Category: Baby Expenses

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Baby Expenses

Cribs and Bassinets – Baby Expenses V

The post is part of the Baby Expenses Series. See the entire series here.

This is a list of items that either we used or things that I know people typically get with a new baby – I’ve indicated whether I think it’s mandatory and the timing of when you need it. I’ll put an approximate price for new items which is generally on the lower end – you can spend much more if you want. I’ve split it up into a number of posts which is in keeping with my tradition of not having excessively long posts.

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Crib – mandatory
Not much explanation necessary except that some cribs also convert into beds which will extend their useable life. [EDIT] As Brip Brap pointed out in the comments, try to get a crib where the side is quiet and easy to lower and raise. This makes a huge difference with most babies. [EDIT]

When: Sometime between birth to about six months depending on when you want to put the baby in the crib. We started using a crib around the 3-4 month age. Some people put the kid in the crib right away. I think the reason a lot of people don’t use the crib from the beginning is because if you are breast feeding then in the first month or two there will be many late feedings and it’s easier to get the kid out of a bassinet or basket or side bed rather than a crib.

Do not put the child in bed with you. The risk of SIDs is higher, you won’t sleep as well and as one of my friends found out, if you try to take a kid who’s used to sleeping with his parents for several months and put him in a crib – he won’t be happy!

Cost: Zellers has a basic crib for $129 and a mattress for $50. You also need a couple of mattress sheets. We paid about $300 at the Bay for a rather nice looking one (on sale) plus about $100 for a mattress. Part of this was paid for with a gift certificate we received and the remainder from my mom 🙂. Just so you know, we went through the hassle of getting two hand-me-down cribs but one of them didn’t have any hardware and the other one was broken and you couldn’t lower the side properly. After that we decided to buy a new one. We also paid about $35 dollars for delivery. The box that the crib comes in is fairly large and it wouldn’t fit in my smallish suv only because I couldn’t put the full backseat down because of the car seat. This might be a good reason to get the crib (if you buy new) before installing the car seat. If you buy a used one then make sure it fits the new standards and isn’t too old (should be build in 1986 or later).

Bassinet or co-sleeper

A bassinet is basically a small bed (or cradle) which you can put on the floor beside the bed. A co-sleeper is kind of like a crib with one side open. They are set to the same height as the bed and make for very easy access to the baby. We didn’t have either of these because we borrowed a basket which had a foam layer on the bottom from some friends. It was pretty good because it had a handle and you could carry him around in it if necessary. This is one area where you really don’t need to spend much if you don’t want to. The first few months the kid can’t move so any kind of container (cardboard box?) will do. In my case I was an unexpected twin so I spent my first few months in a drawer lined with blankets and I turned out just fine (I think).

When: Immediately. Whatever you end up using, you should have this prepared before the birth.

Cost: $50 for bassinet, $200 for co-sleeper, an old drawer…priceless!

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Car Seats and Strollers – Baby Expenses IV

The post is part of the Baby Expenses Series. See the entire series here.

This post starts a list of items that either we used or things that I know people typically get with a new baby – I’ve indicated whether I think it’s mandatory and the timing of when you need it. I’ll put an approximate price for new items which is generally on the lower end – you can spend much more if you want. I’ve split it up into a number of posts which is in keeping with my tradition of not having excessively long posts.

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Car seat and Stroller – mandatory:

We bought a car seat / stroller combination for about $300 from Zellers which worked very well for us. Basically the car seat clicks into the base which is installed in your car and it also clicks into the stroller. The benefit of this system is that you can strap junior into the car seat inside your house, bundle him up if necessary and then carry him out to the car or the stroller. If you are going somewhere, you can take the seat out of the car and the baby can just stay in the seat while you are shopping or visiting. One of the downsides of the newborn car seat is that it will get outgrown in the first year.

This type of stroller is quite large so we just keep it at home since it takes up a large portion of the trunk. It’s great for grocery shopping and walks around the neighbourhood. We also bought an umbrella stroller for $14 from the Bay which we keep in the car. Check the age on any stroller you buy – umbrella strollers can’t be used with newborns for example. They have to be about 3-4 months old and be able to keep their heads up.

There are many options for strollers/car seats. A lot of people buy them separate which is fine – I’m not sure if one option is better than the other although buying them separately will give you more choice of strollers. You can buy a jogging stroller if you are always on the move. One thing about newborn strollers is that you can spend anywhere from $100 to around $600 or $700 for a deluxe one and then spend a lot more on the extras (rain cover etc). Personally I don’t see the value in spending more than you have to on a stroller since they all do the same basic job. Car seats can be purchased used but they can’t have been involved in a car accident or be more than six years old, so this might be an area where you might want to just buy it new unless you can be certain of the age and condition of the seat you are buying.

