How much money do you really need to have to have a baby?

[QuickCloseTheCurtains]

My OH and I are in a loving, stable relationship.
We have our own house (mortgaged)
Employer has already agreed to let me reduce my hours down to one day a week. And will reduce my wages down to about £500-750 a month.
My OH currently takes home about £1600 a month. Minus Tax etc and commuting costs.
We've got around £5k saved.
We currently spend about £1300 a month on the mortgage, bills and food. So would have a few hundred left for living.
Everything is ready for us to start TTC but now I'm nervous that the money we would have left over is not enough! I don't what to be worrying about money on top of the pressures of a new born.
Am I being sensible or am I just having normal jitters?
How much did it cost you all to buy the necessary baby things and how much would you say you need to account for each month?

Thanks in advance!!

We recently had an unexpected baby, we had spent all of our savings bar £5k.

We coped on maternity pay and my husband's pay plus the £5k and that included me spending a fair bit each month on lunch out with friends, classes and general socialising. We also spent a few thousand on a holiday.

We didn't spend that much on then baby

We hired a bedside crib £80ish
Second hand pram £60
Breast pump £200
Clothes £75 initial outlay and then we sold these and bought more second hand and perhaps topped up with about £50 every three to six months
The usual on nappies
Nursery £500 for a cot and changing table from Ikea plus paint and decorations

Thank you!

How much would you say you spent on nappies and baby food etc per week/month?

I'm planning on cutting down massively on nights out (obviously!), takeaways and the like but want to make sure the baby doesn't go without!

Babies are cheap. It's after that that it gets expensive.

I mean that in all seriousness. You can get most things for babies second hand, often for free. If you breastfeed, that's free too. They don't even need their own room (or bed if you know what you're doing) for ages.

Childcare though. That's expensive. And it doesn't stop when they get to school. Full time in the holidays until they're old enough to be left at home on their own all day.

Clubs, activities, school trips, learning to swim, bikes, scooters, uniform ... that's when it starts being pricey.

Spend as little as you can in the early days and save hard. You can get away with cheap living ( apart from childcare) for a good few years so do it. Toddlers don't need to go to Starbucks and are happy with a day out in the park. Nine year olds, not so much.

Babies are cheap. It's after that that it gets expensive.

Yup. I think people get a bit too hung up on the "baby stuff". It's possible to acquire a lot of stuff relatively cheaply and to do things like use reusable nappies (which I highly recommend!) but really that's a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of raising a child to 18 years (or at least until you can send them up chimneys to start paying their way!)

Is the one day a week after your maternity leave? So you'd only have to cover one day childcare? Do you know how you'd do this? This is where the biggest impact is going to be - either one parent stops working to do childcare, or you pay someone else to do it. Unless you are very lucky and have a grandparent on hand!

Then once they start school, you still need to cover childcare somehow, including during holidays, plus they eat more, destroy/outgrow more clothes and want extra curricular activities and school trips etc etc etc.

You are being both sensible and having normal jitters. IMHO, if you think about it too much, for most people there's never a really "right time" to start TTC and it sounds as though you are in a better position than a lot of people. Making a budget and having a realistic idea of outgoings is a good idea

How much would you say you spent on nappies and baby food etc per week/month?

Whilst breastfeeding nothing other than the cost of the pump. We weaned him at 6 months and he just had what we were eating so no additional cost really.

High chair was £99 but it also converted into a chair that he sat in on the floor and various heights. We could have got this second hand.

We bought nappies in Lidl, they are just over £1 for 24. So nappies were approximately £2 a week or £8 a month on about six changed a day. I can't remember how many changes I did on average a day - he is now 18 months. Lidl baby wipes were about 50p for 64. So about 50p per week on wipes. I did like waterwipes which were more expensive but you don't need to buy those.

I agree babies are cheap, it is the childcare that is expensive.

I always planned to be a married, career-having homeowner before planning a baby.

Last November at 21, in my final year of uni, working a knackering retail job, living with 2 girls in a damp student house with no heating (one of whom was horrible), I found out I was pregnant. I had about £500 to my name, DP lived over an hour away working a not-great job.

