AnswerHi

Well, there are many variables here, but we can probably come up with an answer between us. I am going to assume that this money is after deductions, so your combined take-home pay every month is 2,240 ) we'll call them dollars, as I assume you are writing in the USA, but you can call them pounds or francs or whatever, depending on where you live).

If you are trying to afford an apartment in New York City or Santa Monica or Inner London, then I would say a huge chunk of that money would be gone in rent, but let's assume you lived somewhere a little more rural. Here in New Hampshire you can get a two bedroom apartment with heat and hot water for probably 800 dollars. Now, free heat and hot water is a huge deal, because it means that, unlike me, you don't have to pay a red cent for heating oil or propane gas. So look for a deal like that where you live. You could probably get by with a one-bedroom for a while, which is around 650, because you will probably have the baby in the bedroom with you for the first 8-12 months.

So, let's say 800 for rent. That leaves you 1,460 dollars for everything else which is

Assuming at least one of you has to have a car, you have to run that. You can work out how much it costs you to get to work, and no joyriding except to the movies or a bar once a week as a treat. That's impossible to work out for me, but if you drive one car 15 miles each way (feel sorry for me--I drive 50) that's 30 a day, and lets say you get 30 to the gallon you can get by on about 7 gallons a week if you go to the store on your way home instead of making extra trips out. At 3 bucks, that's about 85 bucks a month for gas, so we'll call it 100 a month. We are down to 1360 left for a month, and we have addressed your biggest bill worries.

So, you have to budget for food (I don't know how much baby formula is but it probably isn't as cheap as you guys could eat, and you WILL go through a fair amount of it unless you plan on mistreating the baby and starving it so you can buy junk for yourself) and huggies and whatever other necessities you need to eat. If you can bring home food from work (one of my son's firends lives with us and, unfortunately for my waistline, he works at Dunkin Donuts) then good for you.

What other expenses? Car insurance. Renter's insurance if you can possibly get it. Accidents can happen.

Electricity bill, phone (you don't have to have a cell phone and a home phone if you can get cell service where you live. Or you can reverse that and ask yourself if you really need that stupid cell phone because if you get Vonage like I do, it's 25 bucks a month every month no surprises unlike that frigging cell phone. I can call anyone anywhere (even England where I am from) all day everyday, 25 bucks.

Clothes. Shoes. Too proud for the GoodWill store? Well, manage as you can best. Makeup, personal items, and pantyhose? Well, you're a girl, so you have to have some of that, but figure how much you really have to have if you think a little sacrifice is worth it.

Furniture? That's why you have moms and aunties and friends, except you really either have to have a new bed or one that you have been sleeping in yourself for a while. Even I , who has no pride at all, would not buy a bed from the Goodwill (or underwear either.)

Who is going to take care of the baby while you are at work? Childcare? Better check your options because it can get very expensive. You might find someone who has no license, but usually takes a housefull of kids at somewhat less than the licensed childcare rate, coz I doubt you can rely on grandma day after day after day for months. You think you can keep a full time job and feed a baby every 3 hours all night for 3 months without falling over with exhaustion? That's the big hitter for me with your question, not can you afford it

I can't think what other incidentals you might have, but you can add them up and deduct from the 1360. Don't forget, when the baby arrives, one of you at least will be able to change their tax deductions and you will get a little more in your pocket every week, and you can't budget down to 0 dollars, because crap happens. You need tires. You need oil changes. You need a new TV occasionally, even though you don't have to have the stupid 100-dollar HBO Special Package with TIVO in 6 rooms like I have. You need a couple of magazine subscriptions coz you'll be spending a lot of time at home (get em cheap on Ebay). If you have the internet, can you package your internet and cable tv and save a little?

Depending on where you live, (and without knowing where you live or how old you are but based on those wages I would say you are either very young, or you do live somewhere it can be fairly cheap to live, or probably both) I would say you can probably do this but you might have to make sacrifices and ask yourself if you are willing to do that. You might be better off taking the apartment and trying to live within your means without the baby first (unless he is here or on the way of course). You might want to postpone motherhood (if you still can) and get yourself into junior college and try to get a bit better job (unless you are really happy doing what you do, because being happy at what you do is very important in life) before you try to add a baby to the equation. You might not have that option, in which case, one way or another, you are going to have to do the best you can with what you have.

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