Starting a family with 110k combined income in London

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How comfortable would it be?
Net income £6100 as I don't have student loan.
Based on the rates of a local childminder, childcare would be £1600 excluding tax free childcare (mother in law has also agreed to help when she can)
Current mortgage is £1020 but our 2 bed flat is teeny and we are looking to move to a 3 bed flat which would probably increase mortgage by £700 per month. Current flat is on the market and I am paranoid that I can't move once I TTC.
Current service charge is £150 per month, would be £200 in the new flat
No car. we use public transport and bike.
We could move to a big flat in St Albans for the same price as our london flat but probably would not have MIL's childcare support and DH & I both work in the London office quite a lot so even the season ticket costs would add up quite a bit (and St A's transports costs are quite low for a Home Counties town).

I just got a new job offer verbally (which is what this figure is based on) and DH is looking for a new role (expecting to get an increase in salary as well).

I am 30 and DH is 32
Just interested to know everyone's views.

Doesn’t matter where you live in the country 3000k spare a money is very decent

Well, once you factor in food, council tax, phone bills, water bill, energy bill, transport costs, life insurance, stuff for the baby, savings and god forbid socialising, I’m sure there will be less money spare. Not saying OP will be living in destitution, but the her income isn’t as much as we might automatically think it is.

Yes but those are things we all have to pay for. And whilst I think London transport is expensive, it’s a lot cheaper than the rest of the country.

But even London council tax is more expensive so that’s not the case.

and given a very average 3 bed in my area is about £800k equating to about £2.5k per month mortgage, well £100k is really not as much in London as it is elsewhere

I thought London council tax was cheaper than other parts . I am band c now so £1500 per annum. Band d would be £1750
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It's true that in many areas outside London the houses are just as expensive as in London. I suspect that it's because a lot of people leave London and spend exactly the same amount of money that their London house was worth on their new pad. What is different is that the housing stock outside London is more spacious, bigger garden, detached etc. In my area you can have £1.4 million but you will still get a terrace. 800k gets you a small terrace that is smaller in floor area than a big flat. London flat values have plateaued so actually are much cheaper than lots of houses outside London..

CT in London is generally cheaper

Childcare is the expensive thing, especially if you have more than one child. It would get cheaper when they started school, you would still need wraparound care and holiday clubs so factor that in. You could manage in a two bed flat with one child, you would probably need to move if you had more.

Everything else isn't that expensive, the main costs are childcare and housing, if you need to upsize. You have a good income, I'm guessing the costs are higher as London is expensive for housing.

Not planning on more than 1 child. Our second bedroom is 3.8m by 2.4m so while it is technically a double as it can fit a double bed, it is a single really and I would like to have more space for a child..

Get the spreadsheets out and start saving now whatever you need for a years maternity leave and towards childcare.

Babies themselves are as cheap (buy 2nd hand) or expensive (buy new designer brands) as you like it is the maternity leave and childcare that age the problems.

Don’t know if you have one but factor in a cleaner if you are both busy. The first year DH and I just did whatever necessary to make out lives easier because Dd was such a terrible sleeper.

I use an agency and book a cleaner at crucial times usually before a viewing or when my MIL comes to visit lol. For the past two months, it has been once a fortnight but usually it's once a month...

We have a 14 month old son and similar take-home pay (the equivalent in €) to you OP although we have a much smaller mortgage and luckily enough no childcare costs. If we had these costs we could still afford a comfortable lifestyle with all the things we want but we would save very little and savings are very important to me. I've reduced my work hours from 37 hours a week to 30 hours a week for the next few years which is costing me a few hundred euro in take-home pay every month but I love the shorter week. I have to say, the childcare costs you quoted in your OP would have made me hesitate to have children at all! It is a fairly short term expense however and will get a lot better once you get free hours and your child starts school.

Childcare costs aside, babies are cheap in my experience. I breastfed for the first 8 months for free then switched to formula which cost around €90 a month, my formula costs were probably higher than most people because I used a lot of those small aptimal ready made bottles for convenience when out and about and for night feeds. Once he was 12 months we went straight to regular full fat milk which is obviously very cheap.

We use Aldi nappies and wipes for around €7 a week. I make his meals with a lot of the ingredients from our own meals so that doesn't cost any extra but there are some things we don't eat that I buy just for him like hummus, fish and different vegetables. Also buy more fresh fruit for snacks and to mix in to his porridge. I get him snacks from the baby section too like rice cakes, biscuits and baby crisps. I'd estimate he adds around €15-20 extra to our grocery shop.

When it comes to clothes and toys I think you can spend what you want, I spend far too much but I love shopping for baby clothes.

The one area that I really feel the increased costs in is travel. Although infants fly for very cheap (usually 10%) on your lap under the age of 2, once they get mobile it's very hard to face a long haul flight without their own seat. I pay extra for the fastest most convenient flights, preferably overnight flights whereas before we would have been more flexible to get a good deal. Also we book better accommodation now, usually 2 bedroom villas with a pool so he has his own room to sleep in and we have a pool to enjoy during his naps too. Hard to put a figure on this but he probably adds thousands to our travel costs. This is completely a first world problem obviously but worth mentioning.

I think we had an income around that per month and were able to save around £1000 per month for big costs. That's approx £1000 mortgage, £1600 childcare, £1200 food and fuel, and then things like utilities, eating out, holidays, savings for Christmas and birthdays, and general bits like doing the house for the rest. We have two cars so I've assumed running costs are about the same as transport for you. It's pretty comfortable but not rolling in it.

And don't forget you might get twins which would make things tight.

zone 1 to 3 travel card is £173 per month. DH can cycle to work so thats free I suppose.

So i guess if your mortgage was 1700, you would only be able to make £300 savings. I am hoping DH can increase salary in the coming year(he increased his salary by £15k when he last switched) so that would add more buffer

I think saving would be hard, so save as much as possible now.

Yep it would be really hard. It's tight but at least it's tight without being impossible.a lot of budgets in the UK are impossible.

It's why the nurses and paramedics are striking now and I 100% support them. We have an earnings crisis.

We just figured we'd get the bigger house when the nursery years were done. Our bills have gone up about £500 a month this year so I've been glad of the buffer.

Considering the increase on season tickets announced this week, sounds like you'll be better off staying in London

It would be a struggle for us. we have many expensive interests, and want the best for our three DC. luckily DH earns 7 figure salary x

Can this not be worked out yourself with a spreadsheet?

OP you and your DH are young, your incomes will go up.

Mumsnet is full of questions you could probably find the answer to somewhere else. It's full of questions you could probably sit down and discuss with someone else. This is a perfectly
reasonable post and I'm so sick of hearing this type of comment. OP should not feel she can't post just because she has a good job and earns a bit more. This same old response is so tiring.

MN wouldnt exist if everyone just googled or made up spreadsheets. Sometimes it's nice to hear from others.

OP I recognize you and you seem very good with money but equally very overcautious. You will be fine, I doubt you will go back to the stage of not being able to afford an IKEA delivery.
If you can get help from MIL that is great, but you are wise not to bank on it. Also, how "frivolous" do you want to be? I did all free stuff when mine were babies but if you intend to do lots of paid classes and have lunches out every day then that will be harder.

I think we absolutely need to earn more when DC (we are planning on only one) grows older. But I wouldn't put off having a baby to account for the fact that we may need to pay school fees for a child who gets into City of London etc. Particularly since DH and I know at least 3 people who went to prestigious london independents and they all earn far less than we do (and not due to choice either) so its not a hill I am going to die on.