How important is saving?

[LynAnne]

As the title says, how important to you is saving up a lump sum before starting TTC?

The OH seems to see this as a major priority before he will even consider having children. I, however, think that so long as we can cover all the monthly costs and have a wee bit left over each month it isn't so important. I think being financially stable means completely different things to us (him- thousands in savings, me - enough money each month to cover all bills, necessities and extra).

I feel like we are always going to be trying to save for something. Wedding, babies, new house, holiday, new car, the list is endless. If we do that I'm sure we will never be "ready" to start a family.

 

[Quackquack99]

I'm in the uk and I would say that for me I have always said to have one months rent and council tax saved just in case anything went wrong. I tend to make sure I have more than that in my savings because I will never know when I might need it x

 

[MrsMandy]

I want to have enough saved to cover the big costs such as pram cot matress car seat ect. But that we will save as were trying and during pregnancy as for monthly bills i know mat pay will cover my half of the costs so not too concerned about saving for that time - however anything extra we save will be a bonus in that time! I'm not insisting we save before starting to try though - we just want to pay off the finance on my car then we can start!!

 

[lozzy21]

I want to take the 3 months extra after maternity leave but it's unpaid so I want at least the equlivant of 3 months wages. Anything extra is a bonus.

 

[spicyorange]

I think as long as you have some contingency for unexpected expenses it's fine. For us contingency is an intrest free credit card. We have no savings, we will ttc when we have no debts but I can't imagine us ever having savings. If you wait till you can "afford" a child you'll never have one!

 

[Eline]

We are saving, but hope to buy a house before TTC, which would leave us without savings by the time we TTC. As I have insurance, my maternity pay should be enough to cover the costs of the delivery. I've arranged to buy the baby room second hand from a friend and I hope that the gifts from family and friends will cover the rest of the expensive baby stuff.
I also try to have at least one or two months of income on my savings account for unexpected expenses.

 

[Wnt2beAMom]

It is probably good to have an emergency savings that would cover any fixed expenses if something happened and those bills still needed to be paid. Other than that people can save up for an expensive item or trip they want to take so that account goes up and down constantly and sometimes you just can't afford to even save for those things and that is fine as long as you can still live day to day not spending more than you make every month...I love watching financial help shows lol.

Money was always such a stressful thing in my family growing up so I really don't want it to to be a concern that my kids have to deal with. I want to know that we are prepared financially before TTC. The hardest thing when I was teaching too was having kids tell me all the things they overhear their parents saying about financial problems. It really takes the fun out of being a kid... Being that kid myself was stress that I didn't need but has changed the person I am today in how I deal with money..

 

[LynAnne]

I should have said that we do have some savings. It's just the OH expects to have thousands of pounds in savings which just isn't going to happen. He also thinks that a baby has to cost a crazy amount of money when, to a certain extent, they only cost as much as you want.

 

[Wnt2beAMom]

Yeah, I think they can cost as much as you want but you also can just cut down on things you buy for yourself. The biggest thing I think is the loss in income for a parent to stay home and parent. My income pretty much all goes to debt repayment and savings. So we definitely need our student loans paid off by the time baby comes so my money isn't needed anymore.

 

[LynAnne]

We are currently only living on one wage at the moment since I was made redundant so we already don't spend a lot on ourselves. I hope that the OH realises we won't be able to have a huge lump sum saved before we start TTC or we will never have a family!

 

[katherinegrey]

We had a lump sum we'd saved especially for baby, but we soon spent it, but then we chose to move to a nicer house in a nicer area with a garden for baby, and chose to get a bigger car with a nice big boot and an expensive pram, I think if you're happy where you are, have a decent family car already, then all you need is enough for baby essentials and like a pp said enough to cover one months rent should you ever need to dip into it.

 

[angiepie]

I think it's important but not essential. You can make do without it, but it's nice to save at least something. EG we've saved the cost for baby stuff and a homebirth (together up to 10k out of pocket as we don't have insurance and it's not covered by insurance anyway). However, we COULD just pay for it as it arises, but this way takes the strain off us when I'm pregnant. Also means I don't have to work much during pregnancy and can quit earlier that, say, 40 weeks.

However, saving for things like a car and house, I think that's much more essential. Such huge expenses aren't impossible to save for after baby, but they are a LOT harder. It's easier to knock them out of the way beforehand. But again, you can do anything you set your mind to!

 

[Amalee]

I would want at least a few months of income saved before TTC, and to know that we are able to afford all our current bills and obligations with money left over. That way, assuming everything stays roughly the same, the extra money each pay period would be for baby stuff and would wouldn't be dipping into savings. If either of us lost our job, had some major medical problem, needed to replace a car, etc. we would have the savings to fall back on.

 

[Girly922]

We didn't have much in the way of savings when we started TTC as we'd just bought a house. But all through pregnancy we cut back on luxuries and managed to save a very good amount by the time DD was born. I think its important to have a good amount of back-up money, but not necessary to have it before TTC.

 

[spicyorange]

we've saved the cost for baby stuff and a homebirth (together up to 10k out of pocket as we don't have insurance and it's not covered by insurance anyway).

