Felipe: 19:30

Yeah, I wouldn't have guessed a lot of those.

Sarah: 19:31

I would have, I was going to say Jersey. You were going to say Jersey. I was going with the New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts.

Katie: 19:40

Rounding out the most affordable states would be Arkansas, Utah, Louisiana, Nebraska at Rhode Island and Alabama. Wow. Interesting. It's really interesting.

Felipe: 19:50

Yeah, it is kind of all over the place.

Katie: 19:52

It, yeah, it just didn't seem like it. But um, I want to go to another topic two, which would be diet and nutrition. We talked a little bit about the prenatal vitamins, but there are a lot of foods. I was looking at the list of foods you cant eat when you're pregnant.

Sarah: 20:10

Correct. And just to add to that, I had gestational diabetes with both pregnancies, so I had to eat, um, add even more things that I was not able to eat.

Katie: 20:19

And is that an additional cost? Do you have additional medications or anything that you have to do?

Sarah: 20:25

I did have Additional medications that I had to take'em I had to get, uh, one of those sugar testers I had to, so that buying the machine, buying the testers strips are expensive, expensive.

Felipe: 20:41

And that's with insurance.

Sarah: 20:42

That's exactly what I was going to say. That was probably the most surprising charge. When they told me that, uh, total cost at the pharmacy, I said, can you run my insurance again? Because that can not be correct. It, it just surprised me

Felipe: 20:56

the first time I picked them up for her though. Like you realize there's a copay and I don't worry about it. I know there's a, there's always a copay. Like, do you know what the Copay is?$5. That's all my other copays are. These are generic. So maybe a$20. No, it was, I want to say it was$90

Katie: 21:15

just for the test strips?

Sarah: 21:16

it's just a set of three months.

Felipe: 21:19

A set of three months, so it was about 90. So it's not horrible, but that's a lot or no for a set of 90. And sometimes you check yourself a lot more than once a day, four times a day. So they go quick and I became friends with all the people at Walgreens like, hey guys, I'm back.

Katie: 21:36

And those test strips, correct me if I'm wrong, they expire. They did do. So it's not like you can save them from pregnancy number one and number two. Oh Wow. Okay. And just to clarify those numbers we were talking about before for having a baby and all those states, that's with having zero complications, not having gestational diabetes. Well some of the other ones not having the umbilical cord positioning be off any insight as

Felipe: 22:08

it's something where you know, life happens. And I always like when I present, I like to tell people life happens and having a baby is no different. It's not going to work out like you planned it all the time. I always laugh when people, I have a plan, it's going to go like this, like this and like this. And I good luck. Um, you know, cause even when you think you have a plan, you know, things can go a little sideways. And then we planned for the gestational diabetes. There's been very few times in my life when I ate that healthy. Um, but he ate so many vegetables, lots of vegetables. I had to, um, I was, I wasn't going to feed them to her. And then mostly my five year olds, I'm like, Hey, you forgot your broccoli. I sure did. So let me, let me go back and grab some.

Sarah: 22:59

And I think it was definitely hard for the five year old not having the ice cream, the cookies, the chips all in our house because it was hard on me. So if I didn't see it then it was easier for me.

Felipe: 23:09

So you got to go get those healthy veggies. You've got to go cook fresh catch, just microwave or food all the time.

Sarah: 23:16

Um, what, no hot pockets.

Felipe: 23:20

So it, it is an added expense to make a more conscious decision when you're out grocery shopping and maybe you go to a different grocery store, maybe you end up buying a higher end deli meats or things like that because, oh wow, I'm not going to feed. I don't know what's in that. You know, I can't pronounce half of the things in there. So,

Sarah: 23:43

and the deli meats are things you're not supposed to even be eating because of all the, the processed things. So unless it's completely heated to a certain temperature, you can't have certain cheeses. So you have to be conscious of that when you're purchasing the different things.

