bit random, but how much does a baby actually cost a month?!?

[kayleigh&bump]

Me and hubby sat down at the weekend to try and work our finances out once the baby arrives, and as this is our 1st, we are both pretty cluless

So if any experienced mummies could help me out, please feel free!! Were kinda thinking that our money spent on baby is gunna go like this....



Nappies - £40-50 pm

Extra ontop of normal food bill (covering toiletries for baby and food when he gets older / and or formula if breastfeeding doesnt go to plan) - £60 pm

Utility bills - I am at home all the time anyway as I dont work, so cant see them going up much, but maybe £20 pm overall?

TV package - gunna upgrade our TV package so we have the childrens channels, at about £10 pm

Bits he needs (including clothes, new equipment etc, bearing in mind we buy a lot of stuff 2nd hand) - £40pm

Days out - £30 pm

Extra fuel in car - £20

Savings account for bubbs - £20pm

ISA account (for holidays and savings) - £20



As I said, im pretty clueless, but do like to budget as best I can so I know where our money is going each month. Does this sound realistic, and is there anything else that babys need that I havent budgeted for?? be nice to know how were gunna cope financially once he arrives

 

[Celesse]

The government provides £20 a week child benefit (non means tested) plus £63 a week at max rate child tax credit rate (means tested). When coming up with benefit rates the gov are meant to look at average reasonable costs, so you could say a baby will cost you at least £83 a week.

 

[kayleigh&bump]

hmmm mine only comes out to about £67 a week so must be missing something out somewhere x

 

[Celesse]

hmmm mine only comes out to about £67 a week so must be missing something out somewhere x

Yeah, I can't really see how they could really cost £83 a week.

 

[kayleigh&bump]

me either, perhaps someone can shed some light lol. I swear im way to organised for my own good sometimes, i am forever budgeting for this and that

 

[Seity]

Aside from diapers and utilities and the occasional outfit, I don't expect much else will cost more for for the first year or two. We don't have cable tv, just watch dvd's and we'll probably try and keep our baby away from watching tv as much as possible the first two years anyway. We don't get any benefits, so I expect I'll just have to make a guess and adjust our budget as we go.

 

[suzib76]

i think you are being hugely over with the estimates, nappies in the early days will be more than once you are all settled so to speak, but not £50 a month
not sure how a baby could possibly cost £83 a week, basically they only need formula if not breastfeeding (and even that wouldnt come into the £83 a week thing as people on this would likely get milk tokens or whatever they call them now) so anyway a couple of packs of nappies and some milk is all they really need, maybe a bottle of baby bath or whatever you use, but this will last forever - oh and clothes of course but not £40 a months worth

 

[kayleigh&bump]

i think you are being hugely over with the estimates, nappies in the early days will be more than once you are all settled so to speak, but not £50 a month
not sure how a baby could possibly cost £83 a week, basically they only need formula if not breastfeeding (and even that wouldnt come into the £83 a week thing as people on this would likely get milk tokens or whatever they call them now) so anyway a couple of packs of nappies and some milk is all they really need, maybe a bottle of baby bath or whatever you use, but this will last forever - oh and clothes of course but not £40 a months worth

Thanks, thats good to know that you think im over allowing so to speak Like I said, I am pretty clueless

 

[lfernie]

Hey,

I've had my LO but i just seen this thread and it made me laugh as i was talking to hubby yday about how much LO didn't cost. Our LO is 8 weeks old and weve spent (for now anyway, I'd imagine it will be different when he starts eating etc) a grand total of about £100 since he's been born. I think the main thing is initial costs ie pram, carseat, cot etc also I'm BFing do we dont need to pay for formula x

 

[Jemma_x]

If you can what ive always done with nappies is buy the bigger boxes asda did have them on for £8 for 144 nappies so works out cheaper in long run. You will get £6.20 a week in vouchers which you can use on fruit, veg, formula.

 

[suzib76]

Hey,

I've had my LO but i just seen this thread and it made me laugh as i was talking to hubby yday about how much LO didn't cost. Our LO is 8 weeks old and weve spent (for now anyway, I'd imagine it will be different when he starts eating etc) a grand total of about £100 since he's been born. I think the main thing is initial costs ie pram, carseat, cot etc also I'm BFing do we dont need to pay for formula x

what did you buy, if you dont mind me asking - just curious if it was essentials, or things that maybe i already have etc

 

[suzib76]

If you can what ive always done with nappies is buy the bigger boxes asda did have them on for £8 for 144 nappies so works out cheaper in long run. You will get £6.20 a week in vouchers which you can use on fruit, veg, formula.

is this not dependant on income? i just assumed i would not get it

 

[21Rach]

wow im pleasantly suprised at how cheap my lil monkey will be compared to what i expected the amount of nappies i'd need to end up costing me the earth and general costs but turns out not wooohooo and im BF so woopdewoop. gonna cloth him frm charity shops etc and not spoil him so looks like i could actually do this yay x

 

[kayleigh&bump]

wow im pleasantly suprised at how cheap my lil monkey will be compared to what i expected the amount of nappies i'd need to end up costing me the earth and general costs but turns out not wooohooo and im BF so woopdewoop. gonna cloth him frm charity shops etc and not spoil him so looks like i could actually do this yay x

im quite surprised aswell lol. People always tell you how expensive it is having a baby but I guess its not until they get a bit older that they start wanting things lol. I know it sounds bad, but what we are entitled to in benefits means we are gunna have a lot of extra money a month which is gunna have nothing to be spent on!

