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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Budgeting for a baby

33 replies

lucky1979 · 08/09/2009 11:57

As I'm terminally bored at work (start maternity leave in 4 1/2 days!) I've been creating an updated budgeting sheet for me and DH for us to use.

But I'm really at a loss to work out what to put in for the baby bits! I was just wondering if people could let me know roughly what they spend monthly on specifically baby things. Things like nappies (will be using disposables), formula (would like to breastfeed ideally but would also like to know roughly how much people spent on it per month), wipes etc. Clothes and toys and so on will go seperately, it's just the monthly regular purchases that I have no idea about. If there is anything I've not thought of that is a regular expense, please let me know

Can anyone help?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

blondieminx · 08/09/2009 12:21

will be watching with interest!

Enjoy your mat leave, I still have another 3 months to go!

hanaflowerhatestheDM · 08/09/2009 12:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Reallytired · 08/09/2009 12:34

Babies are cheap, its when they get older it gets expensive. Nursery fees are very scary.

ErikaMaye · 08/09/2009 12:45

I think Mum and I worked it out as about £40 a month on nappies - Huggies and Pampers being about the same. Asda is cheapest by about two pound.

Wipes - have bought it bulk. Sainsburys have a baby supplies sale on occassionally, and works out as a pack for 50p. Might be worth keeping an eye on that.

No idea about formula, sorry.

NewbeeMummy · 08/09/2009 12:50

Will be very interested to see what replies you get, have been considering doing this myself as I'm due in 6 weeks.

Original poster

lucky1979 · 08/09/2009 12:56

ErikaMaye, that's close to what I came to guessing for nappies. We're going to go to Makro in a week or so and try and bulk buy things there, no idea what they'll have though

One of my collegues who FF reckons that you can get through an £8 tin of formula a week so I can use that as a starting point!

OP posts:

lovelylullaby · 08/09/2009 12:59

All my child allowance went on nappies/formula milk/wipes/cotton wool. Think it's about £20 a week.

Don't worry about budgeting for babygrows/clothes etc as you'll most likely get loads of gifts.

Sainsbury's do a third off baby stuff every couple of months (apart from milk), and if you join the boots parenting club you do rake up an enormous amount of points which you can then spend on more baby things.

SparkleandShine · 08/09/2009 13:02

Nappies are 12p each (pampers) I'd say a newborn uses about 10 a day and at 6 months about 6. It is worth trying re-usables, I am currently mixing the two with re-usables when at home during the day and disposables at night and when it's less convenient. Some councils give vouchers for re-usables (London for example gives £50)

wipes - always buy the offers! I think they're more like £1 /pack but will be nearer £2-3 if you don't find an offer.

Formula - no idea am like hanaflower a breast feeder but buy ready made formula at about 40-50p a carton (=1 feed) to mix with baby rice now I'm weaning. It is much cheaper to breastfeed (and easier!).

Clothes - you'll need quite a few vests and babygros at first and they grow into the next size super fast (With both DS's I went through Newborn, 0-3, 3-6 and 6-9 sizes in under 6 months, but they were both big and fast growing.)

I don't think there is anything else....

ErikaMaye · 08/09/2009 13:04

Cash and carry is supposed to be great too, if you've got the space!!

As for clothes, I've been given a lot of mine second hand as people know I'm short of money, but the ones I have bought are from George - you can get seven baby grows for £5

suwoo · 08/09/2009 13:07

I use Morrisons own disposables which are £1.64 for 28. I use nowhere near 10 per day though

sorky · 08/09/2009 13:09

I'm guessing it's your first

They are as expensive as you want them to be.

I second the "move your entire budget to 'baby' " comment.

I applaud your organisation, make the most of it!
You're never going to have this much time to plan anything ever again

MrsBadger · 08/09/2009 13:19

nappies, wipes and other things you'll just add to the supermarket shop pale into insignificance compared to childcare costs

start saving now

One thing you WILL need from Makro is an industrial box of washing powder - even if you do paper nappies the amount of laundry a baby can generate is immense.

(NB am also a bfing, cloth-using hippy and I made a colossal spreadsheet for DH showing how much money resuable nappies could save us - results here)

hanaflowerhatestheDM · 08/09/2009 14:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsBadger · 08/09/2009 14:43

um, no you can't

cows' milk isn't suitable as a main drink till 12m

BornToFolk · 08/09/2009 14:54

I agree with your colleague at the one tin of formula a week, that's what DS used to get through when he was on 5 feeds a day.

A newborn might get through more though. If you FF on demand, I can imagine you'd probably end up throwing quite a lot away.

Have you thought about reusable wipes, even if you don't fancy the nappies? Old flannels or cut up towels would do just as well as the posher ones you can buy and will save you a fortune.

pooexplosions · 08/09/2009 15:05

Really bad advice there, don't listen to it. Cows milk is far too high in sodium for just a starting point.....

MrsBadger · 08/09/2009 15:16

ah I have just read the original post more carefully - sparkleandshine is buying formula just for making up baby rice with

and you can use cows' milk in cooking from 6m, just not as a drink.

ilovetochat · 08/09/2009 15:28

tesco own wipes are 98p per pack and are fine, start buying a pack a week now.
tesco own nappies are fine in newborn size (found they leaked once dd crawled so swapped to pampers) and dd used 10 a day to start with so needed 3 packs a week.
i bf but my friend spent £10 a week on formula.

pooexplosions · 08/09/2009 15:53

Apologies, I made the same mistake. my bad

Stannie · 08/09/2009 15:57

I'm too terrified to budget!

Interested to see the replies though..

ilovetochat · 08/09/2009 16:01

if you are going to drop from 5 days a week to 3 and your wage is going to fall to 60% then start living off that figure now. its no good saying we cant as you will have to soon enough. then use the other 40% to buy baby stuff.
also when your dc is born you will get some vouchers for mothercare etc, dont waste them on more and more clothes as babys grow so quickly, you can use them for essentials like nappies/wipes.

BornToFolk · 08/09/2009 16:07

Don't buy any clothes at all. You'll be given loads and if you find you're short of something, you can pick them up at the supermarket for next to nothing.

pooexplosions · 08/09/2009 16:19

One thing about the clothes, ime, everyone will give you newborn stuff, and you will end up with a ton of stuff worn once or not at all. At least half the stuff you get, don't open and you can usually swap them for larger sizes in the shops.
Makes much more sense than having loads of tiny stuff you never use.

hanaflowerhatestheDM · 08/09/2009 19:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hanaflowerhatestheDM · 08/09/2009 19:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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