You can also buy a car seat which will be used from zero years to several years old (second car seat) but the downside is that you have to strap the kid into the seat in the car which is harder to do with a newborn. For a winter baby especially, it’s easier to bundle him/her up inside the house and then carry the car seat out to the car. Financially it’s cheaper to just buy the second car seat right from the beginning.

When: You need the car seat to bring the kid home from the hospital so this should be a top priority. I recommend getting the police to inspect the installation and that will take some time. They have events organized where you can bring the car with the seat installed and they will basically reinstall it for you. If you can’t get it inspected before the child is born then do it after – better late then never. Always install the seat where there is no air bag in front of it. The stroller should be purchased before birth as well because you’ll probably need it fairly soon once the child arrives.

Cost: Total cost for stroller, car seat, and umbrella stroller – $325.

Second car seat – mandatory:

Depending on how fast your kid grows, she will outgrow the first car seat sometime in the first year. The second car seat will last a lot longer since it can be rear-facing, forward facing and also act as a booster seat. This installation can also be inspected. I would suggest trying to get the type of seat where you can adjust the top strap height without taking out the car seat since that is a lot of work.

When: Sometime in the first year.

Cost: We paid $230 at Sears.

For more information on car seats, check out the Ontario Government website on the subject.

There are too many options when it comes to car seats and strollers and it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the choices. Bottom line is they all do the same thing so don’t worry too much about making the perfect choice.

In the next post I’ll talk about cribs and bassinets and co-sleepers.

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Mistakes for New Parents to Avoid

The post is part of the Baby Expenses Series. See the entire series here.

So you’re having a baby! Congratulations, as a father of a one year old boy I can tell you that it’s a very exciting, fun, stressful and difficult time but it’s definitely worth it.

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Having a baby will most definitely make a difference to your family budget, but you can reduce the impact by being organized, knowing what items you need and when you need them and by obtaining used items instead of new.

One of the first things that a lot of couples do when they find out they are having a baby is they start setting up a baby room and buying clothes, toys etc. This could involve cleaning out an office or storage room, painting etc. It also means making a list of items that will be necessary for the baby and then going out and buying them.

Some of the mistakes that people make are as follows:

1. Buy too many items – If you go shopping at a large retailer or baby store you might notice that along with the standard crib and high chair that your parents probably raised you with, you can spend thousands of dollars on additional items that may or may not be of good value.This is something that is hard to avoid because a lot of couples – especially the mother-to-be want to do everything they can to be ready when the baby comes.The problem is that if they spend too much time thinking about baby stuff then they will end up buying way too much junk because they are afraid to leave anything out.Best advice here is – stay out of the damn baby stores!I don’t care how frugal you are or if your heart is made of steel, you won’t be able to resist the lure of buying a funky outfit, a cute hat, cool shoes, t-shirts with funny sayings or logos of your favourite hockey team, “educational toys”, kids books, sunglasses, diaper wipes warmer (yes, there is such a thing!).Going into those stores is like flirting with the Borg – resistance is futile!

2. Buy everything new – This is definitely a big mistake. We were fortunate enough to be able to get most of our clothes and a few bigger items from various friends who had older children. If you can get hand-me-downs for free or buy items used, you will save a lot of money.If you don’t like the idea of your child wearing someone else’s used clothes then get over it – once you see what your child does to those clothes and how it all washes out then you won’t worry about it.I would estimate that you can buy everything you need second hand for probably 10-20% of retail value which is a huge savings.And if you can get some of the items for free, then you will save even more.

3. Buy things in a hurry – Even if you decide to buy everything new, you can still find bargains if you take your time and don’t do one hurried shopping spree the day after the child is born. If you want to buy used items or get them from friends or relatives then you need to take the time to do this properly. There are a lot of items that you’ll need for the baby’s first year that you won’t need when the baby is first born so take the time to figure out what you need in the beginning and go from there.

4. Don’t make good use of goodwill – One thing you’ll probably notice is that friends/co-workers/neighbours and especially relatives will want to help out. This could come in the form of items they don’t need anymore so get the word out! Also – these requests often come towards the end of the pregnancy so if you are going to buy retail – don’t buy it too early. Keep a list of what you need/want – that way you can make the best use of things like showers and grandparents who want to help. If there is a shower for you and you don’t give any guidance as to what to buy then you will end up with a whole bunch of cute dress up outfits complete with tap dancing shoes which might never get worn.

5. Spend too much time & money renovating the baby room -If the new baby room has old paint of a colour you don’t like and the floor is a bit worn then go ahead and fix them if you want – however keep in mind that the best place for a newborn baby is in the parent’s room but not in the bed.Different parents will do this differently but we had our son in a basket on the floor beside our bed for about three months.Then we set up the crib beside our bed and he slept there for about two months after which we moved him to his own room.The only time we went into his room during the first five months was to get his clothes.Even once he started sleeping there, neither of us spent much time in the room with him unless we were trying to get him asleep.It’s definitely not a waste of time to paint/fix up the baby’s room but if time is an issue then don’t bother with it.Your baby won’t care and it won’t affect your parenting.

