saving for a baby

nethesi

Hi All,

This may be a little early and optemistic as we're not starting to try for a baby yet but we have ambitious plans that we would like one of us (my husband) to be able to give up work while we have pre-school children.

I have calculated what money we need saved up to cover loss of earnings during my maternity as I am paid more than DH (currently his salary goes on savings and luxuaries). However I have only a vague idea from freinds and family of the sort of cost involved in all the bits that babies apparently need. It's not really the sort of thing that you ask... especially when some people I know "need" to buy from Harrods and others are happy with Argos (we're the latter)

Anyway obviously when it comes to it (I'm saying when not if, not from a lack of sensitivity but from trying to be hopeful!) we will do our best to get second hand/cheap stuff but would really appreciate a ballpark estimate from any mums/dads out there as to what you think you're likely to spend on baby stuff in say the first 6 months - I'm thinking furniture, pram, clothes, etc.
If you had to buy new.

I suspect of course that family may make some gifts of clothes and nearly new sales might be available but I'm trying to be prudent

chivers1977

Hi,

Having a 3.5 yr old I think that I am fairly qualified to answer this. It is not the "kit" that costs the money. It is the mat leave and childcare meaning that you have much less income each month. eg FT nursery in Kent costs £772 pm for a baby at our nursery.

You can get so much stuff on freecycle, ebay, friends, NCT nearly new sales . There will be nappy costs, we did disposable and babies will get through around £20-25 per month to start if they are as pooey as my son was!!

My expenditure on kit was
£99 for maclaren techno XT buggy from kiddicare - mother paid (still in use occasionally )
Maxicosi seat £60 BN ebay - MIL paid
nappies
breastfed so only about £20 on formula for top ups towards the end
Breastpump ebay £12 resold for £25
IKEA changing table £79 will resell next wk for about £15 !!:eek: - buy this from ebay if you want one
Clothes. - donated loads of hand me downs. Bought one nice outfit from mothercare and other stuff from ebay

horseykitty

My little one is literally an ebaybe - I've gotton just about everything off there, from cot, to buggy, clothes, toys, baby carrier, christening gown - and not all of it was used. I've been very surprised and pleased by what I've bought off it and know I have saved a fortune.
Babies seem to need such a lot of stuff but most of it for a very short time - therefore most pre-owned stuff is in excellent condition. When the time comes I would accept offers graciously - if they suit fine, if not pass them onto a charity shop or someone else who is expecting.

kirstle99

Hi there, it's nice to see you are thinking ahead for what things will cost you. I didn't get hardly anything new when I had my boy last year but I can detail you some stuff along with a couple of hints & tips.

* Moses basket = definitely Ebay to buy this; the baby won't be in it for long (if at all). I paid £20 for one from Ebay with the stand, new you will probably be looking at £30-£50 and you will probably have to get the stand seperate

* I will always reccomend a cotbed over a cot; they last so much longer; I bought a cotbed frame from Ebay for £15 (picked it up myself) and then bought a new matress from Argos (think that was about £45). But if you will be buying a new cotbed they cost around £100- £150.

* Prams are a funny one, and definitely depends on your preference, some mums prefer bulky prams while others prefer the lightweight ones. I would go into somewhere like mothercare and test them out to see which type you like before you think of a price. You can spend anything between £100 - £200 easily (but sometimes these come with a carseat included so very handy)

* Clothes = I got most of mine from Ebay, the only new ones I have bought have been in sales.

* For the furniture for the baby's room = I wouldn't fall into the trap of thinking you need a 'baby sized wardobe, chest of drawers' etc, if you have a big enough room get full size and save yourself the cost of buying more new furniture when the baby is older.

* Think about weaning stuff, and are you going to make the food yourself or buy jars? If you want to have a go yourself, i fully reccomend value ice cube trays for freezing weaning food, and also value storage containers, you dont need to get the special weaning storage tubs.

* Carseats = I would personally always buy these new, so you can be sure they are 100% safe. Prices start from about £60 ish i think.

* I would also reccomend getting a travel cot, these (in my opinion) are great for when the baby gets a bit older and you need to pop to the loo, or if they want a nap during the day. I have never bought a stairgate because of this. Definitely another Ebay one, or new they cost about £30-£40.

* Another thing; I found ebay shops / power sellers to be wonderful for cot / cotbed sheets. I got some from there (including postage) for about half the price they were in mothercare etc.

Hope some of this helps!

