Speaker 1: Hello.
Speaker 2: My name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr the
Speaker 2: Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we
Speaker 2: get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would
Speaker 2: like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of
Speaker 2: which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging
Speaker 2: the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through
Speaker 2: as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and
Speaker 2: the storytelling of you to make a difference for today
Speaker 2: and lasting impact for tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Let's get into it.
Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to The Money, the podcast for millennials
Speaker 4: who want financial freedom. My name is beck Syed and
Speaker 4: with me is Victoria Divine, former financial advisor and a
Speaker 4: new mama. Hello, how are you feeling.
Speaker 1: I'm good. Actually, you would be surprised.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you don't look like you haven't slept.
Speaker 1: That's because I, at this point in time, have a
Speaker 1: baby who is relatively forgiving. Don't get me wrong, that
Speaker 1: could change at any moment, so we're just taking it
Speaker 1: day by day. But he gave me a great sleep
Speaker 1: last night. And I am taking wins where I see them.
Speaker 4: That's so good, very easy to have a baby.
Speaker 1: That's not what I said, Okay, I just said I'm
Speaker 1: taking the wins when I get But Beck, I am
Speaker 1: very excited to be back, especially with this episode. And yes,
Speaker 1: this episode is the confluence of both of these things
Speaker 1: that I love. It's all about how much it really
Speaker 1: costs to bring a baby into the world. It's obviously
Speaker 1: a very big time in every aspect of when you're
Speaker 1: in this of life. Believe me, I know now, and unsurprisingly,
Speaker 1: many soon to be parents are very blindsided by the
Speaker 1: true cost of pregnancy parenthood, which obviously actually starts to
Speaker 1: accumulate way before the baby arrives, right, And I feel
Speaker 1: like I have felt this through and through so I
Speaker 1: have been keeping track of exactly what I have been
Speaker 1: spending and now I'm going to share it with you,
Speaker 1: so Beck, because preparation it breeds success. I'm here to
Speaker 1: break down the true cost of having a baby in
Speaker 1: Australia in twenty twenty four. So today we're going to
Speaker 1: be talking about Obviously my experience, and my experience is
Speaker 1: not the experience of every single person, Like birth and
Speaker 1: pregnancy is different for every single human being. It could
Speaker 1: be zero dollars in total for you to have a baby.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest, there is a way, but it could
Speaker 1: also be tens of thousands of dollars to have a baby.
Speaker 1: And to be full transparent, I went through the private system.
Speaker 1: I will tell you what that cost me. We are
Speaker 1: going to talk about why I picked that, what I
Speaker 1: would pick next time, but we will also be breaking
Speaker 1: down the cost of birthing in private versus public. We're
Speaker 1: going to be talking about the cost of fitting out
Speaker 1: a nursery, and then after the break, I'm going to
Speaker 1: be giving you the cost of parental leave and childcare
Speaker 1: and some tips on the unexpected areas that have really
Speaker 1: added up that could break the bank. And I think
Speaker 1: that that might be a pretty good place to start.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm actually really excited for this episode because personally,
Speaker 4: I'm like, I don't have any idea how much a
Speaker 4: baby costs. I just like, how do they spend so
Speaker 4: much on like something that doesn't you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 4: I'm so confused by it. So I'm very excited about
Speaker 4: this one. I'm very excited about your insights on this.
Speaker 4: But do we have a figure on what it costs
Speaker 4: for the average Australian to have a baby.
Speaker 1: Yes, so obviously I'm speaking on behalf of Steve as well,
Speaker 1: but this has been one of the most exciting times
Speaker 1: in our entire lives, and of course that actually has
Speaker 1: meant that we've had to make some fine outial considerations
Speaker 1: and do some restructures and work out what's going on.
Speaker 1: So obviously, again, every single family is different. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I felt when we're putting this episode together that I
Speaker 1: was like, do I tell everybody what we've paid? Because
Speaker 1: obviously we have a lot more privilege than a lot
Speaker 1: of people. We have two full time working parents in
Speaker 1: this situation, and I look at it and go, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's not the experience of everybody. But I think by
Speaker 1: me sharing it, it just gives you an insight. By
Speaker 1: no means is that the right way to do it, though, Like,
Speaker 1: the right way is the way that works for you
Speaker 1: and your family. So every family is different. But for
Speaker 1: the average Australian, the price tag that comes with adding
Speaker 1: a tiny human to your family is huge. So from
Speaker 1: the moment that your pregnancy is confirmed to the years
Speaker 1: of child raising that come after the financial commitment is
Speaker 1: very high, and the average monthly cost of having a
Speaker 1: little baby in your life is between seven hundred and
Speaker 1: seven hundred and fifty dollars back per month.
Speaker 4: That's a hectic financial load.
Speaker 1: It is a lot of money, but it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be sure. But also lots of people spend more
Speaker 1: than that full transparency. Thus far, I have spent.
Speaker 4: More than that. Yeah, I was gonna ask you.
Speaker 1: I have definitely spent more.
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, and I'm sure we will get into that more.
Speaker 4: But I imagine you would have had all of your
Speaker 4: spreadsheets and budget in place before Harvey was born.
Speaker 1: Yes, because I am nothing if not prepared.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't expect any less. Did your own costings come
Speaker 4: out similar to this look on average?
Speaker 1: Yes, but we also went through the private system, which
Speaker 1: is much more expensive than the public system. But then
Speaker 1: also we've made, you know, some bougie baby purchases that
Speaker 1: we definitely didn't have to make that you definitely don't need,
Speaker 1: but we have appreciated so things like we have purchased
Speaker 1: a sterilizer for our baby bottles because Harvey is taking
Speaker 1: formula and I didn't expect him to take formula, but
Speaker 1: the sterilizer costs like two hundred dollars, whereas you could
Speaker 1: just boil water and sterilize the bottles that way. So
Speaker 1: that to me is a pretty bougie unnecessary purchase, but
Speaker 1: it's one of those things that does make life easier.
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean you need one, absolutely not, but if that's,
Speaker 1: you know, the bane of your existence, to me makes
Speaker 1: a lot of sense. But one of my girlfriends was like,
Speaker 1: that is unnecessary. I just boil my bottles, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: you do you boo?
Speaker 4: We are all different, Okay, Yeah, well you know, you
Speaker 4: got to do what you gotta do. And I feel like,
Speaker 4: if it's saving some time and it's a convenient, then
Speaker 4: why not if you have the money. Of course, let's
Speaker 4: start with, like, I want to know where your financial
Speaker 4: shocks were, because I know that, like first time baby,
Speaker 4: you probably like me in a way where you're like,
Speaker 4: I have no idea how much it's going to cost.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think that's probably a really good place
Speaker 1: to start because I'm going to talk about loss here
Speaker 1: just as a little bit of a trigger warning. We
Speaker 1: had two losses before we got pregnant with Harvey and
Speaker 1: had a successful pregnancy and I don't think I had
Speaker 1: comprehended how much that would cost. So I had a
Speaker 1: very rude awakening when I had my second loss and
Speaker 1: I needed to go into hospital to have surgery for that,
Speaker 1: and I realized I was not covered for pregnancy even
Speaker 1: though I had private health insurance cost so it ended
Speaker 1: up costing me because I was going through the private system.
