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Everything changes once you become a parent. Your sleep is cut in half, you eat standing up, you’re not sure which day of the week it is, and oh yeah, your finances take a major hit.

In fact, a 2015 study done by the United States Department of Agriculture found that the cost of raising a newborn through the first year of life for middle-income parents is $12,680. Yikes! No wonder you’re googling “ways to save money once baby arrives.”

When I was a college student on a limited income, I learned quickly how to live on a tight budget. It involved finding free activities on the weekends, lots of ramen, and a strict policy on not buying new clothes more than a few times a year.

Little did I know that would be great practice for the post-graduate hustle, when student loans would take up a significant chunk of my monthly budget.

You have the perfect crib, the safest car seat, the hippest stroller, and enough outfits to last for a year. But what about life insurance? Did you take out a policy for the newest addition to your family?

If you spend any time online or looking at parenting magazines, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the ads for child life insurance.

Your relationship with your student loan may be one of the most enduring commitments of your life. On average, most people with four-year degrees take 21 years to pay off their student loans.

That means your student loans will likely be a part of your life for many years to come—when you sell the old clunker you’ve been driving and upgrade to something that won’t leave you stranded on the side of the road, as you apply for a mortgage and move into your first home, or when you welcome a tiny little bundle of love into your life and start paying for daycare.

If you’re struggling to make your federal student loan payment each month, then you might be looking for ways to make your loans more affordable.

Income-driven repayment plans can help you lower your federal student loan payment by adjusting your payments based on your income.

It’s not unusual for people to talk about student loan refinancing and consolidation like they’re the same thing, but they’re not.

When you refinance, you take out a new loan with a private lender to replace many different private and federal loans. When you consolidate, you’re combining multiple federal loans into a single loan—a Direct Consolidation Loan with the federal government.