Will we manage (we'll have to!) our outgoings...

[owltrousers]

I've just sat down and worked out finances. I'm now on Maternity leave for 9 months and its looking pretty tight but do-able. Keep thinking I must have forgotten something so just wanted to post our outgoings here and what we have left to see if this sounds do-able? Not that I have any choice!

My income (mat leave) - £610 average
DH's income - £1291
Total = £1900

Rent - £805
Water - £50
Elec & Gas - £60
Council tax - £116
Internet - £18
Spotify - £14
Car tax - £21
Food shopping - £240
My phone bill and personal debts - £96
DH's phone bill and personal debts - £187
Total outgoings = £1610 a month

N.b I haven't factored in car insurance here as my very kind FIL paid it off for a whole year for us and I haven't factored in child tax credit as the £80 will be used for fuel for the car each month.

Leaving roughly £280 per month for spending.
What do you reckon?

Don't scare her graphista😅 Babies can be cheap as chips for a long time. I never buy the majority of what you've listed!

If you don’t go back to work you’ll have even less money than this budget. What’s your plan for then?

Well depends on op's circumstances. I was lucky in that we were given a LOT (very generous friends and family) to the point didn't need to buy clothes AT ALL the first year and even had outfits that went completely unworn, only big item we bought new was the travel system.

But I'm aware not everyone that lucky - better to be prepared than caught out.

The OP has said several times that she everything for the first 6 months.

You could probably trim a bit off that food bill. And I'd look at getting the phones down.

But you will probably need to buy clothes and shoes, put petrol in your car, get an MOT and service, spend money at Christmas/on people's birthdays.

The Martin Lewis budget tool is a really good one for picking up costs that it's easy to forget about.

Soz, just saw that you've factored in petrol.

Yes you can do it. I had a very similar budget when I went on Maternity leave and yes it was tight and we had to watch our spending particularly with food but it was manageable

It's doable but get some budget software to track every penny. Also maybe swap bank accounts, you can get some that give you £100 to do it, that'll help and some pay you for staying in credit only £3-5 per account but if you each have a personal account and a joint account that's another £9-15 per month. Also eBay and speak to your local children's centre they can point you in direction of free stuff (stair gates, discounted fruit and veg) also go to your local NCT nearly new sale for anything baby related. No need to buy anything other than mattresses and car seats new.

You ca get bbc pods says free with no tv license also lots of entertainment on you tube and non BBC catch up.
You gas/electricity is ridiculously low, they will go up a lot when you are at home all day plus babies washing.
You need insurance.

We were similarly skint many many years ago when we had our eldest. In fact when the mortgage interest rate rose our outgoings were more tha our income.

At a low point we took money people had given to the baby and spent it on the council tax. In the end we made radical changes and moved to a cheaper part of the country to make our finances work better.

In the long term we became excellent budgeters which has stood us in good stead over the years.

Thanks everyone.

Yep, the baby is covered for at least 6 months completely, we have everything apart from formula as hoping to breastfeed.

People saying we need insurance - why? we rent our home so don't own any white goods or major appliances.

You should still have contents insurance. If there were a fire or flood or you got burgled, it would be expensive to replace all your personal possessions.

Yes op said got everything for 6 months but this sounds like first baby and op also asked if forgotten anything so I was trying to be helpful.

The mse site is fantastic helped me loads.

What will you do when your maternity leave pay runs out and you don’t go back to work? Where will you be able to cut back to save the extra money - it’s so tight now. Will you look into a job where you can work shifts, or can both you and your DP work 4 days, meaning you only need childcare for 3? Have you crunches the numbers with WTC and all different childcare options and work patterns? Might your DO’s income go up?

We had a similar budget and it is very do able. However I agree with the others that you should at least have contents insurance even if you rent. It can cost as little as £10 a month and would mean you won’t be absolutely screwed if there was a fire / problem and you lost everything.

Nappies, wipes, cream, bathing products, clothes, toys, formula and bottles (if bottle feeding), dummies (if using), bibs, towels, muslins

From this list, we bought nappies and a baby wash after the baby was six months.
Don't even need wipes as cotton wool is cheaper and better for babies bottom
Breastfeed and you won't have to spend on formula either.

Yes I breastfed too until around 9 months when my milk dried. Op plans to it doesn't always work out plus op may at some point want to express.

Personally I found cotton wool a faff and preferred wipes. Especially when out and about and they're not just for bums! Babies can be mess makers extraordinaire

Its normally in your tenancy agreenent that you must hacmve contents i surance, it is for my tenants.

I agree that we could trim a bit off the food bill, but this also includes pet food for our dog & cat and will include anything we need for the baby such as creams or cotton wool and also includes our toiletries so although our food bill is more like £45 at the moment, I've rounded it up to £60 for the near future. If there's anything left we can keep it aside.

Perhaps we'll get the contents insurance, I had a look and its only £4.50 a month.

Lots of people asking me about when I go back to work / Don't return what we'll do. Well to be honest we're not sure yet. Childcare is so expensive and my wage isn't great. DH's wage is likely to stay exactly as it is or even decrease. We'll be looking into tax credits definitely, and possibly shift work / working from home to make ends meat.

Glad you see that you need contents insurance for a rental - flood, fire, burglary and you will be stuffed.

Just use Spotify free and an adblocker, easy. £10 up already! Forget Christmas and birthday presents, you can't afford them.

Pet insurance? If they need expensive treatment you'll have a tough choice if you don't have it. Pets are a pricey luxury.

Ours is similar to this! We live a nice little life with the occasional treat.

The one thing I would say is to factor in the cost of formula... we wanted to EBF so never considered it. As it happened, we weren't able to BF at all so formula costs us around £10 a week.

@specialsubject Forget Christmas and birthday presents, you can't afford them.

Cheerful! I think we probably can... we still have £280 left over each month after all of this.

Thank you @hollowtree glad to see someone else in a similar position. Me and DH have literally always struggled, so we're kind of used to living on a budget, I don't see it as that bad! But yes, fully prepared to start buying formula if we need to :)

But that £280 is coming from your smp, what happens when that rubs out?

@LIZS this is for the next 9 months only. After that, situation may be completely different, you're right.