Speaker 1: I'd set it all up through the private system because
Speaker 1: I had assumed that I was covered, and that's on me.
Speaker 1: Like as the girl who reads all the teas and
Speaker 1: season understands the feace, you would think that I would know,
Speaker 1: but it's kind of like the plumber who has a
Speaker 1: leaky tap. I just assumed it was all good because
Speaker 1: the private health insurance that I had picked historically worked
Speaker 1: for me. But it wasn't working anymore because historically I
Speaker 1: wasn't lanning on having a baby at all. So we
Speaker 1: had to readjust my private health insurance at that point.
Speaker 1: So my surgery for my second loss actually cost us
Speaker 1: thirty five hundred dollars out of pocket because no private
Speaker 1: health insurance was covering that, and it was done in
Speaker 1: a private system. In the public system would have been free.
Speaker 1: I was offered to move into the public system so
Speaker 1: that I didn't have to have that. But again, I
Speaker 1: was in the very privileged position where my husband and
Speaker 1: I could afford that, and we both agreed that, given
Speaker 1: I was going through that situation, given my doctor was
Speaker 1: already there, I'd much prefer to spend that money, sure,
Speaker 1: and just stay in the one place and have the
Speaker 1: doctor that I would see for my subsequent pregnancies and
Speaker 1: the woman that had looked after me historically do that
Speaker 1: surgery for me. So I felt more comfortable. But yes,
Speaker 1: that cost me thirty five hundred dollars out of pocket.
Speaker 4: Is there like a reason why you chose to go
Speaker 4: private other than like the reasons that you mentioned, like
Speaker 4: comfort and having the same doctor and things like that.
Speaker 4: Were they any reasons for you?
Speaker 1: I was really anxious because historically I'd been told that
Speaker 1: pregnancy would be hard for me. I have a couple
Speaker 1: of underlying health conditions related to my immune system that
Speaker 1: I knew I would need additional support for. I also
Speaker 1: historically knew that my grandmother and my mother had a
Speaker 1: pretty hard time during pregnancy and needed a number of interventions,
Speaker 1: so I assumed that would be the case for me. Sure,
Speaker 1: I assumed correctly, and I did need those interventions. Like Beck,
Speaker 1: you saw me when I was like thirty eight weeks
Speaker 1: pregnant and still recording. I was so bloated and puffy
Speaker 1: because of my hypertension. It was ridiculous, Like I look
Speaker 1: like I had lost thirty kilos. The day I walked
Speaker 1: out of the hospital after having Harvey, it was elite.
Speaker 1: I felt like a new human being. But I knew
Speaker 1: that these things were coming. And so after discussing it
Speaker 1: with Steve and having historically had private health insurance, to me,
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, well let's go private. Would I
Speaker 1: go private again? Maybe? But I think I would also
Speaker 1: be quite comfortable in the public system as well. I've
Speaker 1: got a best friend who's pregnant at this point. She's
Speaker 1: having a baby very very sooner. Babies are going to
Speaker 1: be like ten weeks of heart, which I'm very excited about,
Speaker 1: and she's in the public system, and I've kind of
Speaker 1: been comparing the experiences, and to be honest, given I
Speaker 1: knew that I would probably be a high risk pregurecy
Speaker 1: as well, I would have been very fine in the
Speaker 1: public system. So this isn't a this is better, This
Speaker 1: is worse. I think that we had just gone down
Speaker 1: that pathway. I already had private health insurance, so in
Speaker 1: my head that made a lot of sense. But as
Speaker 1: we start talking about the financials of it, you might go,
Speaker 1: that doesn't make sense for us.
Speaker 4: Sure.
Speaker 1: Something I did not realize, Beck, is that when you
Speaker 1: go in the private system, obviously you have your private
Speaker 1: health insurance. And I am paying one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: four dollars per week for my private health insurance per week,
Speaker 1: per week, okay, And I had to do that because
Speaker 1: I had to step up from my previous health insurance,
Speaker 1: which was like sixty dollars a week, I believe because
Speaker 1: that private health insurance, same company, different levels of cover,
Speaker 1: did not include pregnancy and birth, whereas I had to
Speaker 1: step up to a level which is one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty four dollars a week to get the pregnancy and
Speaker 1: birth cover that I needed to give birth in a
Speaker 1: private hospital.
Speaker 4: Okay, I guess it's hard to say now, and this
Speaker 4: is probably quite a personal one, but do you expect
Speaker 4: that you will kind of be able now to go back.
Speaker 1: I will keep that level of private health insurance until
Speaker 1: I'm done having children, and then at that point where
Speaker 1: we'll probably drop it back down. So for me, this
Speaker 1: is a season, it's not a forever. We're now on
Speaker 1: like the gold ultimate level of cover, and it makes
Speaker 1: me feel really secure. But back to the thing that
Speaker 1: I didn't expect, in addition to having to increase my
Speaker 1: private health insurance, is that I would have to pay
Speaker 1: for a private obstetrician in addition to the private hospital cover.
Speaker 1: And the private obstetrician is not covered by my private
Speaker 1: health so that cost me ten thousand dollars out of pocket. Again,
Speaker 1: I feel like I have to reiterate my privilege, and
Speaker 1: I feel really bad always bringing it up, but we're
Speaker 1: talking about my financial situation, and I think it's you know,
Speaker 1: fair to be really transparent, but also I don't want
Speaker 1: you guys thinking that I think this is expected. I
Speaker 1: feel very grateful to be in this position. But that
Speaker 1: did cost us ten thousand dollars on top of you know,
Speaker 1: the private health that we're paying one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: four dollars a week for, yes, and then I had
Speaker 1: to pay the excess on staying in hospital, and that
Speaker 1: was seven hundred and fifty dollars. Oh okay, we did
Speaker 1: stay in the hospital because we were private for a week.