Katie: 23:59

Yeah, I feel like I'm going to have to just get my fill of sandwiches or something like that.

Felipe: 24:03

You got to get started

Sarah: 24:04

no more subways.

Katie: 24:05

Oh, okay. So maybe you guys can help us. People like me who want to have a family one day but are maybe just a little bit in sticker shock at the cost of having a kid. It seems like there are some things that are not necessary. Like you don't need to get the nicest stroller. It may help, especially since you have to get a new one every three months or so. But with toys and clothing or any other aspect of having a kid, are there areas where you don't maybe need to spend as much as society would maybe lead you to believe?

Sarah: 24:42

So what I was told when I was pregnant with my first one is anything that you get from your baby shower, return it and just buy baby diapers, baby formula and clothes as you need it. And I was like, oh, you're so silly. I need all the brand new stuff. First time mom, you know, I need everything. I need the diaper warmer or the wipe warmer. I need everything. And in a way, thinking back, he was kind of right when he told me that. It doesn't necessarily mean return every single thing. Sure. But it is something where you don't necessarily need, you got to think about the needs and the wants and the baby's not going to remember. Oh my gosh, she didn't get him the, the baby toys, that newborn stage. There are some things that you can hand create. Yeah. Different things.

Felipe: 25:27

It's something where it's like I see people buying like, Ooh, my newborn has the brand new, uh, Gucci bottles, Gucci bottles or something there. S

Katie: 25:38

Is this a real thing.

Sarah: 25:39

This is a real thing, I watched it on TV.

Felipe: 25:41

It's, it's definitely something. Or even like, Ooh, I bought him a new pair of Jordans or something like that. I was like, the baby doesn't need it. The baby doesn't walk. Uh, so that's more for the parents. It's things where you might be able to, a plain white onesie[inaudible] he's going to wear it for five minutes and you'd have to put him in another plain white onesie. Um, so they don't necessarily, you don't have to go out and get the brand name ones. He's because the baby doesn't care and babies are cute in pictures regardless of what they're wearing. So, um, you know, plus they usually have like a little bib on them because they've been eating or something. So not necessarily buying the higher end things, obviously when it comes to something like a car seat, but being a bit of a, maybe over-protective a person who's always nervous about safety. Yeah. Maybe that's somewhere where you might reach up a little higher than, than you would, you know, you're not going to go budget car seat necessarily if you don't have to, but on something like clothes on, something that's not safety related. Um, and always keep an eye out for recalls. There's always recalls on baby things.

Katie: 26:56

Always. There's a database you can sign up for I think

Felipe: 26:59

yeah plus there's the Twitter. Oh yeah. So I just subscribed to it but I don't remember the handle. Okay, thank you. Put that in our show notes. Yeah, exactly.

Katie: 27:11

Is there anything else you guys about having a baby? Like the cost that maybe caught you off guard or just, I dunno for people like me and sticker shock,

Felipe: 27:22

basically Katie saying warn me now.

Sarah: 27:26

I just think that it's, you know, it's never too, it's funny hearing couple of saying, you know what, we're not ready for babies. We are financially and I just think that if you are being realistic about it and you start kind of like really looking at things, you can be prepared. You're never really going to be 100% prepared financially. I think it's just kind of get yourself aware of the situation. Um, start looking at diaper's costs and formula and see how much, there's great things. Subscribing and save. We do that with baby formula is to try to save up some money. Oh, okay. Um, so you know, they do that with diapers. There's different ways. Target always has things where if you buy$75,$15 gift card and it seems silly, but you're going to end up spending on it. So it's, you know, that's definitely helpful. But I think the fact that the babies grow so fast was really eyeopening on how often you're really buying clothes and it's not something where once when they're a baby, it actually continues on and instead of just, they're growing, it's, they're growing and also they're wearing them down. Uh, the five year old, he's always coming home with ripped jeans. So you're constantly buying clothes, whether because they've outgrown them or they've ripped them or they've stained them or colored on them, it's just never changes on that.

