budgeting with a baby?

[gwenabee85]

Hi everyone, this is probably going to sound really dim but my DH and I are going to ttc our first baby soon, and he's worried about the financial aspect of things.. we're 27 and live in private rented accommodation, and between us we earn around £45k.

my job only pays basic maternity pay so clearly this would drop drastically, and I think he earns 'too much' to be able to claim any tax credits or anything? (I've never claimed anything so don't know much about the system)
so apart from child care costs, how much extra money is it reasonable to expect to spend (on food/toiletries/clothes..) per week/month once the baby arrived?
tia

We spend about £70 a month. It was unexpected as I just assumed I would breast feed so when that didn't happen, having to buy tubs of £9.49 formula that lasts roughly 8 days was a shock. We're currently using supermarket disposable nappies which are roughly £7 week now that DD is 3 months old and needs fewer nappy changes. I've just bought a second hand reusable nappy on eBay to see if that will work for us. That will work out cheaper in the long run if so. Wipes are fiendishly expensive if you don't look around for offers. £1 for wipes is a good deal.

Clothes is a different story. You could dress your baby in a nappy and a Jiffy bag for all the difference it will make to your baby. I bought clothes in the sale in supermarkets and second hand from eBay in the months leading up to my due date. I was Very Sensible. Then she arrived and I found having five babygros and two outfits was ridiculously spartan. So we got some more :) you really could spend twenty quid on babygros and vests from a supermarket and you'd be done.

Just to add to that ridiculously long post from me (oops) you will quality for child benefit which is roughy £72 a month so it covers our costs. We spent around £1000 setting up for our baby, which we got from savings, so that is worth thinking about. You will meet people who have acquired cots, travel systems etc for a total of 50p but it is more useful to be realistic about costs. A spreadsheet really helped us (but we like spreadsheets).

Currently with an 8 week old we haven't seen much impact yet on the weekly shop, but that's because I waslucky and managed to eestablish breastfeeding so we're only buying nappies, wipes and cotton wool. I expect it will only go up once she is eating decent sized meals so we need more groceries.
While pg we slowly purchased bits and pieces but we'revery careful to nor go overboard, lots of threads on here can advise the basics you need. We oonly really got the pram, cot mattress and car seat new - the cot, babygros, bath, monitor etc were eBay bargains. No fancy outfits, but got plenty of those as gifts. No new furniture just adapted what we had.
As she gets older we will need to spend more on clothes as they won't be gifted and will do a combination of new and second hand.
But we are about to set up a savings account, so that there is a fund for anything we haven't anticipated, and if it isn't used then it will become a uni/car/travel fund for when she's older.

It's very much how long is a piece of string question re babies. With DS2 I have spent almost nothing. He's been BF from day 1 and I've done baby led weaning so he's eaten a bit of whatever we are having. And all his clothes etc are from DS1. The only thing I really buy are nappies and wipes and I always buy in bulk when they are on offer. Re all the kit. You can get amazing 2nd stuff at NCT sales, eBay etc. and just buy really simple basics for at least first three months. If you can borrow things from friends as things like Moses baskets are only ever used for a few months. Really young babies don't need much at all. It's later when the costs really kick in when the childcare agony begins. Re maternity leave I just saved up for a year or so before so I had a bit of a buffer of cash.

thanks for the replies :)
I think we're quite sensible, and I already know I don't want to spend a small fortune on clothes from Next/M&S etc which are very cute, but they would grow out of in a week (although every person I know who already has kids tells me I will end up doing this anyway, I'm determined not to! :|)
I plan to (try to) breastfeed for the first few months, but didn't realise formula was so expensive if it didn't work out! :s I also want to use reusable nappies purely for the environmental side of things.
oh, and we've started saving, only a few hundred pounds at the minute, but we're not even PG yet, just trying to reassure DH that we won't be on the breadline!

We use reusable nappies. Brought new from little lambs and total cost £300. That was 3 1/2 years ago with first child. They are on second child now so well worth it. If you can get secondhand then even cheaper. We use reusable wipes to. Basically everything in a net in nappy bin, every 2/3 days ( depending on age of baby) throw net with everything in in washine machine.

