Budgeting for babies?

HappySad

Hi Alfietinker

You are doing well to plan for your new baby. Living on one income and saving/investing the rest is a very good idea. ON the area of decorating your house.. don't fit any new carpets in your living room or child's bedroom. Wait until your child is potty trained. Plastering then painting the walls in these rooms is also a good bet because if you wall paper you may find that your darling todder pulls it down.

In terms on what to buy I found this book really useful.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0852029896/202-0712184-1172635


To teach and entertain your child this book is great because it shows you how to make most of your childs toys.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0746001339/ref=si_1_1/202-0712184-1172635

Borrow the books from the library.

jellyhead

spendless posted the entitled to website, this will give you an idea of how much tax credit etc. you'll get.

long term it's around £17 per week in child benefit, £10 per week in family element of tax credit and on 22 you'd also get a bit extra child tax credit and would get a one off surestart grant of £500 to buy equipment for the baby. for the first year you also get the baby element of an extra 10 or so a week. also factor in any SMP or MA you'd get during maternity leave etc. you don't have to go back to work, i left while pregnant and got MA for 6 months.

babies weekly stuff varies enormously.

disposable nappies at full price will cost around 7 a week or you could buy the supermarket own brands, use 3 for 2 offers when available etc.

baby wipes vary too. a brand name pack costing nearly £3 will last around a week. there are cheaper ones avaiilable and wipes are always on offer in boots etc.

nappy sacks if used can cost 80p for a bag of 50, or 99p for 300 thin cheaper ones.

washable nappies are cheaper on ebay, some are brand new if you don't want used ones.

flushable liners are around a fiver for a month, a pack of 200 from boots. i use wahsable fleece liners. i bought them off ebay because i liked the frog design and they were cut to an hourglass shape, better than a rectangle. i can make my own using a liner as a pattern if i wanted to but they were only around £3 for ten liners anyway and they're patterned, they look new even after lots of use.

if you bottle feed the formula can cost from £4.99 to around £9 depending on the brand you choose. a tin lasts around a week. mine costs £6.97 a week. wide neck bottles help prevent windiness in babies. you often get some free when you buy a steriliser. i have ten bottles.

i haven't started feeding my baby yet but the price of jars etc. of food is shocking. i do know people who use nothing but jars but i can't see me doing it, i'll cook my own a lot of the time.

baby clothes are cheap in supermarkets, even cheaper in charity shops or in bundles from ebay.

vicky24_2

can anyone help me I want to have an idea of if I would be able to get the sure start maternity grant, I'm only about 6 weeks preggers at atm but it'd be nice to know, we get tax credits now, my partner gets about £24 paid with his wages and I get about £43 paid into the bank I'm not sure how to work it all out, any help would be gratefully apreiciated.
Vicky.

jellyhead

hi, if you are on a low income you should get the grant but you will probably have to wait until the baby is born before you can claim. it will depend on if you give up work, etc. etc. and in general if between you (assuming you live together) you earn less than 24 thousand a year you'll be able to get the £500 grant. in certain circumstances such as disability in the family or having more than 3 children etc. you can still get it if your combined income is more than 24 thousand. it all depends on the amount of child tax credit you get. if you get more than the 'family element' (around ten a week although when baby is under a year old it gets doubled) you're entitled to the grant. you may have to wait until baby is born before you can claim the child tax credits. congratulations on your pregnancy :-)

pdoff

vicky24 wrote:

can anyone help me I want to have an idea of if I would be able to get the sure start maternity grant, I'm only about 6 weeks preggers at atm but it'd be nice to know, we get tax credits now, my partner gets about £24 paid with his wages and I get about £43 paid into the bank I'm not sure how to work it all out, any help would be gratefully apreiciated.
Vicky.

i discovered too late we wouldnt get it as i work 12 hours a week (dh works full time. if i didnt work at all would have got it or if i did 16 hours a week would get working families tax credit & get the grant so am very miffed - could easily have got sitter to do an extra 4 hours a week for a while if had realised!! baby due next week so too late now!!

Spendless

pdoff wrote:

i discovered too late we wouldnt get it as i work 12 hours a week (dh works full time. if i didnt work at all would have got it or if i did 16 hours a week would get working families tax credit & get the grant so am very miffed - could easily have got sitter to do an extra 4 hours a week for a while if had realised!! baby due next week so too late now!!

Are you sure about this? I did a quick google search and couldn't find anything to suggest if you work more than 0 and less than 16 hours you won't get it. What about maternity pay if you're not entitled to SMP what about MA. Don't miss out on any money you might be entitled to.

pdoff

wont get smp so getting ma which was a right pain figuring out the form & sending payslips in etc. def says on forms u need to get working families tax credit to get anything else, which we dont as i dont do 16 hours. noone ever answers phone at tax credits helpline & website a waste of time. will keep trying as is annoying to know that we would be better off if i didnt work as i would rather work & earn my own money than use the governments (well, other people's taxes!).

Spendless

pdoff wrote:

wont get smp so getting ma which was a right pain figuring out the form & sending payslips in etc. def says on forms u need to get working families tax credit to get anything else, which we dont as i dont do 16 hours. noone ever answers phone at tax credits helpline & website a waste of time. will keep trying as is annoying to know that we would be better off if i didnt work as i would rather work & earn my own money than use the governments (well, other people's taxes!).

Which forms?. AFAIK you get the £500 surestart if you get more than the family element of tax credits (£547.50), some people won't get WTC but will get more than the £547.50. You have to both be working at least 16 hours each to qualify for childcare help via tax credits. Ask this question on the Benefits Board as someone with more knowledge than myself should be able to help.

jellyhead

on the surestart form there's a box you can tick to say that you get more than the family element of tax credits. unless between the pair of you you're earning more than 24 thousand you should be entitled to the grant. if my husband didn't have a company car i would have been entitled, he works full time earning 24, i don't work at all.

Alfietinker

OK, I'm a little confused as I've never claimed for anything.

When we finally 'go for a baby' how would we claim? I'd give up work and hubby would earn 22k basic. Some years however he would get up to £3k in overtime, but not garanteed.

I've looked at the 'entitled to' website and filled in values as if our baby was born last week. It said we would only be entitled to child benefit. No tax credits or sure start.

Confused!