Cost of having a baby - year 1

[Pagan]

I was prompted to do this after reading an article which said babies cost on average £3,500 during first year. Right from the beginning I've kept a note of all the big things we had to buy and have estimated the other items but probably erred on the side of caution and put down a larger figure than we actually spent.

I've not taken into account my loss of earnings as this would vary from person to person but this could be offset against FT child care costs if I had returned to work anyway.

The result ....... £1,062 PROFIT!!!!!

We were fortunate to get loads of clothes from SIL plus cot and pram (which we never used) but still paid her £200 for the lot.

Have hardly bought any clothes for her, only socks or pyjamas. Still using gift vouchers given to us when she was born.

Got many gifts and GPs bought biggish things i.e.
car seat, new mattress for cot.

Get family benefit plus tax credits.

I suppose the £3.5k figure would be about right if you were buying everything brand new at top of the range but I try to buy off Ebay or from Charity shops if I can.

My own personal opinion is that too often the cost of child rearing is shown in a negative light when it needn't be so. I'm sure that costs will escalate once DD starts going through new shoes every 6 weeks and is then influenced by her peers but for the first year it has not been anywhere like as expensive as people have made out.

I know everyone is different so curious to hear other experiences.

PS I'll happily post the breakdown of costs, just didn't want to bore anyone too much.

Amazed you kept a tally for so long - you sound very disciplined. Well done though .
Dread to think how much we have spent over the years on both of ours. I did buy DD some stuff that I could keep in case we had a boy (and we did) for No2 and I am really pleased that expensive outdoor coats etc can be worn again.

would love to see breakdown of costs if you don't mind - just to compare with what DS's cost me.

TBH it wasn't that difficult keeping track ..

Year 1
Money to SIL for all handmedown stuff 200
Cot mattress -44.95 (present)
Car seat -71.99 (present)
Pram mattress -9.99 (present)
Chassis 70 (present)
Car seat 40
Buggy 40
Baby bath -9.5 (present)
Reusable nappies etc 273.29
Sold nappies as didn'tuse -250
Disposables 250 (est at 1620 nappies a year)
Wipes 50 (est at 2/change x 5 per day)
Socks 10
Anorak 8
Pyjamas 6
£ at birth -570
Ebay -50 (baby stuff I've since sold)
Food 100
Beakers n stuff 20
1st birthday dosh 135
Pressies from us 50
Family benefit 792
Tax Credits 462
Mother and Toddler Fees 30
Maternity Clothes 50

Totals cost to us -1198.14
(I miscalculated so it's even more profit)

I breastfed and DD eats what we eat although we liquidised it when she was smaller.

Unashamed bump!

I saw that article about the £3,500 and thought it was a bit steep too. Like you we were given loads of things as presents and used many of them again second time round and have sold/passed many things on. I think they like to scaremonger!

absolutely, I don't think things like that take into account the amount of presents you may receive as well as things that are borrowed. Also - the cost goes down for each subsequent child as well!

OMG

I reckon have easily spent 3, 500 and dd is only 7 months.

Let see

Pram: 169
Car seat: lent
Baby bath: lent
Rocking crib: 40 (ebay)
New matttress: 15
Bedding: 30
Baby sleeping bag: 30
Travel crib: 35
Cotbed: 200
Mattress: 80
Bedding: 100
Buggy (pram too bulky): 80
Clothes: 100 at least
also had loads of prezzies
Baby gym: 30
Play pen: 70
Booster seat: 25
Bumbo; 30
Swing chair; 25 (ebay)
Bouncy chair; 25
Changing mat; 10
Nappies (6 per day for a year); 330
Wipes (10 per day for a year);37
Baby food (mix of jars and home made) assume one jar per day at 50p since 5 months: 108.5
Toys: 50
cost of taking baby on holiday: 75

Still to buy;

High chair; 60
second size car seat; 80

Less family allowance ; -792

Actually that is way less than I thought: £1042.5

Less money saved not going out on the piss:

£1200

So far baby saved me £157.5

Forgot:

Baby sitters: £ ? 100

Photo developing £ ? 100 Ha ha

Taxi's due to too much hassle on tube: £ 100

etc etc, could go on for hours.

Maternity clothes !!!!

800 ish, old life..........................

erm...tbh I think your methodology is a bit flawed. Firstly loss of earnings is an enormous factor for most people, far outweighed by the cost of a cot and pram and some baby-grows. And you can't offset it with cost of childcare - because if you didn't have a child you wouldn't have to pay for child care. Then you can't call presents "profit" - again - if you didn't have a child you wouldn't need a cot mattress or a car seat. I know studies like this sound alarmist, and I have certainly seen some ludicrous ones (especially when it gets to older kids and things like spending money, birthday presents etc)but I think they do, to some extent, reflect a "true" cost which fully takes into account everything that you spend differently compared with if you didn't have children. In addition to loss of earnings other costs incurred by many parents are a larger house/house improvements/extensions etc; getting a car or getting a larger/newer/ more reliable car; saving money for university; cost of taking a break in mortgage payments; loss of pension contributions. Then there are smaller things like cots, which tbh, can often be offset against changes in lifestyle. But it's the big things that cost the real money

The biggest child cost for us is school fees, followed by holidays, and loss of my earnings.

I don't really think the bigger car and bigger house would has been a big cost for us, tbh. I think people tend to go for the most house they can afford (esp. here in the South East) and the best car they can afford. Had we no or fewer children, we might even be in a more expensive house by now because we would be able to afford more. For holidays, we'd probably go somewhere exotic rather than a cheap week in Devon - the cheap week in Devon was as much for convenience as well as budget.

