Working out a budget

[LynAnne]

I'm doing my usual January assessment of our financial status as DH always gets his pay rise at the beginning of the year. For the first time I feel like the husband will be getting a half decent wage even though we have a few more costs to consider this year, particularly in regards to his car. Still we should be able to save a little a month and still have a little fun money - for the first time ever! It's made me more desperate to start TTC than ever. My nosiness got the better of me today and I had a wee look at what we could roughly get with tax credits and child benefit. I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't help myself. Turns out (so long as my baby cost estimates are about right) we could actually be better off with a baby. What?! That's crazy. I even estimated a higher electricity bill and such and we still were a little better off! I don't get it!

For those of you who are mummies already, approximately how much did you spend on your baby in the first year? I don't mean the big things like cot, pram etc. but formula (just in case), nappies, clothes, toiletries and toys.

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

It's crazy, isn't it? We went from a two person income with no baby to a single income with a baby, and we're actually doing better now with me not working then we were when I was!

She wasn't too expensive, but I did a lot of generic/secondhand whenever I could to save money.

Formula: about $60/£40 a month (less in the beginning)
Food (after 4 months): $20ish/£13 a month at first, then increased to probably around $30/£20 later in the year
Diapers: about $35/£23 a month (I bought the big boxes)
Clothes: around $10/£6 a month overall, because I bought each piece for a $1 gently used
Toys: around $20-30/£13-20, because I loved to spoil her
Misc: generously around $50/£33, for all the little stuff that I can't even remember now
Healthcare: free

 

[tinkerbelle93]

The first year (for me) was the cheapest

Nappies and wipes: £25 a month, I found a supermarket brand that worked well for us and bulk-bought wipes or used Aldi baby wipes which are fab.
Milk: 1st month was completely free due to breastfeeding! After that around £50 per month on formula. Not a lot you can do to save on that really, I just made sure I pre-made bottles before going out rather than wasting money on the ready-pour cartons. With the next baby, the cost alone is going to be really good motivation for me to stick with breastfeeding
Clothes and toys: Not sure really but I never really bought any clothes new, Ebay and Facebook do huge bundles very, very cheap compared to buying new, particularly for the 1st 6 months. I remember buying a huge bin liner full of lovely 0-3 months clothing for a fiver. Family also bought a lot of clothing and toys as gifts.
Toiletries: Hardly anything, you can get a big bottle of baby bath for a couple of quid and only need literally a tiny drop in each bath, baby lotions etc. are pointless imo and we didn't bother. I think we purchased nappy cream a couple of times but luckily DS wasn't prone to nappy rash.
Food: I was really clueless with weaning and ended up spending a lot of money on jars etc. but a lot of mums I know have done baby-led weaning etc. and basically fed the baby everything they eat anyway (obviously healthy!) so food bill is only boosted a small bit.

So yes the first year really doesn't have to cost much at all after buying all the initial equipment etc. It's a bit different now DS is 3 though... very hard to buy 2nd hand clothes so everything is new (and he seems to grow out of it fast!), lots of days out and trips to soft play to pay for, he needs his own meals at restaurants/pubs now etc. x

 

[LynAnne]

I had double that cost for nappies/wipes tinkerbelle so that's a bit of a relief!

Is this budget to generous or not enough for each month?
Formula:£48
Nappies/Wipes: £50
Toiletries/Extras: £30
Clothes and Toys: £40

I think my real concern is how we can afford all the big stuff like a cot and travel system! It sounds awful but I wish I knew how much we would have handed down to us by family so that I didn't have to worry about stuff like that. I know my parents still have a few bits and pieces in their loft but I don't know what and I daren't ask in case they get their hopes up for a grandchild! What is a good budget for baby start-up costs?

 

[aimee-lou]

Our Silver Cross travel system cost us £430 for everything. That was a while ago but I think that's still about right. That was for car seat, pushchair, all the extras like carry cot, foot muff, rain cover etc, and a changing bag. You can get cheaper ones and strictly you don't need a 'travel system'. I have never once clipped my car seat onto my pushchair....not once! You still need both but don't feel like you need the matching pair.

Our cot was about £200 including mattress. I would recommend getting a cot-bed rather than a cot. That will last until LO is 3-4 years old then as they change into a toddler bed. You don't NEED a moses basket - they are nice to have I will admit, as babies look so cosy lol, but mine never really liked theirs, and the longest any of them lasted in was 5 weeks! lol

A good bouncy chair.....I would recommend the fisher price newborn-toddler. My tinies have loved napping in it when they were small and until it died a death when DS3 was 5m, it went through 3 babies, having been used as a reading chair by my eldest and then by my 2nd. They're about £60 new but you can pick them up regularly second hand.