Speaker 1: You know, a little bit of birth story. But I
Speaker 1: was induced, which means I went in the night before
Speaker 1: and had another night in hospital. I then ultimately ended
Speaker 1: up having a emergency cesarean. Everyone is okay and healthy
Speaker 1: and happy, and it was the right decision for us,
Speaker 1: But having a cesarean meant an additional cost. Most of
Speaker 1: that was covered by our private health insurance. But the
Speaker 1: additional cost would be for the additional staff for the surgery,
Speaker 1: but also for an anethetist, and I am now another
Speaker 1: four hundred dollars out of pocket. For the anethetist, he
Speaker 1: costs thirty five hundred dollars. My private health insurance obviously
Speaker 1: covered most of that, but we had to pay an
Speaker 1: excess of four hundred dollars for him. And all of
Speaker 1: that makes a lot of sense, but there's a lot
Speaker 1: of costs to just having the baby, and that's before
Speaker 1: you like deck out the nursery and get everything up
Speaker 1: and running. However, just keep in mind that those costs
Speaker 1: are private costs. Yes, they are not the costs that
Speaker 1: are related to giving birth in a public hospital. Yes,
Speaker 1: in a public hospital, you do not have to pay
Speaker 1: for a private obstetrician because there's obstetricians on staff and
Speaker 1: they look after you there. That's why you're not guaranteed one,
Speaker 1: Whereas in my situation, because I paid for her, I
Speaker 1: was basically guaranteed that she would be there for my
Speaker 1: birth and she was yep. And also, if you have
Speaker 1: to have an emergency cesarean in the public system, it's
Speaker 1: all covered. So for me, I had to pay for
Speaker 1: it because it was a private surgery, whereas you know,
Speaker 1: if you go down the public route, that's not a cost.
Speaker 1: So I'm feeling like I need to remind you of
Speaker 1: that because I don't want you to go, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: if I have a cesarean, that'll cost me a bomb
Speaker 1: or whatever. Really that's not the case in the public system.
Speaker 4: Okay, Yeah, it's definitely like not everyone. You didn't have
Speaker 4: to go private, of course, and public is really really
Speaker 4: an amazing system, Like we're really lucky, we are so lucky.
Speaker 4: But it is very interesting to know kind of like
Speaker 4: all the little ins and outs of it. Yeah, because
Speaker 4: I know you mentioned the anethetist. Yes, all the other
Speaker 4: things you had to pay for for the emergency cesarean.
Speaker 1: That was all included, I coveted it was okay. My
Speaker 1: obstetrician did have another fee associated with doing a cesarean,
Speaker 1: so that was about one thousand dollars and that was
Speaker 1: out of pocket. And then I ended up spending a
Speaker 1: total of six nights in hospital before going home, and
Speaker 1: all of those were included because of the private health cover.
Speaker 1: So I paid that seven hundred and fifty dollars excess,
Speaker 1: and then I just stayed for however long I needed.
Speaker 1: And then because I was in the private system, I
Speaker 1: did stay longer than what people in the public system
Speaker 1: would stay. So I know that if you were to
Speaker 1: give birth in a public hospital and to have a
Speaker 1: cesarean and have the exact same circumstances as me, you'd
Speaker 1: probably go home on day three, whereas I went home
Speaker 1: on day seven.
Speaker 4: I am so cute. Like, let's say, hypothetically, you go
Speaker 4: in and you know, you pay for private health insurance.
Speaker 4: You go in to private You're not expecting all of
Speaker 4: these expenses, but they kind of hit you. Do you
Speaker 4: know before you leave the hospital you have to pay
Speaker 4: it all like, so you get invoiced for it later
Speaker 4: pay at your own leisure. Yeah, So it's funny because
Speaker 4: I didn't expect that. I thought that they'd just invoiced
Speaker 4: us at the hospital, you know, we'd you know, pay
Speaker 4: for it then, and they're they're too shy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, for the hospital when we checked in for
Speaker 1: the birth, we actually paid the excess then, so we
Speaker 1: gave them our credit card details and paid that seven
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty dollars when we checked in, and then
Speaker 1: when we checked out, there was a fee to pay
Speaker 1: at the end because there were a few things that
Speaker 1: we had to pay for in hospital sure that weren't
Speaker 1: included much is that it was maybe like fifty dollars
Speaker 1: worth of cost, okay, And they were just things like
Speaker 1: the physio band that I ended up being given for
Speaker 1: like my tummy to like kind of like suck it
Speaker 1: in a little bit and give me a little bit
Speaker 1: more support, and just like random medical supplies that weren't included.
Speaker 1: And this is diff everywhere. Everything for me was included
Speaker 1: in the hospital stay. So in the public system, every
Speaker 1: hospital is different. But we had included nappies and wipes,
Speaker 1: and they had formula there if you needed it, and
Speaker 1: basically everything was included, whereas some public hospitals go beg
Speaker 1: you're going to have to bring your own box of nappies,
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to bring your own formula if you
Speaker 1: want to use it, and bottles and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: whereas for me, all of that was included. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: but yeah, they invoice you once you go home. So
Speaker 1: we got a letter in the mail from our anethetist,
Speaker 1: and we paid our obstetricians separately as well.
Speaker 4: Right, Okay, so that's birth. Let's talk about everything pre birth.
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm already getting anxious. I'm like, okay, this
Speaker 4: is just the day or few days of birthing, but
Speaker 4: there's so much before that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I feel like, again, I spent a lot
Speaker 1: in comparison to what a lot of people do. It
Speaker 1: is not the expected. It's just what we did, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do.
Speaker 1: But these are just things that were aligned to mind values.
Speaker 1: So prior to even conceiving or even trying to have
Speaker 1: a baby, both Steve and I did genetic testing. Okay,
Speaker 1: that genetic testing was eight hundred and fifty dollars and
Speaker 1: to us that was a really important cost. Sure, that
Speaker 1: was eight hundred and fifty dollars out of pocket. Because
Speaker 1: at the time that we did it, it wasn't covered. Private
Speaker 1: health now covers a portion of that. I couldn't tell
Speaker 1: you what it is because I didn't experience it, but
Speaker 1: definitely call your private health insurance if you want to
Speaker 1: talk to them about that or what that will cost.
Speaker 1: And there's lots of different companies that charge different prices
Speaker 1: for that, but for us, it was eight hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty dollars.
Speaker 4: And that's like to show you if there's any diseases
Speaker 4: in your family or yeah.
Speaker 1: Or like genetic conditions that we need to be aware of.
Speaker 1: One of the things that they test for, which is
Speaker 1: obviously debilitating if you have it, is cystic fibrosis, and
Speaker 1: it tells you, you know, if you carry that gene,
Speaker 1: if I carry that gene, because it's actually recessive, which means,
Speaker 1: you know, if one of your parents had that gene,
Speaker 1: they pass it on to you. Wambam, thank you, ma'am.
Speaker 1: You fine, But if both of us carried that, there
Speaker 1: is a probability that our baby might be impacted by that.
