Money Spent, Money Saved #1: Feeding the Beast   /   Oct 1 @ 2:48 am

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: one thing I can say is that we don’t go to restaurants like before I got pregnant, because I don’t have energy and can’t really enjoy food]
• Grocery spending goes up from less than $100 in July to over $120 in September. [L: I’m crazy in grocery stores]

Because L was pregnant in August but unaware of it until September, one really nice thing about these numbers is that they are not affected by a conscious, “I know I am having a baby” decision. Still, our approach is not a perfect one. For example, we are not specifically tracking food vs. non-food items in the grocery store purchases. The assumption is that “household goods” spending will be roughly constant each month. And, unless L decides to be uber-meticulous about things, some spending will go unaccounted.

Conclusion: Becoming pregnant certainly decreased L’s preference for restaurant food. The savings from cutting back on restaurants, however, were devoured by craving-driven grocery spending. But, if L can sustain this spending in future months, we can record about $12/month savings on food compared to the pre-pregnancy spending.

[L: I THINK that I’m starving to death. Really, the little bean just wants a tiny piece but he makes a hell of a noise to get it]

Baby-specific spending: $60 in September. Vitamins and the out-of-pocket cost of the doctor’s visit last month.

**Method: L and her husband are effective spenders. They make their purchases using one credit card account to maximize card rewards. From their mint.com data we assembled the figures presented on this site.