Don't worry about changing tables, bathing units or any of that jazz. You'll soon find that changing on the floor, on the bed or on your knee suits you better and you'll be using the big bath within a few weeks so just use that anyway lol. You're better off spending the bath money on a bath support/seat.

Things to consider too........car seat for 9m+. Most infant carriers now go up to 15m nowadays but sometime around 12m you'll need to get a new carseat! lol Bottles - don't bother with the small 4oz bottles. They barely get used!! lol. If you do get them, only get 2/3 as they can be useful for water later on. I only had 2 for ds2-3 as I got them free with boots vouchers lol. Even if you think that you won't want to do something......swaddling, dummies, bottle feeding, breastfeeding, using soap, early weaning.....whatever it may be. Have an emergency in as you may need it. And lastly, INFACOL! I cannot stress this enough. While I know that some people don't get along with it, i have found it to be invaluable.

I know these figures are scary. We were lucky, we got the travel system and cot given to us. There are cheaper ones - look on Argos to get some ideas of what you may need/cost. It's easy to get overwhelmed but just remember that the 4 needs are what you need to cover....to be fed, to be clean, to be clothed and somewhere to sleep. As long as you have these basics, everything else is up to you.

Sorry for the information overload! HTH

 

[LynAnne]

Gosh, that's a lot of money! I don't think I could justify spending £400+ on a travel system. We just don't have that kind of money. I suppose anything we do buy in terms of the big things we'll get gender neutral so that we can reuse it in the future. We do plan on at least having three (I want four though!) Thank you so much for all that advice though, aimee-lou. It's been super helpful!

I know it seems presumptuous but I'm sure there are the odd bits and pieces that my SIL will pass on to us as well as my parents. I don't necessarily mean the big stuff just things that will lessen the bill!

 

[aimee-lou]

Gosh, that's a lot of money! I don't think I could justify spending £400+ on a travel system. We just don't have that kind of money. I suppose anything we do buy in terms of the big things we'll get gender neutral so that we can reuse it in the future. We do plan on at least having three (I want four though!) Thank you so much for all that advice though, aimee-lou. It's been super helpful!

I know it seems presumptuous but I'm sure there are the odd bits and pieces that my SIL will pass on to us as well as my parents. I don't necessarily mean the big stuff just things that will lessen the bill!

£400 is a lot, but ours has only just given up the ghost and my eldest is 5! The pushchair did ludicrous miles with bags of shopping on the back when we didn't have the car. It's been everywhere and anywhere you can mention with 3 different children in it. It's still going but I don't like using it as the wheel fell off it a few weeks ago. It's been repaired but you know how you lose faith. I would definitely recommend the 3D if you're looking for something sturdy and long lasting - as you have said you'll be looking at more than 1 use. Car seat as well, I'm regretting giving it away after DS3. So it's had 4 children.....brought 4 newborns home from hospital....if you include the girl we gave it to.

You can get cheaper/less expensive ones, and people are usually quite generous if you specify vouchers from a certain shop like mother care or babies r us, then you may be able to put a lot to it eventually that way.

Don't forget you NEED the car seat before baby is born as they won't let you take them home without one now. The pushchair....I didn't get a double until ds3 was 1 week old as I couldn't decide which one I wanted! lol

Good luck. And try not to worry. Babies don't care about money, and you won't remember which brand equipment you used, you'll remember the time you spent together. It will all come good. Babies really need very little in real terms, and you will find that you will worry less and less about things. Worries about these types of things get replaced by the worries about the children themselves.

Oh and above all else make sure you have at least 10 muslin cloths! They're the best thing EVER!!!!

 

[babydustcass]

Id look at second hand travel systems if you dont want to fork out for a new one. There are lots of pram fettish mummies out there, all flogging off their last pram used for x months, making way for the new one! Cot bed are also easy to find cheap second hand, just consider buying a new mattress no matter who you get it from. I personally would only buy carseats new and have them fitted by the shop to make sure they are a perfect fit for your car.

Buying gender neutral will be a great help, years down the line.
Breastfeeding is free for as long as you can keep it up and weaning begins around 6months. Jars are handy but not essential, youd see no rise in your food bill if they ate what you ate because their portions are probably the size of your left overs lol
We never used a bath support, we brought different ones both times and felt more confortable holding them or being in the bath too

 

[loeylo]

This is helpful as I am starting to think about practicalities and I had no idea! Things are actually cheaper than I thought - I always hear how expensive babies are but it sounds totally manageable tbh.

