Putting a budget together for when we have kids. Guidence needed on costings for baby

mickym

Attempting to budget for the prospect of having kids.

Looking at the great budget planner on here, i need to enter details fo the following:

Cost of Nappies per week/month

Cost of baby clothes

Baby Food

Anything else ive missed?!

You help is always appreciated!

starbump

Small amount for toiletries and meds. It is unlikely your partner will be unable to breast-feed but it might be sensible to allow contingency for infant formula milk. You also need to replace things that go in the mouth every so often (about as frequently as toothbrushes) e.g. bottle teats, dummies, etc. Shoes are expensive - from when baby starts walking.

RoxieW

What about the biggies - cot, bedding, pram, buggy, carseat, highchair, bouncy cradle, moses basket, nursery decoration/furniture, toys, first clothes etc?
I'd budget £1000 for this little lot - although you can do it much cheaper if you want to and put your mind to it, you're still talking hundreds.
Kiddicare.com is a good site to check out for prices.

Also, the big financial hit is often not the baby itself but the reduction in income that it brings. If partner is currently working she may not want to return. How will that impact paying the mortgage/bills etc? You will get certain benefits such as child benefit and child tax credit. Check entitledto.com for a rough idea.

lauren_1

Depends on how much stuff you want to buy new or would you be ok with things from charity shops, ebay, hand me downs and freecycle?

lauren_1

Tots bots have their multi packs reduced by 40% on amazon, a fairly big outlay but you reap the rewards by re-using them and they have a very good re-sale value too.

Spendless

mickym- I got everything for my eldest passed on from family/friends, this included cot, moses-basket, steriliser (I struggled to breast-feed), clothes, bedding (sheets & blankets). My parents bought us a pram. So very little initial expense. I do remember buying a lot of car seats with eldest, so had an iso-fix one with youngest.

The biggest expense was loss of my income. Though due to us having a house each when we married, we nevergot used to a double income. From your other thread the biggest expenses I see is your rent plus potential loss of income.

mickym

No doubt we will be pretty lucky with presants from friends and family, and also pass on clothes and stuff...so that would save us quite a bit.

Its really the general outgoings really....nappies, food, etc to add to weekly/monthly budget.

Thanks for the entitledto website link.been looking into it....although i think its has a few glitches at the moment.

Staciep88

I have managed to make a list that comes to £500 odd, and thats everything you need (essentials) includes cot, pram etc etc. Worked it to be about £10 a week approx, on nappies, wipes etc. But that doesnt include milk which is nearly £10 on its own. As mentioned above, look on Kiddicare.com and Mothercare and even Argos

mickym

so about £10 a week in nappies and £10 a week on milk?

I thought it would have been more?!

Staciep88

Well i think milk is £8 and with a newborn 1 of those will last approx 2 weeks, obviously the older they get the more they will want. Nappies are about £5 for the big pack (I really recommend Tesco's own brand) which will last about a week. Also baby wipes - you normally get BOGOF in Boots etc which makes it about £2 and they will probs last a week. Although if you want to cut the cost of that you could always use cottom wool and water (As they recommend - but obviously for conveinence wipes are better) You will get the £18 child benefit a week and tbh that will cover the weekly costs in the early days until they start gulping the milk down.

Things I have put together on my list are as follows; bath, changing mat, bedroom furniture - inc cot etc, bedding, baby monitor, buggy, towels, care kit, playgym, and bouncer. all this is about £500.00 but if you are buying your milk you will also need all the sterilizing equipment (which can be quite expensive)

Then your weekly costs: nappies, wipes, milk.
Then your 'every so often costs: medicines, dummies etc

Hope this helps

mickym

superb!

thanks for all your help, its nice to now have an idea of what we will be likely to be playing out.

A massive thanks for all your help and advice!