Speaker 1: So I just wanted to know all of that, and
Speaker 1: we were in the position to do so, so we
Speaker 1: looked into it. Where you started prenatals. Obviously I'm not
Speaker 1: a doctor, but my doctor recommended that I started prenatals
Speaker 1: at least twelve months before trying, if possible, because obviously
Speaker 1: then all the vitamins and minerals and stuff that are
Speaker 1: coming into your body can settle into your body and
Speaker 1: you can get your levels up because pregnancy does take
Speaker 1: a lot out of you. But it's things like iron
Speaker 1: and folate fold Eate's really important for pregnant women, and
Speaker 1: it's full of stuff that just makes sure that the
Speaker 1: baby you make is a really good quality baby sure,
Speaker 1: which was important to me. So we started that early.
Speaker 1: And then obviously you've got pregnancy tests and ovulation tests
Speaker 1: if you're you know, going to track while you're trying,
Speaker 1: which we did, and that ultimately cost us I would
Speaker 1: say a couple of one hundred dollars in pregnancy tests
Speaker 1: and ovulation tests. Ovulation tests were so expensive, fact, it's
Speaker 1: like sixty bucks a.
Speaker 4: Bof How do you test that. You'd buy it like
Speaker 4: from the chemist or something.
Speaker 1: Just buy it at the chemist and you basically pee
Speaker 1: on a stick and it tells you when you're going
Speaker 1: to ovulate, and that's when you should be trying. To
Speaker 1: do some baby making.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, I don't know that existed. That's yeah, that's.
Speaker 1: Critic cool once you get into it, like the science
Speaker 1: of it is really fun. But it did bring a
Speaker 1: lot of anxiety for me as well, Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: we only have this period to try, and then if
Speaker 1: it didn't work, it was like heartbreaking because I was like,
Speaker 1: I did everything right. Like so it can be a
Speaker 1: very nuanced process, but I guess during pregnancy there's you know,
Speaker 1: those costs to get pregnant, and then once you are pregnant,
Speaker 1: you've got ultrasounds. So in the public system they are included.
Speaker 1: In the private system, they typically cost between two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty and three hundred and seventy five dollars. One
Speaker 1: of my last ultrasounds, it cost me four hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty dollars. I think I'd think seventy dollars was covered
Speaker 1: by Medicare and private health insurance didn't cover the rest,
Speaker 1: and I remember being a little bit salty about that one.
Speaker 4: This was like a very stupid question.
Speaker 1: But it's not a stupid question. You've never been pregnant,
Speaker 1: so I'm assuming that you haven't gone through the process.
Speaker 4: Why would you know, the reason for the ultrasound being
Speaker 4: more toward the end is that because there's more land
Speaker 4: to cover.
Speaker 1: No, I think it was more comprehensive. So it was
Speaker 1: like the time that the doctor had to spend with
Speaker 1: me because I had some complications in my pregnancy, which
Speaker 1: meant I was getting more ultrasounds than the average bear.
Speaker 1: And then one of the last ones, honestly, she was
Speaker 1: in there for like an hour and a half in
Speaker 1: comparison to like the Quick have they got ten fingers
Speaker 1: and ten toes and all of their stuff works. Yep, great,
Speaker 1: no worries, wampam, thank you man. Sure it was a
Speaker 1: bit more comprehensive, but still four hunder and twenty bucks
Speaker 1: for an ultrasound wasn't on my budget. And then you've
Speaker 1: got other things. So we did private birth in classes
Speaker 1: and we did a few different things. But I spent
Speaker 1: about five hundred dollars in total for Steve and I
Speaker 1: to attend different classes to make sure we were ready
Speaker 1: for birth and I was ready for breastfeeding. And I
Speaker 1: bought an online course that really helped as well. So
Speaker 1: those are things that are obviously nice to have because
Speaker 1: you could do your own research and you definitely don't
Speaker 1: need to attend one, or you could attend one through
Speaker 1: your hospital, which would be free, but I did that externally.
Speaker 1: And then up until about twenty weeks, I was trying
Speaker 1: to go to pilates, so I had purchased pilates classes
Speaker 1: and I bought one of those big packs that means
Speaker 1: that each class I think was down to like twenty
Speaker 1: two dollars a class or something. Oh, completely wasted because
Speaker 1: I was so sick that I couldn't go, but I
Speaker 1: bought the pack because I was so excited about being
Speaker 1: able to do it, So that was a waste of money.
Speaker 1: Then I was doing things like acupuncture, so for me,
Speaker 1: acupuncture was one hundred and ten dollars a session and
Speaker 1: I got eighty dollars back, so that was a nice
Speaker 1: thing to have. And then don't forget wardrobe editions of course,
Speaker 1: so there's a UK study that found that the average
Speaker 1: person who is pregnant spends about twelve hundred dollars on
Speaker 1: maternity ware during their pregnancy.
Speaker 4: That's hectic.
Speaker 1: I did not do that. I thankfully had a wardrobe
Speaker 1: that had a lot of stretchy things. By the end
Speaker 1: of my pregnancy, I was wearing my husband's shirts. I
Speaker 1: was wearing active wear. I was wearing you know, my
Speaker 1: husband's t shirts and stuff to bed. I didn't spend
Speaker 1: a lot. I would say I spent maybe three hundred
Speaker 1: dollars on quote maternity wear. None of it was actual
Speaker 1: maternity where though it was like a bigger pair of pants,
Speaker 1: or I bought, you know, a couple of stretchy dresses. Sure,
Speaker 1: that was basically it. But I did definitely dress my
Speaker 1: own wardrobe and orrowed my husband's while I was pregnant,
Speaker 1: because good maternity stuff just wasn't cute.
Speaker 4: No, I'm all sorts of money win. You know what
Speaker 4: you could do. You could cut the corners of your
Speaker 4: Singlet get those little volco A dots from Bunnings, and
Speaker 4: that's a maternity top.
Speaker 1: I just have been pulling my top up, to be honest,
Speaker 1: that's good idea. Yeah, see this jumper maternity top. If
Speaker 1: you're willing to pull your top up.
Speaker 4: Yes, now that's a broke tip.
Speaker 1: I'm actually a genius.
Speaker 4: That's really clever.
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming to Victoria's pregnancy class.
Speaker 4: So while we're on the topic, how about public versus
Speaker 4: private hospital costs?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we went through my public versus private health costs,
Speaker 1: but almost all births in Australia happen in the public system.
Speaker 1: Ninety seven percent of births in Australia in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: three were born in a hospital in conventional labor wards.
