A small family in London, is £400 a week enough?

[LDNmummy]

Ok so I know people live off a lot less, including people in my own family, but they don't live and work in London so have no point of comparison.

I have estimated that from the point my baby arrives on October, our family income will be roughly £400 a week.

Is this an OK amount?

My DH travels to central London so buys a weekly travel card at just under £50 and obviously I will travel a couple of times a week too.

We will have an average £800 pund'ish mortgage to pay each month and obviously other general expenditures that come with living in London.

Is it manageable?

I can cook at home all week and we don't lead an extravagant lifestyle. Our luxuries include going to the cinema and a meal out every couple of weeks at the moment. It is something we know we will have to cut back on as soon as the LO comes and are prepared for it.

if you will use disposables at all try Lidl's - they won a MN award apparently (had a flyer through the door this week, prices look good)

but reusables would be a lot cheaper, esp if you can get them via freecycle or NCT sales

\link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Reviews\MN product reviews}

I have recently ventured onto ebay too and it has helped a lot. We don't tend to buy expensive things and I have been buying in charity shops for this pregnancy.
I find one of the most expensive things to buy is fresh meat tbh. DH is really picky about his food and always wants a decent meal. Even chicken is expensive now :(
I havent had to buy much at all though for this second baby.

It is good that he's raised the tutoring idea. Tbh i think your budget is so tight that it is a choice between more pressure on him in a work sense, or more pressure on both of you because you are so skint that nothing gives.

Ivor, have you tried Aldi for meat? their regular prices aren't bad, & they always have special offers - choice is a bit limited but quality is fine.

Just checked with the tax credits calculator and we could get some help so will start looking into it.

I havent ponders, not sure where our nearest one would be. Will have a look, thanks :)
Usually shop in Asda now as it is just across the road, prefer Tesco though.

I am home with my baby right now and I am spending less than normal. I used to live in London and I would think that if you were living off that as a couple before baby you should be able to make it work.

I am in the US and collect a lot of coupons. DD is on formula so I call up the company on a regular basis (it is a free number to call) to get coupons. I tell them I don't have enough money to keep DD on their brand. I do the same with pampers. I then buy the stuff with the coupons when it is on sale. Washables are not for me.

The other mothers/ those not working that I socialize with come around for tea/coffee and cake/biscuits. Get a jar of decaf coffee and start inviting others around to yours. In our neighbourhood we have one of the worst houses. I used to care but I am a better person/parent for being financially responsible and not getting us into debt. DD and I also go walking with the dog. Great for all of us and free! Is there a reason why you need to go into London while you are on leave? If not, you might need to limit it/come up with a way to reduce the cost of a trip into London.

Agree with others re 2nd hand stuff. Everything apart from the pram is 2nd hand. Friends have had boys so DD is currently wearing a brown onsie with a tractor on the front and sitting in a little lamb swing. I would have bought the pram 2nd hand but I wanted a specific model (citi select 2011 model which converts into a dble) and couldn't find it for a decent price 2nd hand.

oh good

& you will definitely get CB from day 1; that alone will help a lot!

I wanted to use reusable nappies but got so confused with which to go for that I decided to wait till after the first month. Will try the Lidl ones, heard good things about the Aldi ones too.

I am a deferred student till the end of next year when I will have to sit exams. That means I am entitled to some financial help for the latter part of the year thankfully.

I study English too so I suppose I could help him with his workload outside of actual teaching. I will talk to him about it again.

Is Ocado any good for the budget shopper?

I have always had it in the Marks and Spencer's category myself.

only for special offers as a rule

if you go on \link{http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/\mysupermarket} you can do a pretend home-delivery shop at all the stores & it gives you comparable prices. Ocado can be cheapest - special offers only - but after the first shop you have to pay for delivery, which bumps it up.

if you've got Aldi and/or Lidl locally they are easily the cheapest (ignore national branded things in Lidl though as they usually aren't good value)

Thanks Ponders

Supermum that is ingenious! And I thought my free baby change bag from Boots was a steal The tractor onsie sounds very cute.

Fresh meat is VERY expensive and DH has at least one portion a day. I tend to buy chicken thighs to save on that.

I actually think ocado can be pretty good price wise. Your problem with doing the aldi/lidl thing is that you have no car.

I would suggest washables from day one, much easier to see what the baby has done than disposables and often mothers intend to move on to washables but don't get round to it, hence many unused or hardly used washables back on freecycle or sold on. Having used them myself, I would suggest getting a variety of different ones to start with and seeing what suits, buy more of the ones you like and pass on the ones you don't. For a really cheap option, you can even make your own - there are patterns aplenty on the net if you are a sewer or no someone who is. Washable wipes are great too.

Keep a list of things you need for the baby and don't be afraid to show anyone who asks if there is anything you need.

Most parents buy far too much baby stuff that isn't needed, hence the many bargains on eBay. Even if a friend swears by an item that they found was indispensable, doesn't mean you will find it as great.

Try to get some antenatal breastfeeding support and information and find out about what support is available locally so that you get help after the birth if you need it.

Shop around, when you're on maternity leave and your baby is small, you might find you can shop at a variety of supermarkets and shops and learn where each thing is cheapest.

Can your DH get a season ticket loan for his travel from his company? If not, how about a bike?

