I think there a lot of MM things to do pre-baby

[Deleted]

and not many people think about them and/or wait til the baby is on the way and then freak out

1-Find out how much your Dr visits and approximate out of pocket costs will be for delivery
2-Determine if you'll have any income for maternity leave or set up an account to save for that time.
3-Check out the average cost of childcare/daycare in your area
4-Figure out how much your health insurance premiums will change adding a child

What else?

[chessie]

Start up costs, items you need and save for them (assume wont have a shower-so at least have the funds)
Start up costs to get the house safe for a baby.
Daycare costs
Babysitter costs for date night, etc..
Maternity leave costs
Added insurance costs
Addition to budget (diapers, formula, food, other items..)

[mrshandy]

Research daycare costs is the #1 thing

[satama]

This isn't a must do, but we researched different 529s. I think it is a good idea to have a seperate " baby fund " too. Not necessary but it feels better to me to buy baby stuff from money set aside for them rather than from our general savings.

[megs193]

We knew that I was going to stay home for the first few years of our child's life so we starting living off of my DH's income only once I got pregnant. We were able to save a lot of money and prove to ourselves that we could actually live off one income.

[MamaMaui24]

Life insurance

[Deleted]

May 31, 2012 12:21:48 GMT -5 mrshandy said:

Research daycare costs is the #1 thing

honestly, that was it for me. I have great work benefits, so I had little lost income. Doctor visits and deliver cost me nothing out of pocket (which is typical for Canada). Start up costs were just rolled into monthly spending and weren't significant. Baby costs for the first year were not significant (lots of second hand clothes, cloth diapers, and boob juice).

Daycare is the first real MM impact this kid has had on my life.

The most important thing we did pre-baby was take a fun vacation: go to Six Flags, and drink French beer.

[Deleted]

Here was my list: find out my organization's maternity leave policy, purchase short term disability insurance to supplement my income, try to guestimate what our out of pocket medical expense would be and make sure we have the necessary funds available, figure it what our anticipated start up costs would be and save for them, figure out a cost range for daycare and work it into our monthy budget (we actually started setting aside $800/month- which will be our daycare amount- as baby-fund savings once I found out I was pregnant. It's helped us ease into the tighter post-baby budget). Evaluate our life insurance benefits. Also on my list this summer: wills, living wills, custody in case the worst, etc.

DH and I are nth over-planning spreadsheeters. But knowing we have all this stuff in place or on the list goes a long way in easig my anxiety.

I see how unprepared many of the women on my BMB are and I cringe. Obviously it is possible to successfully raise a child without all of these things in place but *I* personally couldn't do it.

[Deleted]

life insurance and wills--good MM ones--I wonder what % of parents (average--outside of MM) actually do this?

[Deleted]

About half of pregnancies are unplanned.

And then plenty of planned pregnancies are not planned well.

So I would say very few people actually do any of these things before making a baby.

[chessie]

May 31, 2012 12:41:34 GMT -5 flygirl said:

life insurance and wills--good MM ones--I wonder what % of parents (average--outside of MM) actually do this?

Good one, will add this to my long list of have to before kids..

[badtzmaru22]

One thing I researched was the cost of diapers, so I could find the best prices. I was not expecting to be gifted a pack of Dollar General diapers, which are awesome as it turns out, and half the price of Pampers! I hope they continue to work well for DD as she grows, but they're great for now. So my MM advice is to hope someone throws your H a diaper party so you can try a bunch of different brands, or buy a few kinds on your own and experiment.

[Deleted]

Life insurance quotes.

I am so thankful that I got life insurance right at the beginning of my pregnancy. I had lost weight and it was before my blood pressure problems started. I now have chronic blood pressure problems, so getting life insurance now would be $$$.

[Deleted]

May 31, 2012 12:46:23 GMT -5 chessie said:

May 31, 2012 12:41:34 GMT -5 flygirl said:

life insurance and wills--good MM ones--I wonder what % of parents (average--outside of MM) actually do this?

Good one, will add this to my long list of have to before kids..

We just recently did this and realzied that you don't just need a will, you need a trust to make things as easy as possible.

[Deleted]

May 31, 2012 12:46:23 GMT -5 chessie said:

May 31, 2012 12:41:34 GMT -5 flygirl said:

life insurance and wills--good MM ones--I wonder what % of parents (average--outside of MM) actually do this?

Good one, will add this to my long list of have to before kids..

This is a huge bone of contention in my house. My DH thinks life insurance is a scam and refuses to look for a policy outside of the one he has through work (which dissolves if he leaves his curren employer). I come from a long line of people who believe on life insurance and am terrified abou being left with a mortgage and baby I can't support on my salary alone. It'll be a battle this summer, but we both need to carry WAY more life insurance than we currently do.

[ssmjlm]

May 31, 2012 12:59:39 GMT -5 dbsk8dance said:

May 31, 2012 12:46:23 GMT -5 chessie said:

Good one, will add this to my long list of have to before kids..

We just recently did this and realzied that you don't just need a will, you need a trust to make things as easy as possible.

We already have wills, but yes, will need to update for a child.