LONG POST! Brith to 5 Yeas old :£50K+ ?

elaine373

I am mother to seven children, my eldest being nearly 22 and my youngest 2.Obviously the prices of things have changed somewhat from when i had my first baby to when i had my last but No way have i spent the amount they say is needed for your child. like others i have relied heavily on second hand goods,(i love bargain hunting)even when i could afford new. maybe one of us should write to mail with a "real" total on what it costs......regards, Elaine

sexy_fufu

I think these figures were taken from Victoria Beckham.

When i was pregnant i went to matalan and brought 2 pairs of joggers £5 a pair, went to asda spent £30 on jeans top and skirt ( all maternity).

I brought a suit of Ebay for £12 for my sisters wedding and i then sold it on ebay for £15.

All my maternity clothes i sold on ebay, so in the end it actually ended up costing me next to nothing.

The Figures are not realistic at all, most of my stuff was brand new, my lil one is 8 months old and i bet ive probably spent £2500 on her and all her stuff.

But bear in mind i did get £500 Maternity Grant.

So £2000 i dont think is a bad figure.

Oh and as for child care costs the governmant give you 70% back if your on less than 15k

katglasgow

My son is 14 months now and I reckon he costs about £20 per month for all extra food, milk, snacks and nappies!

He gets clothes from people I've never even heard of for his birthday (November) and Christmas - I take half back and exchange them for gift vouchers and then use them to buy summer outfits halfway through the year. I keep £ 20 a month free from my housekeeping budget to cover extra items that come up such as shoes (Clarks, factory seconds £16), vests etc..

The only major expense I have is childcare. I have some help from family, so pay for 3 1/2 days nursery a week which costs £5,000 a year. Our joint income comes to £30,000 but we also get £10 a week from Child Tax credits. We might not exactly be loaded but its not as if we can get out every week anyway we get by OK. If it wasnt for the fact we had to take out a huge loan to pay off my partner's gambling debts we would have no worries whatsoever. The only thing that would help me, is if my employer (NHS) decides to give out choldcare vouchers come April 2005 (I wish!).

PS. Given my partner's past problems with money (which he is trying very hard to overcome) and the way in which his family have spoilt him and not taught him anything about budgeting or taking responsibility for your actions, I'm not so sure that giving your child EVERYTHING and THE BEST OF EVERYTHING is actually a very good thing for them to be perfectly honest.

leftieM

Katglasgow, you'll probably have to ask your employer to set up the voucher scheme. You know what employers are like! Tempt them with the fact that they'll save employer's NICs on the tax deductible amount - they can't lose! Get partner to ask his employer too so you can save £68 each.

As this is an anonymous board, i can confess that I spent £400 on a pram for my first child. Even worse, we bought it in the dearest shop in town.
I'm so ashamed!

jellyhead

well i hope you've learned the error of your ways now lol! there's a woman in the playground whose pushchair cost more than £400, it tells you the temperature and everything! it cost almost her entire £500 maternity grant. fair enough if that's what you want to do but if i was getting a maternity grant for squid i know i wouldn't spend it all on a pram lol! mind you if you have that much money spare i suppose it might be nice to be able to choose what you need without looking at the price tag ... lottery tomorrow night :-)