What do you spend money on? £50 voucher to be won

[PoppyMumsnet]

We're interested in finding out at which stages in your child's life you have found yourself spending the most, and whether or not you expected to do so at that point. We also want to know what sorts of things you've spent the most amount of money on.

This survey is open to all UK Mumsnetters who have at least one child.

[ILikeThatSong123]

Before they are born, all the expenses for a new baby, nursery, pram etc etc, especially for the first child.
Then starting school, birthday parties, school trips, extra curricular classes (if applicable). We have finished these two stages and dd just started at year 7, my God the secondary school uniform costs!!! Any additional expenses, we'll yet to see, secondary school just started two weeks ago. I'm sure there'll be expensive school trips and teenage stuff awaits.

[Floralnomad]

Interesting survey , except for the cot bed and some special toys we bought new for our second DC as we had a 6 yr age gap so travel systems etc had moved on . Our main outgoings have been education and the pony and although we are more or less finished with education the pony is still going strong !

[hownottofuckup]

That's impossible I don't have a clue!
I've bought a couple of buggies over the years but everything else has been given to us.

[Lagirafe]

Done. Fingers crossed.

[Butteredparsn1ps]

I thought each stage was expensive. Now I have one at uni I realise I had no idea.

[acsec]

Urgh put my email address in wrong as my stupid iPad is doing the thing where you type and the letters appear after a delay! Missed the n off the end of the 1st word

[GloveBug]

Initial outlay before they were born then when they needed to go up to the next stage car seat, next stage bed etc. I think I spent less on them when they were babies than I do on them now (2 and 4)

[AprilLoveJ]

This must have been tricky for parents with older children. I can barely remember the cost of pregnancy 2 years ago

This survey has depressed me a bit actually. Better get saving, sounds like it gets worse! 😆

[fitzbilly]

Done, fingers crossed.

I have a baby and a teenager and tend are by far more expensive! Our biggest cost is holidays though.

[sugarmonster64]

As they get older I've found we buy less big ticket items (i.e. we don't need to keep replacing car seats, beds etc) but the ongoing costs get higher. Clothes, shoes, extra curricular activities, birthday parties, toys

[DurhamDurham]

Babies cost a lot before they even arrive. By far the most expensive time for us when once our two girls reached their teens. It isn't so much items that you spend a lot of money on, it's the constant stream of money for days out, school trips, driving lessons, mobile phone contracts, pocket money etc that is a drain.

Oh and huge food shopping bills. Our bill has reduced by two thirds since our youngest moved out to go to uni and our oldest moved in with her boyfriend. We still buy good quality tasty food just not in the huge quantities we had to before.

[Ilikesweetpeas]

My DC was conceived after a lot of IVF so for us the cost of cot, pram etc paled into insignificance compared to that!!

[onitlikeacarbonnet]

Financial costs have been significant but costs to my health and my marriage have been far greater.

[lemonymelanie]

Far too much detailed information to try and input with older kids. £50 not enough incentive to even try and complete.....I gave up. sorry!

[evelynj]

School want bits of money left right and centre, so much so that I've had to buy and start a petit cash box for the house. Lego has also done pretty well out of us but extra curricular activites are v expensive

[ProfYaffle]

Me too lemony.

[FeelingSmurfy]

Done

Whatever the final cost, it's worth every penny

[babster]

Dd1 has just started sixth form and I'm finding that expensive. Firstly she needed more clothes since uniform is a thing of the past, and then there were course fees. It's a fab course, but she tells me practically every night about a new book she's supposed to have, or a trip. I guess this is nothing compared to university though...

[BackforGood]

Had to give up on this survey.
20yrs on, i have no chance of remembering what we spent on individual purchases for any of our 3 children. Plus, cost isn't always the same as 'value for money'. If you have several children all use the same cot, for example then the 'price per use' comes down a lot.
It also asked about 'most expensive time' which is different from purchases....... I'd have thought 'most expensive time' for most would be covering childcare, not buying 'things'

[lifesalongsong]

I started to do this but there's no way I can remember the cost of things from years ago, I suspect you'll only get replies from new parents

[Kannet]

All done

[altik]

Like the others have said, I can't remember the amount I paid for individual items over a decade ago. Much of it was gifts too... so no hope in filling this survey out.

I also think a lot of the costs are unquantifiable. Before I had DC1, yes I spent a lot buying all the equipment, but these were one off expenses, that was subsequently reused with DC2... so was it that expensive really...?

Then when they were preschoolers, they were quite cheap. I didn't pay lots in childcare, because I worked part time. So my biggest "cost" really was lack of earnings.

Now my DC are older (years 5 and 8), I find I don't have big things to buy, but more ongoing expenses. This month for example, I've had to find over 1k for the DCs expenses because so much of it has to be paid for the term... bus fares, school music lessons, hobbies etc. Most of that will last until Christmas, but it's still a lot to find!

[Mycatsabastard]

I had to guess a few of the earlier questions as my oldest is 18. I can hardly remember what I was earning back then never mind what I was paying for things.

However, I do remember buying a new cotbed and a second hand pram.

Other than that she didn't need much. I had no car then so we used public transport all the time.

Biggest cots were childcare in the early years. Nearly crippled me (single parent, mortgage, nursery fees, bills - too much month left).

Having another child wasn't an extra cost as a baby. However she's now 11 and costs are rising.

Teenager is off to uni next year. I doubt my outgoings will go down much, she may not be living at home but no doubt we will be sending food deliveries to help her survive the next three years.

Kids cost a lot. I don't think babies cost much unless you are paying for full time childcare but mostly the older they get, the more they cost.

[lokijet]

initial outlay for fertility treatment is probably close to being over taken now he's six by fancy holidays/ experiences as Im trying to ensure he has great memories.

[Outnumbrd]

Agree with Lemony, gave up. Also can't remember spending much until they were over 10 and wanted expensive clothes/ Xbox/ needed bus pass, school trips etc...