Ten Ways To Have a Baby On a Budget

Reassess your family's medical insurance and determine if you need to change your plan to cover additional co pays and other baby related medical costs. Examine your health plan's details carefully to make sure all well-baby care will be covered. If it isn't, consider switching to a health maintenance organization or preferred provider organization that does cover such care if you possibly can.

Investigate tax credits and flexible spending accounts. The child tax credit, which gets subtracted directly from parents' tax bills, is $1,000 per child for couples who file jointly and make no more than $110,000 a year. Every bit counts. Working parents also may qualify for the child and dependent care tax credit, which allows them to deduct as much as 35 percent of their annual day-care expenses depending on how much they earn. It's also a good idea to ask your employer about flexible spending arrangements, which allow you to direct a portion of your pretax wages to a personal account from which you can draw for medical and child-care costs.

Plan ahead to pay for legal fees associated with creating a will, power of attorney, and other necessary estate planning once the baby is born. Save some money on legal fees by doing the foot work and creating a draft for the lawyer so they won't be starting from scratch. You can even create your own documents by purchasing software like Willmaker and only use the lawyer when absolutely necessary. Lawyer fees can range from $250-$1200 to complete these documents depending on your needs.