When I first learned I was pregnant, I decided that I would be ahead of the game and start looking for some fall/winter maternity clothes, since that’s when I would be pretty big.  I went with a friend to a few stores, including Motherhood Maternity, and scoped out prices.  Old Navy’s maternity line seemed to be pretty reasonably priced.  I learned that I loved all the clothes Motherhood Maternity offered, especially their petite pants.  They fit perfectly length-wise, and that never happens!  Unfortunately, they were also priced around $35 a pair, and holy cow. I couldn’t bring myself to pay $35 for a pair of pants.  Luckily, I waited and was able to come up with a pretty nice maternity wardrobe without spending a ton of money.  Here’s how I did it:

-Went to yard sales.  When I went up to Michigan to tell my family I was pregnant, my mom and I hit up some yard sales.  She noticed one advertised on Craigslist to have maternity clothes, so we made sure to go there.  I got a pair of the petite Motherhood Maternity pants for fifty cents!  They were in great shape and are my favorite maternity pants today.  Love them!  I also got a few gender neutral sleepers for the baby for a quarter each.

-Went to many thrift stores.  Some thrift stores were much better than others, but I’ve been able to pick up a few pieces here and there, making my wardrobe more expansive.  Thrift stores weren’t my best source of clothing though, to be honest.  I think the quality of clothing at thrift stores varies depending on where you live.

-Borrowed clothing from friends.  One of my friends brought me over her whole maternity wardrobe when she found out I was pregnant.  I was able to borrow quite a few shirts and pants from her, saving me a bunch of money and shopping time!

-eBay and Craigslist.  When I learned that I loved the Motherhood pants, I started searching eBay for them.  I was able to pick up a couple pairs of dress pants for a really good price!  Even better, I didn’t have to leave the house.  My mom kept her eye out for maternity clothes on her local Craigslist, and she found someone selling maternity clothes.  She went over and bought a few pieces, and then told him to give her a call in a few days if he still hadn’t sold the clothes.  He called her later in the week to tell her she was welcome to pick up the rest of the clothes for free if we were still interested.  Awesome!

Being pregnant and thinking about how much pregnancy and babies costs can be overwhelming.  I am trying to take things one day at a time to avoid being overwhelmed.  I’m thankful I was able to put my whole maternity wardrobe together for not too much money.  I can’t imagine paying retail for all those clothes, especially when they are worn for approximately six months!

I think having and raising a baby is as expensive as you make it.  I’m going to do my best to enjoy my pregnancy and baby and not blow my budget.

Some of you may have noticed my absence over the past few months.  It’s been a busy summer, and I’m so happy to announce that we are finally pregnant!  We are so thrilled, and I am looking forward to being a mama sometime in February.  The first trimester was really rough, but now that I’m past it, I’ve felt a lot better and much more confident.  I’ll start sharing more ideas on how we’re saving money throughout my pregnancy, what baby items we’re choosing, etc.  The next chapter of our lives is pretty exciting, so I hope you’ll stick around to enjoy!

Teen Mom is a show on MTV that airs on Tuesday nights at 10PM.

It’s a reality show that follows four ‘teen moms’: Catelynn, Maci, Amber, and Farrah.  The young women were originally part of “16 and Pregnant”, another reality show that is exactly what it sounds like: pregnant 16 year old young women.  Both Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant are like train wrecks: you can’t help but watch because it’s so messed up.  I know I’m addicted, and the majority of my friends are also.  There are some good lessons to be learned from the show (don’t get pregnant until you can completely be responsible for a baby), and I’ve decided to highlight what I’ve observed about money and Teen Mom.

Farrah Abraham

Farrah’s worst money experience is when Farrah gets scammed on Craigslist.  On Episode 5, Farrah decides she’s going to sell her Dodge Neon on Craigslist.  She lists it, and lo and behold, someone buys it the next day! They send her a check in the mail with more than enough funds to cover the car plus shipping, plus some extra money for her trouble.  She Western Unions the money to the buyer, and all is well.  Until a few days later when her banker calls to tell her that dun dun dun… the check was fraudulent and bounced.  Now Farrah’s out like $3,000 and overdrawn in her bank account. Ouch.