 

[callmedan]

I love talking about things like this!
We have budgeted saving £2500 starting costs, that's for everything cot, wardrobe, travel system, clothes, nappy supplies... Got a very long list on a spreadsheet!
But we only budgeted £90 a month after that, I am planning to BF for 6 months, will that be enough? That monthly budget will probably include nappies, wipes, basic clothes (baby grows, vests etc) I'll buy fancy clothes and toys and that out of seperate money on a as and when the money is available basis!

 

[babydustcass]

Oh yes £90 a month will be plenty, or more than enough! Dont you worry about that.
I know some say not to buy too many nappies before baby is here because you wont know what works, but i have always sworn by pampers and dont know anyone without our mummies circle who has had a problem with them. You do get vouchers for newborn sizes in your bounty pack though (usually) so perhaps get a few less newborn sizes. Youll get through at least 10 nappies a day when they are really little, so a 30 pack will last you just 2-3 days, we always grabbed them in bulk (amazon are great for this) and whenever they are on sale. The same goes for pure and fragrance free wipes. We built a good stock to last us several months, including several new baby sizes.

 

[callmedan]

Oh yes £90 a month will be plenty, or more than enough! Dont you worry about that.
I know some say not to buy too many nappies before baby is here because you wont know what works, but i have always sworn by pampers and dont know anyone without our mummies circle who has had a problem with them. You do get vouchers for newborn sizes in your bounty pack though (usually) so perhaps get a few less newborn sizes. Youll get through at least 10 nappies a day when they are really little, so a 30 pack will last you just 2-3 days, we always grabbed them in bulk (amazon are great for this) and whenever they are on sale. The same goes for pure and fragrance free wipes. We built a good stock to last us several months, including several new baby sizes.

thank you! this is great advice! keep it coming

 

[Dinah93]

One thing you haven't budgeted for - do you plan to take your baby to any groups or classes? Honestly I did all kinds of stuff with my first born, baby sensory, baby massage, baby music, playgroup, the ridiculously expensive water babies swimming classes, she grinned away at them but she grinned if I took her for a walk to see trees too so how much she was getting out of them is debatable. However I definitely would say try to go to some playgroups, for you more than your baby. Children don't begin to play together until after age 2 usually, but my mom friends I made are brilliant and we meet up a lot. I can hand on heart say I didn't make a single contact at the expensive baby classes, but the good old coffee and natter playgroups and the local sling walks I met lots of mums. These tend to be about £1 a session as opposed to £4-£5.

Nappies get more expensive as they get older, bigger size packs are the same price or more expensive but contain half as many as newborn packs. My 6 month old (3 adjusted) uses about the same number of nappies in a day as my 2 1/2 year old.

Do you work now? Just I'm surprised you'd be better off after a baby if you work full time even on minimum wage but obviously I could be wrong. I was made redundant while pregnant so this is the first time I've claimed anything, hubby earns £18,000 and we get £401 a month in tax credits (but it's only this high as we have two children and our daughter is considered disabled so she gets extra tax credits. We didn't get anything until we had the second baby) and we used to get £81 a month in child benefit for one child.

The real cost implication kicks in if you return to work and need to pay childcare, which for a full time place is a minimum of £700 a month, I have friends down south who pay double that. In addition my daughter daughter is a very, very active child, so I end up taking her somewhere every day to give her something to do as she rarely sits still unless we've done something active earlier in the day. Each kid session tends to cost £4-£5, if we go to somewhere like a family farm that will usually cost at least £20-£30. A lot of people will say there are free things like the park or library, but you can't realistically do the park every single day, and the library sessions cost money too, and the library outside of sessions doesn't like 2 year olds running around it as a way to burn energy. We went to the park 3 times last week, but we also went to messy play (£4.40), gymnastics (£3), garden centre (free, she likes looking at the fish), ice skating (£11.95 as have own skates), the museum (£20 for an annual pass), roller skating in our neighbourhood (free) soft play twice (£5 and £7 - second time included a healthy meal for DD and a coffee for her dad), dancing (£4.80), music session (£6 for both children, it used to be about £4 for one) and Tiny Tigers (activity group, £4.50). I know you by no means need to do this much, but if you have an active child they will get quite destructive and bad tempered stuck at home and it's the cost of my sanity to stop her getting wound up to do something each day. We've definitely given up a lot of our treats and hobbies to afford to give her this variety.

