Baby budget, is this accurate?

[MelliPaige]

No babies but planning to start trying very, very soon!
I want to start "living" the baby budget so I calculated how much I would spend on baby weekly and was wondering if I was accurate..

Diapers - $20 weekly for 3 years?
I overshot the 5-6 estimation a little, but I estimated 8 diapers daily for 7 days = 56 diapers weekly.
With my preferred brand (also an expensive one, in case my bundle's build doesn't agree with the brand) that would be about $20 weekly.

Wipes - $10 weekly (for a long time, wipes are useful)

Formula - $32 Weekly for 1-6 months, $16 weekly for 6-12 months
I'm actually planning to breastfeed, but just in case....
A 12oz can of my preferred brand is $16 (I completely understand my baby may need a more expensive brand) but I estimate a younger baby will feed more often than an older baby so I estimated 2 cans weekly for the first 6 months and 1 for the last 6 of the year.

Baby Food - $25 weekly for 6-12 months
I may not use purées, but if I do in my local store a jar of baby food is $1.
3 daily, 7 days a week is $21 and baby cereal is about $4 a box and I'm guessing one box a week.


Bare minimum weekly for 1-6 months is $62, 6-12 months is $71.
Am I missing anything? Did I underestimate anything?

 

[whitewash00]

It's nice to see this broken down like that

 

[Dinah93]

Baby clothes, sudacrem, nappy bags, calpol,(teething can last MONTHS and you get through a lot of this stuff), soothers (I was really anti these until a hospital nurse handed me a leaflet on the research showing babies who fall asleep with a soother are 50% less likely to suffer from cot death), rusks, bottles and teats (don't last as long as I'd like, the plastic bottles develop a taste after a while if you dishwasher them while the teats can split), sterilising solution, baby bubble bath, cotton wool, bibs, and then of course there are the big ticket items like the cot, baby monitor, buggy, highchair etc, but also the smaller things you rarely think of like slings, snowsuits, sunshade for the buggy, baby sunglasses, toys, books, nappy bin, swim suit, fees for baby activity or mum and toddler groups, breast pump if expressing (as well as storage bags or bottles - at one point I had over 90 bottles of milk frozen!), baby bedding.... I'm sure there is lots and lots more I've missed.

The other thing is I would say my daughter takes significantly more milk now than she did in the 0-6 month range (she just turned 1). While she's on solids now she's also bigger and more active, so she's taking about 30-40% more milk volume a day than she did at 6 months old, certainly not 50% less.

 

[aimee-lou]

You've pretty much covered all the day to day runnings there, but like Dinah said, you need to think about toiletries, medicines, extra clothes, presents for special occasions. Things that will still come under everyday expenses.

I'm assuming you'll be buying the furniture etc in advance, so maybe build in some savings to cover these.

Having a baby isn't necessarily an expensive business, but you need to be aware of just how much a baby needs - somewhere to sleep, a pushchair, bowls and spoons and a highchair for weaning, rockers and toys, bottles and all the accessories, clothes for every occasion/weather condition, first shoes etc etc etc. The list can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but be aware that even shopping cheaply I spent/was given £1500 worth of stuff with my first!

 

[aimee-lou]

I think the milk estimate is pretty good. For the first month, they wont necessarily drink a lot (3-5oz a feed) so it will last longer, then in the last 2-3 months it drops a lot. I think as a working average you've got it covered there. Just be prepared to spend more or less as their apetite dictates. A tin of formula was lasting my 4 month old 3.5 days at one point, and now it lasts him 10 days at 10 months lol.

 

[Equreuil]

Have you considered applying for WIC? It'll supply you with a ton of the formula and baby food/rice cereal stuff. You also get milk, bread, regular cereal, juice, plus a certain $ allotment for fresh produce.

This is a really good idea. I've been saving for a lot of the one time purchases coming my way here in a few months (I'm not expecting a lot of gifts)... but I've yet to get an idea of weekly expenses for consumables like diapers.

 

[MelliPaige]

Have you considered applying for WIC? It'll supply you with a ton of the formula and baby food/rice cereal stuff. You also get milk, bread, regular cereal, juice, plus a certain $ allotment for fresh produce.

This is a really good idea. I've been saving for a lot of the one time purchases coming my way here in a few months (I'm not expecting a lot of gifts)... but I've yet to get an idea of weekly expenses for consumables like diapers.

I've looked into it but I'm not sure if we will get it. We are really close to being under the required money limits, but since I've looked it up and did the math I've gotten a pay raise so idk if we will still qualify, whenever I get pregnant I do plan on looking into it, though. I know we won't qualify for food stamps until 2+ kids..and even then it's like $16 but in my area when you have food stamps you get a discount on your electric bill which I'm looking forward to lol

 

[MelliPaige]

You've pretty much covered all the day to day runnings there, but like Dinah said, you need to think about toiletries, medicines, extra clothes, presents for special occasions. Things that will still come under everyday expenses.

I'm assuming you'll be buying the furniture etc in advance, so maybe build in some savings to cover these.

Having a baby isn't necessarily an expensive business, but you need to be aware of just how much a baby needs - somewhere to sleep, a pushchair, bowls and spoons and a highchair for weaning, rockers and toys, bottles and all the accessories, clothes for every occasion/weather condition, first shoes etc etc etc. The list can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but be aware that even shopping cheaply I spent/was given £1500 worth of stuff with my first!

I'm putting this in my savings account and when Im pregnant im gonna use it for the big budget items.. Thanks for the information, though