Savings 3 years in advance for a baby. Some advice would help :)

[hannah254]

Hi,

Sorry I am a first time poster so I don't know a lot of abbreviations.

Me and my partner are both 23 and we hoping to start trying to conceive around 26. We have a joint income of £57,000 (I earn £28k and other half earns £29k). By the time we have a baby I am hoping we will both be earning a bit more.

We own a house and live in the South East. Paying £800 a month for mortgage but once bills, fuel etc are paid we still have quite a bit left over.

When we have a baby I would like to take one years maternity leave. My company aren't clear on their maternity policy (not in my contract or company handbook) so we are preparing to take a big hit as I contribute almost 50%. So we are trying to prepare far in advance so we aren't stuck when it comes to it. And after that I would work part time as I believe childcare is really expensive.

So my question is, how much do people recommend we have in the pot in savings before trying to conceive? Any advice or insight would be great as we don't have any friends who are parents at the moment so have nobody to ask. Those of you on similar household incomes, how much did you have in savings beforehand and was this enough? How is the best way to prepare for losing 50% of household income? And for those of you on different incomes I'd still really appreciate any help you can give me.

We don't want to put every spare penny in a baby pot as we still want to enjoy ourselves. But any advice so we know where to start and what we should aim for would be great. I worry about money and having a baby is something I want more than anything so I really don't want to be unprepared and then be even more stressed.

Thank you xxx

I have twins, I hardly saved anything before they arrived as we just had too much going on . We moved house when I was about 5 months as we were in a 1 bed flat before, family very generously helped us with the high cost things and i cut down on bills, cancelled things we didn't actually need, reduced my phone contract etc.

When I got my first mat pay I panicked A LOT but you make it work, my other half puts more into the house than me just now as I'm on half pay and when I go back to back I'm going part time so I'll put in more than I do now but less than I used to.

Savings are a great idea but if things come up that you need the money for then don't get into a blind panic. Good luck when the time comes!

Oh and you're right, don't look at the price of childcare or you'll never do it 🙈

I figure we can overpay to balance it out once DC are older and I can increase my hours again!

Not much to add but I think it's very wise to think about this before TTC. I've been bargain hunting a lot for baby things, Nd I've been able to get almost everything I want secondhand and good quality, including things like the next to me crib, sleepyhead, grobags etc. Charity shops and NCT sales are great as are local Facebook selling groups.

Thanks for the advice and reassurance everybody xxx

I would spend your money and time having fun and enjoying as much of life as you can. Life changes massively when you have a baby (even more when you have two), and the best thing that can set you up for that is having had a brilliant time beforehand.

Stop saving and enjoy yourselves while you can!! Buy yourself one of those expensive beautiful holidays involving long travel, and wildly inappropriate to take children on. Go to the theatre. Enjoy lazy morning sex in posh hotels. Oh the days...

Honestly babies need nothing, all essentials can be bought for cheap second hand. Once you have stopped going out, buying work clothes, paying for travel to work, you'll make that mat pay plus child benefit stretch.

My eldest was 7 today, 8 years ago we went to China, haven't left the country since

Hello, I think it's a great idea. I did the same and it's really added up (although that's partly because it took us far longer than we expected to conceive!) I'm the main wage earner and have enough saved to pay the mortgage for a year which is definitely one less thing to worry about. I had a direct debit set up to take out a set amount each month (the day after pay day) so I never really noticed it. I also upped the amount as my pay increased. If you can afford to put a bit aside each month (and still enjoy life!) then I think it's a great idea. Best of luck to you : )

I wouldn't ask your work though. Some places can be real funny about maternity and I wouldn't want to tip them off. I would assume stat then anything else is a bonus ;-)

We have enough savings that would cover about 9 months of essential bills (mortgage, council tax, service charge etc etc). So, about £35k. I wanted to be sure that if something happened to my husband's job while I wasn't working then we would be okay for a while. I only had maternity allowance to cover my leave and won't be going back to work for the foreseeable future. It was nice to know the money was there but we haven't dipped into our savings. We bought the essentials in terms of baby stuff and did quite a bit of gumtree/eBay, and for the big ticket items we wanted to buy new we bought when sales were on (bought the buggy when I was 25 weeks, so a bit wary, but saved £200). Having a baby can be as cheap or as expensive as you want. And you're right, childcare is stupid expensive.

If this is a 3 year plan, there's scope for you to move to another company with a better maternity package isn't there? It may be standard in your industry that you only get the statutory entitlement, but it's worth considering.

I agree with pencilling on some
Wonderful experiences for the next 3 years! Also, it's good to use the
Planning time (I hear you- we planned for about 5 years before trying nosavingsthough) to get your body in tip top condition. Start tracking periods with an app, improving diet and exercising. Good luck

Thanks for the advice everybody :)

Do you think I should just ask my employer what the company maternity policy is?

I wouldn't ask your employer - I'd honestly just plan for stat maternity pay and anything above is a bonus. You have no idea where you will be in 3 years, a lot can change!

