how to survive financially on just your partners wage!?!

[cheskarose]

Hi guys,

Me and my partner are saving for a deposit for a 3 bed house and we have a rough idea of the bills to pay but how do you survive off of just your partners wage if you want to have a bubba? Any ideas how much you bills went up upon your new arrival.

We havent got a clue and im scared to think that if we cant afford it. We will never have the chance to have a child

 

[lucy_smith]

I now what you mean. Me and bf will be ttc when our house is built. We think we can just about afford to live with the mortgage and a lo. I am a strong believer in when there is a will there is a way ! So fingers crossed that It will work itself out ! I'm worried also because we have a budget for the house but what if we go over the budget ? How whatever reason? This also worries me,but I'm sure it will all work out!

 

[loeylo]

We lived off just one wage for a while (from May to September) as I was waiting to start work after graduating uni. In that time, we managed to put down a deposit for a rented property, buy lots of furniture, and still have a social life. Tbh we had no less leftover cash than we do now! It is amazing how much you can save by being a little bit more careful.
I have a reasonable maternity package and definitely plan to return full time so haven't really thought about it long term.

 

[LockandKey]

I am a SAHM to 2 kiddos, we budget for just about everything, eat at home majority of the time (eating out is more expensive), and any time we find ourselves with a little extra money, we save it. I also breastfed both, so we've saved a couple hundred by not having to buy cans of formula. I've bought a lot of baby items and baby or maternity clothes at second hand stores for cheap, or go to garage sales with baby items on display, you never know what you might find. We buy in bulk at club stores, we deep freeze a lot of items so we go to the grocery store less often, we use coupons (a lot are free online to print off), and use shoppers club cards any time we go shopping, I also look for discounted or sales items. Just by shopping smart we've saved a lot of money.

 

[lozzy21]

Sometimes you just can't. We can't afford to live on just DH's wage. In the UK you get 9 months paid maternity so I went back to work part time after that.

 

[KalonKiki]

My DF and I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and right now he is the only one working. It's hard, but we've been able to make it on just his income. I recommend doing cloth diapers and breastfeeding if you can. Babies themselves generally aren't as expensive as everyone thinks as they don't need much (most of the stuff we get for them is simply nice to have). It's when your baby gets older and becomes a child that the cost of raising them really goes up.

You can always co-sleep to save money on a crib, cloth diaper so that you can reuse them instead of buying disposables all the time, and breastfeed because it's free from day one.

I breastfeed and it's probably cut down our baby costs substantially since we don't have to buy formula as it gets very expensive.

Cloth diapers cost quite a bit upfront, but there are inexpensive ones out there on sites like lovelypocketdiapers.com and kerrbearkids.com and it saves you money in the long run as it doesn't up your laundry costs by much and disposables add up after a while where as cloth diapers are a one time cost and you can reuse them for all of your babies.

It really all depends on your living situation and how much your SO makes a year. My DF only makes about $25,000 a year at most, but we make it work by living in a reasonably priced apartment instead of buying a house and we're very careful with our money (we spend the bare minimum on groceries and we don't have a whole lot of "fun money" to work with). It's really rough living on one income though, sometimes it's just not possible. We've been fortunate to be able to do it, but there's a difference between surviving and being comfortable. We'll be sitting pretty when I'm working again.

 

[Pearls18]

We could live off of one wage but it would mean sacrifices. It would mean careful budgeting, few treats, worrying about unforeseen bills like the car. But we could pay our bills and have food in our bellies and probably a bit more and if I wanted to be a SAHM that would be fine. But that's not enough for me. I like day trips on the weekend, not worrying about how we will get through Christmas, spoiling ourselves and the boys on birthdays, swimming and rugby lessons for DS1, money to spend on myself, being able to visit family etc etc. I'm on maternity leave now so am in the lovely position of being paid but being at home and it's amazing how much more I spend at home, mostly out of boredom. I either end up shopping, eating or going somewhere. I wouldn't enjoy being at home and on a budget. So for me, I work because I enjoy it anyway, but my wages kinda pay for us having just a better standard of living. If I wanted to be a SAHM I probably wouldn't look at it like that.

If you're in the UK depending on your OH's income tax credits can supplement your income slightly but I would plan as if you won't get anything because with the way cuts are going you should never plan to have them.

 

[sequeena]

As said it means making sacrifices. We don't go out, we don't eat fancy food, we don't buy anything for ourselves etc. being frugal now is just our way of life and I actually quite enjoy it as I can put the money we save towards something (like our first family holiday).

I currently have no choice but to stay home. My son is disabled and we cannot afford nursery fees and the cost of a 1:1 support worker. We're looking into getting help from a charity to pay half of the fees but it may not happen.

You make it work and if not then you find the money for childcare.

 

[SAmummy]

My DF and I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and right now he is the only one working. It's hard, but we've been able to make it on just his income. I recommend doing cloth diapers and breastfeeding if you can. Babies themselves generally aren't as expensive as everyone thinks as they don't need much (most of the stuff we get for them is simply nice to have). It's when your baby gets older and becomes a child that the cost of raising them really goes up.

You can always co-sleep to save money on a crib, cloth diaper so that you can reuse them instead of buying disposables all the time, and breastfeed because it's free from day one.

I breastfeed and it's probably cut down our baby costs substantially since we don't have to buy formula as it gets very expensive.

Cloth diapers cost quite a bit upfront, but there are inexpensive ones out there on sites like lovelypocketdiapers.com and kerrbearkids.com and it saves you money in the long run as it doesn't up your laundry costs by much and disposables add up after a while where as cloth diapers are a one time cost and you can reuse them for all of your babies.

It really all depends on your living situation and how much your SO makes a year. My DF only makes about $25,000 a year at most, but we make it work by living in a reasonably priced apartment instead of buying a house and we're very careful with our money (we spend the bare minimum on groceries and we don't have a whole lot of "fun money" to work with). It's really rough living on one income though, sometimes it's just not possible. We've been fortunate to be able to do it, but there's a difference between surviving and being comfortable. We'll be sitting pretty when I'm working again.

Kind of what I was going to say . I also follow a lot of budget moms blogs ... Some really helpful ideas and makes it feel possible