Felipe: 28:46

It's a constant evolving thing and not just the baby, but the whole lifestyle of having a baby and, you know, a budget for some extra coffee here and there, um, for the sleepless nights. But you know, I think you can, you can definitely do some. You can definitely plan for it. You can definitely sit down and try and create that extra room in your budget. Um, you know, we didn't even go over what if someone has to move because all of a sudden the place they're at isn't big enough. Once baby gets older, um, you know,

Sarah: 29:19

we definitely need two bathrooms, that's for sure.

Felipe: 29:21

Yeah. Once the little, once you get little ones using the bathroom, they take forever and, and it's like, are you done buddy? I, I'm working on it. Okay. But you know, I, I have a buddy who is my best friend, he's six, five, so he needs to scoot his smaller car, uh, his driver's seat as far back as he can. I know you're married to your husband

Katie: 29:43

My husband is 6' 5"

Felipe: 29:43

exactly. So, you know, it's something where maybe that backwards facing car seat doesn't fit behind their back seat. Um, so are you going to have to, you know, get a bigger vehicle, maybe a small SUV or, or bigger car because all of a sudden the car seats don't fit back there. Um, you know, we went to Costco earlier and, uh, uh, Chase asked me, he's like, you got to put that in your trunk. And I was like, oh no, there's a car seat back there and a stroller and, and there's no room for, for water in the trunk. And I was just, it's going to go on price in my shotgun seat on the way home. You know? And it's just, it's, it's added expenses. It's fun though, Katie. You should go for it.

Katie: 30:36

It's in my future. I've just, it's kind of one of those things, like we were talking in our budgeting conversation the other day, I just wanted to make sure that I was not entering into something I couldn't afford.

Felipe: 30:46

Right. No, it's, and it's smart to look into it and, um, you know, obviously you can plan ahead, but sometimes it just happens and you weren't planning for it. And then, and then it's a matter of adjusting to your budget. Uh, you know, there's needs versus wants and maybe you make, uh, you move things around because now you have this added expense ready or not. Here it comes. And you know, in some situations it's not planned for and you still have to feed your baby. You still have to put your diapers on your baby. So what are you gonna do about it? And, and it comes to a point where you might have to make some tough decisions and say, you know, sorry, Hbo. There you go.

Katie: 31:30

I think it would be sorry AJ, HBO has to go.

Felipe: 31:35

You know, but there's, there's those expenses that we say or wants that perhaps at some point become, or we say that her needs, but at some point maybe come wants, because it's, you know, whether you're, you know, if, if the baby's coming, the baby's come in and you're going to have to make room for it in your budget one way or another. Um, you know, and if you don't make those sacrifices and you don't make those, I hate to call them sacrifices. But if you don't make those adjustments to your budget, um, it's going to be something where all of a sudden you're going to be over budget. And that's where people can get themselves into trouble. So those expenses, once the baby's coming, the expenses are coming with it. Um, and, and you know, it'll give you a few months to kind of prepare for the, the, the brunt of the storm. Uh, but, but you can, you can, as soon as you know, babies come in, you, you need to sit down and have an honest conversation and say, all right, what do we need? What do we need to adjust and, and how quickly can we do this? Did you kind of have a general timeline of, you know, that. And I, and I've had friends who, who, who's, um, last part of the pregnancy, baby baby might come early and you better be prepared for that. And you know, I've had friends who have had to, you know, leave work early earlier than they expected. And that's added lost income because, you know, she can't go to work. The doctor says, you know what, you're done working and, and then, then what do you do? So you always have to be prepared for the unexpected, but you know, you find deals on the things you have to buy, you know, go to the used stores. Um, ask friends such as friends. Yeah. You know, your friends have babies, you know, just say, hey, you know, can you say those for me? Um, especially if you find out that you're going to have a boy or girl and your friend has a boy or girl, hey, and if not, there's those neutral color ones. All the white ones, he's, I'll take them.