As soon as we found out we were expecting, we put £500 a month away into savings to pay for baby stuff as in case we needed it during Mat leave. That was more than sufficient and we ended up using most of it to go towards paying for double glazing instead of baby!

We chose for me to become a SAHM after having our son, and it's worked out great - we have certainly had to tighten our belts, but it works for us. I have always been very cautious with money though, and when we bought our home, we made sure we could afford it on just one salary which did make things easier.

Whilst I think it's right to think about it, I think you're overthinking it. Get a good understanding of your outgoings and make sure they are as streamlined as poss (best deals on insurances / services etc) and how much you are spending without going over the top. Then put a set amount away each month.

I don't think there is a right amount to aim for, it entirely depends on circumstance. Lots manage on no savings. Anything you can put away is great. Just be realistic

Don't ask your employer. A colleague did this in an old job and she was passed over for promotion. We think because they didn't want someone in a senior role who might want time off for mat leave.

No way of proving that though. I wouldn't do it.

ememem84 That is what I am worried about too :/ I think we will just prepared for stat maternity leave and anything extra is a bonus xx

I've not read the whole thread OP so sorry if this is double information.

When we started trying to conceive (ttc) we starting putting enough money away so we would have £7000 approximately which would cover my wages once full mat pay ended.

When we found out I was pregnant (pg) we put away 2,500£ to spend on baby and nursery (redoing whole room including decorating)

So we should have enough to cover us for the full year of mat leave, but, maybe stupidly, we haven't considered after mat leave yet. I think I'll go back part time but only reducing hours from 35 to 30 and we are lucky that both sets of grandparents are around and willing to help with child care. Still it will be after mat leave that we find ourselves in uncertain waters xx

I've not read the whole thread OP so sorry if this is double information.

When we started trying to conceive (ttc) we starting putting enough money away so we would have £7000 approximately which would cover my wages once full mat pay ended.

When we found out I was pregnant (pg) we put away 2,500£ to spend on baby and nursery (redoing whole room including decorating)

So we should have enough to cover us for the full year of mat leave, but, maybe stupidly, we haven't considered after mat leave yet. I think I'll go back part time but only reducing hours from 35 to 30 and we are lucky that both sets of grandparents are around and willing to help with child care. Still it will be after mat leave that we find ourselves in uncertain waters xx

Actual babies don't cost much - especially if you breastfeed, cloth nappy (second hand have some great bargains), hand me down clothes etc.

It's childcare that is crippling. £52 a day for us in the south east for a nursery place; central London is more. If you can compress hours at work (full time in four days / three slightly longer days) then it helps as you get more income against the childcare outlay; also look at your husband doing similar. Working from home on a regular basis will save on commuting costs too. All helps.

We are saving £1000 a month so I can take a comfortable year off. We are hoping to have about £6000 in the pot by the time baby comes ( after paying for my shiny new bugaboo!) . I went back to work with first at 5 months due to financial reasons as had no savings, never again!!!

Honestly.. you can never afford a baby or mat leave. Spend your money on enjoying life baby free (dates, holidays, impulse buy clothes for yourself, do house projects). You can do a baby on a budget! We had our ds straight out of uni on just DH salary and no statutory maternity pay because I wasn't entitled. I'm now a SAHM because quite honestly it's cheaper than childcare 😂 It all just depends if you're willing to sacrifice your standard of living! I'd have rather spent my money on enjoying life pre-baby than saving up so we could 'enjoy' life post baby. I don't think I'd enjoy my days with DS any more if we had more in the bank! We don't miss out on anything. But if you worry about the financial side of things for years before you actually start TTC I think it mighf unnecessarily stress you out!! Either way you'll manage!

I often see on here that it is childcare that's crippling, for us, whilst it is expensive, we were definitely better off when I was working. Maternity pay after the initial 6 weeks was only £600 a month so a massive drop. I saved a lot during pregnancy and had around £3,000 in the bank which covered the shortfall but I still went back after 6 months.

When I was back at work, 4 days a week of compressed hours, childcare was £36/day BUT we both did childcare vouchers and had to top up £20 a month or so. The tax saving meant that we were only actually down about £250 a month.

I often hear people say that you'll manage somehow and don't need to worry but that really would not have been true for us. I was/am the (slightly) higher earner and contributed more than half our household income. We have a modest but expensive house in the SE, we need £1400 a month just to pay mortgage and house related bills. We wouldn't have survived my mat leave without savings so I'd say it's definitely something to think about. Don't let it rule your life obviously but I think you're really sensible to have some sort of a plan.

People manage somehow- debt usually 😂 It's better to plan if you can!

I'm really impressed you're thinking so far ahead!

Completely agree with what others have said re second hand sales. I recently was in a Mamas & Papas in the morning (for a work thing) looking at Moses baskets that cost £110 (DD2 refused to sleep in one anyway), then went to a nearly new type sale in the afternoon and there were at least 4 very slightly used Moses baskets there for about a fiver each!

I know buying brand new is really important for some people but crikey it's a waste of money with some things...