 

[hypnorm]

Nappies - £40-50 pm = Don't use branded nappies - supermarket brands are great - i think you have over estimated i used maybe about £10 or nappies a month. plus i use reusables too which svaes me money

Extra ontop of normal food bill (covering toiletries for baby and food when he gets older / and or formula if breastfeeding doesnt go to plan) - £60 pm - If you breastfeed ace (no cost there) forumla is about £7-10 per tub have no idea how long they last. He wont need any food for the first 6 months anyway, and toiletries last an age! if you fo home made food that is cheaper as you can do batches - jars and tins vary from 50p to £1 per item

Utility bills - I am at home all the time anyway as I dont work, so cant see them going up much, but maybe £20 pm overall? never noticed any changed with ours tobe honest

TV package - gunna upgrade our TV package so we have the childrens channels, at about £10 pm waste of time untill baby is older.

Bits he needs (including clothes, new equipment etc, bearing in mind we buy a lot of stuff 2nd hand) - £40pm probably less than that - try freecyle and carboot sale for clothes and items you can get them new for next to nothing. NCT sales are great too.

Days out - £30 pm - ?! i've got two kids and days out dont come to that per month at the moment!

Extra fuel in car - £20 depends on how much you are planning on being out and about, i actually used less fuel as i wasnt travelling to work every day!


Savings account for bubbs - £20pm good idea

ISA account (for holidays and savings) - £20



As I said, im pretty clueless, but do like to budget as best I can so I know where our money is going each month. Does this sound realistic, and is there anything else that babys need that I havent budgeted for?? be nice to know how were gunna cope financially once he arrives

probably over estimated on some things, but remember you can get great second hand items and stuff.

 

[kayleigh&bump]

thanks hypnorm - super helpful!! Can you tell this is my 1st? thanks for the tip about 2nd hand stuff aswell, we use freecycle a lot, most of bubbs stuff so far has actually cost us next to nothing x

 

[Eve]

I am no help here... As things are so different here cost wise and money wise lol...

Here a bag of diapers usually run close to 15-20$ for normal sizes
Formula is around $40.00 a case which you can go through one of them here in around a week or so.
Wipes around $5.00 a box etc... so different lol

Here the average cost of a baby aged 6months-12months runs around $350.00-$400.00 a month (figured it out with a friend of mine, trying to help her budget) That is also including formula, diapers, wipes, medicine(in case) baby food, small amount for clothing etc...

 

[purpledaisy2]

My LO has just turned a month old and we've spent about £20 if that on nappies.
Even if you formula feed most milk is about £7 a tub, my LO is using 1 a week atm so thats just under £30 a month.

As the last poster said toilettries last an absolute age so they wont cost you much a month.

I stocked up on wipes and toilettrires when Sainsburys had a baby event on (Asdas have them too) and I saved tons of money - spent about £40 but I wont be running out of anything anytime soon

As for the healthy start vouchers you dont get them if you work (have to be on benefits)

xx

 

[Gwizz]

Nappies - £40-50 pm - I buy Pampers and theres two boxes for £18 at Asda - they last me a good 2 - 3 weeks so I think more like £30 maximum for branded. Tesco are a good supermarket nappy.

Extra ontop of normal food bill (covering toiletries for baby and food when he gets older / and or formula if breastfeeding doesnt go to plan) - £60 pm Ben is now on formula and one of the large tubs of SMA is £7.50, plus food in jars £5 and little extra nibbles/fruit £5 per week (SMA will last me 2 weeks) so more nearer - £50pm

Utility bills - I am at home all the time anyway as I dont work, so cant see them going up much, but maybe £20 pm overall? I dont think you'll notice much of a difference on possibly in electric of the washing machine

TV package - gunna upgrade our TV package so we have the childrens channels, at about £10 pm I havent done this, Ive had some free dvd's and there are 'free' childrens channels anyway on freeview and normal terrestrial during the day.

Bits he needs (including clothes, new equipment etc, bearing in mind we buy a lot of stuff 2nd hand) - £40pm I use Freecycle (freegle) and have got alot/most of his clothes from here when people dont need them anymore, infact I have clothes up until hes 3 stored away. Babies dont wear them for long as they grow so quick so the quality is better.I would say you can cut this down (or possible out)

Days out - £30 pm There are lots of free 'days out' you can go too like garden centres, farms, play areas - but granted if your travelling by train, petrol then this would be your costs.

Extra fuel in car - £20 above! lol

Savings account for bubbs - £20pm & ISA account (for holidays and savings) - £20 I know this is the best thing to do to make a nice nest egg for the little one but if money is tight then I would hold off for now unless you can really afford £40pm for these. You can always add at a later date.

Hope this helps a little but you really dont need to overspend, and you can be thrify For example this xmas ive asked grandparents for things like the next stage sleepsuits and bodysuits for Ben and Mothercare vouchers.

Good Luck

xxxx

 

[Seity]

I am no help here... As things are so different here cost wise and money wise lol...

Here a bag of diapers usually run close to 15-20$ for normal sizes
Formula is around $40.00 a case which you can go through one of them here in around a week or so.
Wipes around $5.00 a box etc... so different lol

Here the average cost of a baby aged 6months-12months runs around $350.00-$400.00 a month (figured it out with a friend of mine, trying to help her budget) That is also including formula, diapers, wipes, medicine(in case) baby food, small amount for clothing etc...

That's a bit extreme. I calculated about $100-$200 a month at most, but I'll also be breastfeeding/expressing, so we'll save money on not buying formula. And that includes about $50 a month for a savings account for the kid.