Monday, January 7, 2013

Working on a 2013 budget

I don't have a financial plan for 2013 in place yet which makes me nervous for so many reasons.  I've spent the last year and a half on a mission that involved creating and sticking to real budgets, and I was rewarded by seeing my debt fall consistently.  But with the prospect of having two babies arriving mid-year I'm really flustered as to what I can even expect financially for the year.  I would love to be able to post a 2013 plan complete with specific financial goals and a solid budget but so far all I've got for the year is a list of budget items that need to be researched.  In addition to the regular monthly expenses I had in 2012 the following is the list of additional expenses I need to plan for:

  • Professional expenses: My professional license will expire this November so I will need to pay for continuing education classes and the renewal fees.
  • Travel expenses: We will be traveling at least twice to visit my family this year
  • Maternity leave: My company doesn't have any paid leave above my vacation/ sick hours so I'll need money set aside to cover my salary while I'm out of work.
  • Medical expenses: I do have great insurance but there will still be out of pocket expenses for the babies' arrival and care after, also need an eye check-up and contacts.  May need to cover a greater portion of the insurance costs during my maternity leave but will work with my job on that.
  • Baby stuff: I am clueless about what the babies will need and what those things cost.  I've started to pull together a list of recommended stuff so I can begin to price these items.
  • Childcare: This one is the biggest unknown on my list.  None of the centers list prices on their websites so it will take some real legwork to get an understanding of the costs.  I do know that in the Boston area I can expect some of the highest childcare costs in the country and that a coworker of mine pays the equivalent of my whole salary for childcare for his two small children.  There is the possibility of one of us being stay at home or both of us going to part time to avoid the added expense of childcare. 
Basically, I have a lot of work to do just coming up with a financial plan for this year.  Right now my goal is to have researched all of the above items and have a solid budget in place by the end of January.  

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