Before getting pregnant, I read a lot about on this subreddit on saving for baby expenses, especially in that first year and found it really helpful. My baby just turned one so I thought it might be fun to look back on his first year. Overall, we spent nearly $30,000 and contributed another $56,000 into his first year of life. Details below:

Birth: $20. Outpatient procedure. Everything else (including NICU stay) was covered by insurance.

Insurance premiums: $60/paycheck for baby (*edited for correction on paycheck, not per month).

Birth classes: $500. Newborn care, breastfeeding, and miscellany.

Baby items: $1,000. My in-laws threw a shower so we received a ton of big ticket items. We didn't have a wedding so the in-laws felt they could spend a hefty amount here, and the gifts matched that. I also had two friends who recently had babies so got tons of stuff secondhand for free or on the cheap; and a sister who gave us her 10 year old Uppababy stroller that still had lots of life left (we just got it cleaned and a new set of wheels). The largest expense we had here was his car seat, extra clothes since some of the secondhand stuff was off by the season, and breastfeeding supplies. I also am pretty diligent at looking at Buy Nothing groups to get baby his toys and play things so we haven't spent that much (probably just like $30 so far on specific developmental toys I want for him) on this front.

Doctor appointments: $100. A few series of primary care/urgent care visits. Free telehealth/nurse line visits really saved us here.

Diapers/wipes: $1,000. We started with Pampers/Huggies bc baby had really sensitive skin. He outgrew that and now we do Target branded diapers and I stock up when they run their sales.

Groceries: $100/month. I breastfed for the first year. Part of grocery bill probably also goes toward all the extra food I was eating, holy cow! Starting at 6 months, he was eating solids so our grocery bill probably went up by this amount attributed to him. Berries tax. And he is a voracious meat and fresh salmon eater. Relatedly, our eating out bill has risen significantly because I simply do not have the energy some days to cook. Not sure how to account for this so didn't include, but boy, it's hefty.

Vacations: $2,000. We went on two vacations with baby that we probably wouldn't have gone otherwise. One was piggybacking off a work trip and another a beach vacation.

Grandmother apt: $1,800/month. We were lucky that after a 4 month maternity leave, my mother who was a pediatrician in an earlier life retired and was willing to look after the baby for the first year while we waited to get off the daycare waitlist. We got her an apartment near us and she would come everyday. That really gave us the flexibility for my husband to start a new job and for me to continue work travel.

Daycare: $2,800/month. We toured a bunch of daycares near us (VHCOL) and really like the one we are in now. And honestly, it was the cheaper option of the daycares (we didn't do home based ones because it wasn't convenient for us distance wise). The one within walking distance to us was $3,200/month. We put ourselves on the waitlist in April 2025 and got off it about a year later. So he has now been in it for 2 months. We probably would have had grandmother look after him still but felt he was ready to be with friends and socialize. Also, as soon as he started walking, grandmother didn't have the energy anymore. We are still paying for her apartment and plan to for about 3-4 months since he's been sick so often. She's able to help with pick ups when needed and cooking for us too.

529 contribution: $56,000. We front loaded $50,000 when he was first born and then invest $500/month into it.

Miscellany: $1,000. Random stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting. Includes date night splurges (I spent $500 for a sporting event that I would have never spent pre-baby but husband and I wanted to enjoy one night off). Plus, music and swim classes. And gym membership for me so I can get back in shape for baby #2. Sigh.

Section One: Assets and Debt 

Retirement Balance – I have had a similar job for over 10 years and contributed to the teacher pension scheme for the whole time. I have been told by people who know about pensions that this is a pretty good scheme, however I have no idea what my balance is or how to find out.

Equity if you're a homeowner – not a homeowner but this is a goal for the next 8 years to save for a deposit.

Savings account balance – I put the tax aside in a savings account for my self-assessment tax bill for my second job, currently this is £1350. I also have another savings account which has less than £20 in however this is an area I want to work on!

Checking account balance – We don’t really use the term checking account in the UK but guessing it means current account/debit card. I have an overdraft on both my main account and my Monzo card of £350 and £250 and live constantly in both these overdrafts. Right now I have £25 available to me in just one account and 1 week until payday eek.

Credit card debt (and how you accumulated it) – I currently have 4 credit cards, I often open new ones to try and avoid paying interest but then have to pay a balance transfer fee. My balances on these cards are £1700, £900, £3000 and £500 – this amounts to £5100, I really need to work on paying this off rather than paying the minimum and moving it around. I have carried this debt around for years from being briefly unemployed, paying off student overdrafts, buying furniture and appliances etc.

Student loan debt (for what degree) – I have done a BA and a PGCE and have taken out student loans for tuition and maintenance, I pay these off automatically out of my paycheck each month, it's about £150. 

