Is this really true about cost of having a child?

600 a month once they're in school?! Mine are 3, 4 and 6 (eldest two in reception and year 2) and I don't spend that on all three of them, including childcare (I work part time so the free hours covers what we need and top ups only £8 per day) and all their clubs.

It won't be easy on a full time wage of under 30k and a part time wage, if you earn more would it make sense for you both to go part time but you less part time than you are planning - so instead of me doing 50% of my full time hours both me and dh do 75% of full time which works really well financially and means we both get time off in the week.

Good luck!

Kids can be cheap (buy everything second hand except car seat and mattress) but childcare is expensive.

DS goes four days a week and even with funded hours and 20% off, his childcare will have cost us over 40k before he starts school.

We will have funded hours from next September when DC2 will be 9 months ish, but I’m anticipating the cost of fees to have risen so much, that even with funded hours, we will be paying more than we did when DS started in 2021.

Try 4 dozen eggs and 30 pints of milk a week!

3 loaves of bread, 20 bananas and 14 apples…….
Berries are a rare treat!!

If you wait until you think you can afford it you'll be past the age of being able to have a baby! Honestly you make it work. Don't forget you will get child benefit four weekly too, which whilst it's a small amount it does cover the cost of the soft fruit (wish I was joking about that!). Childcare is extortionate but somehow you get through it. It's also as expensive as you make it - if I did it again I can tell you now I wouldn't be bothering with half the baby paraphernalia I had. Babies grow so fast that clothes come available so easily on marketplace or Vinted, as does a lot of baby stuff. Honestly if you want a baby I wouldn't wait - I was 37 when I had my first and 38 when I had my second (16m apart) and I wish I hadn't waited so long for so many reasons.

^This

And before you think buying frozen will save you, they go mushy when defrosted and neither of my two would touch them unless in porridge/yoghurt. It always had to be fresh and they put away at least a punnet a day between them.

I’d estimate an additional £40 per month on your food budget in fresh perishables like berries and veg. Plus so much gets wasted when they’re little but you need to keep offering variety. It’s pants tbh.

Your estimate on childcare to school age is way under, and your estimate on other costs is way over. The “funded” hours aren’t free. Have you actually looked at the costs of nurseries near you? My child is 2 and attends one full time and we have the 15 hours currently. It took £300 off the monthly bill so now we only pay £2,000 a month, woohoo.

Kids cost as much as you want to spend generally.

Clothes and toys buy secondhand! Save's alot of money! This is easy while they're young. Also utilise birthdays etc to ask for specific things from family of they ask.

Major cost wise, childcare. Depending on where you use. For 3 days a week ours costs £600 on top of the 30."free" hours.

Safety things. I refuse to scrimp on anything that is for safety. So car seats mainly. You can be wise with this, research well (check out the exteded rear facing fb groups) and you can get away with maybe 2 or 3seats between 0-11 years. So not bad.

Days out can be enjoyed in savvy ways. Picnics, tesco vouchers, cashback offers. Easily done.

I wouldnt let cost put you off. Also if you want to go part time have you considered as the higher earner your partner also going part time. So both working 4 days each but child is only in childcare 3 days? This way lowers childcare costs and both parents get equal time with child and protect their careers.

Soft fruit isn’t a joke. It’s the only kind of fruit or veg I can get into my son, so £10 a week on soft fruit it is.

No. It’s not that bad.

Unless you think you need every gadget available and refuse to use hand me downs. Then you’ll be broke. Otherwiseyou can pick up most equipment and clothes for free off recycling and local sites. Food costs a bit - but not that much.

3 half days a week at nursery with funding cost me about £250 a month (term time only, holidays full price).

£600 include your food costs as well?

I would be very surprised if your childcare is only £10,000 even with the funding (which is never as free as it sounds) I priced up ours when our youngest started school and although it was for 2 kids, it was going back to 2010 when it was much cheaper (and got the 30 hours for youngest), and I was part time for a chunk of it, and we spent in excess of £60,000.

Its only 30hrs from age 2, you need to pay full price for nursery until 2 and then most nurseries still charge top up fees.

Also, £600 a month for a child?! Is that a typo?

It’s only term time and most nurseries still charge £15-£25 a day for the ‘funded’ hours.

Yeah that's including those..

Full year is 20 hours a week, so 2 days at the reduced rate £22.50. 3 days a week at £80 a day. Multiple by 50 weeks a year. Take 20% off for tax free.. £11400 a year!

By the way just have the baby - vast majority of people do not have £10k saved when they have a baby. You’ll be grand.

I probably spend £50 a month on fruit that I wouldn’t have spent before kids so I agree on this 😂

Soft fruit.

God yes. I get paid and head straight to the supermarket to spend it all on raspberries.

I’m finding mid-late teens the most expensive phase so far (but then we never had to pay for very much childcare as I had extended mat leave and then worked PT so maybe I’m not the best comparator!)

Baby is due in a couple of weeks, so I don't actually know first hand but I've been given the advice that there are a LOT of costs such as childcare (nursery or wraparound), maternity leave etc that you just can't get around. Plan and save well for these.

Other costs can be mitigated and you can cut your cloth accordingly. There is such a heavy push to buy overpriced items that are marketed as essentials at the baby stage at least, that aren't needed. Nursery furniture seems the biggest waste of money ever. Expensive travel systems that don't last more than 6 months are another.

To be fair soft fruit is extortionate and kids bloody love it. But PP was joking. It ain’t gonna cost you hundreds a week.

I don't think anything compared even remotely to FT childcare costs, but then we are in London. I really felt like we were drowning under them and I was actually relieved to be made redundant after mat leave with my second because FT childcare for two until oldest started school would have been 150% of my take-home salary so redundancy was a better outcome.

10k for childcare to school??! Even with the funding full time our nursery would be £11.5k a year- redo those calculations

Err no that’s insane. Why would food, clothes and days out cost £600 a month??