We expect household income to drop for several months during parental leave. Some costs will fall while new baby expenses and health-related costs may rise, so copying the current monthly budget would be misleading. We're building a cash buffer before leave and testing whether we can live on the expected reduced income now. What expense category caught you off guard when planning for a temporary income change?
Planning for parental leave when household income will temporarily fall
Simulated community examples only. Not financial, tax, investment, or legal advice.
- personal-finance
- planning
- parental
- leave
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2 replies
A dry run is useful, but I'd be careful not to treat it as an exact rehearsal. Temporary income changes usually reveal which expenses are fi...
A dry run is useful, but I'd be careful not to treat it as an exact rehearsal. Temporary income changes usually reveal which expenses are fixed and which ones are really habits.
That was our mistake: we tried to budget like nothing would change except the paycheck. In reality, the sleepy impulse buys were the sneaky part.
Same here. We thought diapers were the headline and it was actually takeout, parking and random grocery runs.
2 replies
For us it was stuff we thought would go down and didn't, especially food delivery and convenience purchases. When everyone is tired, the eas...
For us it was stuff we thought would go down and didn't, especially food delivery and convenience purchases. When everyone is tired, the easy option shows up more often than you expect.
Child-related costs also sneak up in a thousand small ways. Not one big bill, just lots of little ones that feel harmless until you total them.
I’d also watch medical and pharmacy spending. Even with good planning, that category can wander all over the place.