To have spent 12 years of child benefit?

[FullMoomin]

Having a panic attack.
I've just calculated that over the past 12 years of spending child benefit every month I've spent over £20,000!!!!!
I should have saved this money for DC!
If I had saved it, I could give it to them.
Turns out all my friends have been quietly saving theirs and now have a nice big monet pot to give their DC when they turn 18!
Now I feel horrifically guilty that my DC wo t get that, when all their friends will.
Oh help, really panicking.
I will never, ever be in the financial situation to pay £16,000 back to them.
The money goes in to my account each month and first it got spent on nappies, food, supplementing my reduced income, then when they went to school it got used for school uniform, new shoes, clubs, food, etc.
Suddenly 12 years has crept up on me and I haven't saved a penny of it.
Only 4 years of CHB to go now and then it stops!! I feel like I've seriously failed my DC.

Because their income entitles them to it. I think it should be spent on the children here and now but it’s not just for the destitute.

Some people might choose to spend their CB on TVs for their kids' bedrooms. Should that not be allowed?

I'm replying to comments, again like everyone else.
You are continuing to assume my emotional state, which is quite rude especially after I've asked you to refrain more than once.
You are offering unwanted 'advice' on how I should live my life, something I've also requested you stop doing.
Other than attempting to troll me, your only actual contribution has been based on misinformation.

@Janieforever vast difference between 'poverty' and saving child benefit.......as a previous poster says social services on it knees and people saving child benefit. 😡 money that could be used elsewhere where it is needed like the nhs...!

@FullMoomin Forget the child benefit and forget the past. Turn this into something positive.

Do you save for your children? Do you save for yourself?
If not, open a children's savings account or better still a children's ISA.
Open an ISA for yourself, if you don't have one.
Just put £10 in each account every month for the next however long.
If you can't afford 10, then put 5, put 1 - but put something.

No good crying over spilt milk... If you can afford to save anything then do so. And starting NOW is better than starting 10 years in the future.

OP, you shouldn't feel bad, you provided for your family with the money. If friends were lucky enough to not need to spend it, then that's great for them. Not every 18 year old starts their adult life on an equal footing, there's always people with more than you and others with less.

Also it all goes in the same pot doesn't it? So you can either afford to save or you can't. If you add anything up over 12 years it comes to a lot. I really don't want to know what I've spent on red wine in 12 years, I could have saved a nice nest egg. I'm sure you and your children enjoyed whatever you spent it on.

Or, recognise that you did exactly what you are supposed to do with child benefit. You needed it to look after them- I’m sure they’ll be able to make their own way in the world.

People who put child benefit aside obviously don’t need it- it should be given to other who do

I earn too much to receive child benefit but I don’t have a massive savings pot for DS. We set aside £100 a month for his expenses (clothing, shoes, activities) and any that’s left at the end of the month I move into a savings account for him. The older he gets the rarer it is that there’s anything left - in fact it’s often not enough!

If you need 20 quid a week from the government, as otherwise you can’t afford nappies or uniform or to feed your kids, then that’s poverty.

being able to afford to buy nappies or food, and save the 20 quid, doesn’t mean you’re wealthy.

Well a few posts back you didn't actually know this, being as you said it wasn't means tested.

Would never be able to save my kids child benefit ...ever! I rely on that when wages are zilch!

It's meant to be spent. Not saved .

Dear OP, you have definitely spent your CB in the way it was intended to be spent. I just hope I might have some good news, gleaned accidentally from half-listening to the radio whilst driving yesterday. Do you know about Child Trust Funds? https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/team-blog/2020/08/how-to-find-your-child-trust-fund--and-what-to-do-with-it-/

Available for kids born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011

Child benefit is to be used exactly how you have used it, what's the point off saving it then struggling to buy nappies etc. People who can afford to save it up shouldn't get it in my opinion as they clearly don't need it.

If they can afford to save it and they don't NEED it to get by, should they actually be able to claim it?

Then as every single parent buys nappies, food or uniform for kids it is. They just save the equivalent out their wages for their kid.

It does mean you don't need the state benefit though. 😬

I mean legally obviously they are entitled.

Says who? Even the UK government does not interfere with the how.

Why should you have saved it? That’s not what it’s for. It’s for spending on your child during childhood year to make sure they don’t go short. Some people may chose to save it but that’s not the purpose of the money. And 20k isn’t a life changing amount either. It’s a nice little buffer but it isn’t going to change the world.

Yes they should. It’s not just for people on the bones of their arse.

This.

Eh? How is anyone who qualifies for child benefit in a position to stash it away these days?

I never saved child benefits..we needed it and it was part of the family money pot.
I took had friends who saved it ...how wonderful and i wish we could have done that