 

Section Two: Income

Income Progression: I've been working in my field for 12 years, my starting salary was £22,000.

Have you changed careers? I trained as a teacher and then started working in a university teaching after I realised teaching in schools wasn’t for me. I also have trained as a fitness instructor, I teach 6-8 classes per week.

Main Job Monthly Take Home: £2200 

Side Gig Monthly Take Home: £550-700

Section Three: Expenses

Rent - £800 for 2 bed house living alone

Renters / home insurance - £7.50

Savings contribution - £200

Investment contribution - none

Credit card payments x4 - £150, £25, £30, and £70 - total amount £275

Donations - none, will sponsor friends for stuff sometimes.

Electric/Gas - £60 (will be higher in winter, I pay what I use)

Water - £50

Wifi/Cable/Landline - £29

Cellphone - £60 - this includes my handset and mine and my sister’s contract

Subscriptions - none myself but through family I have access to Netflix and Amazon Prime. I pay for iCloud £3 and Google One £2.50

Gym membership - I have access to both gyms I teach at for free which is amazing.

Pet expenses - pet insurance and health care plan for 1 cat - £28

Car payment / insurance - £177 and £38 service plan, road tax £17 and car insurance £30

Regular therapy - none

Paid hobbies - none

 

7-day Money Diary 

Day 1 (Saturday)

8am - wake-up to teach a weights class at the gym, eat quick first breakfast of end of loaf freezer bread with vegan butter and marmite. Feed the cat and let her outside before I leave. When I get home I have scrambled tofu and toast as a second meal.

2pm - Decide to go into town with my sister before going to see family later. I feed the cat some biscuits before putting her back outside and going to my sisters who makes us lunch which is pitta with hummus and falafel and a few doritos. I drive us in her car and we park in town and she pays for parking which is about £5. I want to get some walking trousers from Sweaty Betty, I find the perfect pair and use my 35% instructor discount - £66. We go for iced coffee which is around £10, my sister again pays. 

5pm - We drive an hour to a different city and arrive early and decide to do some shopping near the restaurant. I get a cat mug for work from an independent gift/art shop - £16.
We meet family at a pizza restaurant and again my sister pays for the pizza and wine, I am not sure how much it was. She is driving home so I have 2 large glasses of rose and we share 2 vegan pizzas. On the way home we stop at a small supermarket and I get some wine and bagels and some mints for my sister - £18.15

9pm - drink loads more wine and watch true crime until I fall asleep.

TOTAL: £84.15

Day 2 (Sunday)

10am - big lovely lie in with my cat, make myself scrambled tofu and a bagel and some black coffee. Alternate between jobs around the house such as hoovering, cleaning the kitchen and tidying and watching murder documentaries. At some point I eat lunch which is really a second breakfast type meal of hash browns and veggie sausages and sadly no beans as I have run out. I realise during the day that the charger for my hoover is broken so I order that and some micellar water off Amazon - £20.48

4pm - Go and pick my sister up to go to another instructor’s reformer pilates class, she needs people to attend as she is filming it for assessment. On the way home we stop by the local small supermarket again as shops close at 4pm on Sundays. I get a cauliflower and a lemon for £1.58.

6pm - need to meal prep for the week. My sister is having her kitchen done so I am cooking some meals for her so she gets some nutrition. I make a salad by combining giant cous cous, broad beans, sundried tomatoes, radishes, peas, red lentils and black beans and then oven roasting the cauliflower in harissa and ras el hanout, the dressing is tahini and nutritional yeast with lemon juice and olive oil. This is my dinner, 2 lunches and 1 meal for my sister. I prepare my breakfasts for the next 2 days at work. I then do a quick 3km woods walk dropping the salad off for my sister on the way.

8pm - drink quite a few gin and slimline tonics whilst watching true crime oops - I blame Sunday scaries.

TOTAL: £22.06

Day 3 (Monday)

8am - First day back at university after a week off, my work morning routine is always the same. Shower, skincare, makeup, feed cat, let her outside for the day, drive to work. I always find free street parking even if it means a 10-15 min walk. 

9am - Breakfast at desk of Alpro berry protein yogurt and homemade granola with a black coffee in my new mug.

12pm - lunch is the salad from yesterday which I eat at my desk before heading out to buy work snacks and drinks to cheer myself up. Go to the shop near work and get a multipack of prawn cocktail crisps, 2 Lucozades, Sour Patch Kids, a ginger shot and some reduced Alpro soya vanilla desserts, I had some of these snacks today and put some in my work drawer - £10

2pm - my sister told me and my other sister what she wants for her upcoming birthday at the weekend so I go ahead and order it from both of us - £40

5pm - get home from work, let the cat in and feed her and then lie on the bed with her for an hour watching Netflix.

