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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder how much you spend on 1 year old a week? This seems like a lot?

129 replies

munnyworries · 28/12/2023 14:06

I spend around 400 a month on ds who is one, outside nursery fees. This includes a weekly shop of six ready meals so I don’t have to cook every meal from scratch (I work full time), a pack of 32 nappies 11 pounds, whole milk, 2 packs of wipes, one pack of Milton wipes and snacks like organix bars etc then fruit and veg. This comes to around 35 a week. On top of this there is petrol to and from nursery, ten pounds a week. Entry to farms or soft play twice a week, 15-20 quid. Then things like new vests or socks here and there, or the odd toy now and then. Easily spend 100 a week. I don’t think I spend too much or too recklessly, I consider these things ds needs? Is this similar to other people’s spending? A family member has said they can’t understand how I would need to spend more than 25 a week!

OP posts:
horseymum · 28/12/2023 14:24

That sounds loads. If you feel you need to cut down, there are lots of things to trim there. Batch cooking really doesn't take long. Bolognese, stew etc just chuck in pan and leave to bubble away, box or bag up. Then microwave. You could make organic flapjack really cheaply with oats, dried fruit etc ( even agave nectar if you want lower sugar) for way less. Wrap in baking paper if you want it to be an individual bar, takes five minutes to make. Pack of cheap flannels for wipes. Charity shop for the odd small toy or book - and take something back at the same time.

wasanneofcleves · 28/12/2023 14:26

I don't buy toys outside of birthdays and Christmas really, that would be rare for me. I do take them to an activity each week when I'm not working eg soft play and would spend probably 15-30 on that (I have two DC). We use supermarket nappies and wipes. I pay for 4 year olds swimming which is about £50 per month. I do buy clothes when they need them, up to probably £100 a month on average. I wouldn't buy ready meals because they aren't good for them- my two are fussy though so they eat a lot of pasta!

Mmmm19 · 28/12/2023 14:26

Sounds like a lot all added together.

By 1 they mainly ate our food or small portion of something from a batch cook. Used those meals mainly when travelling but I see your point it’s only a few a day.

Toys were all gifts or second hand (often brand new) if for birthday or charity shop/market place.

i did 1 baby class or soft play type place (one that is cheaper for under 2s as don’t feel they get full value at that stage) a week and the. Free library rhyme times and community groups. but by 1 mine were also in childcare so I did have less days to entertain them.

Own brand nappies all the way - 1/4 price of pampers and just as good for us. Washable wipes or own brand.

Festivemoose · 28/12/2023 14:27

Baby eats what I eat. It takes me 30 minutes to cook a meal from scratch. I work full time and I know that on some days I will stay behind and work extra - so for those days I use something from the freezer I have previously batch cooked over the weekend. Slow cooker also helpful for minimal prep.

CasperGutman · 28/12/2023 14:28

You're spending more than you need to. That isn't necessarily a problem - e.g., you might legitimately spend more to gain in convenience or quality - but check you are getting value for your money.

We always used Aldi own brand nappies and wipes, and they were every bit as good as the branded ones we occasionally used from sample packs or when friends gave us their children's outgrown stocks. Child-specific ready meals probably aren't needed. We'd generally give the children a small portion of what we were having, and cook extra to freeze when we fancied something they couldn't or wouldn't eat. You could do without the Milton wipes, too. Whatever antibacterial spray you generally use for cleaning around the kitchen would probably be just as good.

In terms of outings, I'd say spend whatever you like. I often took ours to soft play places or farm parks etc. as much for myself as for their benefit. It's a change of scene and a chance to meet up with friends or make new ones. If you'd didn't have a child, you would probably have spent just as much doing something else.

PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 28/12/2023 14:28

own brand nappies
just feed them what you eat - no special food needed
you don’t need to go to a farm and soft play twice a week

BubziOwl · 28/12/2023 14:28

How are you getting through a pack of Milton wipes per week?!

Babies and children absolutely do not need toys for their development. Buy them because they're fun and you want to, sure, but please don't feel like you need to (and £15 would get you a decent bundle of second hand toys to last a while)

InTheRainOnATrain · 28/12/2023 14:28

You could easily cut that down. 1YOs don’t get much out of soft play and those places are headache inducing so I would never purposefully take such a young baby there. There’s quick food you can do that’s much healthier than a daily ready meal. Nappies and wipes are cheaper bought in bulk less frequently, even if you want Pampers you could stock up when Boots has them on offer. You don’t need to sterilise with a 1YO on cows milk so not sure what the Milton is for. Organix stuff is full of sugar even if it’s from stuff like grape juice rather than refined sugar. I just used to give mine a banana, some breadsticks or occasionally a normal biscuit which is a fraction of the cost of the ‘toddler’ ones.