Speaker 1: So that has changed over the years. Like historically that
Speaker 1: wasn't the case. Birth is now quite medicalized. I would
Speaker 1: say of mothers who gave birth in hospital, three out
Speaker 1: of four, so seventy five percent of people give birth
Speaker 1: in a public hospital. It is a brilliant system. I
Speaker 1: am not saying that because I chose to give birth
Speaker 1: in private that I think it's better. In fact, a
Speaker 1: lot of people said to me, oh wow, Victoria, like
Speaker 1: because of your high risk pregnancy, you would have had
Speaker 1: an epic time in public. In fact, public are better
Speaker 1: equipped to deal with emergency things that happen. And I
Speaker 1: gave birth at a hospital here in Melbourne called Francis Perry,
Speaker 1: which is the private hospital I was at. And one
Speaker 1: of the reasons I chose that hospital was because it
Speaker 1: is in the same building as the Royal Women's Hospital,
Speaker 1: which is the best public hospital for women to give
Speaker 1: birth in. So I'm not saying that one's better than
Speaker 1: the other. It's just different horses for different courses.
Speaker 4: Okay, v this money chat is stressing me the heck
Speaker 4: out that I imagine some listeners as well. So let's
Speaker 4: go to a quick break. But on the flip side,
Speaker 4: we're going to be chatting nursery and all the little
Speaker 4: costs that come with that. Also, I'm thinking parental leave
Speaker 4: and childcare is quite a hefty subject, and also i'm
Speaker 4: assuming very costly. Should we make this a two part series?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 4: I think we should?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, let's cut that out. I'm no longer going
Speaker 1: to talk about parental leave and childcare because we've well
Speaker 1: fled on too much and I feel like it's interesting.
Speaker 1: So after the break, Beck, let's just do all of
Speaker 1: the nursery costs. I'll tell you how much I would
Speaker 1: be budgeting to set up a nursery. We'll talk about
Speaker 1: the average nursery costs here in Australia, and then we'll
Speaker 1: also talk about the you know, things that were completely unexpected.
Speaker 1: Next baby episode we drop back, we'll talk about parental
Speaker 1: even childcare.
Speaker 4: Perfect. Sound like a deal.
Speaker 1: All right, let's go to a break and we'll see
Speaker 1: you on the flip side.
Speaker 4: See soon. Welcome back everyone. Let's jump straight into nursery.
Speaker 4: I wonder how much you spent, and then we'll talk
Speaker 4: about like the average costs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, you're hitting a little bit of a sore
Speaker 1: spot at this point because we wanted to have the
Speaker 1: nursery done, but then we didn't get the nursery done.
Speaker 1: So it's full of all the stuff. But have we painted.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 1: We will be putting up wallpaper and we will hang
Speaker 1: some stuff at some point, but not one thing has
Speaker 1: been hung. That is fine. He has all the stuff
Speaker 1: he needs totally. But we bought a chest of draws
Speaker 1: that cost me about seven hundred and fifty dollars. Do
Speaker 1: you need a seven hundred and fifty dollars chest of draws? No,
Speaker 1: but I did. I bought a crib. A crib is
Speaker 1: going to cost you anywhere between you know, two hundred
Speaker 1: bucks aka all the way up to three thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: which is what I spent because I got a really
Speaker 1: boogie one. Again, this is a judgment free space, and
Speaker 1: I'm only sharing this because I know you guys are pervy.
Speaker 1: This isn't me bragging. I just know all of you
Speaker 1: want to know.
Speaker 4: Does it rock?
Speaker 1: It actually does absolutely nothing like it is made off wood.
Speaker 1: Like it's the most disappointing thing in the entire world.
Speaker 1: We bought a nursing chair that was about twelve hundred dollars. Sure,
Speaker 1: I also was gifted a nursing chair that we have
Speaker 1: as well, so I have too, just for full transparency.
Speaker 1: And I was gifted the one I really really wanted,
Speaker 1: but it was more expensive, so I bought.
Speaker 4: The other one.
Speaker 1: So I feel really boogie having that, but just full transparency.
Speaker 1: We were gifted that I did buy the snow. I
Speaker 1: was gonna yosk about this snea the snow. The snow
Speaker 1: is about eighteen hundred dollars. I bought that from the memo.
Speaker 1: Do not regret that for one second?
Speaker 4: Okay, what does it do with it?
Speaker 1: I can't remember a baby and it rocks him back
Speaker 1: to sleep and it has like this app with it,
Speaker 1: so when your baby is a bit fussy, because sometimes babies,
Speaker 1: you know, they get a bit fussy in their sleep,
Speaker 1: but if you rock them, they just fall back asleep.
Speaker 1: But they need that attention. Does it for me?
Speaker 4: I want an adult snoo mate.
Speaker 1: The snow is the best thing I've ever done. And
Speaker 1: there's a lot of controversy around it, Like lots of
Speaker 1: people are like, oh, snow, that's a ridiculous cost. You
Speaker 1: know what, I would spend eighteen hundred dollars again for
Speaker 1: good sleep? Yeah, one hundred percent. Anyway, so we have
Speaker 1: the snow. We purchased a pram. My pram was about
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars. That's pretty standard for a brand new
Speaker 1: pram of that amount. Do you have to spend that? No,
Speaker 1: you absolutely do not. You could go and get a
Speaker 1: very good one for a much lower price point total.
Speaker 1: I again made a lot of bougie purchases. Sure, and
Speaker 1: that's all I can think of off the top of
Speaker 1: my pulse. Would be included baby seat. Yep. So we
Speaker 1: purchased a capsule, a capsule we're going to have to
Speaker 1: replace at some point because you can only use this
Speaker 1: capsule up until he is about twelve months old or
Speaker 1: he hits the weight strictions on it. And our capsule
Speaker 1: cost us about eight hundred dollars.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 1: I did buy the capsule that clicks into my pram though,
Speaker 1: and that makes.
Speaker 4: Me very happy, very convenient. Did you have to pay
Speaker 4: someone to professionally install it?
Speaker 1: We didn't. We used a YouTube video and did it ourselves,
Speaker 1: and the capsule came with really comprehensive instructions.
Speaker 4: Great.
Speaker 1: We wanted to like do it ourselves, not because it's
Speaker 1: better to have it professionally installed, but in our heads,
Speaker 1: we were going to like put it in the car,
Speaker 1: you know, pull it out of the car at some point,
Speaker 1: we were going to put it in a different car.
Speaker 1: We were going to pull it out, you know, put
Speaker 1: the seats in the car down so that we can
Speaker 1: fit more stuff if we're moving stuff around. And I
Speaker 1: was kind of like, we're going to need to know
Speaker 1: how to do this properly if we get it professionally installed. Mate,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to let you pull it out again.
Speaker 1: So we did it ourselves, but we did get it
Speaker 1: all checked and it's fine, perfect, okay.
Speaker 4: And what about like a regular sort of nursery. What
Speaker 4: would someone on average expect to pay for their whole nursery?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so on average, if we add it all up
Speaker 1: and it doesn't include being gifted anything or try to
Speaker 1: save any money or buying things secondhand, which I absolutely
Speaker 1: can recommend. Actually, Loki shout out to a brand. There's
Speaker 1: a brand called baby bey On and we got a
Speaker 1: baby Beyond bouncer and they are quite expensive, Like they're
Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty ish dollars for a baby bouncer,
Speaker 1: all right, so not cheap sure, but apparently they're like
Speaker 1: baby crack. Babies love them. Harvey obsessed with his You
Speaker 1: put him in it, and he is just very content.
