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Conception

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Flip

Original poster

Savings pre-baby

15 replies

Cosmogirl · 14/11/2007 23:18

Hi ladies,

I know people don't generally like to talk about money, but I just wondered if those that have kids (or ttc) had/have savings in the bank - a 'child fund' sort of thing...
Those that do, did you start to save way before you started to try for kids or was it something you did in those 9 months leading up to it?
I'm just trying to make sure we are as prepared as we can be when the time comes. I was thinking it would be nice to have a fair few grand put aside for 'costs involved with early years'.....am I being unrealistic?

OP posts:

ClaphamLauren · 14/11/2007 23:21

I'm saving money for my maternity leave and have thus far saved £5k with another £1k to go totalling 6k so I have a grand a month if I need it when I don't have money coming in.

My dp and I are running two flats though so outgoings quite high and I couldn't survive without having that money for my mat leave so I've had to save it. Plus, I spent stupid amounts of money on booze and clothes before pregnancy so I've just changed where that money goes.

lazymoo · 15/11/2007 00:21

we saved a years of dh wages ... it took us three years, but it meant that we had a buffer, in the end we took it of our mortgage so that we had to pay less mortgage. I have to say that I am not sure wether that was the right thing to do, wether we would of been better using it for emergancys.

lazymoo · 15/11/2007 00:22

glastochick · 15/11/2007 09:28

Wow lazymoo! I'm impressed

I've been trying to save but not with much luck. Unfortunately before I met DH he'd got himself into a bit of a situation with money spending more than he earned, so now he's got negative equity on his flat. By the time I found out about this I was madly in love with him. It was a big issue for a while though

We're now renting that flat out and living on my income while all of his goes towards paying off his debts. What little I do manage to save each month is mounting up, but it's really not much. I could only afford to buy my house because it was in a bit of a state and we'd like to get some decent windows put in before a baby arrives, and we need a fully functioning bathroom and kitchen! Fingers crossed we'll be able to start on that work in the new year. We've decided that while it would be nice to have some money behind us, it's not an absolute must. It would be nice to have a bit extra to use to extend maternity leave!

floopowder · 15/11/2007 09:34

Yeah, it sounds nice, but dh in his ever great 'wisdom' decided that the money we had saved for years, would be better of going of the mortgage, so in reality we didn't actually have any cash to spend, so we were probably worse of. Winge over.

floopowder · 15/11/2007 09:35

btw, I'm lazymoo, I just like to ring the changes with new names every now and then. oh and I ment whinge not winge.

digitalgirl · 15/11/2007 09:42

We're saving up for my maternity leave as DH and I are both self-employed so I'll only be eligible for Maternity Allowance (same as Stat Mat Benefits @ £104 p/wk).

As long as I cover my half of the bills plus an extra £200 so I can treat myself to a few things - I'm hoping to take 6 months off. So about £6,500 in the bank by the time I plop. I'd already saved about £2k by the time we decided to start ttc, however on cycle 3 now so looking to have a holiday with spare cash (it might be our last nice one fora while!)

We're also thinking of getting a slightly bigger car which will bump up monthly outgoings so may have to revise that plan.

If things get tight during my time off (e.g. DH business slows down) we'll look to try and take a few payment holidays from the mortgage.

After that I'm hoping a combination of my DM helping out plus flexible working will mean I can earn pretty much what I'm on now which should be enough to cover child-care for the first couple of years. I'm sure kids don't really start getting that expensive until they go to school (cue derisive laughter from all the mums out there!)

digitalgirl · 15/11/2007 09:44

ps currently ttc#1 so no idea how we're supposed to save for baby#2 when paying for childcare already. i might have to get myself a proper job with mat. benefits

EffiePerine · 15/11/2007 09:48

I think it's a good idea to have savings in any case: I think it's receommended that you have about 3 months' salary in the bank for emergencies. I found we got through a chunk of savings when I was on maternity leave (esp after my maternity pay had ended). So if you can save, I would do so. On the other hadn, you can manage with a baby and a tight budget. It;s just nice to know you don't have to wrry about paying for coffee and cake when you're dying to get out of the house

GryffinGirl · 15/11/2007 10:47

we've been trying to be sensible with money while TTC. I am on cycle 11 TTC, so we have had a little longer than many people to save up some money . We also waited to TTC until I was eligible for full maternity benefits through my job (although needn't have bothered, the length of time it's taking ).

We manage ok on the money we both earn, with enough left over for savings every month, but we do live in a tiny flat and don't have a car at the moment. The money issues will come if we want to move somewhere bigger because we live in central London and are tied to it with DH's job. If we do have a baby, we have decided we'll cope as best we can in the flat (it's not ideal - fourth floor, no lift, very small) and not move unless I feel we have to.

dizietsma · 15/11/2007 11:31

HAH! Savings? God, that would've been great.

ninedragons · 15/11/2007 11:52

We've been socking away all of my salary since we found out I was pregnant. We were feckless DINKs before, so it hasn't actually been that difficult - I'm ashamed to admit that it appears that my salary exclusively funded very nice holidays and boozy nights out. We didn't start to TTC until we were both in our mid-30s, so obviously things would have been different if we'd been ten years younger and ten years further down the career ladder.

GreenGlassGoblin · 15/11/2007 15:32

we did have savings before ttc #1 - about 6K in total (both in mid 30s, in work for many years). And we spent it all (I got 6 months maternity allowance, 4 months unpaid leave). We did get a couple of big things done to the house mind, but still burned through a lot of saved cash making the transition from 2 salaries to 1. It's the (hoped for) next one that worries me as we now have no savings, I only work pt and we have nursery fees to pay.

ImBarryScott · 15/11/2007 15:56

We saved quite a lot of cash in the years pre-DD - 5 figures. I was lucky enough to have decent maternity pay, so didn't have to raid it.

However, we will have an income smaller than our outgoings for the next few years , and knew this would be the case once we had children. Our savings will trickle away over the next few years, in effect subsidising my part-time working. Some of this will no doubt get spend frivolously on Amazon to keep me sane, but hopefully not too much .

Original poster

Cosmogirl · 15/11/2007 17:59

Thanks for all the posts - it is interesting to see how other people cope with the transition and how some prepare for it. I think we will just try really hard to clear debt and then start stashing some money aside. I'm not sure how we'll get on but I will definitely feel more secure if I have some sort of money plan!

OP posts:

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