Pay It Forward

Last year, my husband was laid off from his job just a few weeks before Munch was born. Before that, our combined salaries had been enough for the two of us to live comfortably, but with a baby on the way we weren’t sure what expenses we would incur after he was born. Thankfully, we had been conscious of our spending in the last few months of my pregnancy, trying to save as much money as possible to prepare for any extra hospital bills or surprise expenses, as well as for the out-of-this-world cost of diapers and formula.

When he did lose his job, I became the breadwinner and somehow my salary had to be stretched (and stretched and stretched) to support all three of us. DH went into business for himself doing contract IT support, but things were very, very tight for us and for a long time we were barely squeaking by.

Thankfully, our friends and family have been extremely generous about buying Munchkin clothes, toys, and other necessities to help support us. His grandparents went all out and bought him the most adorable brand new clothes, toys, and shoes. My mother and my aunt each made him a quilt. My mother-in-law is really handy and used her creativity to make a cute little memory board and a cornice board for his room. We used gift cards to purchase his bedding and lots of other necessities. Other friends and neighbors who were on more of a budget gave us hand-me-downs that their boys had outgrown.

Things are better now since DH is working full-time again. We’re finally catching up and feeling more secure. We’ve come up with a plan to really start putting money away because we were never really able to do that before – but now we know just how important it really is!

One of the girls my hubby works with just came back from maternity leave. Her little boy is about 4 months old now, and she and her husband are in the same situation DH and I were in last year. They don’t have a lot of money, and with the added expense of diapers and formula their hard-earned extra cash is spent almost as fast as they're earning it. 

DH and I decided that we should give some of Munch's old clothes to this girl. We wanted to do something good for her, especially in recognition of all that was done for us. So last weekend the hubs went up in the attic and dragged down the bins full of old baby clothes so I could pick through them.

I picked out several pieces that had sentimental value – the outfit we brought him home in, of course, and a few other things that had a special memory or that I really liked. Looking through all the tiny newborn clothes brought back lots of memories of the sweet, snuggly baby I once had. It was hard to believe that my wild child toddler used to fit into them!

Everything else though was fair game. I ended up filling a huge shopping bag with onesies, sleepers, overalls, pants, and shirts. There was more there than I had remembered, and I had expected to feel a little sad, but I was actually happy to give it away. It will serve a better purpose with this other little boy than in my attic, and it feels like the right thing to do to help support another new mom.