Speaker 1: This baby bouncer means that I put him in the
Speaker 1: baby bouncer. I go, you okay, mate. He looks at
Speaker 1: me kind of like daft. I don't know what's going
Speaker 1: on in his brain, but he looks at me and
Speaker 1: he's like, yeah, mom, I'm fine and I can have
Speaker 1: a shower while watching him.
Speaker 4: Yeah, el eat.
Speaker 1: So anyway, this baby bouncer is to me one of
Speaker 1: my favorite purchases. But the other day they posted on
Speaker 1: their Instagram feed how to buy one of their bouncer's
Speaker 1: secondhand to look forward to make sure that it's safe
Speaker 1: and secure, and they did the same thing for like
Speaker 1: their cots and stuff. They're like, well, if you're going
Speaker 1: to buy them secondhand, please make sure this works. This works,
Speaker 1: the safety on this is fine. Otherwise go forth and
Speaker 1: you know, prosper by our stuff secondhand. That's a company
Speaker 1: that made me more, and like, honestly, baby stuff gets
Speaker 1: used for such a short period of time that I
Speaker 1: have bought a lot of my baby stuff just on Facebook,
Speaker 1: Marketplace or eBay because I'm like, well, it's been used
Speaker 1: for less than three months. Why would I pay full price?
Speaker 1: To me, that was insanity. So a cot costs about
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars according to research, a cop mattress is
Speaker 1: going to cost you anywhere between one hundred and three
Speaker 1: hundred dollars. How much have you spend unless you talk,
Speaker 1: I spent about two hundred and fifty dollars on a
Speaker 1: cop mattress.
Speaker 4: Okay, little baby.
Speaker 1: Clothing, you're going to spend about four hundred dollars, you know,
Speaker 1: just getting all the basics together. Honest to god, when
Speaker 1: people say don't buy too many newborn outfits, you think
Speaker 1: they're crazy. They're not. They grow out of the mid
Speaker 1: point two seconds. Harvey is now two months old and
Speaker 1: in the zero to three month stuff, and it makes
Speaker 1: me really sad. Car seat is going to cost on
Speaker 1: average about six hundred dollars. Will caveat this with some advice.
Speaker 1: You probably don't want unsolicited advice, but this is safety advice.
Speaker 1: But the one thing I would never purchase second hand
Speaker 1: is a car seat. Okay, I recommend you buy absolutely
Speaker 1: everything you can secondhand, get hand me downs, do all
Speaker 1: of that, but do not buy a car seat secondhand
Speaker 1: because you cannot trust other people to be completely transparent
Speaker 1: about whether that has been in an accident or not.
Speaker 1: The second a baby seat has been in an accident,
Speaker 1: it is no longer usable, it is no longer safe,
Speaker 1: the safety mechanisms in it are dead, and it will
Speaker 1: not protect your child. So do not buy a car
Speaker 1: seat second hand. The only caveat I would say is
Speaker 1: if your sister's gifting you one and sit absolutely no,
Speaker 1: she hasn't been in a crash and it's her capsule
Speaker 1: and whatnot. So like, obviously again, grain of salt, use
Speaker 1: your brains. But that's the one thing that I would
Speaker 1: never go on Facebook marketplace and trust a stranger with. Yeah, like,
Speaker 1: the safety of your child, I promise is worth the money.
Speaker 1: Change table. I didn't purchase a change table. I just
Speaker 1: purchased a change mat and popped it on top of
Speaker 1: the chest of drawers because I felt like it's gonna
Speaker 1: have a bit more longevity. Who could say in his
Speaker 1: room nappies and wipes.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, big one.
Speaker 1: Holy snapping ducks. Do you know how many nappies my
Speaker 1: baby used a day?
Speaker 4: How many from birth?
Speaker 1: No, you have to guess, just a day. We're not
Speaker 1: even talking a week. How many a day is he using?
Speaker 4: I'm thinking for a day five eleven.
Speaker 1: Baby's got to go between eight and eleven times a
Speaker 1: day we change here. Snappy babies use upwards of three
Speaker 1: thousand nappies per year. That's going to cost you about
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars a quarter.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 1: I bought nappies in bulk and I regret that, so
Speaker 1: I thought I was real savvy beck and I bought
Speaker 1: a whole heap of nappies. I ended up getting like
Speaker 1: a discount online because I did this, you know, bulk order. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he's already grown up to the next tri you born.
Speaker 1: Nappies are completely useless, but I have donated them to
Speaker 1: the Nappy Society, which is very very cool. So if
Speaker 1: you haven't heard of the Nappy Society, the Nappy Society
Speaker 1: take donations of nappies and then distribute them to mums
Speaker 1: who need them. Oh and I think that that is
Speaker 1: so beautiful. And if you've got a whole heap of
Speaker 1: nappies that are the wrong size, they start to degrade.
Speaker 1: Don't keep them in the cupboard for your next child.
Speaker 1: They're not going to work. Donate them so somebody can
Speaker 1: use them.
Speaker 4: That's really really sweet. I really like that.
Speaker 1: You're probably going to purchase some toys as well. Yes,
Speaker 1: I haven't purchased any toys yet. We've been gifted a few,
Speaker 1: but he is still a newborn and doesn't interact with
Speaker 1: anything yet. You might want to purchase a highchairback that
Speaker 1: will cost you about three hundred and fifty dollars, a
Speaker 1: baby carrier that could cost you anywhere from fifty to
Speaker 1: three hundred dollars for any type of baby carrier, bibbs.
Speaker 4: Forgot about the bibs.
Speaker 1: Lots of mums don't use them. I do because after
Speaker 1: he has had a feed, he usually spits up, and
Speaker 1: I don't really want to his outfit, so I'm finding
Speaker 1: I'm not changing his outfit as often because of the bibs.
Speaker 1: That's a good investment. Something that was a brilliant investment
Speaker 1: for me was a breast pump.
Speaker 4: Okay, how much is that?
Speaker 1: Usually between three hundred and five hundred dollars An Mine
Speaker 1: was four hundred and eighty dollars.
Speaker 4: Four hundred and eighty O.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I went for the big dog one because
Speaker 1: I wanted it to be hospital grade and strong enough
Speaker 1: and all of that stuff. And I don't regret that.
Speaker 1: But you can also buy secondhand pumps. And you might
Speaker 1: think of hey, that's a bit weird, but what you
Speaker 1: do is you buy the pump, which is actually the mechanism,
Speaker 1: and then buy all brand new stuff that you know,
Speaker 1: touches your boobs, the flangers, you know, the bottles and stuff,
Speaker 1: so the pump actually doesn't ever touch milk.