In the next few posts I’ll go through all the items that I think are essential as well as the nice-to-have items.

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Dealing With Less Income – Baby Expenses II

The post is part of the Baby Expenses Series. See the entire series here.

This baby post was unplanned (pardon the pun) – it resulted from a comment left on yesterday’s post.

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Money Gardener left a comment in yesterday’s post asking how I handled the lack of income while I was on parental leave – quick answer is “not very well” 🙂.

The good news is that it was more or less temporary because I got a “top up” from work during my time off, the only catch is that I didn’t get the money until I went back to work but taking a short term loan to cover was not expensive. Between getting EI benefits and the top up (100%) I ended up getting full pay although I had to wait a while to receive it all.

 

A more typical scenario involves the mother taking a big financial hit by not getting paid for a year except for EI payments. Even if they get a top up from work, usually it only lasts for a fraction of the maternity leave. For dad to take even a month off at no pay (I’m assuming no top up), it might be pretty tough. Unfortunately there is no easy way to handle this.

 

Although it’s different for every family, this is the one time I would suggest that taking on some debt to cover a short unpaid parental leave (say one month) might be worth it. My reasoning for this is that you won’t get too many opportunities to take parental leave so you should try to take advantage of it. Once both parents are back at work then they will be getting their full pay (minus daycare) so the extra debt can be dealt with then. Obviously if your finances aren’t very strong to begin with then this might not be a good idea.

Most of my friends who had similar situations basically cut back expenses as much as they could, borrowed if they had to, even cashed in some rrsps if necessary (this isn’t such bad strategy if mom’s income is low for that year, although it should be avoided if possible). I also know people where the mother had to go back to work early because they couldn’t afford the one year maternity leave.

My best advice for couples who are thinking about having kids sometime in the future is to work on improving your finances as much as you can. The better shape your finances are in, then the more options you have when it comes to things like maternity leave and parental leave.
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Maternity and Parental Leave – Baby Expenses I

The post is part of the Baby Expenses Series. See the entire series here.

In Canada, new mothers are allowed by law to take 52 weeks off from their jobs. This time off is called maternity leave. During that period they are eligible for employment insurance (EI) benefits which are calculated as 55% of their normal earnings up to a maximum salary of $40,000. Some companies also offer a “top up” which usually involves paying the difference between what the mother gets from EI and some percentage of their normal salary. The top up amount and duration will vary from company to company – I’d be interested to hear what your company offers?

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New fathers are allowed to take up to 37 weeks off which is called parental leave however the EI benefits that are paid out have to be shared between the mother and father so they can’t both collect EI benefits at the same time. In my case my wife didn’t qualify for EI since she wasn’t working so I was able to collect EI benefits when I took my parental leave. The “top up” feature available to new mothers at some companies is also available to new fathers in some cases. At my company, most dads don’t get any EI since their wife gets all the EI benefits so their top up is calculated as though they were getting EI.

One misconception which I’ve heard from a number of my friends is that the time off has to be shared between the two parents and can’t total more than a year – this is not true, only the EI benefits have to be shared.

The EI benefits is calculated as 55% of the mother’s salary up to a salary of $40,000. The first two weeks of the maternity leave are unpaid so the EI benefits actually start on the the third week. My salary is more than $40k so I received the maximum benefit which is $413 per week. The actual payment after tax ($48) was $778 which I received every two weeks. In my case the withholding tax wasn’t enough but I think my company adjusted for it because I didn’t owe anything at tax time. You should keep in mind that you might end up owing some money at tax time because of this. You can get the withholding tax increased if desired.

The way to apply for EI is to go online at here. This contains all the steps you need. It also contains a link to the Quebec parental insurance plan which is different than for the other provinces. Basically you go online and fill out the required information and they will send you a pin number which will allow you to go here and see your online information. One of the items you will need from your employer is a form called “Record of Employment” which basically lists your financial employment for the past year. I went into my local Service Canada Centre when I got this form in order to complete my application. Applying for EI is not something you can do in advance, you have to wait until you have finished work before applying.

Something to keep in mind is that it will take about four to six weeks to get your first EI benefit deposited into your bank account, so don’t count on getting any money right away. Usually once you start getting them, you’ll get two or even three payments right away and then every two weeks after that.

When I was receiving EI benefits, I used the reporting feature of the online account to fill out my report every two weeks. This report basically says that you aren’t looking for work, are still not working etc. However in researching this post I realized that you can sign a declaration of exemption when applying which means you don’t have to fill out the reports every two weeks.

Tomorrow, I’ll be starting a series of posts where I take a look at the essential items that new parents should have.

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