The first thing I did as soon as I found out I was pregnant was… create a savings plan. Like, before even telling my husband a little peanut was on the way.
(But that’s mostly because I wanted to tell him in a special way and be realllllly sure I was actually pregnant since I had found out SUPER early, so I waited about a week to tell him. More on that whole story here!)
I know. A savings plan doesn’t exactly scream, “YAY, we’re expecting!”
But it was a way for me to start logically wrapping my head around this BIG, big change. And as a freelance writer, I knew I wanted to be prepared financially to actually be able to take some time off work and be present with our baby.
… We’d also JUST bought a house two months before getting pregnant, and unexpectedly had to pay several thousand dollars for knee surgery for our dog a week before. The timing was super chill.
Our savings accounts were hurting, to put it lightly.
To put it realistically: They were all but drained.