2.5 months into moving to socal, the initial flurry of furnishing the home and getting established has gone away.
Without revealing our rent, this is how much I think we will likely spend per month going forward. We are a family of 2 adults and 1 toddler – for now.
Once DD (our second son arrives) and I go back to work, daycare costs are expected to go up by about another $1000 a month, and food costs as well as household supplies will increase as well.
Overall, if you don’t count the carrying costs of our NYC home which we’re waiting until 2024 to sell, living costs are significantly lower here.
Currently the car related costs are lower than I expected. I had originally budgeted $1000 a month for that and it’s coming out to more like $300 a month. Our travel fund does include paying for some of my in-laws costs. A huge line item that went away is babysitting.
I think during maternity leave we will continue to send BB to his school. He gets so much out of it, learns a lot, and it will give me time to adjust to going from 1 kid to 2. I’m taking a 6 month maternity leave, of which 1 month is paid through me saving up PTO, and 1 month is paid via the corporate maternity leave policy.
I’ve looked up CA paid family leave for mothers, but because I only paid into SDI for 4 months (and they need 5 months), I likely won’t qualify. I will still apply but I’m not counting on it.
