Baby First-Year Supply Budget

What this sheet is for

The first twelve months with a baby bring a shifting pattern of purchases: feeding equipment in the early weeks, clothing replaced every few months as the baby grows, developmental toys appearing from around four months. This sheet helps you set a realistic category budget at the start of each month and record what you actually spend, so costs that tend to creep up unnoticed — wipes, formula, size changes — stay visible.

How to use it

Write the current month and your baby's age in the Month / Age field at the top right. Inside each of the six category envelopes — Feeding Supplies, Nappies & Wipes, Clothing & Footwear, Nursery & Sleep Gear, Health & Medical, and Toys & Development — write your planned Monthly Budget at the top line, then list individual purchases with their amounts in the Item and Amount rows. The remaining line at the foot of each envelope shows what is left. At the end of the month, transfer each envelope's total to the First-Year Totals Summary strip to see Total Budgeted, Total Spent, and whether you came in Over or Under.

What is printed on the page

“Baby First-Year Supply Budget” is laid out as category envelopes: six boxed spending categories in a 2 × 3 grid, each with a budget line and six item / amount entry rows, and a totals strip at the foot. Under the title it reads “Track what you spend on equipment, feeding, clothing and care across 12 months.”, and the line at the foot of the page says “Save receipts for items that may be returned or claimed under a health or tax benefit scheme in your country.”.

The category labels slot holds six entries — “Feeding Supplies”, “Nappies & Wipes”, “Clothing & Footwear”, “Nursery & Sleep Gear”, “Health & Medical” and “Toys & Development” — so the sheet is already filled in for baby rather than left as blank rows to label yourself.

The entry headings slot holds two entries — “Item” and “Amount” — so the sheet is already filled in for baby rather than left as blank rows to label yourself.

The totals prompts slot holds three entries — “Total Budgeted”, “Total Spent” and “Over / Under” — so the sheet is already filled in for baby rather than left as blank rows to label yourself.

The remaining labels on the page are “Month / Age” for the period label, “Monthly budget” for the budget prompt and “First-Year Totals Summary” for the totals heading.

Two things about this particular category envelopes are settings rather than text, and “Baby First-Year Supply Budget” has them set like this. Totals strip is on: include the totals strip at the foot. Remaining line is on: add a 'remaining' line at the foot of each envelope.

Tips

Review Clothing & Footwear at the start of each month — babies typically move up a size every six to eight weeks.

Record formula tins, breast pump parts and bottle steriliser tablets under Feeding Supplies as soon as you buy them, not at month end.

Use the Health & Medical envelope for co-payments, prescribed creams and over-the-counter remedies; these costs spike unpredictably during illness.

The other layouts in this set

“Baby First-Year Supply Budget” is one of three sheets in this set, each a different fixed layout filled for the same topic. “New Baby Monthly Budget” uses the income and expenses layout and “Baby Medical Costs Tracker” uses the running ledger layout. Pick by how you work: the layout decides how much you write and where, not what the sheet is about.