Cost of raising a family?

walby1993

Hi all,

This might be too nosey, but I am getting married this year and am desperate to start a family asap. However, I don't want to plough ahead unaware that we would be far short of the money needed to have children.

So my question is, how much do people with a young family survive on? And how much of that is rent/mortgage? And how much do you pay out for in childcare?

I know people say you can never afford children but I would still like to know we wouldn't be massively short of money!

Thanks in advance

FakeIrish

We bring home circa £5,000 per month and still struggle with just one baby (and dog)! Others I know take home circa £2,000 per month with 3 kids and manage just fine. All depend on your individual cicumstances, eg, debts, mortgage, life style etc.

Only you know the answer for your circumstances.

fozzeh

In the first 4 months, all you will need to buy is nappies and maybe formula if the baby doesn't like boob! You'll get lots of clothes and things (sterilisers, bottles, teddies) as pressies.

From there, you have to buy foods; powdered ones, stage 1 jars.
Then it's Waybuloo toys.
Then it'll be make up.
Then a new car.
Forget uni' child! Cameron has destroyed any chance of that for you!

In fact...get on here: http://www.bounty.com/

LMCD

SVM wrote: »

We bring home circa £5,000 per month and still struggle with just one baby (and dog)! Others I know take home circa £2,000 per month with 3 kids and manage just fine. All depend on your individual cicumstances, eg, debts, mortgage, life style etc.

Only you know the answer for your circumstances.

I echo what you have said, kids cost as much or as little as you want them to I strongly believe.

OP think about working too if it is essential etc.. I work part time at weekends as that suits us and there is no cost in child care and without openin a massive debate - the rewards you get are worth more..

fozzeh

SVM wrote: »

We bring home circa £5,000 per month and still struggle with just one baby (and dog)! Others I know take home circa £2,000 per month with 3 kids and manage just fine. All depend on your individual cicumstances, eg, debts, mortgage, life style etc.

Only you know the answer for your circumstances.

£5,000 a month?!?! About £75k joint income? I would love to know where all of that goes.

mummyroysof3

i think thats a very had thing to answer as everyones lives are different, we are a family of 5 and we live on less than £1,700 per month(including a mortgage). My advice would be to have a think about what would change eg one of you working less, less holidays, do you need a bigger house car etc and get some figures down on paper to try and figure it out

walby1993

Thanks all. At the moment our take home is about £2,600 per month with £400 going on debt repayments and £710 going on the mortgage for a one bedroom flat!!! We are trying to pay off debt asap and are trying to double our monthly repayments so essentially without mortgage and debt we only need £1,100 a month which we definately could cover - but we need to pay a mortgage and would probably need to increase it to get a bigger place!

I would want rid of the debt but not sure what would happen in terms of getting a bigger mortgage, particularly as I want to work part-time! The thing that bugs me is that if I can't get help with childcare from relatives I would only be about £100 per month better off not working, than paying out for childcare and working!!!

FakeIrish

fozzeh wrote: »

I would love to know where all of that goes.

Better ask the wife that one!

honeypop

I agree, it all depends on how much your personal outgoings are and how much you want/need to spend on the kids in your situation.

For example, we bring home £3000, outgoings are £1800 for mortgage and bills (including £350pm for 2 days a week childcare), then another £1000 for expenses like s small loan payment, car running costs (petrol, insurance, tax, MOT, service etc) and spending money (for whatever we need to buy be it a treat or something we need for the babies). The remaining £200 went into savings to afford a second stint of maternity leave which I have just started.

Then there are people who manage just fine on a lot less, because the outgoings are lower, and people who wouldn't manage on that at all because their mortgage might be a lot higher for example or have large debt repayments, or need full time childcare - which is approx £1000pm round here.

milliemonster

Before we had children we worried about this a lot and kept putting it off, but some friends of ours who had kids said you just have to take the plunge and get on with it otherwise you will never have them because there is always a reason to put it off. They were so right!

I think in your situation I would sort out your housing needs first, a 1 bed flat is going to be difficult to bring up a family in and you would be better trying to sort out a family home first whether that is renting or selling up and buying somewhere else if you can afford it.

Then just go with the flow and don't worry too much about how you might afford it. I think if we all sat back and added up how much we had spent on child rearing and we knew this sum beforehand nobody would have kids at all! but you just adapt and adjust and things always work out, you find a way to make it work when you have kids and the joy you get from having children far far outweighs the loss of income

lilian1977

All I would say apart from what has been said before is if/when you do get pregnant, after you are viable at 24 weeks, start stocking up on nappies immediately, bung a pack in with each shop you do, take advantage of all the vouchers etc that you'll get given. It'll make a huge difference both to your pocket and your stress levels when baby arrives if you don't have to be going out all the time to pick them up!