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| Is your budget baby-proof? |
My parents, rather unabashedly, once told me this:
If you don't plan to have children, then don't even get married. Get married for what? Just stay together can already.My gut feel tells me many others think this way as well. I mean, why else would one wants to get married right? Especially for the men. Matrimonial contracts have "anti-men" written all over it. Nothing in the contract benefits us. I mean, that's the plain truth if I am absolutely objective and clinical about it.
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| The moment you sign on the contract, what's yours is hers, what's hers remains hers. |
Shortly after though, the financial commitment associated with raising a child began to dawn on me. It was anxiety-inducing to say the least, as I wasn't quite prepared to give up (or at least delay) my dream of achieving financial freedom. But it was no longer an option.
To set the record straight, I wasn't regretting. I was just feeling uncertain and anxious.
16 months on, I am glad my wife and I had chosen not to choose. I mean, sure, we now have to be a little more careful with our money, but it has not yet turn into something that keeps me awake at night. Just like what my parents told me (again), raising a child can be relatively affordable, or extremely expensive, it all depends on your expectations as parents. So to everyone out there who needs this last bit of encouragement to start a family, go ahead and take that leap of faith! It's not half as scary as you imagine.
After being a parent for slightly over a year, I'm proud to say that I've mostly been able to keep to my prudent lifestyle. Sure, expenses will increase, but as with every other situation, there are always ways to limit the scale of it. It all depends on our expectations, right?
So here are some money saving habits that I have to share:
- Ask for Used Baby Clothing from Friends/Relatives/Colleagues. Before my daughter was born, my wife's colleagues handed over many bags of baby clothing and a few old but functional toys. Another colleague of mine passed me his baby car seat which he got from another colleague of ours. These items are not new, but with a little cleaning, they are good enough. I told my wife that it's better to use old stuff because they are likely to be rid of all the nasty chemicals used in production. She agreed, and so we not only saved tons of money, but also helped conserve the environment a little. The Earth needs all the help it can get.
- Carousell for the Win! Well, not everything comes free, and there are times when you simply need to spend that hard earned dollar. But why not stretch that dollar? There are many good deals on carousell. I managed to buy a used baby high chair for less than half the retail price, a new booster seat at a great discount, and many others! The seller of the booster seat received the item as a gift, but has no use for it. His loss, my gain =)
- Explore Free Places. My daughter is 16 months old now. She is able to walk and do random baby things, but I doubt she will be able to appreciate places like Universal Studio. I've always insisted that we bring her to free-to-enter places like Singapore Discovery Centre. There are enough spaces for her to explore, and even if the exhibits are not world-class, they are good enough to keep the baby's senses occupied. We've mainly kept to this practice, but my wife had this nagging urge to bring our baby to the zoo to look at real animals. When I finally relented to her repeated requests though, she was disappointed as my daughter could not yet appreciate what she saw.
- Borrow Books from the Library. My wife was initially concerned that books from public library, especially children's books, will be rather filthy. That didn't stop me from dragging her to take an actual look before we make any conclusions. She is now appreciative of the variety of books she can borrow for our daughter, and since 1-year-old has an attention span of like 3 minutes, the benefits of being able to constantly refresh the titles we have available at home came up more starkly.
- Make Your Own Toys. I am repeatedly surprised by the stuffs my daughter finds interesting. I brought home an empty paper cup from Burger King, washed it clean and shouted into it like how one would use a loud hailer, and that got her so excited. When she finally got bored of it, I cut two holes at the side, tied a string across, and "transformed" it into a hat. She was more intrigued by that cup than most of the toys she has.
- Look into Your Old Stash. I have to thank my mother-in-law for this. She actually kept my wife's doll house for 20 over years! We whipped that out and my daughter had so much fun playing with it. Some figurines have their necks broken, but nothing too catastrophic that super glue can't resolve.
- Polyclinics for the Win! Like many first-time parents, we only want the best for the kids, but sometimes we really should pause and consider if the cheaper alternative is indeed inferior. The first few vaccines that my baby had to take was at a GP/Gynae. The charges weren't sky-high, but they weren't cheap either. We decided to take our daughter to the polyclinic for her vaccines on the advice of other parents, and I instantly regretted not going there right from the start. Most of the compulsory vaccines were FOC, and the nurses were all very well-trained and professional. There was once when we had to bring home some paracetamol just in case she develops fever after the injection, and so I made my way to the dispensary. I couldn't believe my ears when I was told to pay like 30c (I really couldn't remember the price because it was ridiculously low) for the bottle of medicine. Being Singaporeans, there are really many things to be grateful for.
- Have a Few More! Last but not least, have a few more babies, and keep their age close! The cost of raising the second child is likely to be lower than the first, as many things can be handed down. That's economies of scale right there for you to exploit.