We live within our means, so if a cost goes up in one place, we cut back elsewhere.

We found that after the first, when you've either got the kit, or realise that a baby needs very little, the cost of having a child went down dramatically. I don't think we bought anything for my fifth, save what we got in gift vouchers.

There is no way we would have ended up making a profit though.

profit? you've made money by having a baby? Or do you count the amount of money less than £3500 that you didn't spend as profit? Interesting way of looking at it.

We bought our house because of DS1's imminent arrival so that was major expenditure, Do I count that? If so if I could that should I count all equity we have in the house now due to house price increases as profit on DS1? I can fully believe that I still would not have bought a house without feeling we had to for DS1 so it should count right?

Luckily I was paid for both times during my maternity leave but adding up the childcare costs for a year would be more that I?ve spent on everything else put together!

I definitely agree though that children will cost what you are willing to spend on them. In hindsight I spent a lot of money on items that I'd been convinced were neccessary. Poor little DS2 hasn't been treated half as much.

About 2 weeks before finding out we were expecting no 4 we did a boot fair and sold all the baby stuff. With hindsight I wondered why I was feeling so rough all morning... and we didn't even make a profit because we all went out to lunch on the proceeds!
I have managed to resist buying too much this time though and when people have asked what presents we'd like have had appropriate things in mind. There's a limit to how many soft toys you need.

I think the whole basis of the calculation is spurious (not yours pagan!), its absurd to think of a baby as a series of purchases! To put it another way: we have two children out of a total household of four people - therefore it would be reasonable over time to expect up to half our household income (perhaps not quite that much, but certainly a hefty proportion) to be spent directly or indirectly on their needs. I have to say I can't think of much that I've bought recently apart from my own food and clothes that isn't ultimately for their benefit. The reason the figures seem so large is that they reflect what we CAN spend, not the bare necessities.
I think it just reflects the rather sad view of our society of children as some sort of optional lifestyle accessory, rather than an essential investment for our future.

I couldn't agree more Elliot

Hi again - I do agree with the points about children as lifestyle, economic decision etc. But I guess it comes down to how the media present the research. If it's used to scare and/or to contribute to the marketing "must-have" appraoch to children then, like you, I do have a problem with that. But I guess I was thinking of it from another point of view - which is that having children IS expensive, yet (imo) it should be a choice open to everyone. So, if the research is used responsibly - for example to try to influence policies like tax breaks for childcare; tax credits etc, then that's a good thing.

They weren't specific about their methodology of their research but their breakdown of costs suggest that they were just looking at the essentials - the one that stuck in my mind was £250 a year for bum wipes!!!! Now that is a lot of s**t if you'll pardon the pun

pagan - sorry, I've reread my post yesterday and it looks a bit sarcastic - it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, hope I didn?t offend.
I agree with elliot - I find it hard to quantify babies as a cost it's more of a lifestyle. When I compare myself with my contemporaries (same qualifications/jobs/age but without children) I can see that I'm financially less well off than some. However because of having children I've made some good decisions (moved city, bought a house, changed jobs) and am actually financially better off than most of, say, my class at uni. That's not even trying to quantify the other benefits of having children.
I do think that the cost of my children so far is just a fraction of what they'll cost in the future (education, trips, clothes etc).
On the other hand - when I'm old and grey I hope they'll help support me, perhaps help to look after me if I fall ill - maybe it evens out? They will also be working, paying into the pensions fund and tending to the needs of all my childless colleagues in their old ages. So our (DP and I) investment benefits society as a whole, but is seen as our personal choice. Agree (again) with elliot that is it sad when the costs (and not just financial) are seen as the price to pay for the luxury of having children.

No offence taken Eefs

TBH I don't think in terms of what DS costs. The amount of joy he has brought to me and DH is unmeasurable and certainly not one I could possibly put a price on!

Albert - my sentiments exactly

Hello - Im new to Mumsnet and ahve been reading your conversation about the cost of babies. I'll be 30 next year and woudl like to start a family but my hubby keeps telling me 'we cant afford it'. I keep telling him that we will never actually be able to afford it - anyone been in a similar situation? I think he wants me to produce some sort of cost/benefit analysis to convince him or something! Which btw - Im not going to do! Would love to ehar your advice if you ahve any!

Hi trinket, if you discount the cost does he have any other objections to having a family? As you can see in this thread the cost of a baby doesn't have to be huge.
If I had waited for dh to feel 'ready' to have kids I'd still be waiting I think, I just told him that we were and that was that

Hi Trinket

There are so many people now who put a monetary value on everything. Having a baby is the most fantastic thing ever. I think females relate to it more because of the maternal instincts and men have a bit more difficulty in getting with that.
Having said that I met my DH in my 30s. He was much more keen than me to have children, I was just wary of being hurt (legacy from previous relationship) and didn't want to have kids until I was sure that life would be rosy.

My daughter is the best thing to ever have happened to me and my DH adores her. I imagine all other mums and dads on here would say exactly the same about their kids. Before I had children I used to think that folk who went on about how great it was were nuts but it's all true. It's an old cliche in that nothing can prepare you for it but the rewards are infinite.

Go for it now as alas for some women, they wait too long and fertility is reduced along with time to get help to rectify that.

If you want any more advice on doing things on the cheap please get in touch