March summary/ April planning

Compared to February, March was great on the financial front.  Although, I'm still struggling with coming to terms with the flat-lined debt reduction it's a relief to finally see our savings account growing.  After the financially abysmal month we had last month (which included $1,200 in vet bills) I was really happy that we were able to stash $1,000 into our maternity/ baby stuff savings in March.  

So what's on the horizon for April?  I started putting together a maternity leave budget which I'd like to have solidified by the end of April.  Right now the biggest holes in the budget are health insurance, life insurance, and baby needs.  

The family health insurance is a pretty big issue for S and I.  Since we are't married we can't be on the same insurance however the babies will need to go on one of our plans.  My company plan is $1100 a month (my out of pocket cost after the company pays their portion) which pretty much makes it a ridiculously unaffordable option.  S's family plan is somewhere around $750 out-of pocket (although we don't know that for sure because the person who would be able to answer that question has been incommunicato for a while, just another frustrating element to the issue).  Additionally, if the babies are on his insurance, the birth would trigger an additional co-pay where if they are on mine, their hospital stay would be fully covered under my co-pay.  There's also the question of coverage past maternity leave since S may not be staying at his job (another big question we need to work out!!).  There are state and private options that I need to explore as well but the bottom line is a decision needs to be made by the end of the month just in case our babies come pre-term, an unfortunate possibility with twins.

Life insurance should be a much more straightforward issue to tackle.  Just need to research what we need for coverage and then find the best coverage.  Again, this should be in place by the end of the month in case the babies make an early debut in May.

As for baby needs, I'm hoping we have the majority of stuff we will need for the first few months purchased by the time they are born.  There will probably be some amount of stuff that I didn't anticipate so having some cash set aside for the unknowns would be good.  There's a huge used baby stuff sale the first weekend of April that the twins mom group I joined puts on.  My hope is that I'll be able to purchase most of the remaining stuff we need for those first few months at this sale.  I've also been diligent about searching Craigslist for used items and hope that I can continue to preserve the gift cards and returned gifts money for items like diapers that we'll need once they arrive.

April should also bring in some extra cash in the following ways:

• The overtime I worked during March will be paid out
• We can apply for our gym membership reimbursements through our health plans
• Tax returns
• Selling some stuff on Craigslist/ Ebay 
• Sewing job

In all, April is going to be a busy month with a lot of big decisions being made!