Have you checked if your mortgage is at the best rate? Also check gas, electricity and broadband to make sure you have the cheapest deals. Check these at least once a year to ensure they are still the best.

Thats what I was thinking Ali, DH could do it in his own but it would have to be a weekly trip then so it wouldn't be too much to carry in one go.

I will try the mysupermarket link and see what comes up.

Thanks for the help guys, really brilliant advice!

He has a bike and used to cycle every day to work, so much so that he wore out the tires, pedals, handles... OK he rode the poor thing into oblivion. He wants to start again but I asked him to stop when I got pregnant, I was panicking about his safety

I will keep an eye out for the washables on Freecycle from now on too.

I am actually making notes of all this as the thread goes on, hopefully I can figure this out before the little one actually turns up.

it's definitely worth £50 a week to keep him off a bike in London

is moving away from London likely to be a possibility in the next year or two, LDN?

I wouldn't mind as my family live in the Midlands but DH's family is here as well as his career.

I think it is something he is weighing up at the moment so it hopefully will might happen.

Oh no don't let him bike in London!
It depends where you live but I know my DH finds the journey on the tube pretty draining (at least an hour each way) so that might put into question the extra tutoring. My DH doesnt get in until after 7.30 - 8pm at the earliest, often much later, but that, I guess depends on the job and where he has to travel to too.
Do you have car too, because insurance will probably go up on that.

I find Ocado quite good in that they are nowadays quite competitive versus Sainsburys, Tesco, etc. They have more products than an average Waitrose store, many which have cheaper prices. I found the bills less than going into shop at a Tesco or Sainsburys, Didn't compare with Lidl/Aldi/Asda as there have never been any near us. Because it is online, you can watch for bargains and discounts to turn up and then reserve them. You can now even buy stuff you'd normally get from a chemist, newsagents, etc from Ocado (even nappies and toys). If you're not travelling out to the supermarket, you save on petrol or bus fares - plus Ocado are one of the few that have time slots that offer free delivery.
PS. Just to say, it's great if you find that reusable nappies and you get along. No harm if not - don't forget you do use a lot of water washing them (someone did a study of this and found they were no greener, although they do use less landfill space) and they are time consuming. Supermarket brand nappies work well too, no need to spend more on Pampers/Huggies if you wish to stick to a strict budget. NB Libraries and Health Visitors also have great resources for mums - ask for the Bookstart free picture books and ask which places do free mother and baby activities.

Don't stick to just one supermarket or shop. It's worth using an online one that delivers like Ocado/Sainsubrys for example, when you have really big,heavy items like loo rolls, lots of veg or tins (Ocado do good deals on nappies sometimes - unless you are doing reusables of course) once a fortnight, then go somewhere for smaller top up shops - milk, bread, some fresh veg and fruit. If your Aldi or Lidl is not far, it might be a pleasant walk in the buggy for your baby and you. But just remember it'll need to fit under your baby in the buggy (or you could bring a backpack and pack it into that). I used to do top ups in our local Morrisons which was cheaper for that. Also, if a delivery service is delivering your main shop to your front door, it's quite a godsend for mothers whose main priority will be getting some sleep in between the 2 or 3 hourly feeds, washing, cleaning, nappy changing, cooking, night feeds and nappy changes, etc ......and doing a time consuming weekly shop with crying baby can be quite stressful. Of course, popping out for a walk some milk and bread is different.

I think Ocado do free delivery if you spend more than £90? Which is a lot, but if you shop with them 2-3 times a month for bulk stuff, meat for the freezer, household items etc etc and then top up in a local shop for fruit and veg etc then it could work pretty well.

Check with your local council about washable nappies, because lots do a scheme to get a starter pack for free as part of their drive to reduce landfill and rubbish amounts.
We have always used them and despite me having a bit of a nappy fetish we have saved several hundred pounds over the 2 years that DS1 used them, and we're using them again now with DS2 so even more cost effective.

I used the 'Smart Nappy' reusable nappies from Mothercare.

www.mothercare.com/s?Action=submit&rh=n%3A42764041&field-keywords=smart+napppies&x=0&y=0

I have finished with the first size, you are welcome to them (clean, no stains!! just worn, but still work as well as if new). I was going to take them to the charity shop. PM me if interested.

I never managed to work out if they saved me money all things considered, but as you are interested in giving them a go, why not?

Alibaba - it's 75 pounds. And free slots are on Tue, Wed, Thur and Sat late nights, plus a few at Wed lunchtime. If you stock up on stuff like tins, frozen stuff, butter, oil, household paper goods, it all adds up to 75 quid - in fact, it seems to add up even when we're only halfway round Tesco!

Isn't there that site www.usednappies.co.uk? I sold my entire Motherease set on there, very well used for £50. Using secondhand ones is both green and cheap. IME reusable nappies success hinges on 1) they fit your baby & she's not badly prone to rash 2) you have somewhere to dry them easily (ceiling airer?) You may find a nappy advisor or grant in your area from the council. Onesize are cheaper than sized ones.

Compared to working/studying, I found when on ML I had a lot more time to live cheaply. You can grow vegetables, make bread, get the bus, shop around etc so it helps to offset the lack of earnings. When I was a postgrad student we did our entire week's shop in Netto and just stopped being precious about fancy ingredients and quality of baked beans. It was OK and worth it for the saving. And there are loads of markets and ethnic groceries in London.