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Joe Schmoe
Neither of us have ever had kids. What will be the biggest challenge? How much does day care cost? Diapers? Etc.? Will I be able to finish college? I need to hear about other peoples' experiences.
Answer
My husband is an accountant and figured this out as much as he could. Please be aware that we live in a high cost area so we are paying more than say, the Midwest.
1. Medical care - Maternity care and the doctor's fee for delivery is usually a flat rate. This includes all your prenatal visits and a basic vaginal delivery fee for the delivering physician. This does not cover blood work, ultrasounds, urology testing, vaginal cultures, etc. These are billed at whatever rate you have with your insurer. The actual stay at the hospital will be a room, bed, nursing plus materials cost. I would call your local hospital and insurer to figure out approximately what this will come to.
2. Day care. Completely depends on who, how and where. Count on at least $800/month on the low side for home-run daycare with much more for a franchise facility. We are fortunate in our area because we can get qualified nannies who are recent immigrants who will cook, clean and watch the children for $1000/month.
3. Diapers. Cloth diapers are more work, but less expensive. Cloth diapers now are entirely different from what they used to be. http://www.fuzzibunz.com/ http://www.happyheinys.com/ If you go with disposables, buy them from Sam's Club or Costco or equivalent. I would buy wipes in bulk from them as well. If we buy them from a local store, they run about $18-20/pack. The packs get smaller as the sizes get bigger. They start at around 40 diapers and go down from there. Babies go through about a dozen diapers a day to start and then taper down some. You will spend a ton of money here.
4. Feeding. Breastfeeding saves well over $1000/year. You will need a breast pump which runs up to $350. (Buy a good one such as a Medela dual electric.) You will also need smaller items such as nursing bras, nursing pads, etc. You will want to have some bottles and maybe a bottle warmer on hand so that she can express her milk with the pump, and others can feed the baby when she is not with him. I can't speak to formula feeding. We aren't planning on going that route.
5. Setup costs. Buying used can save you a ton of money, but you will need to do research to ensure that the items meet safety standards. I would suggest www.craigslist.com. Do NOT buy a used crib mattress. Buy this new for sanitary and safety reasons. I would also suggest that you buy a new infant car seat and base. If the car is ever in an accident of any kind, the infant seat and base must be replaced, even if they look perfectly undamaged. I wouldn't risk someone's selling you a seat that may have been in an accident. We had to buy new since in our area, the cost weirdly ends up being the same between the 'normal stuff' that we would buy and the used 'ultra-luxury' stuff that people sell. We budgeted $2000 and came in just below that, but that included everything - car seat, base, stroller, crib, mattress, changing table, all possible accessories, breast pump with all other breastfeeding items, bottles and nipples, bottle warmer, toys, glider rocker with ottoman, clothes, 500 wipes, 2 -3 weeks worth of diapers, etc. For this amount, we completely and fully outfitted an entire nursery by shopping sales, generous baby showers, and spending a lot of time online looking for quality, but less expensive baby furniture. We did buy a changing table that is really a dresser with a change table on top so that we didn't have to buy him a dresser when he is a toddler or to use for both children if we have a second (dresser for the first and changing table top for the second).
Our pregnancy was a complete and total surprise. (We were told that I probably couldn't have children.) We immediately began to save and make financial arrangements. We also reduced our expenses by cutting down on simple things such as my husband's morning stop for coffee, dinners out on Fridays, visiting movie theatres, etc. We instead starting doing free activities or lower costs things such as renting movies, going for walks in the free botantical gardens, eating out at cheap restaurants, and being more careful to buy grocery items that are on sale.
The baby was the first grandchild on both sides and the first baby in the family for several years so people went 'nutz-so' on gift giving which was very generous and a tremendous help. I would not be shy about registering for whatever you need. People love to buy for babies and are truly happy to give you gifts. Even co-workers surprised me with a homemade knit baby blanket and other presents.
My father (who is around a genius IQ) had a wife, two children and full-time, nightshift menial job sweeping coal dust in a power plant after being discharged from the Army. It took him nine years part-time, but he graduated from college and went on to have a good career. He started when I (the oldest child) was seven years told so I was 16 when he graduated. It was inspirational to us children and a constant reminder of the importance of diligence and hard work. When I went to college and got discouraged, I would think "Well, if Dad could do it, what I am getting so worked up about?" To this day, when someone mentions the word 'character', I think 'Dad'. Dad defines character. Staying in school may be hard, but I would strongly encourage you to do it.
Growing up, we didn't have all that much, but I had a very happy childhood which I look back on with nothing but fondness. I remembered being shocked when I grew older and realized that I had been a 'poor kid'. All I knew was that I was dearly loved, content and came from a stable, loving, happy home with parents who cared for me dearly.
