To ask how your finances changed after having children?

[Friedbanana]

Sorry if too vague!
But roughly how much did your expenditure go up/income go down? And how many children?

Ours got better cos I spent a year studying for a qualification and got a job, before DD I had been unemployed then in college for 2 years during the recession just for something to do.

That's probably not the answer you're looking for but it's fairly impossible to compare situations.

We are a lot poorer. Mine are too old to make any meaningful comparison. But when we didn’t have children, I never needed to budget, ate out at least once every week, multiple overseas holiday. It’s very different from. I work full time and full time nursery fees is just a start. They don’t really get cheaper, unless you don’t spend money on day outs, eating out, holidays, classes.

Income down, costs up...... enough said!

Income went up but so did costs. I have made a conscious decision to stay in full time work and keep my career motoring. I got a promotion and £15k pay rise 2 weeks before my last mat leave.

We have a 13yo, 2 yo and newborn. When I go back to work costs will be:

Nursery - approx £1900/month
Investments for university - £300/month
Misc - £200-400 a month. This covers birthdays, clothes, activities, equipment and fluctuates. I know the amount as we track all our expenditure using YNAB.
Family activities - approx £100-200 a month. Includes national trust pass, soft play, bit of cheap eating out

Then obviously more food, electricity, increased cost of holiday and a 5 bed house to fit everyone in. So astronomical! Obviously childcare is the real killer. It'll still be quite expensive when they go to school as we will either need to pay the nursery £70/day (for two) for wraparound care or get a childminder/au pair if Brexit issues get resolved. We did work all this out before we decided to have the younger two though. Our household income has almost trebled in the last 8 years so to be honest we still feel quite comfortable.

Went from having some spare cash for luxuries and feeling comfortable to having to work harder, juggle incoming and outgoing and use credit cards to bridge gaps. And fewer luxuries.

My dc cost about £500 a month for childminder, clubs, activities and clothes. Then I save for their long term needs, uni / house deposit etc.
Holidays don't tend to cost more as rather than somewhere luxurious for 2 adults we go somewhere a lot cheaper for 4 people.
I anticipate them becoming more expensive as the get to teens and uni age.

Until this month we were down about £1000 a month in lost wages and childcare. It's maybe £700 now we get funding. That doesn't include any costs. To be honest given the current shitshow with massive hikes in food, utilities and petrol it's hard to compare now with 2018!

To be honest it didn't really make any difference , for various reasons I had given up work well before I became pregnant so we didn't 'miss' my salary, at the same time we had moved to a significantly cheaper part of the country & been able to buy a substantially better house for the same price as our old one, DH changed jobs & got a much better salary and generous relocation expenses ... We also had decent savings. I do realise our situation was very unusual though! (And we chose to only have one child).

Both our salaries have gone up since having the DC due to promotion (DH) and changing careers (me). Our mortgage payments have gone up too as we moved to a bigger house in a nicer area after having DC1 but we have decided to overpay each month to get it paid off earlier so that's our choice. We made a conscious decision to wait until DC1 was in school before having DC2 so we wouldn't be paying two sets of nursery fees. I work term time only so although that impacts on my earnings, we also don't have to worry about paying for holiday childcare. Youngest gets his 30 free hours now which is a big help. I have recently decided to reduce my hours at work from FT to 3 days due to some health issues but I'm fortunate we can afford for me to do this as DH's salary has gone up over the last few years.

Before kids I worked full time. Now I work 3 days a week. We have two in childcare three days a week which costs us about £500 a month (the older one gets free hours), we also had to buy a bigger house, second car…
Before kids we went on long haul holidays without having to save up for it, ate out three times a week, that kind of thing. Now we have to sit down and see if we can afford 4 days at Butlins, taking packed lunches to work - it definitely feels like we have to be careful and an unexpected expense would be a genuine problem.

Ours has improved but our situation is unusual.

I went back 4 days post may leave which was a 20% salary cut. But I've just got a new job doing 4.5 days across 4 days, which, extra hours and extra money, is 50% higher than my salary at 4 days! Or 20% higher than my pre maternity leave salary.

