How important is saving?

[Girly922]

I had a private room with ensuite and shower. The birthing pool was in another private room so technically I took up two room while I gave birth!! Lol. I was then discharged home 5 hours after DD was born so didn't have to share a room with anyone else. I got lunch while I was in, and they brought tea, biscuits, and toast for both me and OH.

I don't think that many people have to stay in for very long around here. The midwives in my area really promote natural birthing. It's mainly C-section ladies that stay in on the post-natal ward around here.

 

[SoBroody91]

We're planning on saving £3k to bulk up my mat leave to usual pay. We'd just about manage on mat pay and OH income alone, but as others have said it'll be nice to have a bit extra to fall back on and to buy all the bits we need

 

[kassiaethne]

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.

oh didn't see this post. I'd sit down with him and calculate all thinkable monthly expenses and see what you have leftover and make him realize a child is doable now. it may help, especially if his ideas in his head are unrealistic of the costs of a child

 

[Linny]

I think with our first soon as I fell pregnant we started saving. We saved around £1000 and I personally saved £2000 because I wanted to stay off work the full year. We got bought so much of the big stuff from family (ie cot, pushchair, Moses basket, monitor) we didn't really need to buy a lot ourselves.

I think a small amount saved will be just fine. Men are very funny about making sure they have enough money! They will never understand they will never have enough in their own mind but you really can manage on less than you think.

 

[mandaa1220]

It's so funny to hear about all these men who are the financial planners in their families... if my OH took care of our finances, we'd probably be living on the street, but he'd have a really nice computer, iPod and cell phone

I am the financial person in our family... I have the budget and spreadsheet, so I'm really the person he asks if we have enough money to support a baby. We've talked a lot about the expenses that come along with a baby, but we always like to have some money set aside. It used to be 6 months of rent and bills, but then we bought a house and used all our savings for our downpayment - then we saved again and I bought a new car, then we saved again and are getting married, so bye bye to that $7k. I know we'll replenish our savings, but it'll probably be while we're ttc and pregnant - regardless, my point is it's definitely the safest decision to have SOMETHING set aside.

that was a long ramble

 

[newlywed2013]

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.

this is our plan!

 

[Mrs Eleflump]

We have about £18k saved between us, but I'm going to need to use some of that to buy a new (not brand new, just new to us) car at some point soon. We're hoping to start trying in early January (was December, but my projected ov is too early!), so even if we get lucky first cycle, we've still got 10-11 months to replenish the savings post-car-buying

It's very important for us to have savings, we just don't feel secure without them anyway, but we feel we need to have a good sized nest egg to cover any earnings deficit (as I'm the main earner by quite a way) and to cover the extortionate nursery fees when I'm back to work. Our LO will be the first grandchild on hubby's side, and the first on my side that my parents will get to have any involvement with (brother's ex gf is a cowbag, basically), so we will probably get a lot of the big stuff bought for us by the excited grandparents. I'm not worried about the initial outlay even if that doesn't happen (we're not expecting it, as such, and are prepared to buy all those things ourselves, but I know what our families are like ), it's more for the post-birth expenses.

Also, money was a big worry for my family when I was growing up; things always seemed to be really tight, and while I don't want my kids to get everything they want and not realise the value of money, I don't ever want them to go to bed worrying about it like I did - my parents tried to keep those worries away from us but kids are like sponges and they pick things up even if you hide them. So having a financial cushion is a must for us.

 

[Yo_Yo]

I think it depends on your circumstances. If you have high outgoings and a low wage, then saving is important. If you have a good wage and low outgoings it doesnt really matter as you can afford things more readily.

 

[wombat1]

We've got about £10k in savings from over the last year and a bit as we always spend less than my partner's salary each month which I think has made us both feel better about the future. We've shown ourselves we can live on one salary (I'm doing a masters currently) and still accumulate a fair sum of money so we don't have financial worries about bringing a baby into the picture. My partner also has a ton of savings from before we met (he doesn't spend any money ever!) so if anything terrible happened we have that too.

I feel we need savings more for our cat than anything else. We need a sum in our bank so we don't have to think about if we can afford her care if she becomes sick or injured.

 

[VictoriaP86]

I think needing savings or income differs for everyone's situation. I am the main earner at the moment as my hubby is studying to be a black cab driver and still has about 3 yrs to go so we are not waiting that long! Therefore for us having savings is important as we will no longer have my salary.

We have worked out that as long as we have paid off the rest of finance on my new car, make sure both cars are insured for the year and council tax is paid for a year (when I'm on mat leave) that will cut down our monthly outgoings so my salary will not be needed to cover as many bills.

When I actually fall pregnant we will cut back on all unnecessary luxuries (bye bye designer handbags!) saving as much as we can so we have at least £5k savings to cover some bills for when we are only relying on his salary.

Sorry that was a bit long winded! X

 

[spicyorange]

Dh is an accountant, I'll have no choice but to have a close watch on our finances when I'm on mat leave

 

[MellyH]

As of today (yay pay day!) I have finally reached the next nice round number in my savings account. We are thinking long term about buying a house, so that will probably be largely what it's used for, but in the meantime it is really reassuring to have a good nest egg built up, especially if I decide I want to take additional unpaid maternity leave. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy for a savings milestone!