Katie: 33:45

So if anybody has extra white onesies, Felipe and Sarah, would appreciate it,

Felipe: 33:51

Exactly 12 months old now

Sarah: 33:54

I'll pass some along. Don't worry. I share the wealth.

Katie: 33:57

So I think that would be the biggest takeaway then is that don't get stuck on like the big price and just take it day by day. Figure out what exactly do you need in order for your baby to survive and for you to provide for your baby. But beyond that,

Sarah: 34:14

And remember that$48,000 is not going to be all at once. It's going to be spread out. So it's not going to very overwhelming, very overwhelming when you see the total cost, but it's not all at once. So that makes it a little bit easier to kind of handle

Katie: 34:31

and you're absolutely right because part of that cost to as factoring rent and that's something that I'm going to continue to pay. Whether or not there's three people in my family or two, yeah, I may have to upgrade and get an extra bathroom. All right, perfect. Well thank you so much Sarah for joining us on our show today and Felipe and Sarah for being so open and honest about baby finances.

Felipe: 34:54

I hope we didn't scare you. Katie.

Katie: 34:57

Oh no, I still want three kids.

Felipe: 34:58

Oh Wow. You're brave Two is a, two's enough.

Sarah: 35:05

I look forward to the baby dates.

Katie: 35:07

Well I always wanted three Because I, I kind of grew up more with like three and when it dropped it too, it was awful. Like when it was three it was like more of a fun group kind of dynamic. And when it dropped it too, it was more of me versus here. Yeah.

Sarah: 35:23

So what you're saying is we should go for the third.

Katie: 35:28

Yes, you too.

Sarah: 35:30

I'll start financially planning for this. Thank you Katie.

Katie: 35:34

Thank you.

Chase: 35:36

I told you, I told you guys, Katie, great job with Sarah. Phil. Phil, you are amazing. Thank you. It made me feel like when I was listening to that, it made me remember what it was like when the kids were really small. And you know, the fact that when my son was born, we had everything from the booby buddy and all these little razor warmers and with poor Avery when we had Avery nothing, she got a second one, gets nothing. We literally had nothing. And it was funny because when we did the, you know, we barely had a shower for Avery the second time and I remember we just, it was baby wipes and diapers and you know, we were really lucky that we, my wife breastfed very easily and we didn't need formulas, which for most people, that's not the case. We were really lucky that way. Um, but we just, it was less stuff and it was more diapers that really helped us, uh, get through all that.

Sarah: 36:38

Yeah, it's, it was, it was a fun, it's fun interview having, I've been doing this for awhile and I use my wife as examples a lot of times during presentations when we're out there in the community talking to youth, talking to military. But having her sitting next to me is, oh, that was fun. It was different.

Chase: 36:54

Yeah, that was great. I hope, I hope our listeners learned a lot from it and I'm sure that we will have others coming back. In fact, I think there's going to be another podcast about as they grow up, uh, because you can't wait until you don't have daycare anymore, which, which they touched on a little bit and we'll talk about daycare and more future. It doesn't get any cheaper folks. Trust me. Kids do not as the father right now of a, an 11, almost 11 year old and a just turned nine year old. Uh, yeah, there's all kinds of activities and stuff. But, uh, take the place of daycare and if not the travel that goes with sport. Oh, starting to see that we're going to talk. Yeah. Five literally exists the beginning of my friend. Do you wait til you start travel sports? I'm going to miss t ball coming up next week. Uh, it, this is going to be a great one. Uh, financial infidelity. Now, I think we all are familiar with what infidelity is, right? Hopefully nobody that I know has to go through with it through that, but I'm sure, um, our listeners and they've all gone through that. But what is financial infidelity? We in the financial world and what we do for a living, we, we hear about it. You see it can see it all the time, but we're going to talk to an expert about that coming up next week. So don't miss it. Financial infidelity on podcast number four. See you next week.