We use childcare three days as we cover the other four between us (no grandparent help) which means our childcare bill is about £750 a month. With tax free childcare that means we only pay about £625 of that though, the gov top up the rest.

In terms of money in the bank, we will now be back to what we had before DD, as my pay rise nets off our childcare bill, in effect. DH has very little scope to increase his earnings though so we will probably stay this way for a while, but it does mean a second child feels possible now.

Well my contract was terminated while I was pregnant, then DH died, so finances were pretty grim for a while. But I got back to part time, then full time work and was very well off after the kids were about 8 and 9. In those days nannies and child minders were much cheaper than now, and the mortgage was paid off at DH’s death.

We have nothing left each month anymore.

Nursery is £800 p/m part time…. 30 hours when they’re 3 is a godsend, as is tax free childcare account.
Nappies, wipes, clothes, toys etc etc. all adds up to quite a bit.

Saved up for maternity leave both times but it was a huge struggle even so.

I am so excited when DS starts school (no nursery bills) and I increase my days at work. We may actually have something we can save!

I was a sahm for 4.5 years after DS was born, only child. We are better off now even without my full time salary, back to work part time now, as dh earns more.

Pre DS we had a household income of approx £90-100k including bonus, now £130-140k approx including bonus.

No child care costs as I only got a job when he went to school. So only increase costs such as food, clothes, toys, activities, holidays.

I pay the equivalent of a second mortgage in nursery fees.

The year we had a toddler, only DH was working and I was doing an MSc things were pretty tight.

We're doing ok atm - both working, one DC at school, one DC in p/t nursery. Don't really get to "enjoy" the spare money though as saving for a deposit.

@Calmestofallthechickens

Before kids I worked full time. Now I work 3 days a week. We have two in childcare three days a week which costs us about £500 a month (the older one gets free hours), we also had to buy a bigger house, second car… Before kids we went on long haul holidays without having to save up for it, ate out three times a week, that kind of thing. Now we have to sit down and see if we can afford 4 days at Butlins, taking packed lunches to work - it definitely feels like we have to be careful and an unexpected expense would be a genuine problem.

This is exactly me/us!

I so so miss having disposable income and being able to spend it all on myself. We haven’t been abroad for 4 years whereas we used to go 3/4 times a year. Constantly budgeting and watching our spending. I hate it!

I went PT after 1st child so income dropped and we then had rent to pay as moved out of my parents, bought a house when baby was a year old. 2nd became a sahm after maternity so income lower but dh advanced his career impriving his salary and as we've had more kids have become more financially comfortable but not rich so have to be frugal. We have 6 now and it's easier than when we just had the 1.

While having a child is definitely expensive, staying in full time work means I'm now on £35k more than when I went on Mat leave - combination of better paid jobs and completing a qualification. So while I had less financial stresses back then, even though we both earn more now, I could never just have that money sitting in my account without allocating it to savings, mortgage pay off or pension. Having kids makes you more aware of the importance of any spare money you have.

I dropped a few hours but compressed some so I can work 4 days however it still means less income. Outgoings up considerably due to nursery costs. DD is now 3 and we get the 30 funded hours which has helped but it’s still a good chunk of money to pay out each month

Years 0-1 I earned 70% of usual as o mat leave but we had v little expenditure as with a young child you don't go out or on posh holidays. Years 1-4 we were relatively poor as child care cost £1000 a month and husband not in much regular work. Years 5 onwards, all fine as DS in school afterschool clubs cost about £200 a month(3 days a week). That's just 1 kid though. If we'd had another the relative poverty of year 2- 4 would have continued for another few years.

Biggest expense is the nursery years. So whatever childcare you go for and what that costs. Or if you choose to stay at home, the loss of your salary. The other expenses in those early years, I’d say, are fairly negligible.
Then, once they go to school, there’s wrap around care and holiday clubs, as they get older, they are want more stuff and cost of days out, food, etc goes up. But still not to the level of nursery fees. That’s assuming you are not paying for private school.
Also, as others have said, with time careers progress and pay goes up.

Only have one child but about the same. I now work part time but DH got a promotion. What I lost from going part time he now makes and a little more. We don't spend money on childcare either as I work 2 nights and he works in the day.