Cost control

Your baby does not have to bankrupt you. If you’re clever about it, you can spend less than you thought.

Isn’t life just becoming unbearably expensive? Recession and rampant unemployment are ugly realities, and now you’re about to welcome a guest into your home – one you have to feed and clothe for the next 18 years (at least)! How does anyone ever afford a baby?

The answer is simply that there are as many options for baby food, clothing and schooling as there are people in the world. If you do it carefully, you can cut your cloth to suit your circumstances, especially by being clever about making your rands stretch. Let’s get you started:

1. LOSE YOUR DEBT

The very best thing you can do right before Someone Expensive joins your family is minimise the fallout from previous financial mistakes.

In short, this means getting out of debt. If you already have debt, particularly short-term debt, it’s time to make drastic sacrifices. Spend all your surplus funds paying off your most expensive debts first.

2. TALKING POINT

One simple principle will ensure you don’t run into a situation where your credit cards, personal loans and other expensive debt goes through the roof. Spend less than you earn. Only buy when you have money in the bank. Trying to keep up with the Joneses can end in unmanageable debt. The secret to avoiding that scenario is to ask yourself whether you really need or can’t live without something. Rather take the pain and go without something now than end up in debt counselling. Ideally, you also want to get to a place where you have three to six months’ salary in your current account in case of emergencies. In your case, you need to plan for a period of unemployment if you’re not taking (paid) maternity leave. Inform the UIF of your pregnancy and arrange for payouts (which may not match your salary and may only be paid some months after the birth of your baby).

Cutting up your store cards will be part of this experience. Once you’ve completed this painful but rewarding exercise, you can start to put aside amounts to look after all your short-, medium- and long-term needs, including the baby. But be wary of keeping a separate budget for the baby.

Remember, they will form a part of your life for at least the next 18 years. Become accustomed to having them as part of the total budget. Don’t try to open a savings account for the baby when you’re financing the expenditure through your credit card (that’s debt).

Yes, you’ll save the R500 per month at 10 percent interest, but your credit card interest at 20 percent will negate that.

SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN. ONLY BUY WHEN YOU HAVE MONEY IN THE BANK.

3. LESS IS MORE

If you buy even only half of what was on your original “musthave” baby list, you’ll still end up with heaps of stuff you’ve used only once by the time your baby’s a year old. We promise. We all make this mistake, but it’s just not worth getting into financial dire straits about. So here are some things you can safely ditch:

• Crib bumpers

• Car seat decorations

• Pillows. A plain new mattress, covered, is all your baby needs to sleep, once she’s in pyjamas and swaddled.

• Bottles. One emergency bottle will be enough for expressed breast milk for now.

• Sterilisers. Boiling items to sterilise them is a safe alternative.

• Grooming kits. Hair brushes, nail clippers and so on are cute and nice to have, but most parents have learnt the hard way that newborn hair falls out and doesn’t strictly need brushing.

• Expensive liquid baby bath soaps and bubble baths, as for the first few months a simple bar of baby soap or tub of aqueous cream will suffice. You also only need a few drops, so it lasts forever.

• Shoes. Babies don’t walk.

• Motorised mobiles, activity mats, baby bouncers and so on are nice-to-haves, but by no means a necessity. Your home and presence are enough to provide all the stimulation a young baby needs.

• Re-evaluate even big-ticket items. “Everyone has a pram, cot and compactum,” you reckon, but is this really true? Finnish babies sleep in government-donated cardboard boxes! A desk, chest of drawers or table can easily convert into a compactum with the addition of some foam and plastic covering.

And baby-wearing (whether with a towel in the traditional way, or by buying chi-chi baby wraps and carriers) is a superconvenient alternative to pushing baby in a pram.

4. BUT DON’T SKIMP ON...

The car seat: You absolutely need one because your baby is proven to be significantly safer in a rear-facing car seat in the event of an accident than anywhere else. If you don’t have a car, consider buying a lightweight, portable car seat that you can use in whichever car you’re travelling. If your baby absolutely needs to travel in a taxi, rather pay for two seats and use the car seat than holding baby on your lap. It’s more expensive in the short term, but the rewards are lifelong. Car seats are expensive, so look into getting one free or second-hand if you can’t afford a new one (but you must have one by law). Wheel Well distributes donated car seats – check out wheelwell.co.za. Also have a good look at your store and bank loyalty cards programmes. They often offer great deals specifically for new parents.

Prioritise your medical aid payments, and invest in gap cover. This is not the time to downgrade.

5. WAIT FOR THE BABY SHOWER

Parents, other relatives and friends sometimes like to club together for bigticket items, or to start a nappy stockpile for you (yay!). You won’t know what you’re going to get until after the shower, so exercise patience, and hit the shops after the shower. Don’t be shy to draw up a wish list, or to hit up friends for items they may no longer be using. Buy second hand, and scour stores and online retailers for specials. If you are reserving a monthly sum for baby items, you can plan your purchases better.

6. THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES

It feels like a lifetime, but it’s really only for a final few weeks that you have to wear the same pair of pants or skirt every day. There is really no point in investing in new maternity clothes at this stage if money’s as tight as your button-down shirts.

7. FREE FOOD

Breastfeed your baby. It’s free and the best food you can possibly make him. The World Health Organization guideline is to breastfeed exclusively for six months, and with food to two years and beyond. If you’re struggling with breastfeeding, invest in good breastfeeding advice from a nurse or lactation consultant before throwing in the towel. After four months, you may want to start introducing solid foods, depending on your baby’s needs. You don’t need to buy jars of puréed baby food when one ripe banana can be mashed and frozen in ice trays, turning into three or four baby meals! When you’re on a tight budget, confine yourself to only one monthly “big” shop. Buy fruit and vegetables in season, in bulk or on special, and cook meals to freeze. ●

DON’T BE SHY TO DRAW UP A WISH LIST, OR TO HIT UP FRIENDS FOR ITEMS THEY MAY NO LONGER BE USING.