How much should I save before having a baby?

LittleMissMPB

I would save 6 months worth of wages to cover the shortfall from maternity pay, plus what it would cost to get the essentials (cot, pram etc)

andthethreebears

£6k, £10k, 6 months salary? Really?!
This sounds like a crazy amount of money?!
After paying mortgage / bills, what else is there to pay for - surely the point of mat leave is to spend time with your new baby, I can't imagine where all the extra costs come in?!
Am I that naive?!!

Magicboo

andthethreebears wrote: »

£6k, £10k, 6 months salary? Really?!
This sounds like a crazy amount of money?!
After paying mortgage / bills, what else is there to pay for - surely the point of mat leave is to spend time with your new baby, I can't imagine where all the extra costs come in?!
Am I that naive?!!

I am trying to save £6k-I am sincerely hoping I don't need to use all that money, but I would rather save too much than not enough. But to give you an idea of why we chose than much (I'm working on having approx £1k/month)-our mortgage is £900/month. It is manageable, we chose to get that mortgage etc, etc..so there are no problems there, but then when you add in bills, food, fuel hopefully the odd morning out having a cup of tea & cake with a friend, costs add up-and whilst I'm in a position to be able to save the money for the future, I'd like to do it!
I totally agree you don't necesarily NEED that much money-but I would like it!

grey_lady

andthethreebears wrote: »

£6k, £10k, 6 months salary? Really?!
This sounds like a crazy amount of money?!
After paying mortgage / bills, what else is there to pay for - surely the point of mat leave is to spend time with your new baby, I can't imagine where all the extra costs come in?!
Am I that naive?!!

If the difference between your usual pay and your maternity pay is £500 a month and you cannot live on anything less than your usual salary (a lot of people live to the edge of their means) then it makes sense to save up the 6k if you plan to be off for a year although I think that stat maternity pay is actually 9 months not 12. Plus having a couple of months living money in an emergency fund is sensible in case of job loss and baby stuff will cost a few hundred quid as well, buggy, cot, car seat etc.

MERFE

andthethreebears wrote: »

£6k, £10k, 6 months salary? Really?!
This sounds like a crazy amount of money?!
After paying mortgage / bills, what else is there to pay for - surely the point of mat leave is to spend time with your new baby, I can't imagine where all the extra costs come in?!
Am I that naive?!!

I think this entirely depends on your circumstances for me my OH pays all the household bills so any lose in my earnings is easily absorbed by not buying new clothes, eating out, no expensive holiday etc. For others whose wages pay the mortgage etc they need to know how they are going to pay that whilst they are on reduced pay. Babies really don't need alot but people are easily carried away with their first babies and without trying things its hard to know what to get to make life easier and what not to bother with. Still I'm going to have to go back when I get to the unpaid part of my maternity leave because I only saved enough to cover this and was then hit with some unexpected bills - OH had to take unpaid leave to care for the baby whilst I was in hospital for a while etc. So I had to use my savings. It doesn't hurt to save more than you need but it does make things stressful if you run out of money - either way you manage because you have to.

tim.charles_2

I have found the answers posted above to be very misleading.

Preparing for a baby is VERY expensive.

Our baby boy is due in 2 months.

Costs that come to mind so far....
maternity clothes
Travel system - cheapest £600 for pram, pushchair & car seat combo
Car seat base - £90
Moses basket - £60
Cot - £100 cheapest, £200 for cot bed
Matress - £80
cot bumper, sheets £80
nappies, baby grows, clothes, blankets....£endless
Even if BF still need bottles, sterlising system for expressed milk
play mat, mobile for cot £?
monitor £?
cost of decorating nursery £?

......and our baby hasn't even arrived yet

I've spent hours in shops and online trying to find cheapest solutions to all the above.

So to answer your initial question, baby start up costs best part of £2,000

msb5262

tim.charles wrote: »

Preparing for a baby is VERY expensive.

Costs that come to mind so far....
maternity clothes
Travel system - cheapest £600 for pram, pushchair & car seat combo
Car seat base - £90
Moses basket - £60
Cot - £100 cheapest, £200 for cot bed
Matress - £80
cot bumper, sheets £80
nappies, baby grows, clothes, blankets....£endless
Even if BF still need bottles, sterilising system for expressed milk
play mat, mobile for cot £?
monitor £?
cost of decorating nursery £?

All these are CHOICES you have made - for instance, do you need to "decorate the nursery"?

A baby needs to sleep in the same room as its parents for the first six months.

The room where the baby will ultimately sleep only needs to have basic decoration eg. paint or wallpaper, windows/skirting boards varnished or painted, floor covered with carpet, vinyl or varnish. You don't HAVE to change anything if you have these essentials.

You should buy a new mattress for the baby's cot/moses basket.

A large saucepan with a lid makes a perfect sterilising system.

You can get EVERYTHING ELSE either free or very cheaply if you accept gifts and hand-ons from friends and family, look on Freecycle and try Ebay and charity shops.

This "everything must be new/matching/the latest" thing drives me mad. You will need your money in the future to pay for your child's real needs - proper care (perhaps one parent staying home for a while, otherwise nanny/nursery/childminder) and education.

Best wishes with your baby but PLEASE remember you have chosen to do it this way!

MsB

SmlSave

Hi OP

Just save as much as you can.

I saved £2000 and it got spent on a second hand car so we now have a five door car instead of a three door.

We've spent about £500 on everything we need for the baby. We got given lots from family and friends, from freecycle and second hand.

We have not decorated a nursery, just cleared out the study.

No idea where tim.charles shops but have a look at Tesco, Argos and Amozan.

Lol at saving £6k-£10k. If I had that sort of funds available I'd be ecstatic

It is the drop in wages that going to hit us hard but we've been living as though I was on mat leave since we found out I was pregnant.

SmlSave

A baby needs to sleep in the same room as its parents for the first six months

Sorry MrB but I think this should read as 'recommended' instead of 'needs to' otherwise I'm going to feel like a bad mother next month as our bedroom is too small for a moses basket even! And I'm not convinced about co-sleeping in the same bed.

fannyanna

If anything I think this thread is higlighting just how little or how much you CAN spend on having a baby.

You'll never get an exact answer to your question how much do I need to save.

In my case we don't need to save anything of our current savings - we'll be able to accomodate my salary drop, childcare costs and running costs of having a baby (clothes, nappies, formula milk if needed etc) in our current budget.

If you had of asked me a year ago I would have said we needed to have savings - as we had two loans being repaid at that time.

Best advice is to look at your own personal financial circumstances. Work out if you can manage with the big things (salary drop, childcare etc). If you can then you don't need to save a lot. If you can't then yes you'll need to save. Work out the monthly deficit and then figure out how much you'll need in savings.