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Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

Make Sure You Set Aside Money for These March Expenses

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One of the hardest parts of trying to develop and maintain a budget is the irregular expenses.  You might have a $600 car insurance payment that is only due twice a year.  Some people budget for these by setting aside a little money each month for each irregular expense, while others choose to face them as they come.  If you use the latter strategy, make sure you set aside money for these March expenses.

Make Sure You Set Aside Money for These March Expenses

Bookkeeper and Accountant

Ah, tax time.  The procrastinators among us have less than a month to get our taxes filed.  If you own your own business, you will likely have bookkeeping expenses.  Then, you’ll need to pay the accountant to file your taxes.  This can quickly add up to several hundred dollars.  Many people forget to budget for this expense because it only happens once a year.  (And let’s face it, for the rest of the year, many of us want to forget all about filing income taxes.)

Taxes

And then there are the taxes themselves.  Sure, many individuals break even or get a refund, but for those of us who don’t, we’ll need to pony up and pay anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars to the federal government.  As tax situations vary yearly, there’s really no way to adequately estimate how much these taxes will be ahead of time.

Easter

Make Sure You Set Aside Money for These March
Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

Easter is in April this year, and it brings with it many small expenses.  You may need to buy new clothes for the Easter religious service, and then, of course, there’s all the candy to fill the Easter baskets.  Although Easter never seems like it should be an expensive holiday to me, I’m always surprised by how much we spend on this holiday.

High School Special Expenses

Spring brings so many expenses for high school students, especially upper classmen.

Prom

Make Sure You Set Aside Money for These March
Photo by Tai’s Captures on Unsplash

Prom will be fast approaching.  Now is a good time to determine how much money you will contribute to your child’s prom.  Will you buy the tickets?  Buy the dress or rent the tux?  Pay for the dinner out?  How much do you expect your child to pay for, or will you pay for everything?

ACTs and SATs

If your child is college bound, she will likely be taking either the ACT, SAT or PSAT this spring.  You’ll likely be paying between $20 and $60 for each of these tests.  You’ll want to have money set aside for these expenses.

College Visits

If your child is a senior, he has likely received his college acceptance letters, and if you haven’t already done so, you may want to take a trip to visit the college to see if it’s a good fit.  That’s fairly inexpensive to do if the college is within a few hours of your home, but if it’s farther, it will likely cost a couple hundred dollars at least.

Final Thoughts

To make sure your budget stays balanced, make sure you set aside money for these March expenses.  You’ll be glad that you did, and you’ll head into April with a healthy budget.

6 Unexpected Baby Expenses to Budget For

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There is nothing more exciting than the anticipation of a new baby.  However, a baby can increase the budget even if you’re frugal.  These are just 6 unexpected baby expenses to budget for.  These items can’t bought second hand and likely won’t be gifted at a shower.

6 Unexpected Baby Expenses to Budget For

6 Unexpected Baby Expenses to Budget For

If you’re planning for a new arrival this year, there are a number of expenses you should plan for:

Formula

6 Unexpected Baby Expenses to Budget For
Photo by Rainier Ridao on Unsplash

I breastfed all three of my kids, but all three were such massive babies with big appetites that I had to supplement with formula while breastfeeding.  We hadn’t planned on that expense, and formula is expensive!

Breast Pump

If you are going to breastfeed, you’ll need a breast pump because even if you’re a stay at home mom, there will be times that the baby doesn’t want to eat or you won’t be with the baby at feeding time, and you’ll want the option to pump.  If you don’t plan to breastfeed for long, you can rent a pump month by month through your local hospital.  I bought mine for $200 and used it for all three children, so it was well worth the expense.

Unexpected Medical Expenses

6 Unexpected Baby Expenses to Budget For
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

While most babies are perfectly healthy, some babies have issues and have to visit the ER.  My friend’s baby got RSV and then had a partially-collapsed lung, all at 5 weeks old, so she spent five days in the hospital.  That was an expense they had not planned for, and it took them a few months to pay it off.

My daughter had jaundice for three months, and we had to see a number of specialists, and she was checked into the hospital one night.  (She was fine, but we hadn’t planned on the specialists and going to the hospital several times a week to check her bilirubin.)

Increased Grocery Bill

If mom is breastfeeding, she’s going to eat a lot!  It takes a lot of energy to produce all of the nutritional needs for baby.  Don’t be surprised to see your grocery bill increase for the duration of the time that mom breastfeeds.

Clothing

Mom’s body changes after delivery and the post-partum period.  Not only will she need clothes that fit her when maternity clothes are too big and she can’t yet fit into her pre-pregnancy clothes, but she’ll also need some good nursing clothing if she’s breastfeeding.

Miscellaneous Items

There are other, little items that you may need such as diaper rash cream and gas drops.  Our second child had so much gas that she wouldn’t sleep at night, and we went through baby gas drops what felt like every week.  We later found out she had a milk intolerance, and when we took her off milk, she did fine.

Final Thoughts

If you’re expecting a baby, you can get many of the items that you need at your baby shower.  However, there are other items that you’ll need that you won’t get as gifts and can’t get secondhand.  Being aware of these before the baby comes can help you create a realistic budget.

What other expenses would you add to this list?

How We’re Helping Our Teen Save for College

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College is getting more expensive every year, and with the student loan crisis, more and more students and parents are trying to forego student loans.  Avoiding student loans, if possible, is a smart way to go.  We should know; my husband and I are still paying off his student loans from graduate school, which he finished eight years ago.  So, we want to do everything we can to help our own children go to college without accruing any debt.  How we’re helping our teen save for college involves a multi-pronged approach.

How We're Helping Our Teen Save for College

How We’re Helping Our Teen Save for College

There are four ways we’re helping our teen save for college:

Using an Employee Discount

My husband is employed at our local university, so our children will get 75% off the price of tuition.  While this school currently costs approximately $12,000 for in-state tuition for a year, our children, thanks to the discount, will only need to pay $3,000 a year.

Matching Our Teen’s Savings

From the time our children were young, we set up a savings account for college.  We match each dollar that our child saves in this account.  Our three children all have varying balances, and one of our children is a much more prolific saver than the other two.  While this account won’t cover their $3,000 a year that they will have to pay for college, it will likely cover their textbooks for several semesters.

Paying for AP Tests

 

How We're Helping Our Teen Save for College
Photo by Ben Mullins on Unsplash

Our teen is bright and this year decided to challenge himself with an AP history course.  We paid for the AP test that he will take in May.  If he scores a 4 or a 5 on this test, he will be able to earn college credit for the course.

Next year, he plans to take several AP classes and tests, and we’ll pay for those, too, in the hopes that he can score high enough and reduce the amount of time he needs to be in college.

Finding Scholarships

Our teen took a practice PSAT at school, and while his score was okay, it wasn’t stellar.  Since he has a 4.0 in school, if he can raise his SAT score by at least 100, he will qualify for a $6,000 scholarship from our university.  (The higher the scores, the higher the scholarship amount he qualifies for.  If he could get his score even more than 100 points higher, he would qualify for an even larger scholarship.)

We don’t have money to pay for SAT tutoring, but having it would be valuable, especially if it helps our child raise his score and qualify for the scholarship.  I found a scholarship offered through a private foundation that could be used for SAT prep.  We applied, received the scholarship, and he’s begun tutoring this semester.

Final Thoughts

Money has been tight throughout our marriage, so we’ve never had much money to set aside for our children’s college education.  (Our priority has been paying off our student loans and saving for retirement.)

However, helping a child in other ways rather than just paying tuition outright can also be valuable.  This is how we’re helping our teen save for college.