affording to be a stay at home mum

mummyteare · 12 February 2007 at 9:52PM

Hi, I'm a new mum, my baby girl is 5 months and my maternity pay has run out. I do have some savings but I want to be able to run the house etc on my husbands wage.
areas I've saved so far...
Sold my car so we are now a 1 car family (£3850 made on sale and roughly £50 a month saving)
Breastfeeding until my baby is 1(roughly £180 saved in 23 weeks)
Making my own baby food
Real Nappies (Over £800 a year as the nappies were a gift and I wash at 40deg with no tumble drying)
Council tax down banded (£550 rebate and £20 a month saving)
Price comparison on super markets - Asda the cheepest
Enery saving bulbs
Sold old phones to envirophone (£75 made)
Large expenses..
New boiler system - new combi boiler, water tank and cylinder removed - £2990
New front door and window panel - £1040

Where else can I save/ make money so I can achieve my goal

alwaysonthego_2 · 12 February 2007 at 9:56PM

Hi I am a stay at home mum have you claimed tax credits, buy clothes for baby off ebay, join pigsback.com to earn free vouchers, make homemade meals. We manage fine on my dh wage

seven-day-weekend · 12 February 2007 at 10:24PM

You may wish to consider having a lodger to help with the bills if you have a spare room.

Quite often they are OK for babysitting too!

Good luck!

dlb · 12 February 2007 at 10:35PM

As said before claim tax credits if you can, i cut back everywhere i can, i sell everything i now longer want on ebay and buy xmas pressies ect from ebay also, piggypoints are great and soon build up, get an account for both yourself and other half so double points and pigsback allow this.
Cook from scratch, use meal planning this is the area iv been able to cut back most on, cut my shopping bill by almost £250 a month, walk when you can instead of using car and biggest tip ever, keep using this site, has saved me loads in the past year and got me loads of freebies along the way.
Good luck, as a stay at home mum of 4, it is often harder work to stay at home but well worth it if you can afford to do so.

samcantcope · 12 February 2007 at 10:39PM

I became a stay at home mom last year to my 2 year ols and new born, didnt know how we would manage but you just do, I make my own bread (in a breadmaker) cooked all my own baby meals and froze them, Try and set yourself up to do mystery shopping and surveys, I have done quite a few now.

we are still trying to cut down our weekly grocery shopping, just not happening though.

Rachie_B · 12 February 2007 at 10:52PM

sign up to every survey and cashback site going

then when baby / child is in bed spend a few hours "making money" online

it wont make you a millionaire but will give you cash / vouchers for doing very little ! and will give you a bit of "pocket money "

buy / sell on ebay ,once your baby has outgrown something / finished with a piece of equipment then sell it on

if you have sky see if you can downgrade
same for mobile phones ,go on a cheaper tariff or change to PAYG

dlb · 12 February 2007 at 10:52PM

The old style moneysaving board is great for tips on cuting back on food shopping ect, and cleaning stuff, as said by last posted mystery shopping is fun and sometimes you can take the kids with you. I have on alot of mine.
Try lightspeed,brain juicer and pureprofile for free vouchers afew minutes a day and free stuff!!

Juicy_Tube · 12 February 2007 at 10:52PM

Check out your local NCT sales-fabulous! For buying and selling later on.

JT x

dlb · 12 February 2007 at 10:56PM

Oh and join your local freecycle group great for geting rid of things and geting things that other people no longer want.

mummyteare · 12 February 2007 at 11:30PM

Tustastic wrote:

Hi mummyteare, well done for affording the new combi boiler, I assume it's a condensing one. Lots of people have told me they are stunned by the huge amounts they are saving on their energy bills with the new boilers, so you should count this as another moneysaving success.
Good luck with the quest to stay at home.:)

Selling the car payed for that!

hardpressed · 12 February 2007 at 11:38PM

Keep a note of everything you spend for a month then you'll be able to see what things you could cut down on or even do without. If its possible put a little bit away each week in a 'treats fund', then occasionlly you can treat yourself without feeling guilty. Somehow watching the pennies isn't so bad if you can have a treat once in a while.

affording to be a stay at home mum

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