Speaker 4: It's just a camp.
Speaker 1: But you can buy new cords, new flangers, new like
Speaker 1: bottles and stuff, and that would be a really efficient
Speaker 1: way of doing it. And Spectra, which is the brand
Speaker 1: of the pump that I have posted the other day
Speaker 1: about what to look for when you're buying a secondhand pump.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 4: People.
Speaker 1: I literally like, isn't that cool that the brand like, hey,
Speaker 1: we know that not everybody can afford to purchase our
Speaker 1: product brand new. You know, the product is a good
Speaker 1: quality product, so we can't really afford to bring down prices,
Speaker 1: but buying a secondhand one could work. This is how
Speaker 1: you should do it. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I really like that.
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed. I just think it's so responsible.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So you were saying at the start of the
Speaker 4: episode that you are also doing kind of like formula situation.
Speaker 4: Are you doing both or you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're doing both. I had really low milk supply
Speaker 1: and needed to That's something that I'm also spending money on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I saw a lactation consultant that costs two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty dollars. I then had to go to a specialist doctor.
Speaker 1: Because this is controversial. Again, I am not asking for opinions.
Speaker 1: I'm just sharing my experience here. Harvey had a tongue tie,
Speaker 1: which is the little membrane under your tongue, and it
Speaker 1: was too tight and it was stopping him from feeding properly,
Speaker 1: and we made the decision to have that cut. Okay,
Speaker 1: so he had that surgery, which was honestly not even
Speaker 1: a surgery. It was just a little snip and he
Speaker 1: didn't even cry. And I was really shocked by that
Speaker 1: because I was prepping for the worst. I cried way
Speaker 1: more than he did, and that has helped significantly. I'm
Speaker 1: now all medication to increase my milk supply and we're
Speaker 1: trying to get there. But formula costs US thirty six
Speaker 1: dollars a tin.
Speaker 4: Okay, thirty six bucks a tin. How long does that last?
Speaker 1: Usually for now, because he's a newborn and we're only
Speaker 1: using it to top up, we're going through maybe one
Speaker 1: tin every three weeks, but most babies will go through
Speaker 1: a tin a week.
Speaker 4: Ooh yeah, just add that's the list.
Speaker 1: It's just so expensive, like thirty six bucks on formula,
Speaker 1: Oh my lord.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and what about like the vessel for the formula?
Speaker 4: How much of bottles?
Speaker 1: Bottles are expensive? So bottles I didn't realize we're going
Speaker 1: to be an issue. Turns out babies have preferences. Ah yeah,
Speaker 1: and they like some and don't like others.
Speaker 4: I see.
Speaker 1: So one of the best tips I got at the
Speaker 1: start was don't buy a heap of bottles. You know,
Speaker 1: if you're buying a new one, it might sound good
Speaker 1: to buy heap of bottles, because then you've got heaps
Speaker 1: of them. Buy one, test it with your baby, make
Speaker 1: sure they're okay with it, Clean it a couple of
Speaker 1: time in between feeds, test it for a day or two,
Speaker 1: and then if they like that one, go on by
Speaker 1: a few of them. Don't buy all your bottles at once.
Speaker 1: Because this woman went and bought six bottles and thought, great,
Speaker 1: these are the most recommended on the market. He hated them.
Speaker 1: I see, yeah, and so you can't return them they've
Speaker 1: been used. So I have six bottles that he doesn't like,
Speaker 1: and I had to go and purchase six months he.
Speaker 4: Did, okay, and you just need that many just in.
Speaker 1: Case, Yeah, just in case. But a bottle can cost
Speaker 1: anywhere between ten and forty dollars each.
Speaker 4: Ah, I see, okay. So just like top of my
Speaker 4: head and also being kind of calculating as you're going,
Speaker 4: total is roughly like six thousand.
Speaker 1: Yet about six grand out of pocket to set up
Speaker 1: for all the costs associated with a baby. So if
Speaker 1: I was putting a budget together, I'd probably budget about
Speaker 1: six thousand dollars for a nursery, sure, and then I
Speaker 1: would cut things down from there, like have you got
Speaker 1: a friend that has a cot that you could either
Speaker 1: purchase from them or have a hand me down and
Speaker 1: be gifted? Like can you find things on Facebook marketplace?
Speaker 1: Facebook marketplace is so fantastic, And to be honest, I
Speaker 1: feel like it's the good side of Facebook Marketplace, because
Speaker 1: you know how Facebook Marketplace can just be a bit
Speaker 1: of a nightmare, Like people can be weird. Like I
Speaker 1: have met so many nice mums. When I've gone to
Speaker 1: pick up things, They're like, oh my gosh, how far
Speaker 1: along are you? And I'll be like, oh, I'm thirty
Speaker 1: five weeks and they're like, oh my god, I love this.
Speaker 1: Actually you're buying this, but I have a few xyz
Speaker 1: and they like, we'll s in. They be like, oh,
Speaker 1: I just want you to have it. I don't use
Speaker 1: it anymore. And they've just been so sweet and like
Speaker 1: I will be doing the same thing and just selling
Speaker 1: my stuff on Facebook Marketplace when I'm done with it,
Speaker 1: especially things that I go, oh, that worked for us,
Speaker 1: but you know, probably won't use it for the next baby,
Speaker 1: et cetera. But yes, I would probably be looking at
Speaker 1: budgeting around six thousand dollars if you're wanting to be savvy.
Speaker 1: But a recent study found that the average family spend
Speaker 1: is about seven nine hundred and eighteen dollars for setting
Speaker 1: up for a new baby, and then about six hundred
Speaker 1: dollars a month once they are.
Speaker 4: So v Those are all the structured costs things that
Speaker 4: you maybe are expecting that you can put in a
Speaker 4: spreadsheet that you can put in a spreadsheet like I
Speaker 4: gave you a list of things that you would need
Speaker 4: to spend money on for your baby. Yes, but there
Speaker 4: are lots of other costs. Let's dive straight in.
Speaker 1: All right, So there were so many additional costs, and
Speaker 1: I mean, not everyone is going to have them, but
Speaker 1: I had, let's say, a rocky pregnancy. I will be
Speaker 1: the first to say pregnancy not for me. Will I
Speaker 1: do it again? Probably, but not for me. Didn't enjoy
Speaker 1: it all? That's fair those women who were like I
Speaker 1: felt like my best self pregnant, you win. I lose pregnancies,
Speaker 1: just not for me. But in the grand scheme of things,
Speaker 1: a whole heap of unexpected costs. I guess they're just
Speaker 1: part of the baby journey, which is why you should
Speaker 1: budget more than you're expecting. But here are a few
Speaker 1: things that I spent money on that I don't think
Speaker 1: you would have seen coming. Little did I know, beck
Speaker 1: I was gonna become best friends with a bottle of
Speaker 1: gavescon cavas Gone. Gavescon costs eighteen dollars a bottle. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can get it on sale. Unluckily, I always just
Speaker 1: had to buy it out of necessity. I wasn't waiting
Speaker 1: for it to go on sale. Eighteen dollars a bottle.