Fast forward to now, we're renting a lovely little 2 bed terrace in a nice town where he can commute to work. We have a 10-year-old but reliable car. I completed my degree and left my job and am getting maternity allowance from the government, £123 a week. He earns £29k in his civil service job. Our rent & bills are about £1k a month. We spent about £2k buying furniture and baby stuff for the house. Baby due a week today and I think we have everything we need. People have given us a lot of clothes, we got some stuff from his family, bought a lot from car boot sales (clothes bundles, baby bath, play mat etc.) Got a good deal on a pram - 3 in 1 Cosatto Giggle 2 set from Winstanleys Pramworld for about £400.

It's not been cheap, but it's doable. Babies need love and care and if you want a baby then have one, dont put it off forever. Childcare is worrying as it costs a lot (about £200 a week near us) but we can hopefully work it out.

Good luck x

Babies can be done on an absolute shoe string.

You will likely not have an actual baby until around a year from now (ages to save), and they won't get expensive until a while after they're born.

Childcare is very expensive. We budget £1k per month per child (full time) and get about £150-£200 change on that most months.

To demonstrate the cheapness of babies:
I had DD1 during my final year at uni. Total households income of £9k but not entitled to benefits. No savings, bar £450. We spent a total of £220 on her in her entire first year (despite the fact that she grew incredibly fast and needed her second car seat before the end of that year)

• breastfeeding is free
• cloth nappies bought second hand cost us £35 and lasted until potty training
• bought a second hand sling and no pushchair until she was over a year
• cot bed side-carred to the bed for co-sleeping, no Moses basket or crib. This was secondhand and £15
• only car seats and mattress were new and we didn't scrimp on these, but didn't get carried away either.
• all clothes bought in 3 gumtree/eBay job lots (and most were barely used and some lovely pieces in amongst it too!)

I'm really lucky on the child care front (hopefully if all goes to plan!). Employer allows children into the office during school holidays. I would work 9-3 once the child is at school so would be able to be there to drop them off and pick them up from school.
Non Term times, I could probably either stick to the same hours or ask to do two 12 hour shifts. Parents could then look after them or they could go to clubs etc. (or a mixture of both)
My wage would then increase so I think we would be perfectly fine when they're of school age. It's just the two years before playgroup that I feel we'll be struggling for money.
However, if babies are as cheap as you're all saying I think we'll be okay.
Tw1nsetAndPearls Those prices are amazing. Lidl here I come!

You'll have all your TTC time and pregnancy to save too. It could take you 5 mins to fall pregnant or years. Try not to stress. The average is a year to fall pregnant.

Quickclosethecurtains...your employer allows children in the office during school holidays?! Have i been transported to another planet?! Would love to know who they are ..wish more allowed it but honestly you can see why they don't xx

We spent about £2k total on baby stuff, but you could spend less (we had a fairly expensive pram. But we did borrow Moses basket and toys). I spent £6k on maternity leave for 10 months incl extra couple weeks off for dh unpaid on top of paternity.

Month on month, we spend £30 a month on nappies (but we buy expensive Ines) and about £40 a month more on food for our 2yo. Food had obvs gradually increased. I breastfed so no money spent on formula. We spend about £50 a month on clothes and shoes but we buy all new so could be much less if you buy second hand or from supermarkets etc.

You can get loads of toys etc from freecycle and people like to give gifts.

Babies and children don't have to cost the earth but you do need to make sure that you know your limit beforehand which is what you are doing so v sensible. The £5k you have saved will be enough to cover your maternity leave I'd say so you wouldn't need much on top for baby stuff. It will be tight with your £300 a month extra but certainly doable particularly if you can save elsewhere e.g. Lift share, work from home to reduce commuting, cheaper food etc

Ah yes good old childcare... we pay £650 a month for three full days nursery. Grandparents take the other two days. If you have help on that front that's great! Plus reducing your days to 4 will help. But childcare is the most expensive thing...