How to prepare your finances for having a baby

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's where to spend and where to skimp if you're having a baby. Hosted by Frances Cook. <br /><br />If you're planning to have a baby it's a really exciting time, but it can also be a minefield of change that you're navigating for the very first time. <br /><br />Many of those changes will be powered by money, and it can be a bit confusing trying to work out how much you'll need. <br /><br />What do you need to buy, and what's just advertising that's preying on your fears about a new situation? What can you get secondhand, and what do you really need to get new? <br /><br />It's not all bad; there are some things you can get for free, including many of the maternity healthcare services in New Zealand which are free of charge. <br /><br />So what's the good, bad, and the ugly, and how can we make it more manageable so that you can focus more on that cute baby? <br /><br />In the latest podcast I talked to Jhena Hawley from Plunket.<br /><br />If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/" rel="noopener">https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/</a> Instagram here <a href="https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/" rel="noopener">https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/</a> and Twitter here <a href="https://twitter.com/FrancesCook" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/FrancesCook</a>