Money

K worries a lot about money these days. I'm much more confident that we have enough. We've always budgeted well, we make decent salaries, we've got investments, we get raises every year, I get a bonus every year, we are in a good place. Babies add expenses for sure. Plus we need to buy a new car and our condo fees just increased 34%. And in general things cost more these days. But we're also very frugal. Our friends A & C, whose baby is 6 months old, have said that besides childcare, they haven't spent much on the baby. All of their baby furniture is hand-me-downs. They use cloth diapers, which means you don't have the expense of constantly buying diapers. They breastfeed, which is free. We plan to do all of these things too.

Baby furniture offers have been coming from everywhere. A coworker said she has been begging people to take her crib forever, and she has tons of other stuff to give away too now that her daughter is three. J & S, whose youngest is 6, say that their garage is full of baby stuff, including a crib and lots of bottles. And A & C, whose baby will be one when ours is born and has already outgrown lots of things, have offered to give us their things too. Plus there is freecycle, and I'm doing my first pick-up of baby paraphernalia tonight. We won't be buying very much for this baby, and that feels really good.

As far as the rest of it, I guess I just think we are good with money and we'll make this work. My parents had nothing and raised my sister and I well. Cousins and family friends have so much less than we do, and they make it work. Yes it would be easier to make more money. My sister's husband makes way much more than we do combined, which is why my sister can afford to stay at home and send her kids to day care. But we don't need to make tons of money. We make decent money, we are penny pinchers, and we're willing to make sacrifices. I'm pretty sure it's going to be okay. I know it's going to be okay. Now how do I convince her?