How much do you spend on JUST baby stuff?

[babycrazy1706]

Hi mummies
i am currently ttc and just wondered on average how much ppl spend in a week on baby stuff. By that i mean essentials such as nappies/wipes/formula/baby toiletries/baby food? Does child benefit (£20ish) cover all (or most?) of these items for you?
And then how much on others things like clothes/toys/equipment in a month? Are you extravagant or do you buy second hand? Also do you buy say pampers/huggies or store brands? Store brand toiletries or organic (i.e. Earth friendly baby?)
Its just interesting to see how cheaply (or expensive) it can be done. Thanks mums!!

 

[highhopes19]

i'll be watching this thread aswell hun as im wondering the same thing :/

i dont know much so far as this is my first, but some of the things ive learnt from ladies on here and from friends with LO's are:

toiletries like johnsons are not really needed first of all and they can be not very kind if LO has sensitive skin.... i made the mistake of buying tons of the stuff before i knew this oops!!

ive heard good things about asdas little angels nappies, havent tried them yet myself

xxx

 

[nugget80]

not sure how much i spend in total but i do know that child benefit does NOT cover it... lol, i spend about £15 on formula alone as lo will only drink cartons...! i reckon we must spend a further £10-20 a week on nappies and around £40 a month on clothes... babies are soooooo expensive...!

 

[louisechippy]

i spend 10 weekly on nappies and wipes !!! pampers nappies and simple baby wipes
i dont pay for baby milk as we are a low income family so quilify for milk tokens
we spend about 50 pounds a month on clothes.. we used to spend 10 a week on jarred food but as baby is not 10 months old 9 times out of ten she has what we have !! HTH !!

 

[stephx]

Errrm 50p a day on milk. About £10 a month on nappies child benefit always covers everything she needs x

 

[littleblonde]

i think child benefit probably does cover it for us. we but around 1 tub of formula a week and then nappys i think its around £10 every other week and then wipes i alwasy get store own brands. i actually prefer these and they are normally cheeper.i get all there clothes 2nd hand from ebay/car boots and on hear. then you can sell them on hear/ebay ect and buy more with what you make. So i dont have to pay much excess. toys ect i have brought new but always on offer. her walker was 2nd hand. het cot and mattress brand new. but i would by 2nd hand. the things you need to buy new are car seats (as once in a accident there not safe and you wont no) and mattress . you can spend as much or as little as you have. clothes ect get used so little that they look brand new x

 

[lucy_x]

Very little it has to be said.

We cloth nappy, so i outlayed £60 for those, But i havent spent a penny on disposables. (so £0.57 Av. a week for nappies)

Nothing on milk, she was BF.

Food, She just has a little off both mine and daddys plate, Better for our waist lines and she gets fed.

Clothes. I average about £30 every few months, Iv very rarely bought clothes (that i can remember) and Asda is so darn cheap!!

All the money i get in benefits goes into savings for her, Because im damn sure once she gets older (spesh teenage years) she will be more expensive

 

[Loui1001]

Since my LO was born I've really only bought milk and some clothes. When I was pregnant I stocked up on wipes and nappies buying some each shop, for nappies I bought a range of sizes and brands so that I could try them out and see what ones were best - Asda Little Angels are really good as are Tesco's own.

I got all of the big things when I was pregnant - travel system, cot, swing etc as I didn't want to be faced with buying them all at one when on maternity pay

We also got a crazy amount of clothes as gifts, right up to 18mths so I've only bought some sleepsuits and a few little outfits that were too cute to miss

 

[Laucu]

In total, probably about £5 a week - that's on milk and snacks. We use cloth nappies and wipes

 

[hawalkden]

Good thread .

I was wondering how much baby stuff is spent once LO's are here.

I'm hoping to breastfeed so milk wise is okay I hope

 

[discoclare]

I use cloth nappies. I originally started with an outlay of less than 100 pounds. That would have done me for more than one baby until potty training, but I went mad and bought more! Still my DD is 15 months and I've spent 300 pounds in total and will be ablt to reuse them for other babies and/or sell on preloved and get some of that back. It's not like I'll never see that money again (and I use a lot of premium brands, I don't cloth the cheapest way you can).

I BFed her until 7 months so no money spent on milk before then. Now she has one drink of follow-on milk a day so not much. If you are choosing to FF it will probably cost you about 9 pounds a week (a tub of formula per week).

I got a lot of DD clothes second hand, but I egt her some bits new that she needs. This week I bought her Clarks shoes, fitted to her feet, for example which were £24.99 and she'll probably be out of them in 2 months!

I think you can do it with child benefit for a baby. I don't think I spend my whole child benefit per month on DD, though we do put money into her account every month for when she is older.

 

[Kitten-B]

Much more than I thought we would!

Thought food would be to next to nothing but with weaning and still needing formula with a pretty fussy baby food for LO is currently about £70 a month. Looking forward to 1yr on where I'm expecting it will drop as cows milk will replace formula and I will be able to buy normal snacks instead of age appropriate baby ones (constant carrying of variety of snacks so much more essential than I'd ever realised lol ).

On essentials, inc food we spend £100 a month.

On clothes and other essential capital purchases (ie: recently it's been child proofing and new car seat etc) we spend about £70 a month.

Also spend £50 a month on treats, toys and a small savings amount.

Childcare starts this month and will be £320 (2days a week) but costing £190 with childress vouchers.

So £410 in total. Even just essentials def not covered by child benefit. And every months brings new 'capital' essentials you don't think about. I think the first year with so much specialist equipment and food and outgrowing clothes is the worst. Although already in shock/dread about the price of shoes!

 

[Inge]

Formula is £7.55 a tin here and we get through 3-4 a month so £23-30 a month. Nappies are about £2 for 20 of the sainsburys cheapies, we'll get 5 packs so he has 100 nappies for the month. CLothes we buy in advance so we get some older stuff if theres sales and things. Wipes are 39p for a pack of 80 and we get 10 packs a month.
next baby well get resuable nappies So just over £40 a month on baby stuff

 

[babycrazy1706]

Its interesting to see ppl's spending habits and how it can be done quite cheaply if you're very careful and look for bargains. Etc.