How much?? Help please

[annie23]

Hello Ladies,

My boyfriend and I are both seriously evaluating starting a family, I turn 27 in April and it's something we both would like to happen before I turn 30.

What I'm trying to get to, is a reasonable expectation of what having a child and taking a year off costs.

I have not the slightest clue how many nappies a new born requires and what kind of hidden costs there are.

We want to make an informed decision and make sure we can comfortably afford having a baby before we embark on creating one!

To give you a bit more perspective, we both work full time, I'm intending on taking a year off on Maternity leave with an inclination towards breast feeding for 6 months.

I've looked up the statutory maternity pay and I'm in the process of looking up what maternity cover my current company provides.

It's very important to my other half and I that we are as prepared as we possibly could be because it's such a huge life changing decision. So guidance is both much needed and very welcome.

 

[Wannabe Mommy]

Hello

Babies are as expensive or cheap to buy for as you make them to be honest.

If you are frugal then costs can be very low:
- reusable nappies, can be quite a big cost up front but then you have no ongoing costs bar washing/drying.
If you go disposable then you can expect up to 10 a day in early days when they poop frequently then 5/6 a day when they move to solids. You don't have to go for pampers, aldi and supermarket brands are great.

- wipes, you use loads and for everything but again can go with reuseables

- clothes, initially they grow out of everything after only a couple of weeks use, so it is worth shopping in charity stores and supermarkets. Paying £30 for an outfit they wear twice seems unnecessary to me.

- If you take to breastfeeding then your costs may include, nipples cream, nursing bras, nursing tops, breast pads. If you bottle feed you will have initial costs of bottles and teats then you'll need a can of formula (£10) a week. We did cold water sterilisation so just had a plastic tub that we filled with cold water in the morning, dropped in a Milton tablet and then put the bottles in. Additional costs you could choose but are not necessary include fancy sterilizing machine, bottle warmers, perfect prep machines...

Then you will need:
- means of transport - pushchair, carrier, car seat...again you can spend little or lots dependant on preference
- place to sleep
- bathing supplies - towel, toiletries....

I would suggest working out your fixed monthly costs niw, seeing what you could cut down, figuring out if you can cover them in your partner's salary.

That will give you an idea on what savings you'll need and how extravagant you could go with things like pushxhairs/nursery....

Hope that helps.

 

[LDC]

I agree with the above - I don't actually believe a baby is that expensive as we all tend to go overboard with what we think we need, especially when it's a first baby.

what I would say is you don't need to buy the most expensive of anything - tesco nappies are just as good as pampers and a pram is a pram whether it's a silver cross or not.

I would encourage you to look for nearly new sales In your area and look on local selling pages like eBay or Facebook. babies are in things for such a small space of time that everything is pretty much brand new still when people are selling it and as there's so many people selling similar things, you can get some right bargains. my local sales were doing things like clothes at 4 for £1 - and they were nearly new!

plus you don't need things right away, like a cot, so you could ask for money from friends and relatives as gifts (otherwise you end up with a million sets of clothes that you'll never get through) or gift cards so you can buy things as and when you need them. tesco gift cards were the best for us as we could just stock up as and when with clothes and furniture from their direct book.

you can also get child benefit when baby is born that can go towards things you need.

I would more budget to make sure you can afford your bills when you're off. being home means more electricity and gas so cater for that especially if you take a year as your last 3 months you'll get no money.

xx

 

[DreamCatcher_]

We have just currently done these calculations.

I refuse to buy my LO anything that doesn't come from Matalan/Asda/Tesco/Primark - £5 for a pack of 7 vests he'll grow out of in a few weeks or months is a no brainer. £7 for 3 sleepsuits etc.

Speaking to others both Asda Little Stars and Aldi Mamia nappies are the best, I'm sure Aldi won the Which Best Buy. Same with their wipes.

Nearly new sales are great, as are the ones regularly held by Mothercare (we got a Graco pushchair, carrycot, car seat and base for £349 instead of almost £700).

We also shop in Aldi or Lidl as opposed to Tesco etc and can shop for 3 for £40- £50 a week, which definitely helps. I also like looking at their middle aisle and got 4 tommee tippe bottles for less than £5.

