Money, money, money

[LynAnne]

I swear we would be better off financially if we had a baby. With tax credits and such we would be have about £100-£200 a month extra of expendable cash that we don't have at the moment. And that's including a rough baby budget that I've been generous with. To be fair, we do live pretty modestly and don't really spend much money on ourselves or holidays.

I'd like to add that we would never just have a baby for money! We don't get any assistance now and aren't benefit scroungers or anything! We would both be working - the OH full-time whilst I would be self employed selling crafts - but we'd still be entitled to tax credits.

It's just so disappointing when the main reason that we are waiting is to be more financially secure.

 

[katherinegrey]

Trust me, even with the extra help you get, babies eat it up, whether it's new clothes, new shoes, milk, nappies, wipes, baby food, toys, days out, or bigger items such as car seats or pushchairs, they will find someway to spend it for you. We did a rough budget for baby and didn't expect it to anywhere near this expensive!

 

[MissN8]

how much clothes would you need to buy a month do you think?

 

[katherinegrey]

It really depends, but my baby is very sicky, so I needed to buy a lot so I have constant outfit changes, some people get away with less clothes than what we get through, but if I didn't have a huge stock I simply couldn't get them washed and dried and ironed quick enough.

 

[spicyorange]

, but if I didn't have a huge stock I simply couldn't get them washed and dried and ironed quick enough.

You IRON baby clothes. Wow. The only thing that gets ironed in my house is dh's work shirts. No way well I be ironing baby anything.

 

[angiepie]

, but if I didn't have a huge stock I simply couldn't get them washed and dried and ironed quick enough.

You IRON baby clothes. Wow. The only thing that gets ironed in my house is dh's work shirts. No way well I be ironing baby anything.

I don't iron ANYTHING! Doesn't need it or we just wear it wrinkled as it will get wrinkled anyway. I own an iron but I've used it maybe 8 times in the last 4 years.

No baby of mine will get lucky enough to have ironed clothes. Lol.

 

[angiepie]

Trust me, even with the extra help you get, babies eat it up, whether it's new clothes, new shoes, milk, nappies, wipes, baby food, toys, days out, or bigger items such as car seats or pushchairs, they will find someway to spend it for you. We did a rough budget for baby and didn't expect it to anywhere near this expensive!

You can make it as cheap as you want/need though. BF is free. Cloth nappies is cheaper, babies don't need shoes or food (til later) or toys etc. And lots of people (like us) go on free a pretty cheap outings (bush walks, parks, museums and only cheap restaurants). And so on.

OP, I know exactly what you mean. We will be better off as well as we will also qualify for government assistance (as most people do here with a baby unless you're rich). We already got most of our baby stuff for our future LO off freecycle and just need more cloth nappies and a carseat and that's basically it, so our baby start up costs are so slow.

Side note, who loves bargain hunting for baby stuff?! I love the thrill!!

 

[phoenix333]

I completely understand your frustration, we were in a similar position.

DD was not planned as I never felt we were financially stable enough but strangely, we do seem to be better off for having a child. Although the big ticket items are expensive (pram, cot, carseat etc). I have found the day to day costs of having a baby are far, far less than I anticipated. OH works part time, I work full time and in our circumstance childcare is not really a big issue for us financially (luckily). The biggest issue for us was maternity leave and the period between giving birth and waiting for all the benefits to kick in.

But when DD was born we got a one off grant of £500 that helped towards the big stuff, I breastfed (so no formula costs) and I have found that the £80 a month child benefit more than covered what she needs in terms of nappies/wipes/clothing, it just depends where you shop! We get child tax credit every week of around £50 and that contributes to our household budget. We are not rolling in money by any stretch of the imagination but if we hadn't have had DD there is no way we would be able to afford to rent a house & pay the bills like we are now. We would probably have still been living at home with our parents!

I think babies can be as cheap or expensive as you make them tbh, there are lot of unnecessary items and a lot of stuff can be bought second hand.

 

[LynAnne]

That's exactly what I mean ladies. Of course, our money would be stretched but I've never been a big spender myself and am always on the look out for bargains or things in sales. I know that babies are expensive. I'm not naive.

I had a wee nosey online to see how much (roughly) we would be due with a baby and it turns out it would be more than I was earning working part time! Child benefit and Child Tax Credit would cover the babies costs no bother and we'd be entitled to Working Tax Credit too which would give us a safety net each month.

Not that we'll be trying any time soon according to the OH! It's just crazy that we'd be fractionally better off with a baby!

 

[lozzy21]

My DD hardly costs us anything now. She's out of nappys apart from at night but she's in cloth anyway. We don't buy any more food. Christmas and birthdays cover most of her toys and my dad and MIL end up
Buying most of her clothes. My dad gave us £100 for her summer clothes and MIL walked in with a pile of winter clothes last week. Her feet grow so slow so a £35 pair of shoes last 4-5 months. The main expense is childcare at £160 a month but tax credits cover 70 of that.