We probably spent £1500 on initial 'stuff'. The majority on expensive pram ( which we still use). We brought x10 white babygros for sleeping, x10 'daytime' babygros. X10 baby vests. Couple of cardigans and hats.
Don't get babygros that do up at the back, they are a pain in the a**! As of course baby can't sit up/ hold head.

We also wrote a list of everything down to a baby sponge and added a wish list to amazon. When people asked what we wanted we suggested list, as then they choose something we would have brought anyway. Like I said things ranged in price down to £1 so people could choose what to spend and we got exactly what was needed. ( we lie in small flat so excess things wouldn't fit anyway)

We also saved 4 months income min to cover maternity ( only took 3/4 months)

I found the biggest expenditure was going out for coffees and meeting other mums! That can really sneak up on you, so make the most of free baby groups and suggest meeting people for nice walks or playdates in your house.

We actually spent very little on our baby - it's only now they are 18mo that the expenditure is creeping up (shoes, soft play, swimming etc) but I'm back at work so that is ok. Just ask and look around for as much second-hand as you can get for the cot, baby bouncer, clothes, that sort of thing. If you don't have to have a huge outlay to get ready for the baby that will really help.

Oh and both our children were born soon after Xmas so we asked any family to buy for them rather than us ie: my parents brought the reusable nappies mentioned above, mil/pil brought us baby sheets and sleeping bag for cot. Etc

I've never paid as much as £1 per packet of wipes, usually 80-90p if you buy a few packets at a time. Boots always have their own brand on something like 2 for £1.50, or 12 for £9.

Tesco value wipes are about 50 pence a pack and I like them - they don't smell as much as some of the posher brands! Allowing 20 quid a week for nappies/formula (if needed) and wipes should be more than enough, I reckon. Clothes and other bits can be as much or as little (freecycle, hand me downs etc) as you want/need.
The coffees out though really can add up, as others have said. Not to mention cake...!

we have bf'd, cloth nappies and blw'd. we also accepted everything offered secondhand. I haven't been sucked into next/m&s as I can't be bothered to go to the shops much. people might think I'm smug reading this but I'm too lazy really and not fussed on material possessions. dd is now 18months, very well turned out in second hand clothes and we haven't noticed an impact on our monthly budget. it can easily been done if you care about saving money / have just bought a big old house!

exactly what poo catcher said words you never thought you'd type

cloth nappies and wipes are cheaper and also the only thing that don't give my ds horrible allergic nappy rash. second hand clothes are better because you're not worried about puke and poo going all over then and look on freecycle and local fb groups for newborn and maternity clothes bundles at a fraction of new costs.

remember that the only things that are questionable second-hand are the cot mattress and the car seat. The former because there is some evidence that a new mattress reduces the risk of cot death, the latter because you must not buy one that has been dropped or in a crash. That said, I sold a second hand one that had been very lightly used with neither of those things.

push chairs/prams are not safety issues, just ease of use for you, and go for peanuts on ebay or in charity shops due to the 'my precious' nonsense. So don't pay the price of a car for one of those!

baby clothes also from charity shops and ebay, although if you have family you will be deluged in them.

as you note, the big costs are loss of earnings, nappies and formula milk. And all the things it will want when it is a teenager. :-)

Generally the £80 thereabouts in child benefit should cover it....but if you need to buy the more expensive formula, or extra clothes etc it can get very expensive quickly. As soon as dh and I found out we were having our son we added wipes and nappies to our weekly shopping list. Also, throw in a pack of supermarket vests/ sleepsuits in different sizes every once in a while. You will never have enough, so don't worry you're overdoing it! We're pretty much in the same boat as you, we've lost £20,000 a year by going on maternity pay, so made good use of my salary when I had it. All we've had to buy is formula and bottles (was convinced I'd be breastfeeding, so wasn't at all prepared).
I put aside some money (around £200) for clothes if I don't have enough but have yet to spend it.
In terms of kitting out the house check out eBay and NCT nearly new sales, and keep an eye out for sales when thinking of buggies. A baby doesn't need that much really, just a warm place to sleep, food, nappies and clothes.

