Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Budget for a baby?

14 replies

DinksMum · 06/04/2015 10:49

DH and I were ttc, found out we're moving due to his job and have stopped as I am giving up work to move with him, then will need to get a job and will be buying a house.
Now that we're looking at money in bank/houses I feel like we should know the 'cost' of a child. I read someone once say babies are cheap, it's when they're at school, but just can't guess the cost other than cots/pram/nappies/more food or utilities...
I tried to look at nurserys and childminders in our new area, but couldn't see how to find the cost without emailing to ask them. I didn't want to do this as its someone's livelihood and I didn't want them to think they were getting a job when they weren't!
So the question is how much did you save/wish you had or can you tell me what you pay in nursery/childminder fees, or any costs you think people don't consider? We'll be living in the South West.

OP posts:
Littlemonstersrule · 06/04/2015 12:09

People who say babies are cheap until school age are lying unless they didn't work in the first place. The cost of childcare can be around £500 plus per month and if the mother stops working it's the loss of her salary.

Childcare is cheaper once at school but there are costs associated with school like trips, charity days etc, fairs etc. Chidren also benefit from activities so it depends on their hobbies as to the cost.

We saved enough to cover the drop in salary whilst on maternity leave and as much as possible towards the early years childcare. This was separate from rainy day savings.

CMOTDibbler · 06/04/2015 12:24

When my ds was in nursery, it was £900 a month for a ft place.
Once they are at school you are looking at £10-15 a day for wrap around care and £20-30 a day for holiday care.

Babies are as cheap or expensive as you want to make them, and obviously children cost a bit more in clothes, food etc, but its the cost of childcare or not working that really does it

AlpacaMyBag · 06/04/2015 12:31

Yy the main cost is childcare/lost earnings.

The rest can be found on Freecycle, charity shops, gifts from family & friends etc etc. We were drowning in clothes and even now (DCs are 4 and 2) I can pick up some lovely bits for them on sale at say H&M for just a couple of pounds. Our major expense has been lost income. We don't live in the UK and child care is heavily subsidised here, so the 2 days/week of child care don't cost us an enormous amount. The 3 days/week that DH can't work certainly cost us a lot. But hey ho, we consider ourselves very fortunate in our council house with our happy family!

saturdaysnitching · 06/04/2015 12:33

500 or 900? Ha! It's £1400 at least where I am

Worth checking

NovemberRainbow · 06/04/2015 12:39

I'm in the South West. Nursery's are usually £4.50 an hour and child minders a little less £4 usually. What other costs would you like to know?

DinksMum · 06/04/2015 14:07

Thank you so much for your replies. I hope i didn't cause offence when i said that i had read about babies not costing as much as school age children. I just don't have a clue really!

Thank you so much November Rainbow, to be honest im not sure exactly what it is i'd like to know.... We had been saving for a house and trying to put a lot away there (and so pretending we were without a good chunk of what i earn).

I currently earn £1400 so i guess it'd be better if i didn't work full time if childcare did cost that much Saturday. I think it'd be an evening or saturday job when DH is home.

It was just costs other than cot/pram/clothes and i knew that we'd be paying more in electric what with wanting the place to be warmer, or just me being in the house more on mat leave. Other than that i don't know what i should budget for.
Thank you so much for helping!

OP posts:
AlpacaMyBag · 06/04/2015 15:35

Just remember to factor in future earnings/ career progression when considering career breaks. I realise that the immediate cost of child care is not always affordable, but don't forget the long-term effects of taking time out.

saturdaysnitching · 06/04/2015 16:10

Yes but what does your DH take home? Say £2k, so that's £3.4k between you. Minus your childcare costs from that.

Think hard about taking four or five or more years off work. Friends have done it and have basically thrown their careers away

Yes there will be people who will tell you they did it and it was fine, but I think they're the exception.

DinksMum · 06/04/2015 16:57

Thanks everyone, Saturday DH takes home £1700 (but pays hefty amount into pension before this sum), right now all bills except rent were (and I imagine they'll be the same when we move to SW) £700 and we've saved about £1200 of my wages every month.

The rest is a little to nest egg of emergency and fun money.
We thought that once we've gotten a mortgage (less than £180000) we'd be ok to ttc. I grew up not very well off and really don't want to be like that again!

