MSE Parent Club

xcat_girlx

from the way i've been brought up, i dont think i'd feel comfortable buying a lot of 2nd hand things. getting things from my friends is 1 thing, but i dont know if i could bring myself to purposely buy things like that!

i know the baby wont notice, but my parents will, and i know for a fact they'll be against us having a baby. we've already agreed we're going to have to pretend its an accident when it happens!

im willing to go without for myself so long as the baby is happy :-)

xcat_girlx

Gangstabird wrote: »

You will get child benefit which covers milk & nappies (lidls nappies are brilliant)

do you know how much this is a week?

SeptemberBaby_2

xcat_girlx wrote: »

do you know how much this is a week?

£18.80pw for first child x

xcat_girlx

SeptemberBaby wrote: »

£18.80pw for first child x

think i could do with working out tax credits as well.

thanks

Milford_Cubicle

Don't foget to factor in your £18 (I forget how much it is now!) p/w Child Benefit which will cover nappies and milk.
And you'll more than likely be able to claim at least Child Tax Credit. Obviously I don't know your circumstances, but if you qualify for Working Tax Credit, then you'll qualify for milk tokens which are a massive help in themselves.

Try charity shops and ebay for baby clothes - babies wear them for such a short space of time that they're usually almost new. Avoid buying newborn (perhaps one or two babygros and vests) as baby is almost guaranteed to either wear them for a week or not fit into them at all! If baby wears vests and babygros for the first few months of its life (my DD did) then it works out much cheaper. Matalan, Primark etc sell new ones for next to nothing.

And lastly, good luck

Baybee1984

Have a shop around, and search eBay and the likes.. this should give you an idea of the sort of thing you'd like and how much you're looking at..

ginvzt

get yourself on http://www.entitledto.co.uk/ to check what support would you be entitled to get. If your salaries are not very high, you may find out that you will get some more support from government.

MrsTinks

I don't think you're EVER financially prepared for a baby...

However look around - people on benefits manage fine (well they manage ) - people with much less money make do and those who have the money to spend do
We're fortunate in that the 2 biggest expenses are going to be taken care off by my father and DHs mum - ie the cot and the pram/carseat/buggy - they've all said to pick whatever we want for baby as it's our first and certainly my parents first grandchild - I know we're really fortunate to have that support but if we hadn't we'd have adjusted what we wanted to what we can afford The only BIG thing I won't compromise on is carseat! Bean is getting the best no matter WHAT the cost... end of Although DH actually declared that before I did

meester

xcat_girlx wrote: »

re: changing table.....would it be worth getting 1 with drawers etc to double as baby furniture?

Sounds horribly expensive to me. You can get a chest of drawers for £30 from Ikea, or less second-hand.

It also sounds like you are planning to spend money that you can't afford. Not a good idea.

xcat_girlx

im keeping my fingers crossed our parents will help out with cots & prams.

i think i've worked the tax credits out wrong........it says we're entitled to nothing even though we only earn 16k p.a each?