AIBU to wonder if we can afford a child on this salary?

[flowerpowerr]

DH and I live in inner London and currently earn about £48k per annum between us after tax - so £2k each per month.

Of that, we spend around £1100 each per month on bills: so mortgage, utilities, council tax, travel, phones, contact lenses for both of us and pet food/insurance.

It leaves us with around £900 per month each of spending money, although food does have to come out of this.

Anyway, we're both in our early 30s and are now considering TTC at some point soon. I was wondering if you would consider what we earn to be a decent income on which to have a baby - or will it be a struggle?

DH is currently in a full-time job and I'm self-employed, but I would consider going FT (which would probably earn me a couple of thousand more per year) if we couldn't survive on that income.

Any insights or suggestions welcome.

it all depends how much of your 2K pm you will realistically be able to earn after your baby is born, that's why the advice of saving your salary from the day you are ttc is an excellent one
it will give you a financial cushion as a safety net and show how much you need to adjust your spending

We only have £2500 a month clear and have 3 children. You should be able to manage easily on £4k a month

Ahh ok, we almost never eat out. My DC is a fruit monster and I like wine 😫
I need to batch cook then

You would be absolutely fine on that imo

Wasn’t there a thread on here the other day about childcare costs, and people saying that they’re paying close to £100 a day for nursery for a baby? So based on that (horrendous!) cost I would say no, not on your current earnings.

I might be missing something really obvious though

Going slightly against the grain here. Central London childcare is expensive and that will be the challenge for you. It does vary lots by area though. Our old North London area was £80-100 per day. People were paying over £2K a month for a full time place at some places! My friend in South London was quoted £60-£80ish a day. An ideal way to reduce outgoings is to work condensed hours e.g. 5 days in 4, or do some self employed work in evenings/weekends.

I'm sure you can make it work (people generally do!) but you will need to make lifestyle changes. In the first instance I would aim to save more. Surely with £900 disposable each (although less I guess with food taken out) you could realistically save several hundred a month between you.

Just looked at my most recent nursery bill. We live just outside Zone 1 (sarf of the river). It's £1200pcm for under-2s, 9-5. So around £65/day--up to £80 if you wanted 10hrs/day.

You will be fine! We each opted to work 4 days so we only have 3 dawp childcare, in the North it's £45 a day for nursery

We spend around £100-£200 a month on activities, days out, swim lessons etc for our two preschool children. We buy lots of clothes and equipment second hand but new shoes for the kids so averages out around £80 a month roughly.

As a couple we get take away once a month and go out as a couple a few times a year, and we each maybe socialise with our own friends once a month or so, but otherwise our own expenses are low as we rarely buy clothes or get hair cuts etc. We do self catering breaks in UK for holidays.

These are the compromises of having children. I took a while to adjust to the idea we didn't have money to spend as we liked as much, but the opportunity to go out is restricted by having children anyway (No spontaneous drinks after work as need to do pick up and bedtime etc).

With one child you won't feel it much. Now we have two things are more of a stretch .

You'll be eligible for tax free childcare - the new childcare vouchers. For every £8 of childcare you pay, the government pay £2

https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIG3kdrl3wIV7ZXtCh3d2Qy2EAAYASAAEgKjKfDD_BwE

Baby stuff second hand go to baby markets, nct, others, various boots, ebay.

It's always a struggle with small dc for the vast majority of us. Babies would never be born if people only had very good comfortable salaries.

Babies would never be born if people only had very good comfortable salaries.

True Burps!

Childcare will be the biggest issue, I’ve actually just quit my job in London as after paying childcare and my commute I’d be taking home about £96 a month after tax etc! I’m very fortunate that dh earns enough to cover our bills etc but we have had to cut back a little.

You find a way of making it work.

Childcare costs in London are high so for a few years, you'd have to make lifestyle adjustments to afford it. Still you'd have disposable income left over so you wouldn't be entirely skint. You should save up for some baby equipment and to cover your lost earning for whatever period you and your partner want to take parental leave that isn't subsided by work / the government.

Start saving a grand a month. That will get you used to the difference in lifestyle and build up a nice savings cushion to cover unpaid leave, baby stuff and emergencies. I'd recommend 6k emergency fund, 6k savings for parental leave (if you take off 9 months from work) and whatever else you save on baby equipment.

Good luck!

RomanyRoots I don’t spend much on material items for my children but they cost me an absolute fortune in loss of earnings and childcare costs!

Also, where I live full time nursery is between £1,200 and 1,600 a month for under 2s depending on the place but I'm zone 2 London.

£2k a month on nursery is insane. That's only a little less than a nanny. I have a nanny for 30 hours a week who is paid £14 gross / £12 net who earns less than that.

If you can work from home, you could also get a mothers help rather than nursery which if nurseries in your area are very expensive could be a good flexible and more affordable option.

Mum living in London here - didn’t have maternity leave as I was also self employed - I got the £140 per week but then had to return to work at 16 weeks. My childcare is £1400 per month for four full days per week (that’s after a 10% discount for cycling). In my opinion, as a fellow London resident, you’ll struggle.

Also, my suggestion would be to start cutting back on luxuries like going out. If you’re serious about starting a family, saving for it is your priority, and it’ll make it less of a shock when baby arrives and you’re forced to become hermits anyway!

Bear in mind that even living fairly near to work, by the time you pay for childcare at least 8-6pm you are looking at £80-100 per day, all year around. With more than one child a nanny can be a better option but it costs more.

I would try and save now for maternity leave as unless your company is generous, statutory doesn’t pay for much. The more money you can save now, the better.

I think all the posters saying that they can afford to bring up 2 or 3 children on the same or less income have missed the point that this family only have £1800 spare because they both work full time.

If they continue to work full time then they will need to pay for full time childcare (as well as food and other child-related costs) out of the £1800. Even outside of London this would be tight.

If one of them gives up work, they wouldn't earn enough to cover their bills.

So, as a previous poster suggests, their best option is to work around each other to maintain their salaries but reduce their childcare requirements.

We have been in a similar boat. Good income on paper, but only because we both work full time. We earn very similar so one of us giving up work would reduce the household income by 50%. We struggled with childcare costs for years (fortunately we are out the other side now!).

This sounds like it's going to be a real struggle. I'm wondering whether we should put off TTC for a couple of years!

Depends what you want. If you want your current lifestyle then leave it for a bit. If you want a baby then really look at costs and make a plan. You have options e.g. move further out and pay less rent, save hard for a bit first, cut down other expenses, consider working different hours, use a child minder instead of nursery (usually cheaper).

I reckon it is perfectly doable in your salaries but there will be a big lifestyle comprise. Depends what matters to you more now.

Just saw you own so ignore the bit about moving for less rent.