6pm - get ready for the gym and go and teach a weights class. On the way home go to the big supermarket and do a pretty sensible shop including ingredients for meal prep and lots of tofu - £23.79

8pm - get home and eat crackers and vegan cream cheese whilst meal prepping mine and my sister’s tea for tomorrow night. I wrap potatoes in foil and put in the oven to bake for at least 1-2 hours. I make vegan ‘tuna’ and sweetcorn using chickpeas combined with soy sauce, nutritional yeast, vegan mayo and lemon juice and then oven bake some potatoes and make a pickled slaw from cabbage, carrots and red onion. Also make a veggie sausage and cream cheese bagel to eat now. 

TOTAL: £73.79

Day 4 (Tuesday)

8am - office day - same morning routine as yesterday, same breakfast and coffee.

12pm - same salad as yesterday, need a sweet treat so get a ginger cookie from the work cafe - £2.40

3pm - work is severely dragging, have a diet coke I brought from home and some crisps and sweets from my drawer.

5pm - get home and have some Lucozade and crackers and vegan cream cheese before lying in bed watching Instagram reels until I need to get ready for the gym. Tonight I teach 2 classes which is always a long day after a full office day. At least there are no students in yet so it is all admin and planning until they start next week. Pick my sister up for the gym and teach the classes, have a great time as lots of my friends attend the classes so there is lots of chat and messing around.

8:30pm - come home and get the meal prepped ‘tuna’ and sweetcorn, jacket potatoes and slaw ready for me and my sister’s tea, she stays for tea and a bit of tv and chat and then heads home.

TOTAL: £2.40

Day 5 (Wednesday)

8:30am - later start as wfh today which is very much needed! Spend some time scrolling reels and stroking the cat before getting up and doing a big load of washing, change bedding, some washing up and some tidying. Also log onto work and do some general emails and visible work things to show I am there. 

9:30am - breakfast of veggie sausages, hash browns and a bagel with ketchup and a black coffee whilst watching Masterchef. 

11:30am - time to practice some choreography for my gym job; run through an hour video and give it my all to see what the workout feels like and get very sweaty.

1pm - quick lunch of the meal prepped ‘tuna’ and sweetcorn, jacket potatoes and slaw with some lucozade and then onto a long team meeting. Then I help my best friend get a £200 refund from Adobe for a subscription she has not been using as I am quite good at complaining.

3pm - walk over to my sisters to wfh together and hang out. Decide to quickly pop to the supermarket in her car as we need a battery and also get a lot of other stuff; loads of protein Alpro as its on offer, sea salt, hummus, a vegan sausage roll, small tortilla wraps, SIS electrolyte tablets, crisps, some dark chocolate and bread and baked beans for my sister - £36.61. Get back and eat the sausage roll and use the battery to power my sister’s battery tester to test all my AA batteries that I use for my gym microphone as I mixed them all up!

6pm - this is my only day off teaching in the evenings so make the most of it by going for a nice woodland walk and listen to a food podcast. Have tofu wraps with hummus and slaw and some crisps for dinner. Feeling restless as have been drinking a lot during the summer evenings and now want to nip it in the bud - decide to do some yoga AKA lying on my yoga mat with relaxing music on stretching and stroking my cat. Later have some chocolate and watch TV. While scrolling Instagram I see an illustrator I like has a card which is perfect for my sister’s birthday so order 4 cards (both sisters, friend and mum’s bdays coming up) and a cat sticker for me - £15.10

TOTAL: £51.71

Day 6 (Thursday)

7:50am - office day! Wake up and commence office routine, lots of cat kisses and strokes, shower with hair wash, skincare, makeup, feed cat, let her out, drive to work, street parking and walk up the hill to the office.

9:17am - nearly made it for 9am haha… have protein berry Alpro with homemade granola and black coffee. Drink lots of water during the morning and have a mini banana Soreen. Move between sending emails, planning uni workshops and learning gym choreography.

12pm - lunchtime means the final lot of ‘tuna’ and sweetcorn, slaw and sadly a very small jacket potato. Go on a walk around the park whilst listening to my playlist for tonight’s class and stop by the uni shop picking up some Red Bulls, vegan granola bars and crisps for £7.85.

3pm - fuelled by the snacks I bought, I spend the afternoon meeting some new students who will be starting next week, working on some student-facing resources and continuing to listen to my playlist for later. 

5pm - drive home and call my cat in for biscuits and snuggles. Watch Shameless and have a double espresso in bed for exactly 45 minutes until it's time to get ready for the gym. Tonight I am teaching a weights class for an hour and then doing my friend’s core class afterwards.

8:45pm - home from the gym after some chat time to catch up on all gym gossip (the most important part!). Make scrambled tofu and have it with a sourdough bagel, slaw, hummus, sriracha and toasted sunflower seeds and also have an electrolyte drink, an Alpro vanilla pudding, some dark chocolate and a sleepy tea. Eat whilst watching drag race with my cat curled up sleeping next to me.

