Planning and budgeting during pregnancy

duckworth

Folks,

I am a proud new father, and I am as happy as a man could be.

However, I found the 9 months of the pregnancy one of the most stressful and confusing times ever - we didn't know what we needed to buy, where to get it and how much it was all going to cost. I spent days researching all the items and brands - going around the various shops every weekend was a nightmare. And paying for it all - trying to budget is a nightmare - I'm still paying.

Me and another father have decided to start a company to try to help people with this problem - and I'm looking for your opinions.

It's going to be a website for newly pregnant parents that does three main things:
A) Provides a list of the ten or so essential items needed, and allows you to choose brands/makes according to budget
Breaks the cost down into a monthly payment over the period
C) Easily allows Family and Friends to contribute or buy items, bringing down your monthly payment.

We basically want to take the confusion and time out of the pregnancy preparations, and to give peace of mind with the budgeting.

I'd love to hear if you have any thoughts, and if you think this is something you would use. I'm trying to get as much feedback as possible - I have a 30-second questionnaire here if you have time, or you can just reply to the thread with any thoughts.

(mods if I am breaking any rules, or this is in the wrong place, please let me know)

Thanks

holding

I think this is a great idea. I am 36 weeks and still feel pretty clueless. I know there are a ton of websites out there, but it's combing through them all that I don't have time or energy for, also a lot of them are not Irish specific. Fair play to you for the entrepreneurial spirit.

brock92

My wife is due our 1st child in September. Yesterday just started looking up what we might need and what they cost.
This sounds like a good idea and I would use it.

Neyite

The only thing is that "essential" means different things to different people.

A car seat may be essential to a household that has a car, but useless to one that has none. Similarly, things like a changing table might be an essential, but we managed fine without it and I dont see the need. I saw a sensor mat monitor as essential to me, but another parent would consider it a waste of money.

So, I'd suggest that you make your essentials list editable so people can tailor it. Also, to be able to share your wish list, (like on Amazon) and maybe links to safety information, legislation (for the likes of car seats etc) and a function where reviews could be left too?

nikpmup

I'm newly pregnant with my first child, but I have the advantage of having two sisters with young children, and my partner's sister has a four-year old. I have their free advice on what's needed and their second-hand baby essentials - I'll be inheriting a Quinny Buzz buggy, pram and car seat for one thing which will save me a packet. However - for couples who haven't got those resources I think this is a great idea. As Neyite says, a customisable list would be good - I won't be buying a changing table, but one thing that I think is invaluable, and I will be buying for my sisters car seat is a car attachment for the maxi cosi (don't know what it's called!) that means the seat can be clicked in and out - no messing about with seatbelts in the rain!

Neyite

the other thing I remember being confused by at the beginning was quantities of things - how many babygros, vests, hats etc would I need, how many bottles, how many nappies would I go through per day, that sort of thing.

duckworth

Thanks for all the wonderful comments guys.

The list will be definitely customisable - you can add and take away from it, if you prefer to get things from other places. The idea behind giving 10 essentials is that people know where to start.

Basically we want to give you a starting point, and the monthly budget. You then tailor it to your specific needs, and can see the monthly payment change as your list changes.

And great idea on the exact numbers Neyite - that's exactly the same problem we had!!

Keep the ideas and opinions coming - I'd love to get your opinions as we develop the site.

pwurple

This would not have been particularly useful for us, as we had loads of people lending us things. The only things we bought for baby were a matress (from ikea), a monitor (will you be able to undercut amazons price?), and a carseat. The carseat we bought in Tony Kealys where they fitted it properly. I would not buy that online. I wanted it checked and double-checked that it fitted the car properly and the isofix was correctly in place.

So, unfortunately, that would have been no sale from us.

Your market won't be every pregnant person when you are running your business model estimates, I would think only very few people buy much. Isolated people maybe living nowhere near family and friends with kids. Hard to make this profitable I would guess, but if you can make it work, why not?

lazygal

We wouldn't have used something like this and being honest only first time parents who don't have a clue might look into it.

There's not one 'budget' model for a child. Everyone's priorities are different. I was totally determined to breastfeed but bought a steriliser and bottles as a back up, but other mothers won't even have the 'temptation' of them in the house. But you won't know if you'll need them until you have the baby. We bought way too many clothes, and so many as gifts, despite sticking to 'recommended' levels from other parents and online resources. We didn't spend a lot on our buggy/pram, it wasn't a high priority for us, I know others who spent a fortune, only to realise it didn't suit baby so they had to buy something else. We use cloth nappies and wipes. Its a huge saving for us, but I did my own research on the cost/benefit of them with online nappy companies. There's so many things we didn't realise we needed until baby arrived, and things we thought we'd never buy that turned out to be necessities. We were happy with a 25 euro IKEA highchair, others want the fanciest model they can get.

duckworth

lazygal wrote: »

We wouldn't have used something like this and being honest only first time parents who don't have a clue might look into it.

There's not one 'budget' model for a child. Everyone's priorities are different. I was totally determined to breastfeed but bought a steriliser and bottles as a back up, but other mothers won't even have the 'temptation' of them in the house. But you won't know if you'll need them until you have the baby. We bought way too many clothes, and so many as gifts, despite sticking to 'recommended' levels from other parents and online resources. We didn't spend a lot on our buggy/pram, it wasn't a high priority for us, I know others who spent a fortune, only to realise it didn't suit baby so they had to buy something else. We use cloth nappies and wipes. Its a huge saving for us, but I did my own research on the cost/benefit of them with online nappy companies. There's so many things we didn't realise we needed until baby arrived, and things we thought we'd never buy that turned out to be necessities. We were happy with a 25 euro IKEA highchair, others want the fanciest model they can get.

Thanks a million for your feedback Lazygal - its a huge help!

The idea is that each person would customise the list to themselves - there's no way we could provide a standard as everybody's needs are different - just like you said. For example, if a highchair was on your list, you would flick through the various price points to pick which brand you want.

The idea is that we provide you with the options - and try to avoid the situation you described where there's so many things you don't realise you need. The site would offer you each - you ultimately decide which ones to add to your list, and at what price range.

Rachineire

I would have found this very useful- it was our first child, and first grandchild on both sides of the family so we had no one to.pass down to us and had to buy the vast majority ourselves! What would be handy would be a budget calculator. I know personally if I can get a good idea of the expected cost it helps to plan, organize and save for future expenses! Of course this isn't as necessary for a second baby, but most times you don't have to buy nearly as much for a second baby!

mrsmurph

I would find this site very useful, I am pregnant with our first child at the moment and we are just starting to look round or prices of things that I will need it would be great to have all the info in one place instead of going from site to site