But each to their own if you’re happy spending that and can afford it then what’s the issue?

bakewellbride · 28/12/2023 14:29

I use cheeky wipes almost all the time. A pack of water wipes is on hand for very occasional use and lasts me 6 months!

I also use bambino mio cloth nappies a lot so only get through 10 disposable nappies per week (1 for night and a few during the day every now and then).

yogpot · 28/12/2023 14:29

Oh and if you’re buying loads of books (my DC loves board books) just start using the library. I love having a house full of books, I’m guilty of it, but board books won’t hold his interest much longer so I’ve stopped buying any. He loves having a new board book for a few weeks and then going to take it back and choose another. With toys I often put some into our guest room out of sight and then rotate them back in so he gets the sense of novelty without overrunning the house with them. Definitely don’t need to buy toys monthly. He plays better, more focussed, when he only has a few to hand it seems.

anyway his favourite toy is the laundry basket.

TortoisePlayingMinecraft · 28/12/2023 14:30

My toddler is a second child do he has all the toys and clothes he needs from when his brother was that age. We buy Aldi or supermarket nappies, wipes from Amazon. I don't buy any ready meals or snack bars. For snacks he would have fruit, hummus, crackers, toast, chopped veggies. Quick lunches would be a sandwich or pasta/rice and some protein and steamed veg. Expensive trips out are more like once or twice a month rather than twice a week. If the weather is bad we go to church run playgroups or the library. If the weather is good we walk or go to the park. We do often buy toys from charity shops if we see something nice.

Give0fecks · 28/12/2023 14:30

Sorry but I’d really question a ready meal everyday and organix bars. They are processed crap.

Anoisagusaris · 28/12/2023 14:32

Of course you have time to batch cook! It doesn’t take that long to cook a few meals for a one year old. Start by making 2 dishes one weekend and freezing extra potions, next weekend make 2 different dishes and freeze potions. Before long you will have plenty of options in the freezer.

BubziOwl · 28/12/2023 14:36

Is there a reason you can't just feed your little one what you eat? Most meals are easy enough to toddler-ise ime once you get the hang of itSmile

BertieBotts · 28/12/2023 14:37

I think this is a strange way to think about costs for a child, but you are spending a lot more than we do on activities, toys and clothing.

Most people would count food and petrol costs just into their normal household spending. Presumably when you take him to nursery, you then drive to work? (Unless you work from home I suppose).

We did quite often buy those baby ready meals when DC was around 1yo but as the youngest got older relied on them less and less. I can't remember when I last bought one and he was 2 in the summer. We do have some convenience foods like chicken nuggets, oven chips, frozen pizza or the ready made pizza base + sauce kits which we put our own toppings on, that they like. We were buying pasta + sauce kits (where you get the dry pasta with powder and adding water to a pan rehydrates the sauce and cooks the pasta) but honestly it works out faster, cheaper and easier to just make pesto pasta, or cook pasta, add cheap tomato jar sauce, tinned sweetcorn and some chopped ham, or cooked sausage, or just grated cheese.

We don't batch cook really but sometimes for example I'll make a portion of spaghetti bolognese in the evening for me and DH and save some portions of this to put in the fridge for DC the next day, or freezer to keep spare. This also works with chilli, curry, soups, stews etc (whatever the DC like). Pasta bake can be done for adults in evening and reheated the next day for DC.

Jacket potatoes done in the microwave are a hit. They don't eat the skin whether it's crisped up or not, so no point crisping it. Sometimes they also just eat something like beans on toast, or even porridge. Oh, tinned ravioli is probably the closest thing to the baby ready meals that I buy now.

In terms of activities, we would not do expensive activities like that twice a week, that is a lot - we would probably do them once or twice a month depending on whether we have cash to spare. If you don't have time to cook after work then when are you even doing these things? Do you mean you do a paid activity on every weekend day? We would typically do free or low cost activities at weekends, mostly - walk in local wood, try out different parks, bike ride (yes the bike + helmet is an upfront cost), feed ducks, visit friends/family, go to library, go to local free attraction/consider a yearly pass to attractions we would like to go to more often (or make lots of short visits rather than feeling we have to "get the value" out of the entrance ticket).

Toys are not bought every week or anything close. Yes they do need different activities for development but you don't need tons of "stuff". Try using the things you have in different ways. IME they also get overwhelmed being faced with loads of toys and play better when there is less choice offered.

I do actually track clothing spending Grin This is on average about £30 monthly, that is for two young children so there are some hand me downs. But again they do not need new clothes every week. I probably do buy them at least one thing a month. (I just looked back and there was only one month I bought nothing). Actually you will probably find clothing spending slows down - from 0-12 months they go through about 8 clothing sizes, whereas there are 2 between 12-24 months and after 2 it's roughly 1 size per year. So I think with your first child you are buying clothes non stop the first year and then this does settle down.

