Can we afford to have a baby ?

[Foodisyum]

Me and my partner have been together 5 years now (I’m approaching 30) and thinking about kids. I’ve always been wary though due to our pretty low incomes and we rent (may be able to buy but only can afford a 1 bed flat for the foreseeable future). No serious debts but no savings.

I am looking for a better job but I doubt I’ll earn more then £21k a year and would work part time if I had kid/s so would actually be £10k. My partner earns about £17k after tax.

Can we reasonably afford kids? I don’t need designer clothes obvs but would like to run 1-2 cars, days out maybe a holiday a year. We live in the north so it’s cheap here thankfully.

we might never be able to buy a house if we did it would be a small 2 up 2 down in 5-10 years. I have family to help with childcare.

I’m not quite sure what I’m asking I just worry if we can afford kids in the next few years - but if we wait we’ll be too old and probably still low earners !!

Xenia - yeah hopefully we can buy our 1 bed flat before having a child and within 5-10 years move to a house. I wouldn’t want to work full time if I had kids though (maybe when they turn 18/leave home but that’s a long way off!) but would go back to work part time, probably 2-3 days as my family would help with childcare.

Rule breaker - I’m not at the moment, I’m a lower earner but trying to get into a higher paid job and hope to be earning around £21k once I have a child. And for us personally I don’t think it’s work him being part time worker and full time carer for the child, I hate gender stereotypes but I’d like to be more involved in raising my child and can’t if I work full time.

My parents had their first child (me) when my dad was a graduate student. Dad returned to school knowing that Mum was pregnant. By the time he finished his Ph.D. they had 4 children. He worked in addition to being a student and Mum did some baby-sitting and written translation work to bring in more money.

There's never an "ideal" time to have a baby. You find ways to make it work.

One great way to save money (especially when your children are little) is to buy clothes and things second-hand. Babies, especially, often grow so fast that they don't really wear out their clothes, so often you can find very nice baby clothes for cheap second-hand. The only things I wouldn't buy second-hand are shoes (they mold to the wearer's feet, plus foot fungus), socks and undergarments, and a car seat or bike helmet (you don't know if they've been in an accident - accidents can cause microscopic damage that can't be seen but can render a car seat or helmet unsafe).