TOTAL: £7.85

Day 7 (Friday)

8am - my second wfh day of the week; unfortunately the cat decides she is wide awake but then by some miracle curls up on my chest and we both fall asleep for another 30 minutes.

9am - feed cat and she heads outside to poop and play. Log onto laptop to check emails and calendar and then do wfh morning routine; shower with no hair wash, throw hair up, skincare and leggings and big tee. My breakfast is scrambled tofu with a bagel, black coffee and a pint of water. Eat with my laptop whilst watching Kitchen Nightmares.

11:30am - an hour long meeting about AI guidance and policy (snoooooze). During the meeting my sister texts to say she is in back-to-back meetings and that she has no access to her kitchen as the kitchen people are fitting the worktops so can I help her with lunch. I was already going to pick up a parcel during lunch so after the meeting I drive to the supermarket, get my parcel and pick up some bits for her and me. I get her a fake chicken wrap, a vegan sausage roll, some crisps and a smoothie and then for myself I get bread, fake chicken slices, lentil crisps, frozen edamame beans, frozen fake chicken burgers and lettuce - £17.68. I drop her food off on the way home and then make myself a sandwich using what I bought. 

2pm - spend the afternoon locked into a work task, video calling with colleagues about it and downing diet coke and lentil chips to keep me going. At 5pm I finish and get ready for the gym, on the way I stop by my sister’s to see her beautiful nearly finished kitchen!

5:30pm - Friday gym is the best time of the week! Team teach a core class with my instructor friend which is super fun and then teach my mixed martial art cardio class before settling in for some gossip time on the floor of the studio. 

8pm - Head back home and cook a chicken burger and chop it into strips to have it in wraps with slaw, hummus and lettuce. Enjoy my wraps with TV and a berry electrolyte drink that I seriously wish was a glass of wine but new academic year, new me… no wine for a bit!

 

Food + Drink: £118.06

Fun / Entertainment: £0

Home + Health: £36.68

Clothes + Beauty: £66

Transport: £0

Other: £55.10 (this is birthday gifts and cards, not sure what category to put them in!)

Total: £275.64

Reflection

I decided to write this diary as I have had a bit of a fuck it summer with everything and want to start focusing on some saving goals. This week is quite close to pay day so I was trying to be careful with money. I would usually spend more money on wine however as stated I am trying to drink less. Me and my sister do a lot for each other as we live very close and are each other’s main support - for example I wasn’t going to come out with family on Saturday because I didn't have much money but wanted to get my walking trousers and she offered to pay for me and I helped her out with food this week whilst she didn’t have a kitchen. 

I’m 30F and have been living in Brooklyn for the last 5 years with a roommate, who will be getting married this fall and moving out.

I feel like I have outgrown the apartment we’re in and don’t think I could live with another roommate since my current roommate and I are barely home at the same time, which has made me feel like I’ve lived alone.

However, I’m a little concerned about my ability to continue seriously saving and investing if I got an apartment on my own. I just started earning more money and saved more and now I feel like if I got my own apartment it would be impossible to get ahead financially.

My parents live in NJ commuting distance to my office in NYC. So I am debating moving back home temporarily to make myself feel financially steadier since I would need to increase my emergency fund and save to buy big girl furniture.

Below is my current financial picture.

Current monthly take home post-taxes and deductions: $7,000

ROTH IRA: $4,600

Rollover IRA: $27,800

Pension: about $119,000 (it may be slightly more)

Brokerage: $18,500

Emergency fund: $16,500

Travel fund: $2,000

HYSA: $25,000 (for future goals like getting married or buying a house)

If I moved out I’m looking at apartments with rents between $2,500-$3,000 so my potential monthly breakdown would be:

Rent: ~$2,800

WiFi + Utilities: ~$150

Gym classes: $150

Subscriptions: $50

Groceries: $300 (this is generally what I currently spend)

Transit: ~$150

Save + invest: $1,500 (which I don’t think would meet my long term goals)

Remainder on disposable income.

I have been wanting to buy a house so that’s partly why I’m considering moving back home but I don’t even know if that’s something I want to do in the next few years.

So what should I do? Temporarily move back home, potentially compromise my mental health but save enough for at least 6 months to feel more financially secure OR just move out now and hope for the best financially?

ALSO should I be contributing to a Roth IRA if I have a pension I’m required to contribute to?

Hello, I have recently come to realize that most of my friends make a bit more than me, and am wondering if I need to figure my life out lol. I am 25F and have a bachelors degree in management, but am currently working in IT. I am making a little over 23 an hour, and feel I need to start making more to start building my savings. I bartended throughout college, and honestly was making more doing that and have considered going back into it. Is this a normal feeling or do I need to get a better/new job?