Amber Portwood

It seems as if Amber and Gary don’t care about money because neither of them are employed.  One good money move they are making is to not get married.  Of course, that changes during every episode, but more likely than not, they won’t get married.  They will not only save money, but they will probably also save each others’ lives.

Maci Bookout

Maci appears smart with her money- she attends a community college in Chattanooga and then transfers to another community college in Nashville.  Of course, when she decides to move from Chattanooga to Nashville, her expenses increase as she moves from her parents’ house into her own apartment.

Catelynn Lowell

Catelynn and Tyler seem to be pretty responsible with money.  Both live with their own respective parents (coincidentally Catelynn’s mom is with Tyler’s dad) and attend a public high school.  They placed their daughter for adoption in hopes of a better life for her.  They believe they couldn’t have provided adequately for her, as they still hadn’t graduated high school. I think they made an awesome decision in placing their little girl with adoptive parents.  Although they miss their daughter terribly at times, Catelynn and Tyler seem to not regret their decision.

Raising a child is expensive, and it’s even harder when you’re a teen mom.  Going to school, paying for living expenses, and raising a child all cost money.  I can’t even imagine being a teen mom, but these girls seem to make it all work somehow.  It’s interesting to see the vast differences in money management between the young women.  Some of them handle money better than others, and some seem to not care at all about money.

Do you watch Teen Mom? Have you ever thought about their money situations?

Someone remarked to me the other day that they were semi-surprised at my strong desire to have children. They thought that with my concern about the future of the environment that adding another person to the planet would be a faux pas for me. While I understand that every person creates more strain on the Earth’s resources, I also believe that if we all lived a little lighter and consumed a little less that we’d be in a much better place than not having kids just to save the environment.

photo credit: p.Gordon

I’ve thought sometimes that it’s almost selfish to want to have kids, but I think the way we raise our children and teach them to respect the Earth and its resources that perhaps our children will use less resources than other Americans. Also, our children may be monumental in influencing others to live lighter and respect the Earth. I do think that creating another human being consumes a ton of resources over their lifetime no matter how lightly they live. On the other hand, what would happen if we all stopped procreating?

We plan on teaching our kids the value of money, respect for the Earth, and how to live a frugal yet satisfying life. Hopefully those values will be instilled in them and stick with them throughout their lives. We also plan on cloth diapering, buying used baby items, and hopefully breastfeeding. All of those will save money, be better for the health of our child, and consume less resources. I think that having a baby will be one of the greatest blessings of my lifetime and I can’t wait to experience it. Even though it will leave more of an impact on the Earth than if we didn’t have a child, I think the rewards greatly outweigh the risk.

Do you think having kids is bad for our planet’s future? Or do you think it’s crazy to even take that into consideration when thinking about having a child?

Mr. Money and I have babies on the brain.  Despite the obstacles we’ve occurred, we’re determined that we will be parents in one way or another.  One of the reasons we waited to try to have a baby was because we wanted to wait until we were financially secure.  I understand now that you’ll probably never truly be ready to have kids, but we wanted to be as prepared as we could be.  We really wanted to make sure that we were student loan free.  That was something that we didn’t want to negotiate on.

Now we’re student loan free and working on trying to have a baby.  It’s so exciting, and it finally feels like the time is right.  I can’t help but wonder if maybe we’ve waited too long now, though.  I’m 26 (I know, young!) but Mr. Money is 33.  What if it takes years to get pregnant?  Yikes.  I do think there are many benefits to waiting to have children, but I also think there are some drawbacks.

Pros to having a baby when you’re older

-You have time on your side to pay off debt

-You’ve gained some career experience

-You have time to save money for an emergency fund or for the baby

Pros to having a baby when you’re younger

-Things cost less than they would in 10 years, making it cheaper to have a baby

-You have more energy to play with the child and raise it

-If you do have trouble getting pregnant, time is on your side

Basically I think that we’ve got time on our side, and hopefully things will work out and I’ll be knocked up before you know it.

Do you think it makes better financial sense to have a baby when you’re younger, or older?