Want to try for a baby - costs involved

rozeepozee

I've got a 3 year old who has cost us virtually nothing so far. I agree about the cost of child care but I wanted to stay at home with him, so we "cut our cloth" accordingly. I breastfed (exclusively til 7 months and then onwards til he was 18 months) and made all my own babyfood (they really don't eat that much). If we eat out now, we don't buy a child's meal for him, we get an extra plate and share some of our meal with him and he has a glass of tap water to drink. I used reusable nappies for the first year only using disposables when we were out. I potty trained at two, saving another year of nappy costs (and probably would have been able to potty train sooner had I stuck with the reusables). I have literally bought about ten packs of baby wipes in 3 years and only use these while out - otherwise, at home, used a warm flannel (dark coloured for his bottom, white for his face!) I laways make sure I have a drink and a snack for him in my bag so I don't have to make an expensive forced purchase of food or drinks - which all add up. He knows "no" means "no" when it comes to him wanting stuff at the shops.

Our cot was from Freecycle, as were many other "essentials", all his clothes are given or from car boot sales (anything that costs more than 50p at our local car boot sales is expensive - I am mortified when I see people paying £10 for a kid's jumper in the "sale"! Shoes might be a pound, I get him measured before I buy!). Ditto all his toys.

Church toddler groups or Sure Start groups are usually cheap or free. Entertainment needn't cost very much, children are entertained by your company, whatever you choose to do with them.

I would agree about the comment about the travel system. The grandparents bought us one (very kindly) costing over £350 and we ended up using a seven year old secondhand off roader as there are lots of parks and woods near us.

I won't go on....

Basically, your child is not a fashion accessory. If you treat him as such, he can be very expensive. Otherwise, it can cost as little as you want it to.

A final thought. What I've saved through frugalities, not letting the thought of what I "should" buy him according to all the baby mags, supermarkets, advertisers, interfere with my intentions, I have put away and by the time he's old enough to go to universoty, he shouldn't have to get into too much, if any, debt.

andrealm

honeypop wrote: »

I read this on here a lot, yes tax credits add to your income, but not in every situation is it enough. A 'top up' is an amount needed to restore something to its former level, so no tax credits doesn't top up your money to it's former level.
For us - a normal couple with a basic standard of living - tax credits add barely anything to our income, and certainly not enough to prevent me having to return to work. It doesn't top up our income to that needed to cover outgoings, or anywhere near. My DH earns £25k, our mortgage and bills are as low as we can get them.

That is one of my gripes, people saying tax credits make having a baby very affordable because the mother needn't return to work and therefore wouldn't need childcare. Not getting at you personally, just everyone who says it.

I agree, if only it were true that tax credits topped you up and replaced your income. £50 of tax credits a month certainly doesn't make up for a loss of income of £800 a month which was my salary from a full time job before I went on a career break. We are lucky that we can just about manage to live on OH's salary. Yes, child benefit and tax credits probably covers most of the costs of basic items for the baby such as nappies and clothes (although once they start walking properly fitted shoes don't come cheap) but the main
expense for most people (unless they are lucky enough to have a relative who can provide childcare) is either loss of one income or paying for childcare. Then your mortgage/rent and bills have to be paid out of what's left.

kindofagilr

Ditto on the tax credits front, we are due £20 a week I think once beany is born, that certainly doesnt make up for the £1093 I get after tax at work a month (And no OH doesnt earn millions, he is on 18k a year, comes out with just about £1200 a month)

rozeepozee

rozeepozee wrote: »

I would agree about the comment about the travel system. The grandparents bought us one (very kindly) costing over £350 and we ended up using a seven year old secondhand off roader as there are lots of parks and woods near us.

An update on the travel system conundrum. I still really wanted a travel system as, although it will probably only get used for the first year/18 months, because we're having twins, i wanted a pram that would be adaptable to take two car seats so that when I transport them anywhere, I don't have to leave one in the car or carry two car seats at once, and I can simply clip both into the chassis of a travel system to move them around. Anyway, such things cost around £500 to £1000 if you buy new :eek:

Instead, I managed to source the components of the travel system separately: The base twin pushchair I bought off an acquaintance - RRP £450, secondhand one less than one year old: £60. Then the car seats RRP £150 each, off ebay I got one for £50 and another for £32. Everything is pristine and matching, you couldn't tell it was secondhand - so I got a £850 twin travel system for £142

....oh, and I sold the "old" travel system on ebay for £85 so if you deduct that, it actually only cost £57.

tandraig

if you are comfortably off - then you are really annoying me! doing my head in actually. you are really counting how many pounds a child is going to cost you??
perhaps people will say you are being sensible and responsible - I would say you are not ready to be parents. if i was your child, i would not want to be cost calculated, I would want to be conceived from love. not cold calculation of costs.
I sincerely hope you dont conceive until you realise the miracle of life.

sweetdaisy

My Husband and I both work full time and we saved £5,000 before trying to conceive our first child as this is what I lost from my pay by taking 9 months Maternity Leave (my pay pays for all the bills etc).

Our little Boy is almost 2 years old and would like to start trying for Baby Number 2, but as my Husband is due to lose his job in September we are going to wait a little as I am trying to save another £5,000 to cover another 9 months of Maternity. I know that you can never really plan for a baby, but having a bit of savings behind us will help if my Husband is not able to find any work.