How much saved?

[MrsGruffalo]

So, if you could choose how much money you got saved up before you started TTC your first, how much would you go for? What would you think you'd need to start life with a LO?

My DH is stressing about how much having a bubba will cost us, despite our savings, and I'd love to be able to have a more concrete answer about how much people generally think would be ideal...

MrsG xx

 

[Jackyx]

I'm going to save about £1000-£1200 to pay for baby stuff- might not seem a lot but i know family will help me with some things, I don't need storage so just need pram, cot, moses basket, clothes, baby bouncer, bottle steriliser, baby bath, nappys and wipes, bedding and car seat, baby monitor.
Maybe more stuff but I can’t think of anything else.

I'd say these are the necessities anyway- there are toiletries that baby and mum will need but haven’t listed those as they are things you'd get as a general shop.

I intend to get nice clothes for baby but I’d probably by lots in different sizes so i don't end up buying loads that will get outgrown within weeks/months.

After seeing my sister bringing up 4 kids I’ve seen what they actually need and don't want to end up with stuff that won't be used within a few months- and a house full of clutter lol.

I'll only buy a few toys as i don't want to end up with a house full of toys that baby doesn't bother with- they really don't need many when they are that young.

 

[Jackyx]

Oh and i think people get really worried that kids are going to be expensive but they don't ahve to be, day to day it will be more childcare costs (which can be expensive and is the realy biggy) and part from that your food bills will go up a little bit and buying clothes once in a while but they don't have to cost a fortune.

 

[Witchywoo]

I'm interested in this as I really have no idea.
I thought what is said above, that child care costs will be the big expense but other than that, it's just bits and bobs.
We'd probably be given loads of stuff when its first born and baby clothes are so cheap in the supermarket now.
It's reassuring to read it from others.

 

[ams23]

We've got about £2k saved, but this is for house-related emergencies really. I think we'd probably need to have another £1000+ or so saved by the time we have a baby, to buy all the initial things like prams, cots etc. My friend told me a decent pram is at least £500-£600?! So we should get cracking now really lol, no more shoe-shopping for me for a while!

 

[jemsbabyblues]

I think a decent amount to have saved would be £1000 so that you can buy the bare necessities because family and friends are always going to buy the other odd bits that you'll need. I think you can get by on minimum savings if you have a good support network.

Personally, I think £2000 is a better amount to have saved if it's possible just because it's more comfortable and you can easily get everything that you need.

It's always nice to have more saved for emergencies or to put away for the future but I don't think it's the be all and end all.

 

[Twag]

We are currently saving a £1000 a month and more if we can, this is mainly for a new house deposit but we will continue to try and save this if we can along also with any bonuses etc we may get

Babies can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you make them, the biggest cost is going to be the maternity leave and the childcare, I am only taking 6 weeks maternity leave as my company's policy is rubbish and my LO will be going to my mothers everyday so we will not have those costs to worry about.

My DH is totally on board with the costs etc for the baby, his main concern is getting a bigger house!

 

[lori]

Baby gear is expensive, but it will be the loss of an income while you're off work (or childcare costs) that really gets you. Before we had Simon, we worked out how much I would be getting on maternity leave and "practised" living on just that amount. Anything above that amount goes into savings, which makes a nice emergency or baby gear fund (ours went towards lanscaping our yard... not super exciting)

 

[toffee87]

I want to save about the 1000 for baby stuff, and 2000-3000 for bills etc for maternity leave.

 

[JessPape]

I'll hve 3000 in savings by the time we try, if not a little more that will be going to all the baby furniture and clothes we need, plus will get more with a baby shower .

 

[Olivette]

This is a really interesting thread! I'm so relieved that what I thought we'd need is actually pretty close to what others where thinking also.

I have close to £2000 at the moment. It's ear marked for other things (or so everyone else thinks..), but I always wanted to get to £2000 before I started to save for other things. My OH said to day quite out of the blue that 'we can't afford a baby babe', to which my reply was 'We have enough in savings', but like your OH MrsGruffalo, my OH is really worried about the cost of a baba.

x

 

[MackMomma8]

I think $1000 is a good amount. That's enough to cover anything big that you didn't forsee having to buy in the first 3 months. After that, I feel like you just kind of adjust your finances around having a family of 3 vs. a family of 2, just like you adjust everything else!

 

[babyb54]

We started saving when we got married (back in August, after wiping out our individual savings to pay for our wedding and honeymoon ). We have $11k in there now, and we add to that every month. It's not marked specifically for baby stuff, but that's what we'd dip into for LO. Though I suspect family and friends will probably help out - especially grandparents. Plus I agree with previous posters that children can be as expensive or inexpensive as you make them. Sure, there are a few things I'll splurge on.. but mostly, love and cuddles are free - and that's all that they'll remember anyhow.

For ongoing costs like childcare, we'd just lessen what we put into savings to instead pay for those bills..and we don't have to worry about covering any maternity leave or anything like that.. I have plenty of vacation and sick leave to keep my paychecks coming in (and when I run out, DH has said he'd like to start in on his to spend a couple days a week at home with LO ).

I'm hoping to have around $25k in savings before LO is born, but that's mostly because I recognize that our family of 3 won't be able to put away as much as we do now.

Funny enough now that I think of it, my DH who is frugal as can be and super conservative when it comes to our finances, has never once brought up money as being a concern for WTT...

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I'm currently saving £200 a month to pay for our holiday to Las Vegas in February and will continue to do that until our LO arrives. My sister in law is currently 38 weeks pregnant with her last baby and has already offered to give us a lot of her baby stuff when she's finished with it. That should save us a lot but I'm gonna need a fair bit to cover my maternity leave as I will only be getting SMP. I'm hoping to save around £2000-£3000 mainly to cover having 6 months off.

 

[sarahtee]

Ideally around £2000, maybe more maybe less (dependent on what our income/outgoings will be), but that seems like a good base figure to me. Enough to buy most things we need, with some help from family.

 

[PrincessKay]

Im just sort of going with the flow with regard to money, my attitude is its just money and thats probably why we dont have any

We have a little bit saved but my mum will help us out as she will be so excited she will buy pram im sure. But as for maternity leave i dont actually know how much i get?

 

[Olivette]

I think for me anyway, after I looked at it last, I'm only eligible for SMP, which would be 11 weeks before baby and up to 6 months afterwards (I think...!), and it's only about £130 for me a week i think. My thinking is, if I can have about £1500 saved for baby type things, and around £3000 to cover my 6 months maternity leave (as that's how long I'd like to be able to take), that's the figure I'm aiming for. Taking into account spending money for my holiday and things, I think it would take me until about christmas of this year to save the amount we'd need. All the thinking, my brain hurts!

 

[MackMomma8]

Plus, I think if you think about it too much, no amount of money saved will ever be enough.

 

[Olivette]

Plus, I think if you think about it too much, no amount of money saved will ever be enough.

I definitely think your right there. I think that's how my OH is thinking at the moment, he's worried he won't be able to provide for a baby, but as I've said to him, babies aren't as expensive as he thinks, as long as the loves there

 

[sarahtee]

Plus, I think if you think about it too much, no amount of money saved will ever be enough.

I think it's better to have a reasonable minimum amount that you want to save, then at least anything saved on top of that is extra and there's not as much pressure to savesavesave!