Bella79

not sure about excat figures but my daughter is 22 months shes my first baby and there were no other babies in family so we really were first timers !! lol
things i learned

do not buy baby sized wardrobes ther not big enough and ive already reaplced our little ones

dont waste money on bottle warmer screeming baby middles of night do u really wanna wait 3 mins for bottle to warm ?? lol i microwaved jst make sure u shake really well after to get rid of heatspots (midwife said it was ok)

i wish id never brought a baby monitior made me soooooo paranoid listening for every little noise sure enough after me no sleeping for weeks hubby turned it off ! lol and trust me if your baby wakes u will hear her/him

i would never ever buy a brandnew pram again i got the mammas and papas pilko pramette wonderfull pram light folds down converts to buggy without taking bits on and off but cost me 400+ , Theres so many excellent cond 2nd hand ones in admag, ebay etc i would save my money

dont go mad buying newborn size clothes i had loads she diddnt wear some of them she lived in babygrowns and once lovely outfit for coming home from hostpital with honestly i would jst buy a couple of dozen babygrows and maybe 1/2 "best" outfits i wasted so much money they only fitted for about 4 weeks !

tescos./asdas own brand vests are great and cheap cos sometimes baby sick jst wont come out lol i fell into the mothercare for everything trap i soon got out of that one x

hope this helps u to know what not to buy however this is jst my idea on stuff x

hayleyc_2

I would agree that it's not the 'stuff' that costs money, it's the maternity leave, and then childcare costs when you go back to work, or drop in salary if you go part-time or decide to be a stay at home mum.

We were given a lot of stuff, and hardly spent any money on our baby's first 6 months.

Moses basket - we were given ours but they're often on freecycle. I gave mine away on freecycle 'cos I didn't have room to store it. Make sure you buy a new mattress for it though. We got a fairly cheap one 'cos we thought he's only going to be in it for a few months. Also he was in the sling a lot so not in the basket much.

Sling/Carrier - It's worth getting a decent one so that it's comfortable. Make sure you try them out first 'cos it'll be a waste of money if you never wear it There are sling meets where you can try out different ones without having to buy them. http://www.slingmeet.co.uk/

pushchair - ours was about £100 but my parents bought it for us. We didn't bother with a pram because we used the sling until DS was old enough for the pushchair.

clothes - apart from a few new bits that i couldn't resist we got a couple of bundles from ebay which where about £30 in total for 0-6months. We were also given a lot of clothes and he had quite a few things that he hardly wore.

Nappies - used cloth for the 1st few months but claimed some money back through a council scheme. I think I spent about £60. You can use re-usable wipes but if you get the disposable ones we tend to get through quite a lot because you tend to use them for everything!

Carseat - we were given ours by a friend (knew it hadn't been in an accident) but if you want to buy new then that will probably be one of your biggest expenses

Food/Weaning - Breastfed exclusively for 6 months and still feeding now so no costs there (except the extra cakes and biscuits I ate! ) We did baby led weaning so no expense spent on jars of food or blenders or anything for purees. I was given a breastpump and never bothered with a steriliser. I just used boiling water although if I'd been formula feeding or using the pump more often it might have been worthwhile.

Cot/Cot bed - We got a second hand bedside cot (about £100) because we co-sleep. However i have since found out that a lot of people get a normal cheapo cot and just remove one side and it works out fine. - just to add.. we got a decent mattress can't remember the exact cost but given the amount of time babies are asleep we thought it was a good investment.

Bouncy chair/toys etc - NCT sales and ebay are great for things like that. Other people buy so many toys and books for presents at xmas and birthdays etc that we very rarely need to buy any new toys.

maternity clothes / feeding tops etc - again, ebay is great for these. I didnt' spend much and have kept it all for next time. i bought a few feeding tops but after the first couple of months found it easier to just wear normal loose-fitting tops than use the feeding ones. I had a winter baby so a couple of nice warm feeding tops are great when it's cold and your baby decides it wants a feed in the middle of the park or something

changing table - cheap IKEA one which we've really only used as a chest of drawers after the first couple of months. Once the baby was a bit bigger and more likely to wriggle, we just changed him on the floor.

I can't think of anything else at the moment.. although DS is only 13 months it seems such a long time ago!

Hayley

starbump

There's no end to the stuff you can buy and you will always regret at least one expensive item that doesn't get used... Lots of good ideas mentioned above. Definitely the car seat and cot (assuming you buy/need both these items) could be the most expensive, along with nappies.

One important thing in your budget that you may not have considered is "milk" during the first year. If your husband is going to stay at home rather than you - and assuming you are intending to breast-feed - I'm afraid you may find it very difficult to express after about 6 months. I'm still nursing my baby at 16 months (cow milk through the day but mommy milk for going to sleep/naps) and I haven't been able to express more than a few drops for months. So, you should factor in the cost of infant formula milk for months 6-12 as you may or may not be at home to breast-feed and clearly hubby cannot do so for you! Depends on how long your maternity leave is, I suppose, but many moms who return to work seem to do so after about 6 months so that is maybe a useful time-scale.

onlyroz

From sometime in 2010 fathers should be able to take "additional paternity leave" - so mum takes 6 months and then dad takes 6 months, both at statutory pay (currently £117 a week). Try googling "work and families act" for more information.

newmum1

I think the rate of pay differs for each employer mine has an attractive package of 13wks full pay 13 half 13 mat pay 13 unpaid which is a year in total, so check with your employer and give some thought to childcare costs for when you return to work.