Does a Habitat for Humanity home come furnished in any way, appliances, etc?
Force
We're going to apply for a home at the next meeting, but I wanted to know ahead of time what all comes in the home.
We lost everything to a fire & have been in a small rv for months until just recently getting in a small mobile home, (only 2 bd when we need 4-5), so a home would be great.
We work & pay bills & qualify $ wise & the sweat equity would be no problem, so I'm not concerned with the application process or stuff like that. We even own the burned home, land & all, so there wouldn't be any land payment added to the mortgage.
I just wondered what all actually comes in the house.
* Is it completely finished inside?
* Do they include appliances, heat & cooling units, etc.?
* Do they offer pkgs that actually furnish the home, like with beds etc.?
* Do they only build certain blueprints or can you decide anything on the home, like if you want the bedrooms clumped together or seperated etc?
* What about colors?
* How basic are the designs, such as do they only have bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, & living room or do they have utility rooms, pantries, & dining rooms too?
* Do they do anything to the yard, like fences etc? (ours burned with the house)
* Can you determine your energy source for the house, like can you decide if you want natural gas or electric for your stove, etc?
* Do they do "green homes"?
* What about under the houses, the pipes & stuff in the ground, (ours are very old clay & would have to be upgraded per city code for us to rebuild or repair), do they add the cost of digging up all the old utility stuff onto the cost of your house? (I know they have to run new lines & foundations on all of them, but what about that old stuff being removed?)
* Do they do basements or attics or garages?
And I guess the most important question is, the sweat equity that you accrue, how is it calculated? * Do they count each hour at a specific rate, like at minimum wage or something, then take it off your mortgage like real $, instead of a wage kinda thing?
(I don't understand that part except that there's a minimum of 300 hours at our local chapter.)
* What about if we have 10 friends that all put in 100 hours each, does that count as 1000 hrs off our mortgage or are they just counted as volunteers & only our hours count?
* How old do you have to be for your hours to count, like if our 9, 11, 15, & 16 yr old help does that count?
* And what about AFTER our house is built & we're in it, can we still do the sweat equity thing to pay toward our home or is that only before the house is built?
Just, if anyone knows things like this, I'd appreciate the information.
I can find questions of the app process & what it's like to volunteer but I really need someone that knows these kinda details too.
Thank you
Thank you for all the info in the 1st answer, do you know if they tear down & get rid of the old house or if the property must be cleared by us before they're willing to build?
I was asking about the possibility of furniture because we were told they may work with Salvation etc to help replace some since we won't have enough basics. We're on craigslist couches at the moment.
And I was asking about the garage & fence & basement because it's in a "historic district" so there are a lot of older but larger homes & they all have those so I didn't know if the code required it, if it would still be approved. The code does require a fence.
And I wasn't worried about colors, just a basic house would be a Godsend, I was just curious how involved the new home owner got to be in planning or design or anything like that.
It would need to be atleast a 4 bd, but as we were wanting to become foster parents before the fire, if we get a home we'd want to continue
Answer
A Habitat for Humanity home is "simple, decent housing".
It's finished inside
It often includes appliances. It definitely includes a heating unit. Depending on the area, it may include cooling.
They do NOT offer packages that furnish the home with furniture.
They only build from certain blueprints, and if it's a four-bedroom home that is needed, there will probably be only one style available.
The house is generally painted a basic white inside. You want colors, you paint it yourself.
No pantries. Generally a dining area, not a dining room. Possibly a utility area somewhere in the house.
No fences for the yard.
No, you don't get a choice of energy source.
They sometimes do green homes.
They do all the prep work for the foundation, etc, and if that includes removing old pipes, that's included.
They generally do not do garages unless the local zoning requires it - it's "we build houses for people, not for cars"! Basements depend on the area as well; up here in the Northeast, everyone has them, so the houses do as well. Down South, the houses are generally built on a concrete slab.
The sweat equity is simply calculated in hours. No, it's not taken off of your mortgage; your mortgage is already lower than market value because of all the volunteer hours put into the home. And generally, it's only the hours the people living in the house put in that will count toward your total. You can't work on a Habitat site till you're 16, so your younger kids won't be able to help. You have to do a portion of your sweat equity before your house is even started, working on the houses of other people, and all of your sweat equity must be done before you get to move into the house. It's part of your "down payment".
There's quite a cost involved in tearing down and getting rid of an old house. You'd have to talk to them about that.
I've never heard of a Habitat affiliate "working with" the Salvation Army to get furniture for a house. That's not to say it isn't done - or that you couldn't work with the SA to make it happen.
As for the requirements of code in an historic district, they may be onerous enough that your Habitat affiliate would not be willing to work with them. To put it bluntly, the extra money they might have to spend to do that could be spent helping another deserving family.
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