Money makeover: Can we afford to have a baby?

The couples reaction

Breanne: “We now know how to reach our overall goal of having a baby instead of letting things ‘just happen.’ Tina helped us figure out a better way to talk to each other, and Carmen helped us financially prepare ourselves for the family we’d like to have. We made the life map Tina suggested. We still need to get more detailed on how to attack the goals we’ve listed, but just sitting down to discuss them was helpful. We’ve also started paying off the highest-interest credit card first. I’ve looked into some online savings accounts that offer a higher interest rate than our current accounts do. I also started doing more bill payments online, which I like because I no longer worry about my payments arriving late.”

Larry:”Carmen’s and Tina’s advice opened my eyes to our situation. We’ve really been going along just reacting to things that pop up instead of laying out a plan to get ahead. Tina helped us open up to each other about what we would like to see in our future. We’ve talked about how we want to reach our dreams and have set up doable time frames. I’ve started to get more involved in bill paying and I’ve rearranged my priorities a bit. I’m going to start my 401(k), too. It was good to talk to Breanne about what we want in the future, and we are getting along better now that we are talking about things more.”

Update from Breanne

We aren’t using our credit cards anymore, although we do use our debit card because it’s easier than writing a check (but it doesn’t really count since we can only spend what we have in our checking). Larry just got a promotion at work this week, so that was some exciting news and will help our budget to come. We are basically paying minimum payments on all our cards except one, which we are paying about $200 extra on, so we are starting to see a small dent in our debt, which is wonderful. We are also on budget billing for our electric and gas utilities and have agreed to conserve energy, so that’s begun to lower our utility bills slightly. Also, before we stop at a gas station for a soda, we stop and think first. If we are headed home, we’ll just wait and have a drink there now, which is saving a little money. Unfortunately we just can’t downsize to one vehicle; we really do need a car for each of us. We are grouping our errands together still to save gas that way.

As for our relationship, we are sitting down and talking a lot more than we used to. We’ve even gone on a couple of dates, which don’t have to cost a lot if you look around for cheap things to do. We are closer now, and have our goals in mind and our treasure map to keep us in check.

We really appreciate all the help and advice that was given to us and feel like we are right on track to start expanding our family soon, and we won’t have the stress of extra debt hanging over our heads when we do.

Update from Larry

Since we have talked to the experts I think things have been going better here. For starters I have been promoted at my job, which is very helpful for our finances. This new raise will certainly help to pay off some of the debt quicker. Unfortunately, the fact that we have two cars is basically a must for this area, because of our jobs and the schedules we work. With the pace we are at I still feel it will be at least a year before we are comfortable financially having a baby. I think Breanne and myself are more open to each other about our financial status and the goals that we have to prepare for a baby.

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Reprinted with Permission of Hearst Communications, Inc. Originally Published: Money Makeover: “Can we afford to have a baby?”