In life, there is often little planning and preparation when big life moments happen. Finding out you’re welcoming a new life into the world, for example. Not many enjoy the luxury of aptly deciding when to have children and pick a convenient or feasible time to add new members to the family. Most are hit with an unexpected surprise and have to figure out and rearrange a multitude of things in life in preparation for a child. It’s an exciting yet nerve-wracking time for you and your partner (or existing family). What can you expect to change or update in your life to be well-prepared when the baby arrives? Below, we have carved out a little list of some helpful tips to consider when expecting.
The Essentials
You want to make sure you’re as ready as possible to provide the best care, home, and items for your baby. Because once they arrive, you won’t want to be spending your time reinventing the wheel, so to speak. You’ll also want to pick quality products and familiarize yourself with tricks and tips to save yourself a lot of time, headache and discomfort in the process.
- A Crib
- Soft Blankets and Linens
- Diapers
- Onesies and Baby Clothing and Booties
- Car Seat
- Baby Thermometer
- Baby Tub
- Bibs
- BPA-free and Baby-Safe Toys and Entertainment
For The Home
Typically, a large part of the stress and often uncomfortable adaptation one experiences during this time is the issue of not having enough rooms or space to accommodate another child. When you and your partner are renting on a year or two-year lease and all of a sudden, realize you’re pregnant, there is a lot of stress surrounding your current living situation and the feasibility of adding a new member to the family. Moving costs, a higher rent, and leaving your beloved home is a huge ordeal and big stress on top of all the other new variables you must consider. With the current number of rooms available, you ask yourselves how in the world you can make this work. For renters, we suggest calling the Sliding Door Company to find out about our many space optimizing solutions that are right for you and feasible for your rental. Easy and quick to install and take down, our glass wall dividers are an absolute life-saver for those unable to build or add on to an existing home.
For those who already own their own homes, the cost of construction is another large factor that many are not prepared for when hit with the big news. Even when you own your own home, and swiftly moving to a new home is not a viable option, how do you make do with what you already have? Increasing the size of your home is a big change- involving much planning and headache. We’ve realized there is a need for space optimizing solutions to remedy this classic problem. Our advice? Install entire wall partitions, Room Dividers or floor to ceiling sliding glass doors to craft entirely separate rooms without the cost or inconvenience of disruptive construction. Especially while pregnant, the sounds and disturbance of weeks or even months of construction and home additions is enough to drive everyone mad.
These feasible home improvements will allow you to craft spatial separation for the newborn and yourselves while providing flexibility and the option to move, rearrange and alter these rooms and spaces with time. As the child gets older, maybe consider updating the space to provide more privacy. These solutions will provide your family the necessary time and cost solution you’ll need to plan for a future move or ADU if need be.
Revisit Your Finances
You and your partner should start to critically think about your finances and even draft up a reasonable budget and timeline for saving so that when the baby arrives you aren’t surprised or down and out. Rearing a child is always more expensive than people think and budget for. A good tip is to craft a budget, and then go back in and add 10% to all of your expenses. That way, you’ll have a safety-net for everyday things that will undoubtedly cost more than you expect.
Another recommendation is to start paying down your debt so that you don’t enter into parenthood financially burdened by a mountain of debt. Start paying off more every month than your minimum, and even consider consolidating your debt into one low-interest account to avoid costly APR.
Talk to fellow parent co-workers in your office, or ask your boss what maternity leave is offered through work. Don’t leave it to the last minute to plan for this, is it could be a lot more (or less) time and compensation offered than you expected. This way you can reasonably budget for what is available to you.
Hopefully, with these helpful time and money-saving tips, you’ll enter into parenthood on top of the game and enjoy the entire process rather than dread it. With some careful planning and the right resources, you’ll be on your way to welcoming in a new life stress-free and ready for anything!
We at The Sliding Door Company are here and happy to help provide as much information as possible on some must-have solutions. For more inspiration on how to partition your rooms and make use of valuable floor space, have a look at our website. Schedule A Free Consultation to get in touch with a helpful representative and start the transformation and create a home that can welcome in this new life.