TTC but now really anxious we can’t afford it

[amayzin]

Both DH and I are fairly junior. Our essential bills (rent, bills, food) are £2200 a month. We’ve cut back everything we can. We don’t own a house yet but have the deposit saved up for the right time.

Leftover we have maybe £1250/1300 after this. It sounds like a lot but that’s for everything; union fees, fuel, our cars MOT and servicing, my rail tickets for work, clothes, any savings, holidays, days out, birthday gifts and Christmas. You get the picture.

We are TTC but I am now seriously worried we can’t afford it. We’ve passed my fertile window and in the TWW of our second cycle trying and I am worried we can’t provide. I see how expensive things are- food prices are extortionate and only seem to get more expensive

On the other hand, we know people in lesser paid jobs with more children, some SAHPs where household income is half of what we have and they all get by fine.

I don’t know if we should aim to save more or pause TTC. I really don’t want to pause, because we had a loss previously so becoming a mummy is all I really think about. My maternity package is not the best, ten weeks at 90%, 20 weeks at half pay + SMP and the remaining 9 weeks SMP. Then 13 weeks unpaid.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Thank you x

I would push though with buying a property asap, you really want to have a home if possible before you have a baby because unfortunately it will affect how much you can borrow etc.

Thank you @TheBeesKnee it just doesn’t make sense because of the base rate atm and there isn’t much our there

I should add, we aren’t worried about paying for childcare too much as we have family support and work at different times anyway so probably only need to pay for one day a week.

Hmmm the are plenty of threads on here where family support for childcare falls through though so I'd be wary of banking on that.

The other thing is moving house costs money, you'll need to furnish the place etc. It was a priority for me but I appreciate that plenty of people have babies while renting and are perfectly okay.

The other tip I have for budgeting is figure out how much you'll have from mat leave in total and divide it by however many months you plan to take off. For example my pay was standard for 6 months and I planned to take a year off, so it worked out as 50% of my pay per month, which is actually enough to see me through as long as the boiler doesn't give up, car doesn't breaks down and the roof doesn't cave in etc. However I do have an emergency fund in bonds in case that DOES happen.

Think about what you'll be spending your money on as well. I bought a new pram, cot and car seat, but 95% of baby's clothes and 50% of toys are second hand from Vinted or charity shops, which has saved us a lot of money as they grow so quickly and the little costs add up fast.

There’s never a good time to buy a house, but pp is right, having a child will affect how much you can borrow so it is a lot better to buy before you have kids.

I’d buy a house first since you have the deposit. Plenty don't of course so it’s up to you, but it does affect your borrowing money and disposable income etc so worth doing imo, to save potentially being stuck in a renting situation you may regret later.

Thanks everyone. I just don’t know how anyone is supposed to live on SMP with things as expensive as they are.

You have 30 weeks maternity leave before this though so you can go back as SMP kicks in. You can save the money you would have spent on train tickets etc too.

How old are you? That has a huge impact on what’s best to do here.

Age is a big factor, I did both at the same time (ttc and applying for mortgage) but I was a bit on the older side. It was stressful and to the wire but it would have made a huge difference to what I could borrow if I'd had a baby first.