Speaker 4: I'm very privileged to not have known that.
Speaker 1: It's really nice. Do you know how much I spent
Speaker 1: on Gavescon during my pregnancy?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: No, two hundred and fifty two dollars. If I was you,
Speaker 1: I'd be buying shares in them, like I'm keeping them
Speaker 1: in business.
Speaker 4: Next time you for pregnant. If you do, I'm going
Speaker 4: I'll just let everybody, No, let's all jump on the
Speaker 4: Gavescon share. Yeah, because I'm basically keeping them in business
Speaker 4: at this point my newfound love during pregnancy. In fact,
Speaker 4: I do not want to touch one of these weather
Speaker 4: ten foot pole at this point in time. Fruit tingles
Speaker 4: because they actually have buy carbs soda in them. They
Speaker 4: helped to settle your tummy while you're pregnant, and they
Speaker 4: were so much nicer than Gaves Gone. They didn't do
Speaker 4: as good a job. So I had both.
Speaker 1: But fruit tingles were two dollars a roll because they
Speaker 1: still sell them in roles bottom shelf at the supermarket.
Speaker 1: If you're looking for them two packets a day at
Speaker 1: least I was consuming four dollars a day to my
Speaker 1: daily tab, So yeah, I spent I would saying about
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty dollars on fruit tingles during my pregnancy.
Speaker 1: WHOA isn't that while? Yeah, fruit tingles?
Speaker 4: Who would have thought people get some funny cravings when
Speaker 4: they're pregnant.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Do you know what else sucked? During pregnancy? I got
Speaker 1: perioral dermatitis, which basically gave my entire face a rash. Oh,
Speaker 1: and I was so uncomfortable. It was like really flared up.
Speaker 1: It ended up cracking on my chin and hurting something shocking.
Speaker 1: So you know what I needed to do? Go and
Speaker 1: see a dermatologist. Ah, four hundred dollars to see a dermatologist.
Speaker 1: About seventy dollars for the products to help with that flarer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, just one time, you saw a dermatologist.
Speaker 1: Just one time. She set me up with everything I
Speaker 1: needed and she was very nice by an email after that,
Speaker 1: But are you joking? Four hundred dollars? I also found
Speaker 1: out mid pregnancy Beck that I had very high blood
Speaker 1: pressure which was bordering on preaclamsia, which was not very fun.
Speaker 1: Lots of additional blood tests covered under Medicare. That was okay,
Speaker 1: checkups and stuff which were free, they were included, but
Speaker 1: obviously I was then on medication, and that medication was
Speaker 1: costing me about sixty ish dollars a month to be on.
Speaker 1: And then in addition to this, I had to purchase
Speaker 1: an at home blood pressure monitor because my doctor said, look,
Speaker 1: you're going to need to test every day. You either
Speaker 1: purchase one or you come in. I could have gone
Speaker 1: in for free to get my blood pressure taken, but
Speaker 1: then I would have had to drive, and I would
Speaker 1: have had to pay for parking, and also we're not
Speaker 1: talking about the time it would take to get to
Speaker 1: the hospital every day. But I spent about one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty dollars on a blood pressure monitor from the
Speaker 1: chemist to have a home. It's very convenient, though, for
Speaker 1: who after pregnancy? Maybe just for curiosity? Yeah, look, curiosity
Speaker 1: killed the cat because the amount of times I tested
Speaker 1: my own blood pressure and then freaked out and ended
Speaker 1: up in hospital because I was like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: it's still so high, what's wrong is the baby? It
Speaker 1: was just a really fun time. Yeah, okay, but yes,
Speaker 1: another one hundred and twenty bucks so those were so
Speaker 1: additional unexpected.
Speaker 4: Costs doesn't does it?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And also a lot of McDonald's hash browns, but I
Speaker 1: didn't put them into a spreadsheet.
Speaker 4: I don't even want to know.
Speaker 1: I regret nothing. Yeah, we're an investment.
Speaker 4: They are an investment.
Speaker 1: And why are they not a dollar anymore?
Speaker 4: Are they not a dollar?
Speaker 1: Not a dollar anymore?
Speaker 4: Cozie Lives.
Speaker 1: Yeah, anyway, I think we're done here.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's good because I was honestly on the verge.
Speaker 1: Of you were gonna leave. I believe you're like babies.
Speaker 4: Are boring on bit of tears actually for the amount
Speaker 4: of money that you spent, but also it is worth
Speaker 4: it because he's here and his beautiful.
Speaker 1: Absolutely I'm biased because I'm his mother, but I'll always agree.
Speaker 4: I do miss him actually, So before we go, though,
Speaker 4: I do want to know, is it any last tips
Speaker 4: or tricks or anything like that?
Speaker 1: All right? So my number one tip would be establish
Speaker 1: your baby budget early on sure, and budget more than
Speaker 1: what you're anticipating. Obviously you mentioned Cozy Lives before the
Speaker 1: world is a very expensive place to be, but I'd
Speaker 1: always be trying to put away as much as you
Speaker 1: can while pregnant or while trying to get pregnant, or
Speaker 1: planning a pregnancy, because it all does add up, and
Speaker 1: like it might not seem like the most fun way
Speaker 1: to celebrate having a baby or finding out that you're pregnant,
Speaker 1: but having money put aside, I promise you future you
Speaker 1: is going to thank you for that, and that is
Speaker 1: going to ensure that you have a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a stress free pregnancy, because like, the last thing
Speaker 1: you need to be stressing about while pregnant is money,
Speaker 1: and the last thing you need to be stressing about
Speaker 1: while having a baby is going, oh my gosh, I
Speaker 1: didn't foresee this, you know, twenty dollar cost or fifty
Speaker 1: dollar cost, because they all add up, right, So I
Speaker 1: think you can focus your attention where it really matters,
Speaker 1: and that's on having a baby. But making sure that
Speaker 1: your budget is on point and you've allocated as much
Speaker 1: as you can towards that is going to be a priority.
Speaker 4: It's really solid advice. Thank you. I think it's a
Speaker 4: really great place to leave right now.
Speaker 1: I think it's a good place to leave your Hearty's
Speaker 1: in a studio, like he's now a studio radio baby,
Speaker 1: So let's go hang out with him perfect.
Speaker 4: Let's do it by guys.
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