I am so glad we have the NHS! I can't imagine having to save up just to give birth, or making my decision on where I had my baby based on the price tag...

 

[LynAnne]

we've saved the cost for baby stuff and a homebirth (together up to 10k out of pocket as we don't have insurance and it's not covered by insurance anyway).

I am so glad we have the NHS! I can't imagine having to save up just to give birth, or making my decision on where I had my baby based on the price tag...

I am the same. I always forget that for people who don't have the NHS actually giving birth is a huge cost. It seems so strange to think if I didn't live here that I'd have to pay for a baby.

I'd like to point out that in my original post, I didn't mean that we would be scraping by with just enough each month. We do have our own mortgaged flat and a couple of grand in savings for emergencies. I just meant I don't see the problem with not having a huge nest egg before TTC

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

we've saved the cost for baby stuff and a homebirth (together up to 10k out of pocket as we don't have insurance and it's not covered by insurance anyway).

I am so glad we have the NHS! I can't imagine having to save up just to give birth, or making my decision on where I had my baby based on the price tag...

I think there are pros and cons to both. I paid about $1500 out of pocket for the birth and three days in the hospital, but I also had a private room and bathroom. My husband stayed with me all three nights and the hospital fed him three times a day when I got my meals. He only had to leave to pick up his mother from the airport and to make a quick Starbucks run for the new grandmothers, otherwise he was there with me and baby 24/7. I can't imagine sharing a space with other women and babies or not having had him by my side to help with our daughter, especially now that I've went through it all. My privacy afterwards was a huuuuuuge thing to me, especially while I was recovering and bonding with Evelyn. We were able to just shut the room door and spend those days adjusting to our new family. So the $1500 out of pocket was well worth it to me to have the birth experience that I had!

OP - we didn't save up a nest egg for the baby. We did set aside $2500 to pay for the birth (so we did end up with about $1,000 left over that is still in savings), but we didn't see the need to have extra money ready for her. It's actually been a lot cheaper than I was expecting it to be, so I left my job to be a SAHM for now. I would focus more on paying off bills if you have any to free up that extra bit that you're spending on monthly payments.

 

[spicyorange]

we've saved the cost for baby stuff and a homebirth (together up to 10k out of pocket as we don't have insurance and it's not covered by insurance anyway).

I am so glad we have the NHS! I can't imagine having to save up just to give birth, or making my decision on where I had my baby based on the price tag...

I think there are pros and cons to both. I paid about $1500 out of pocket for the birth and three days in the hospital, but I also had a private room and bathroom. My husband stayed with me all three nights

I guess the difference here is that it's there are no issues you go home after 6 hours. You give birth on a private room and depends on where you are some people get to stay in that room until they go home, others are on a ward for a few hours before they go home. I think I'll want to go home asap, not be in hospital any longer than I have to be.

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

we've saved the cost for baby stuff and a homebirth (together up to 10k out of pocket as we don't have insurance and it's not covered by insurance anyway).

I am so glad we have the NHS! I can't imagine having to save up just to give birth, or making my decision on where I had my baby based on the price tag...

I think there are pros and cons to both. I paid about $1500 out of pocket for the birth and three days in the hospital, but I also had a private room and bathroom. My husband stayed with me all three nights

I guess the difference here is that it's there are no issues you go home after 6 hours. You give birth on a private room and depends on where you are some people get to stay in that room until they go home, others are on a ward for a few hours before they go home. I think I'll want to go home asap, not be in hospital any longer than I have to be.

Fair enough We both ended up with issues after the birth which is why we stayed for 48 hours after the birth for monitoring and check-ups. I didn't want to leave until I knew everything was perfectly fine with her. I just can't imagine having to stay in a ward with several other women while bleeding all over the place!

 

[kassiaethne]

for us the cost of hospital was comming out of pocket, they don't cover maternity here. so I had to save at least 20k. But for me savings is less important then income. We waited until we would be able to afford private school for a child. We usually live in brazil and it is a must...not a option kind of thing. So we waited till we got an income going that could afford that comfortably. So that would be my most important thing, can you afford the monthly expenses of a child (in the style that you want to raise them. some want to spend a ton and some can make a penny cry they are so good at saving)

You have to also take into account not only clothes, toys, diapers, food yadda yadda...but medical bills. not only initial hospital bills, but monthly dr visits (for me 100 dollars a pop) then the in between sickness and mama fears...medications...you will have to find out what your insurance will cover and what will come out of pocket...then factor that into your month child expenses as well...will you be able to afford that without feeling it in the gut each time?

personally I am glad we waited till we could save and have the income because now I'm a sahm, I can buy everything my little heart desires for my baby without feeling like I'm having to go without anything myself...and honestly strains on people when a baby is first born already stressful and money problems and worries on top of that would be back breaking on top of all the adjustments a relationship takes with a baby.

So I'd say income is more important then saving, but saving is important to be able to relax if a catastrophe happens (hubby looses job, LO needs hospitalization, yadda yadda....that money will be a life saver)