Child benefit will be just over £80 per month for the first month.
Depending on your annual salary (you and OH if living together) you may also qualify for child tax credits and working tax credits (depening on working hours).

Also your employer may have occupational maternity pay before SMP, which could mean you have slightly more coming in for a few weeks/months.

Also look at whether your mortgage provider offers a 'mortgage holiday'. It means suspending the payment for a month or two but coukd help.

 

[Pearls18]

Babies are as cheap as you want them to be, we bought stuff as the pregnancy progressed. The thing to consider is how in the long term it'll affect your income, will you continue to work? Yes- look at childcare costs; no- look at impact of drop of income if reducing hours or completely stopping. That'll be the biggest impact.

 

[Wannabe Mommy]

Babies are as cheap as you want them to be, we bought stuff as the pregnancy progressed. The thing to consider is how in the long term it'll affect your income, will you continue to work? Yes- look at childcare costs; no- look at impact of drop of income if reducing hours or completely stopping. That'll be the biggest impact.

Very good point! We both work full time my MIL has LO 1 day a week then she's in nursery the other 4 days. It is £40 a day which is very reasonable, city centre based or London you are looking at £60 ish a day. This has added an extra £700 a month to our spending.

 

[DreamCatcher_]

Childcare is a very good point. Fortunately we will only need 2 days per week, but that will still be £84 for both, which bumps our monthly bills up by over £300
We aren't even city centre based.

 

[catty]

This is my 3rd baby and i have bought things for her but since shes been born she cost me virtually £0. (Ok not quite but not far off) i have got clothes from birth to 1 year and of course if i see anything i really like i can buy it but if i didnt have the money i wouldnt need to as im so well stocked (most of this was presents or my friends who gave me there daughters almost new clothes) i got a 2nd hand bouncer for £4 a brand new cot for free.

Anyway i breastfeed so that is £0
Nappies are under £5 a week and wipes i buy in bulk from amazon but really works out about 50p a pack.

Now im not going to tell you how much i spent on my firstborn haha.

What i will say is the £80 child benefit should absolutely cover all of a babies needs!
The thing iss with a drastic cut in wage that is the part you need to look at, can you afford to half your wage? Iv personally never been put off by finances i just know il make it work, il do whatever i have to really.

Some random unexpected expenses - nipple cream (extortionate £12 a tube!!)
Some babies may have colic, reflux, teething pains and when your desperate these things can rack up the money! I bought every single teething thing imaginable for my son and did spend quite alot.

Hmm what else... make sure to keep a little money aside for baby classes or toddler groups etc it can get quite lonely at times and even keeping a few ££s aside to go for a coffee. I roughly spend about £15pw on toddler groups and little activities but that could be so much more if we were to go swimming or softplay.

Sorry for waffling but basically id say the drop in income is the biggest expense.

 

[pompeyvix]

Agree with all this.... I think the most important thing to consider is not the cost of a newborn as this can be done very very cheaply, but the cost of having a child. I you plan to return to work after the year, where will LO go? If it's Nursery/childminder, you're looking at around £50 a day until he/she turns 3. If you decide to become a SAHM, how will you manage financially?

 

[c1403]

Haven't read all the replies but I am sure there is some great advice.

The main thing you will find expensive is childcare. You are only entitled to free hours once the child turns three.... you could look at your options nursery, childminder etc and work out a rough budget.

I oringally planned to return to work after my first but got made redundant so ended up working part time and earning a lot less, although haven't noticed the drop in income as childcare and travel would have cost me a lot more and I get to be at home with the children five days a week!

The monthly expenditure depends on you really.

Nappies can be picked up cheaply in Aldi/Asda or you can buy reuseables. Formula is £10 a tin and you're looking at a tin a week in the early months (breastfeeding is free). Baby will need somewhere to sleep, clothes to wear, toys etc which you can go and buy brand new but I found we got given a lot of this...you can also shop second hand too. With our first we bought far to much and we didn't need it, ended up selling a lot of her stuff.

 

[annie23]

Hi All,

Thanks for coming back to me - you've all been really helpful.

We've got huge spreadsheets and forecasts, and fortunately it all seems to work out!

 

[Pearls18]

Ah you can't go wrong with a good spreadsheet