Money - how downs anyone do it?

[LynAnne]

Baby fever has kicked it up a notch now that Christmas has been and gone. It's awful! I've been thinking about our finances and just don't see how we will ever be able to afford a baby! DH is getting a pay rise in January (we're not actually sure what his new wage will be) but I still don't think we'll be able to afford a baby. After our mortgage, utilities, car costs and such we don't ever have a lot of money left over add a baby into the mix and I'm not sure how we'll survive. Seriously how does anyone do it?!

ETA: It's really annoying me that the title should say "how does anyone do it?" Silly autocorrect.

 

[aimee-lou]

First off money is NOT important to babies. There us never a good time and you'll never think you can do it lol.

Just an example. My hubby and i have 3 boys. Hubby us a student receiving full financial support from the student finance people. I am a sahm (have been for nearly 3 years) and receive benefit s for children and the house but nothing for me. Our monthly income leaves us with a little over £100 a week to buy food and everything the children need. We get by. We have 2 cars....hubby lives away 5 nights a week while studying.

My children are loved, fed, clothed and happy. My house is clean. We have a dog too.

This has been the situation for the past 4.5 years. Things have changed. Before ds2 i worked but now with childcare costs its impossible for me to do so and I'm qualified for nothing anyway. We have had 2 babies in that time and managed.

When ds1 was born we had both been working but in reality were no better off than we are now. I got signed off while pg, so only got SSP untilmy sSMP kicked in at 29 weeks. We still had everything.we bought second hand or people offered their stuff to us. Family gifted things and gave vouchers. We were very lucky but could have spent very little had we had to.

Sorry to go on but i wanted to try to show that finances don't really matter. Cut back where you can now to give yourself an idea. Budget and save and you'll see just how little you can get by on.

Good luck x

 

[loeylo]

I just posted virtually the same thread - I feel ya!

 

[LynAnne]

We don't really spend too much on ourselves so I'm not sure where we'll be able to cut back. I'm keen to find out what DH's new salary will be in the new year so that I can work out a rough budget and maybe we can start saving a little lump sum each month. His salary is still going to be under £20k - and probably by a fair bit but we should be able to at least put a little extra aside each month. I don't work but I'm hopeful of getting a little money through some self employment (crafts and writing) this coming year which would at least increase our savings if only by a couple of hundred pounds!

What's the rough monthly cost of a baby if you formula feed (just in case), on a budget?

 

[aimee-lou]

Roughly £10 a week for formula (they eat less in early weeks and in last 2-3 m but more from 6w-9m so that's averaged out). Nappies depends on brand but i budget £7 a week for my 2 buying value nappies with a pack of pampers for overnight.

Once your weaning i would say you're looking at about £1 a day extra but that rises as they get older not by much though as i cook from scratch mist of the time and can feed us for £40 a week (me, hubby, 3 boys age 5, 2 and 1).

As a rule child benefit covers these essentials (at least i try lol).

 

[Eleanor ace]

As you're not working you won't have to take a cut back on your income for mat leave/childcare which is usually the biggest financial outgoing when you have children, so it probably won't hit you as hard as you think. There are things you can do which will cut the costs of having a baby (breastfeed, cloth nappy, making your own baby food/feeding LO what you eat rather than buying baby food) and you'll find that you will just live within your means. You will probably be eligible for child benefit and that should cover disposable nappies and formula. Buying pre loved stuff for LO really cuts the cost of having a baby. Our cot came from a 2nd hand baby store, no signs of use and it cost us £20! When we had our 1st I was worried about money and I bought the majority of our stuff from Ebay, pre loved baby stores etc. Now money isn't an issue but I still buy a lot of stuff 2nd hand because it feels obscene to pay 10x more just to have something new .

 

[babydustcass]

i think the advice already given here is invaluable. Babies can pretty much cost as much or as little as you want them to. There are so many nifty gadgets and TOO many useless baby devices out there, its really about being sensible and sticking with the essentials, a few luxuries to make life a little easier is nice, but as has already been mentioned, these items gets used just a handful of times usually and therefore buying second hand is like buying new!
Not to mention your husband may be entitled to things such as working tax credits, as well as you getting child benefit for the baby which helps top up the nappy and milk stash. I am not sure how working tax credits work if one parent isnt working but its worth looking into.

 

[LynAnne]

Thanks ladies.

I know that we will definitely be eligible for child benefit which would cover the main cost of feeding and nappies but I'm not entity sure about tax credits. I think that we could get them too but I haven't really looked into that properly.

It's so tough to know whether we would be able to have a child financially when every parent spends such different amounts on their children. My parents were always pretty conservative with cash whilst DH's family was better off and could afford to splash the cash more! We most certainly don't have a big income in our house but I see others who earn £15k-£20k more than us worrying about how they'd afford a baby which makes me think we'd be mad to even entertain the idea of TTC. To be fair, I do think that people learn to live within their means though!