Marines

Photo Information

For new or expecting parents, the Budget for Baby workshop, held monthly aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, helps attendants prepare for the impact a baby will have on daily costs and how to compensate for it. The workshop is taught by the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.

Photo by Lance Cpl. Jonathan G. Wright

Budget for Baby workshop opens eyes to expecting parents

6 Aug 2010 | Lance Cpl. Jonathan G. Wright Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

Service members and families have an opportunity to attend the Budget for Baby class aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, a one-hour seminar given at the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society’s education center every month.

The purpose of the class is to inform new or upcoming parents about the financial impact a newborn baby might have on their budgets, as well as money-saving tips and day-to-day ways to cut down on household costs.

“We give them all the tools we can offer for attendants to build their own budgets,” said Juliana Kalmar, instructor for the Budget for Baby class. “We look at how much impact a baby will have on overall expenses.”

Kalmar went on to explain how military families, specifically, could save big bucks by utilizing the commissary and other family aid services offered aboard Camp Lejeune.

“They come into this class and we open their eyes to what sort of monetary impact a baby can have; some really don’t consider it,” said Patricia Yurkovich, an instructor for the class. “All the comments we get back after the classes are about how excited people are when they know how to prepare for a baby.”

Yurkovich continued by listing off a few money-saving tips given through the class, including conserving household energy to cut down on monthly costs, where to get discount or free baby clothes, and cheap, yet healthy, food for newborns.

Also offered through the classes are free gift bags full of baby supplies – resembling that of a new baby starter kit. Each new family receives various items such as a pack of onsies, bath set, crib sheet, thermal blanket and handmade quilt donated to the NMCRS from knitters across the country.

“These days a lot of people are having babies at a young age, especially in a military town,” said Kalmar. “We provide an environment for expecting couples to talk about this big step in their lives with others as well as getting all the information they will need in one, readily-available place.”

The Budget for Baby workshop also gives participants other information for baby classes, such as Mom’s Basic Training, Daddy’s Baby Boot Camp and Home Visitation, all classes offered through the New Parents Support Program.

For more information about the Budget for Baby workshop and other new parent classes, call the NMCRS at 451-5346.