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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how much you saved before TTC?

76 replies

EastDulwichWife · 30/07/2017 21:15

Did you save before TTC? Or did you start saving once you had conceived?

How much did you set aside for the first year, plus?

I know the quantity will vary hugely, depending on lifestyle / location, but I'd love to know what you based your savings on. For example, enough to bolster the gap between maternity pay and your regular income for 6/9/12 months.

OP posts:
GirlOnATrainToShite · 30/07/2017 21:24

Nothing and went backpacking with DS1 when he was 9 years weeks old so hardly bought any baby stuff either.

Princesspinkgirl · 30/07/2017 21:25

Hmm didn't save ... interesting never heard of it but its down to some people not having to i guess op

cailyaclara · 30/07/2017 21:25

We overpaid our mortgage massively whilst we were TTC (took us years, so we saved up quite a lot that way). That meant we didn't have mortgage payments/then had reduced ones for most of my maternity leave. We also had about £3000 saved up for each pregnancy/maternity leave which helped massively and enabled me to stay off during the unpaid bits and pay for things during the lower-paid bits. Still wasn't easy, but it really helped.

Also - breastfeeding/ cloth nappies/ secondhand things made a hue financial difference, as did not buying lots of coffees/snacks when I went out with the baby. Look for deals; use things like O2 Priority to get free coffee/cheap lunches and use the free things around you like museums/parks. X

IWantACheeseburger · 30/07/2017 21:26

Nothing at all. It was fine.

londonrach · 30/07/2017 21:27

Not enough....get over 2 k saved if you can. Means you can spread longer with the baby

PNGirl · 30/07/2017 21:28

A year's salary for one of us saved (before tax). We could stretch it to 2 with one of us still working.

Sawbridgeworthmum · 30/07/2017 21:28

Nothing. Ds wasn't planned. All worked out fine in end.

khajiit13 · 30/07/2017 21:28

Nothing. I just bought things gradually.

cailyaclara · 30/07/2017 21:28

I'd like to add - we're really not well off! Just saved very very carefully! Wasn't easy though.

acornsandnuts · 30/07/2017 21:28

We had nothing saved. But we didn't expect to keep the same level of lifestyle after baby. I went back to work part time, had a lovely few years of camping holidays. No new cars. No silly prams or designer baby clothes.

It alll depends what your expectations are I suppose.

PNGirl · 30/07/2017 21:30

Just to add this wasn't baby savings, just general savings with bits of inheritance!

reetgood · 30/07/2017 21:31

Nothing, but set aside £2k of inheritance. Will also save an additional £1k before I'm due.

livingthegoodlife · 30/07/2017 21:33

First baby - I saved £10k as he was planned over a year in advance. Baby 2 & 3 -nothing!

reetgood · 30/07/2017 21:33

Eta I only get smp and this is to cover 6 months of maternity leave.

ScoobyDoosTinklyLaugh · 30/07/2017 21:36

Unplanned so nothing, but I did work a lot while pregnant and stashed about a grand away. Didn't buy much, babies shouldn't really cost much. It was good to have a little bit of money aside though, I spent a shit load on trying to breastfeed - that wasn't very cost effective in the end!

I'd recently graduated and gone self employed so I wasn't entitled to any of the basic maternity pay. Very bad timing. I started working a bit when DD was about 2 months.

toolonglurking · 30/07/2017 21:36

We paid off our mortgage just before the baby arrived, so I've been able to stay give up my job reasonably comfortably.
Also have about 10k saved, but not for specific baby things.

ethelfleda · 30/07/2017 21:40

Nothing. Our first is due in November. I'm taking a year off.

GodIsDead · 30/07/2017 21:45

We didn't save anything.

AnnabelleLecter · 30/07/2017 21:45

We had a tiny mortgage on a family sized home which helped and some general savings. DH earned enough to cover everything.

Original poster
EastDulwichWife · 30/07/2017 21:45

Wow! Thanks for the speedy responses. DH and I are going to start TTC in Sep, but I'm in a sudden panic about finances.

From your responses it seems I can relax and enjoy it! I get really decent mat pay (4.5 months full), but we don't have nieces / nephews so lacking in hand-me-downs!

We're not into the super flash accessories which is a bonus as I know that can rack up costs. We'll start putting away some cash now, and could probably do £2-3k as suggested by a lot of you.

x

OP posts:
Ragwort · 30/07/2017 21:51

Nothing - DS was a complete surprise Grin.

But only fair to say that we were financially comfortable, I did not need to return to work as we could manage very happily on one salary.

I wasn't entitled to any maternity benefits as we had been travelling for a year before I became pregnant and therefore I hadn't paid any NI contributions for the preceding year (it didn't matter that I had previously worked for nearly 20 years Hmm.) Fortunately we could manage but I'm not sure many people know about that rule - may have changed, this was 16 years ago.

brightlightceiling · 30/07/2017 21:53

70k in euro if we add everything up. We didn't save it especially for the family, just sold a house and saved I guess. It does feel nice not to have to worry about finances though. I was really broke in my twenties and I felt vulnerable because of it so I'm very thankful that we had so much luck.

DrHarleenFrancesQuinzel · 30/07/2017 22:05

Nothing. All 3 the same. We get by.

Allthewaves · 30/07/2017 22:09

We saved enough so I could top up my maternity pay from savings so I would have the equivalent of my ft wage each month while I was on a years maternity leave. We also cleared all debts except mortgage.

Good job as dh lost his job a month after I gave birth.

Me264 · 30/07/2017 22:12

We really didn't save anything extra on top of what we already had in savings. While I was on mat leave we spent about £2k of savings and had about £3k on credit cards by the end ... not great but it's almost paid off now I've been back at work for 6 months. We didn't really adjust our lifestyle at all though Blush we could have done without most of that credit card debt if I'd just reigned it in a bit.