January 2010
1 post
My gosh where have we been?
Happy new year to anyone remembering to come back here :-P Yeah, xmas break, our real jobs, spending time with our families… such awful distractions from updating this site.
Here’s a great write-up from Slate on saving money with coupons (which I’d bookmarked months ago and misplaced under a pile of laundry). Excerpt:
When every item was scanned, Rea’s total was...
October 2009
8 posts
Infertile woman envious of panda.
No comment on this story. Take a look for yourselves here.
So far, progressing normally.
L sent her 13-week ultrasound, prompting this conversation…
—
S: crazy how its head is as big as the rest of the body
L: yeah as big as the belly :-D
L: the belleeeehh
S: too early to tell if it will get round eyes or asian eyes [L’s husband is of eastern descent]
—
Look for a post on the “retail cost” of pregnancy next week. (If you subscribe to alerts...
2 tags
iPhone Lunacy
I stopped reading CNN a long time ago because I felt stupider each time I left the site, but I’m glad other people still check in there occasionally. Slate’s Double X blog mentions this story about a new iPhone app that tracks the location of sex offenders.
The story starts off with Tracy Rodriguez, a mother in Houston, who uses her iPhone to get “information revealing the sex...
4 tags
The True Cost of a Meal: Nutrition, Dollars… and...
First, the scenario:
L: I’ve been craving baked potato for days, like really plain food, and yesterday I get an email from wendy’s with a new promo: their chili and baked potatoes are 99 cents for a limited time :-D
L: so M [husband] stopped by on his way home and picked up two potatoes and a chili that we shared. Dinner for 2 for $3!
Now, the question: ** Is $1.50 for this meal a good value?...
You might be new here
Glad you decided to visit BabyForCheap.com!
From the “About Us” above you know that this project is about tracking the cost of a baby and ways to save money as things progress. There will be quick updates (like this one) and more detailed posts (like this one) in which we take a closer look at certain spending behaviors related to having a baby.
We will also have news items and...
1 tag
Vitamins FTW!
L: the nurse gave me a presciption for a prenatal vitamin that is covered by my insurance company so now it will be something like $5 for 3 months
L: much better
Records (updated periodically)
We will use this post to record the items contributing to the spending and saving tickers displayed in the upper left part of the page. It will be updated periodically. The tickers link to this post.
Baby-specific Spending
Doctor’s visit co-pay: $20 (9/2009)
Prenatal vitamins: $40 (9/2009)
Vitamins covered by insurance: $5 (10/2009)
Money Saved
Vitamins covered by insurance:...
4 tags
Money Spent, Money Saved #1: Feeding the Beast
This is our first post tracking** the cost of the baby presently inside L.
We expected that increased food consumption would drive up spending. After all, a woman in her first trimester needs to feed the growing baby.
Fast food spending increased marginally in August and held steady in September.
Restaurant spending decreased marginally in August, and dropped to zero in September. [L:...
September 2009
8 posts
Was John Edwards just unlucky?
What are the odds of a 43-year-old woman conceiving and giving birth to a healthy child?
In any case, the financial cost he will bear for this child is dwarfed by what could have been for his presidential aspirations and by the damage to his personal relationships.
We promise to get serious
Our posts so far have examined the lighter side of pregnancy and parenting. We feel that this serves as a nice counterweight to things like the cost of raising a child from birth to high school graduation (over $200,000), which is no laughing matter.
—
We will be adding more content (pretty graphs and charts!) to track clearly not just the expenses of childbearing but also the money that...
The wisdom of Confucius
From the Tumblr demo page:
It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop.
Wise words, indeed, as they may constitute history’s first lead-up to a “That’s what she said!”
2 tags
How she spends her time
How BabyForCheap was conceived (pun fully...
Shortly after L told me her status was now “+1” we were discussing the idea of a blog on baby expenses, written from a personal finance and career** perspective. Here is part of that online conversation…
—
S: online calculator sites are one thing, but I think this would be a unique angle
S: howmuchwillmybabycost.com or howmuchwillmybabycost.me
L: not bad
S: simpler and to the point…...
Saturday morning phone call
S: What’s up?
L: I am catching up on clipping coupons. I’ve fallen behind because I’m always tired.
S: Hm I thought it would be faster now since you are carrying around an extra set of hands.
—
S: A few nights ago I watched this show on TLC called I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant. All these women going about their business, then suddenly, in week 35, Oh-worst-pain-ever! I-can’t-stand-up!...