Oops that was long!

Hi OP

Having a baby isn't expensive, it's the bits that come with it!!

I'd suggest start saving now so you've got say £2k for the things you need to start. Car seat, cot, pushchair, sling, travel cot, highchair, bouncy chair. Do some research on prices, it might not need to be that much.

Then decide whether or not you want to have your full year off work. If you do, work out if you could survive financially by spreading out your 9 months mat pay to last 12 months.

Going forward child benefit is more than enough to pay for clothes plus birthday and xmas presents. So then you're just talking about £15-£20 a week on nappies, wipes, cotton wool. But you can get pampers for v cheap on amazon.

Once they're weaned food doesn't need to cost you more. You just feed them what you're eating (within reason). Having said that I probably spend £15 a week on making sure I've got plenty of fruit, baby cookies and sugar free yogurt in for my 1yo and 3yo.

I'm really interested to read this as we are ttc and our finances are tight to say the least. DH is pretty much debt free whereas i have a loan £150per month and a credit card to pay - just done balance transfer. Min payment about £50 per month. Am also using overdraft monthly. That said i am slowly regaining control over it but worry what will happen when i go on maternity leave. I work in local government so have good conditions so the 9 months paid leave will be almost a year once you add holiday on top. I plan to do the wipe/babygro buying with the weekly shop leading up to birth (assuming i'm lucky enough to get preg!) and currently spend about £30 per week on wine!!! So am cutting it right back now and will be saving (paying cc off) with what i don't spend. I also think i will be spending less in general when not at work - no pub lunch, popping into town at lunchtime etc. My sister has saved her pram and car seat for me, her son is 4 now but they are still good condition.

I feel i should wait til i am financially more stable but am 36 soon so am cracking on and hoping for the best. We have very supportive parents who i am sure will help out if we need something big. My biggest worry is heating our old cold house with oil. Expensive!! We use hot water bottles extra socks and fleeces. I hope for a summer baby!

Hi OP, A quick list to show you what I have spent on large items;

Cot, with brand new wrapped mattress, sheets £70 EBay.
Bouncer £5
Swing £10
Moses Baskets with stands 2 £7 each,
Moses Basket Mattresses x2 £7 each Tesco.
Travel System/car seat £150 Mothercare.
Baby Monitor x 2 £25 each Tesco.

So I think roughly £300.

I search a 10 mile radius on EBay, so I can collect.
Clothes all given to us, new as gifts & secondhand.

I did put calpol, teethers, ect in with my weekly shop for the last few months.

remember the baby does not need tropical conditions, just warm clothes. There's no need to heat the place to sweating point.

If you wait until you're financially stable it might never happen! I mean that's the same for everyone.

And don't underestimate how long it might take you to get pregnant. And (god forbid) any miscarriages (it happens).

By the sounds of it you'll have your debts under control, if not sorted within a year.

And if you've got the big stuff coming free then it needn't cost anything to have a baby, you just need to work out if you're ok on the mat pay.

But don't stress about it, these things generally always work out.

Me and DH are expecting our first. So far we're expecting all the things we need to come to a few hundred (I have a spread sheet, sad person that I am, to keep track of what we spend, I'm aiming to spend less than £300). We're getting most things second hand apart from the car seat and breast pump/bottles set. We're also planning on using reusable nappies and wipes which will be a biggish expense but then will avoid the weekly expense of nappies. Although of course there's always the possibility of me not managing to breast feed and reuseable nappies not working out for some reason.

Our biggest expense is likely to be around £120 a week on child care when I go back to work (3 11hr shifts a week) when dc is around 8 or 9 months. I have a friend who's on a very limited income who tells me that that's their only real expense apart from formula, their 9mo has all things from charity shops.

I'll only get maternity allowance but with that and dh's pay and child benefit we should be able to manage until I go back to work. We live in an expensive area and have a £280per month car finance (bad decision but we're stuck with it till next september).

As far as I understand it they just keep getting more expensive as they grow up anyway