OP posts:
mandy214 · 06/04/2015 21:13

Other things to bear in mind as they do have an effect on costs. You won't be buying lunch every day or commuting / travel costs to work. But as you say, you'll be in the house more - heating / lighting. You will probably go out less so that's a potential saving.

I don't think babies clothes are particularly expensive, you'll get lots of pressies. Nappies will be about £10 per week, formula if you're not breastfeeding might be another £5-£10 per week. If yoou are breastfeeding, your grocery shop might go up because you'll eat for England! Once a baby is on solids, jars can be expensive but if you just puree up your own meals, there is not much additional cost. A pram can be anything up to about £1000 if you go for new, top of the range, but have a look on your local FB selling site or ebay and you'll be surprised how much you can save by going second hand. The same for a cot, moses basket, changing table etc.

I agree that nursery can vary massively depending where you live. DD's 3 day a week place was £819 per month 2 years ago, would probably be more now (we're in the North West). I obviously lost two fifths of my salary on top of that. However, your employer (or your DH's) may offer vouchers or a salary sacrifice scheme which means you give up part of your gross salary for childcare vouchers / payments. Means you don't pay the tax and NI on that part of your salary. Agree that depending on what you do / how part timers are viewed, you need to think carefully about the impact a prolonged maternity leave / going part time will affect your long term career prospects.

Wrap around care here is about £20 a day (breakfast club and after school club) and bear in mind that most children will probably do some activities (e.g. swimming lessons, football maybe). Of course, none of that is compulsory but it is expensive (swimming about £8-10 a lesson, we pay £34 a month for DS's football). All of that is a long way off though. Also if have regular holidays, once you are stuck with school holidays, the cost will most likely triple. Holiday childcare here is about £30 for a full school/work day (per child).

Also think about things like pension contributions - if you (or your employer) contributes say 5% of your salary, your contributions obviously go down if you go part time.

Other couple of points to bear in mind - some mortgage providers won't consider your full salary whilst you are on maternity leave (even if you are going back full time) so just think about timings. Also think about how you will manage on the income you'd get whilst on maternity leave (i.e. can you save now?). Also think about increasing life insurance once you have dependants to consider how much you'd need to cover mortgage / how you or your DH would live / work / manage childcare if (god forbid) something were to happen to one of you.

Oly4 · 07/04/2015 18:39

Childcare is the biggest cost by far but worth it to me as I want to keep my job. Babies are cheap if you can breastfeed, purée normal homemade meals rather than relying on jars, don't buy pampers nappies etc. I think I spend more on fresh fruit than anything! If say your child benefit should cover your day to day nappies and wipes type stuff. Just save as much cash as you can for any nursery/childminder care

houghtonk76 · 07/04/2015 19:10

I agree wiv other posters here - my baby boy was due 1st April, still not arrived & live in South East (near London), where cost of living very high. No savings to speak of so quite worried about how we will manage in few months b4 I go back to work p/t in Jan 2016 & cost of childcare. We are lucky to have lots support from family & friends & good glug of hand-me-down clothes as result so have only had to buy few things from Sainsburys, Asda & Mothercare; parents helped wiv nursery furniture & buggy/car seat. Shop around is my advice - buggy/car seat I got was £110 in sale at Mothercare & cotbed £170. bought some stuff on eBay (eg travel cot) / used free cycle, etc. did my research, but people have also been kind. In-laws may contribute to our childcare so they don't have to look after him all the time & I plan to apply for child benefit - approx £80 per month (& universal credit if I can) once he is born, used to be a careers adviser so know a little about benefits system, but may not be eligible due to hubby's income (take home approx £1400-1500 per month, similar to mine).

Artandco · 07/04/2015 19:23

Childcare is £85 a day here! We have 2 close in age so expensive if you end up with 2 in childcare full time

MaryKatherine · 07/04/2015 21:14

Hi,

My children are now 11 and almost 7. I still pay childcare before and after school, and school hols.
For me, the biggest cost was loss of earnings as I went part time AND then childcare fees for the 2.5 days I was working. I lost about £1100 a month going part time and then my childcare fees were, at the highest point, around £600-£700 a month. I dread to think how much that is in lost earnings and childcare over the last 10 years (I went part time in Feb 2005)!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page