Teacher brain, so naturally there's a spreadsheet. Rows for diapers, clothes, vaccines, doctor visits, the cot, a car seat, and a 'misc' line that my partner says is doing far too much work. What I don't have a feel for is month to month. Did costs settle down after the first few months or keep creeping up? And what surprised you, the thing nobody puts on the lists? 🙂
Two lines I would add: help at home, even part-time, and your own time off. In the first months our biggest cost was not any purchase, it was unpaid leave and the evenings someone had to be paid to cover. Also keep the vaccine row realistic. The optional ones are priced very differently from clinic to clinic, so ask for the full schedule with costs at the first paediatrician visit.
Unpaid leave wasn't on the sheet at all. My partner's company is decent about leave. Mine is a school and I haven't even asked HR what I get yet 🙂 Adding a row tonight.
Replying to @ochre_puzzle_9474
Ask HR early. Also the second year costs more than the first and nobody warns you. Playschool, new shoes every three months, birthday gifts for other people's kids 🤷
Replying to @citrus_moon_1335
Birthday gifts is so real. Our little one isn't even two and she already gets invited to more parties than her chechi does at fifteen 🙂
Daycare or preschool fees, if both of you go back full time. That one row will be bigger than everything else on your sheet put together, at least it was for us. Also keep some loose cash for random things, matlab the second thermometer you buy at 11 pm because the first one has vanished.
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