(ThySistas.com) It’s one of the most exciting, challenging and amazing things you can do in your life – but no one ever said becoming a mother wasn’t hard work. It’s about the biggest commitment you can make, and not one that should ever be entered into lightly. Life doesn’t end when you become a mother, but it does change pretty drastically. For perhaps the first time in your life, you are no longer your own first concern, and the days of doing what you want, when you want are long gone – so if you’re dreaming of exotic trips overseas, owning a racy sports car or going on a vineyard tour with your girlfriends, it’s probably best to do all that before making baby plans. There are a few details you can sort to make you more prepared and ensure that you and your baby get off to the best start, so tick them off before all the real challenges kick in…
Set Up A Rainy Day Fund
Living paycheck to paycheck may be okay when it’s just you to worry about, but as soon as baby makes an appearance, it’s a good idea to have some financial fallback in case of unexpected expenses. Set up a rainy day fund and create a deposit amount to automatically go into the account each and every payday, then consider using a money management app that offers card transaction roundups, where the amount you spend each time is rounded up and the remainder added to your savings. It’s a painless way to save up a little extra. Having a little nest egg to make sure you and your baby are able to get by financially or even just to help cover some of the extra costs – from nursery furniture to that new stroller – will leave you a lot less stressed and a little more secure.
Make Sure Your Insurance Is In Place
Now that there is a vulnerable little person to think about, you need to make sure you’re covered in case of any emergency. Take the time to check through all your insurance policies or put them in place if you don’t already have them – including house insurance, driving insurance, finding medicaid providers that will take your health insurance and even looking into life insurance. You can’t take any chances any more, and if the worst was to happen, you’d want to make sure you were covered.
Plan A Great Vacation
Of course you can have trips away after your baby is born, but they’re never quite the same. Your days of lying on a sunlounger, reading that novel you picked up at the airport and sipping on a margherita are numbered – get set for a few years of trying to co-ordinate napping schedules with flights and splashing around in the pool with kids – vacations go from relaxing to quite a lot of hard work. Now is the time to book any long-haul, overseas trips you’d always wanted to go on, as you may not get the opportunity again for a while.
Staff Writer; Shelia Wall