£25 per week is low if you're including things like food and nappies but £400 a month is a lot IMO.

Callmemummynotmaaa · 28/12/2023 14:38

OP that seems like a lot to
me. I also work FT but in 3 or 4 long days. Two little ones at minder that take a packed lunch.

lunch box is leftovers - with added peas or other veg. Two oaty bars (Aldi are a lot cheaper and mine love them). Chopped apple/fruit.

Dinner is what we eat - often thrown in the slow cooker the night before. For convenience I also keep freezer portions of frozen homemade roasted veg pasta sauce that mine love! Forms a very easy base to add to pasta or with two mins in a pan with spices to rice! Makes life v easy! Especially as I often collect at 6 ish and they are hungry!

Nappys - is there a reason you are using pampers? Have you tried supermarket brands? Same with wipes. I use some washables at home but spend no where near what you do (even though we use disposables).

Clothes - I purchase a few times a year as bundles on Vinted or marketplace.
Toys - are for birthdays or Christmas. I would very rarely buy weekly…can’t see the need? even as it is I have to rotate what they have in the space (wondering if your wee person is just getting bored and rather than needing something new, changing it what they have would be better?)

Activities - at weekends/when off shift we tend to do toddler groups which are 1-5£, mine love swimming £3.5 for two of them, scooters and parks/playgrounds. I do spend money on coffee while out as an indulgence for me but wouldn’t be every time! Soft play is £5-8 locally. Play dates are most often in each others houses.

I suspect our home would be a spend closer to £100 a month.

lairyfights9 · 28/12/2023 14:43

Aldi nappies and wipes, Aldi oaty bars instead of organix. Maybe drop to doing soft play just once a week and go to the park/swimming/walk in the woods/toddler group at your local family centre instead. Just those things alone would save you a bunch. Aldi also do those baby ready meals and are probably loads cheaper than the ones you normally get (though they don't have loads of flavour options in my experience). Also wouldn't buy a new toy every week.

Ambi · 28/12/2023 14:44

My DH was made redundant when mine was small so I had to economise. No brand stuff, no special snacks and soft play was every couple of months or so. We'd go to a playgroup which was £1.50 for 2.5 hrs every week. The park and duck pond was a regular haunt.

mumsytoon · 28/12/2023 14:45

BubziOwl · 28/12/2023 14:36

Is there a reason you can't just feed your little one what you eat? Most meals are easy enough to toddler-ise ime once you get the hang of itSmile

It's not as easy as you think, I'm Indian so we eat with alot of spice and flavour, which isn't always suitable for a 1yo. I have a 1yo and cook separately.

Wannabedisneyprincess · 28/12/2023 14:46

My DC 4 and near 2 get new toys, at Xmas Bday and very rarely inbetween (maybe once every few months and it was the same when they were same age as your DS), clothes only when they had grown out of old ones

is there a reason he doesn’t just have what you have for tea? Once weaned they ate what I was cooking for myself and DH with minor alterations if needed

Sunnydays0101 · 28/12/2023 14:49

I think you could do better than ready meals six days a week for your DD. Most ready meals are full of salt and just too processed.

CocoPlum · 28/12/2023 14:52

How are you going to farms/soft play twice a week if you work full time?

Toys are not necessary for development. I really wish I'd not bothered with so many!

Nappies seem expensive, £11 for 30, really??

Ready meals probably convenient, what do you eat? If you cook for yourself, you could keep some for the next day for your DC?

FigAndOlive · 28/12/2023 14:54

I don't find it too much. But me and DH have a very nice combined household income so I don't actively try to cut costs when it comes to our toddler (2y2m). I possibly could if I made an extra effort or changed some habits, but we'd rather pay a bit more for convenience at times. Having said that you're hardly splurging buying just food, nappies, milk and the odd toy/day out!

mumsytoon · 28/12/2023 14:54

I have a 1yo and haven't looked at the cost per child. I just checked and I buy my pampers and wipes from Amazon and it's about 50 p/m for both but lasts the month and a bit. We use Organix snack bars and lots of other snacks but that doesn't add up to that much.
We go out a lot too and I do buy a toy if I think that's something she would like. She outgrows clothing much quicker than my older dc too. So overall I do think that your calculation doesn't seem too off the mark to what I spend. I do home meals because I have the time, but spend more because we go out more. Having an older and a baby, I think babies cost waaaay more. I'm not at the teen stage yet so I heard that's the worst.

SiennaMillar · 28/12/2023 14:59

Exactly the same here OP, I have a one year old and spend about the same as you.