You're very smart to plan ahead, unfortunately with babies sometimes you can't plan. For example my daughter has issues with her heart and lungs that weren't diagnosed until birth, for the first year we had at least 2 hospital appointments a week, sometimes up to 8, that was a lot of travel costs we never expected.

 

[stephaniexx]

I've found babies cost around £25 a week, maximum. My oldest girls don't really cost us much either as the clubs in my area are free and they eat what we eat. Honestly, our weekly shop cost hasn't changed from when it was just DH and I, we spend between £70-£90 and aways have. Uniform, shoes and clothing are bought with the child benefit every month along with a couple of Next splurges, I love their sleepsuits

We spent bout £10 a week in formula, £3 for 5 packs of wipes in asda, and it used to be 2 packs of nappies for £10, now its 3 for £12, which last a while. I don't buy formula now so we're saving £10 a week, and she eats what we eat. I buy nappies every other week, always have. Before my babies have been born I have always just bought 1 or 2 packs of size 1 and size 2 nappies, you will know which ones you need when baby comes home then you start buying them with your weekly shop! A friend of mine bought LOADS of size 1 nappies and ended up giving half of them away

On weeks I don't buy nappies, someone will get a t-shirt, jeans or new pjs etc, we love asda clothing and we seem to get a lot for our money!

I think babies cost as much or as little as you want.

 

[LynAnne]

I know this might come to a shock to some people but I don't plan on going to any baby classes/clubs. I don't think it's necessary me or my situation. I grew up without extra classes and groups so it's not something I really consider very important but I understand that some people do. It feels like an added expense that can be avoided to me! I also have anxiety so not having social interaction with strangers actually sort of suits me, from a parents' perspective on the class. I will see my family often so it's not like I'm going to get lonely!

I don't work currently but I don't claim jobseekers either. We live entirely on my DH's wage and have done so for the past three years so yes, we would be fractionally better off. If and when I "return to work" I plan on being able to work from home. I am currently trying to better my writing (not that you'd guess by this post!) and would look to do something with that so childcare costs wouldn't be an issue. Furthermore, my parents and in-laws would be happy to take any babies for a day or two a week.

With all the research I've been doing, to be as prepared as possible, I'm really beginning to believe that kids cost as little or as much as you want them to!

 

[stephaniexx]

I only go to one club (sometimes) on a Wednesday only because a friend invited me, other than that I go to a couple friends houses, visit my MIL, and my family visits through the week. I know some people love all the groups but I don't really find them necessary

 

[LynAnne]

I know I don't have kids yet but I wonder if I'll ever get a moment's peace when they do arrive! I have five sisters and my parents 5/10 minutes drive from me and my in-laws only 20-30 minutes away so they'll be over all the time. I already see my family once a week and my in-laws once or twice a month but once a baby arrives I can easily see that doubling at least! I'll be so busy with them and my normal stuff who knows when I'd get time for clubs anyway!

 

[aimee-lou]

i've never done clubs or organised activities with mine at all. I couldn't really afford them as it was but also I just get annoyed by them. I've occasionally gone to a local pplaygroup which is £1.75 a session no matter how many kids you've got....but it's a free for all. They have a bouncy castle up and my boys have always been frightened of the damned thing, and the hall is so big with 2 walking toddlers I end up fraught! lol Just not worth it lol. For my money, they get shipped off to nursery then school......those first years that I've been able to spend with them that time is for me to fill. My eldest went to a CM 3/4 days a week from age 1-2.5 so obviously he did stuff there so I didn't feel the need with him. My 2 youngest ones have each other at home while eldest is at school, and between school runs, weekly shops, housework, park trips and duck feeding-a-go-go, we don't have time! lol

 

[callmedan]

i think i will take mine to groups, but not if they are anything like the free for all aimee-lou!! think id rather pay a bit more and go to just 1 or 2 more organized group sessions, im going to have to go back to work after my first so want to do as much as i can in that first year as when they are aged 1-2 ill probably be back in work then pregnant with #2 (hopefully! i was a small age gap )

 

[EmmySocks]

This is a great discussion - really useful to get an idea of how much things cost and what to budget.

Can i ask- how did maternity pay/ reduced pay work for people? I've pretty much accepted that i'll not be going back full time for a while, but not sure what the money situation will be like. Any one got experience with this?

Also not sure about being eligible for tax credits etc?

xxx