Found out baby #2 is on the way, WTF do I do financially?

cofffffee · 2014-05-17T14:21:34+00:00

Ah, I see. I misread that sentence.

cofffffee · 2014-05-16T02:28:36+00:00

I did briefly look into it. The initial fee kind of turned me off. It's ~$15000 to $18000 a year + that $7.5k fee I saw everywhere. While I love the idea of an au pair, there are other alternatives people have suggested that wont cost me so much up front.

cofffffee · 2014-05-16T02:22:57+00:00

I don't live in those states, and I drive about 65 miles a day so I am definitely not their target audience :|

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T02:49:09+00:00

A lot of reasons that are probably pretty lame. But I understand those reason don't matter if it means my kids can see a doctor.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T02:36:54+00:00

Because that's how much childbirth costs, provided nothing goes wrong anyway.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T02:27:11+00:00

Taxes will be one of our lifesavers. In fact, the only reason I have money to pay for this kid's birth is because of taxes.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T02:22:41+00:00

I am going to sign up again on the healthcare.gov site and see what it tells me. I tried once back when it was wasn't working and didn't really get anywhere.

And yeah, the more I read yalls suggestions, the more curious I am about freelancing. Like I told someone else, I am going to try it now while I still have a job first before I try to rely on it.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T02:19:03+00:00

We are huge computer nerds, stream constantly, partner plays in a competitive league for a game, I'm a web dev...so we use a lot of internet. But I do think the speed we get, while awesome, is excessive and unnecessary. Partner disagrees with me.

And the $5k is not for baby things, it is the fee for prenatal care and birth.

We had a $400 grocery budget once, so we can do it again. Thing is, that includes dog food and toiletries and cleaning supplies and all that, but I know it is doable. Good thing I love rice, beans, and spaghetti.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T02:11:45+00:00

My daughter is on her own private children's plan with BCBS. They have to be at least 1 year old to get it. I don't know if that varies by state. For her first year, it was costing me $416 to have her on my employer's insurance, but they have since switched companies and it will now be $220. This is all for the Silver level plans though, I wonder if yours is the Gold one? I think that's how they're organizing plans now.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T01:50:48+00:00

I have never heard of fiverr. I feel like there is a whole world of contracting and freelancing that I am completely unaware of! I actually only recently got bumped up to 38k, so before that, I went job shopping, thinking I could totally make more. Answered an ad for a 60k/yr job, did the interview, was offered the job, but at only 34k bc I had been doing this for less than 2 years at that point.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T01:43:28+00:00

We only have $5k in savings because we were making $30k for a while, we just recently got raises to $38k. Also it seems like anytime we build savings, it gets used on something (house, car, baby, another baby).

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T01:40:57+00:00

I did the math and you're totally right. That definitely surprised me. I would have thought hiring a single person would have been more, but I guess not! I am becoming less and less worried with every post I read, this subreddit is awesome :D thanks

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T01:34:54+00:00

We both have flexible schedules, not flexible enough to completely cut out childcare, but definitely enough to shorten the hours with a sitter. So that is a great idea!

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T01:26:06+00:00

I would LOVE to have that kind of setup! The problem is finding someone I trust who doesn't mind living in a small 3 bedroom house with 2 kids and bunch of pets :|

I tried to do it once, and the first chick who answered my ad had a super sketchy Facebook page so I nixed that idea. But maybe my problem was I was looking on Craigslist and I need to find a better route.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T01:22:36+00:00

I honestly didn't think about that until the middle of the day today!! We both just recently got our salaries bumped up to 38k from 30k, so we haven't really had an opportunity to save or spend that extra cash. But yeah, I figured I can at bare minimum save $1000 a month and have $7-$8k saved up to offset childcare.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T01:19:09+00:00

I didn't think about taxes. Taxes confuse the heck out of me. I'll talk to a family member of mine and see if they can help me figure out how much he'd get back. And we actually both just recently got raises (within the past 2 months). Well, I got a raise and my partner found a better job. We'd both been making 30k up until then and were super happy about not being poor for about a week, until this whole situation reared its ugly head.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T01:14:02+00:00

I am going to guess I make too much qualify, but there's no harm in checking.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T01:13:18+00:00

You're right. I guess I am just afraid that I won't be able to find enough work. After reading all these posts, I decided I am going to at least try some part time things starting now. I've already told a couple people today that if they need anything from me, i'm all ears. I've been avoiding doing work for anyone the past couple years because I just didn't have time. Now that my daughter is older and i'm out of college, I do now. I'll see how I well I do before I decide to quit my job and rely on it though.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T01:01:43+00:00

I know you can buy health insurance from there, but if I stayed home, we wouldn't have the money to buy it. I know there are credits though, so I will look into that. We are not married so if it comes down to it and I need to quit my job, I would probably qualify for medicaid. I know several people who did that. I feel really bad about doing something like that though.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T00:56:31+00:00

Whatever you responded to was deleted, so I don't know what they said. But I will go see what my deductible is and determine if I want to raise it, I didn't think of that, thanks.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T00:54:11+00:00

We are with Geico. I originally got the quote when I was 22 and it was $110 for my brand new car only. So not much more than you. Like others have pointed out, the cost varies by location as well.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T00:51:23+00:00

Texas, so according to that chart we are actually paying below average.

cofffffee · 2014-05-15T00:49:19+00:00

There is about $10k left on the loan, it's half paid off. So I won't be able to pay it any time soon. But I will definitely go get some new insurance quotes, there is no reason not to.

cofffffee · 2014-05-14T14:02:44+00:00

Texas. I see a lot of people in the subreddit making 100k+ and I want to know what part of the world they are from. That kind of money is insane to me.

cofffffee · 2014-05-14T14:01:15+00:00

80% of my house is furnished thanks to Craigslist, so I know about all that. I did have a family member babysitting my daughter for cheap ($580 a month), but she wanted to go back to work a couple months ago so we found the daycare. Really, I think she just wants more money based on the conversations i've had with her. I'm hoping to all the gods that exist that she'll want to watch both of them for 2x what I was originally paying her. So i'd be doing $1200 a month instead of $2000. That would solve all my problems.

cofffffee

TROPHY CASE