First come love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage and a tighter budget!

I was trying to be creative with my title but seeing as I am falling asleep and my allergies are kicking me in the butt that is all I could come up with at the time.

Ever since we became pregnant my mind has been in a totally different ballpark. I now have daily things on my mind such as the health and safe being of our little girl, what she will need, and making sure everything is in order for her as she is born. Along with the endless thoughts a tighter budget has also been on my mind. I want our baby to have a great future. We already started talking about college funds, preschool, activities....yeah I know we may be jumping the gun a little fast but I am a HUGE control freak and I have to have things somewhat researched and prepared.

So with all that talk....our budget came next. Before the baby it was just "us". Now that we have a baby in the picture I want to provide the best for her so we are making sure we don't just spend to spend money anymore. I never have been a savvy shopper when it comes to food and gas but starting now I need to be more on top of things like that. I have decided that creating a baby budget will help us with all the extra costs involved in having a baby....first stop.....to stop buying for the baby because its cute!!

Ever since finding out we are having a girl we have been buying what ever strikes our eye...thing is if we don't stop now there will be nothing for anyone to buy off our registry. First person I need to get on board is my lovely wife who so happened to convince me to buy her two more pair of shoes tonight...ARG!

SO besides getting our budget ready here is a "list" I found to help us get on the "right" track.

Preschool

We would like to put her in preschool at age 3 to help with developmental skills. We want her to interact with other kids on a daily basis and get to know life outside of just her family. 

HEALTH INSURANCE

Bye bye “Individual +1” health plan. Hello “Family Plan.” This means our deductible with be $3,000 and monthly cost will go to $70 a month. I know really good insurance.

FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNT 

Need to look into starting one of these accounts to help with co-pays and unexpected "medical" expenses.

LIFE INSURANCE

Got one in place but I need to look at getting it increased in case anything was to happen there would be enough money.

WRITING A WILL

We really, REALLY need to work on setting up a will and getting it certified with our attorney. 

COLLEGE SAVINGS

The only thing more frightening than imagining our itsy bitsy Baby Girl as a college-aged young woman (who will still wear turtlenecks all day, every day per Sarah's orders) is how much her tuition will cost. And while we haven’t yet figured out how much (if any) she’ll be expected to contribute to her own education, we’d like to start saving to cover 100% of tuition. That means it’s time to figure out all the specifics of 529 plans and the amount we’ll need to set aside for tuition plus inflation starting as soon as she is born.

Ok, I know this is a bit extreme but for me this is how I cope with the many changes that are soon to come. The many changes I would never trade for the world!