Buy a baby

chicken-noodle

Don't panic- not literally!!

My husband and I would like to have a baby, but also need to be a little sensible about it due to our joint debt.

We decided that we would wait until we had cleared all our credit cards, that amounts to £4363.

I really want to start our family so this also works as a fantastic incentive for paying off debt.

Plus our credit cards being our most expensive debt (interest free overdraft/ fixed personal loan) this will really free us up to working towards being totally debt free.

I hope you don't mind me starting this as a bit of a diary in which I can let you know how I'm getting on as well as asking advice from all you money savvy people!!

This is also my first ever post-so hope I do it properly!!

justmarried06

Buy a baby - love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the board, might be an idea of you wanted to post your SOA (see southerscousers sticky at the top of the page) and the bods on here might be able to help you cut costs where you didn't think you could?

JM xx

rog2

Hi C-N and welcome to DFW - I hope it goes well for you. If you post a full SOA, listing income, expenditure and debts, we can help you acheive your goal quicker and easier.

looneyleo

Congratulations! Well it will certainly be a motivation for you! Babies don't come cheap but there are lots of things you can do to ease the burden a little and this website is the best place to be. don't know how to do links but the moneysaving in marriages,families chat forum has all sorts of money saving ideas for pregnancy babies etc. Glad to hear your being responsible and clearing the debt first...I have 2 children, aged 4 and 1. We cleared our debts first and thank goodness we did as 5 years later...things are very tight with me still working part time...we wouldn't have managed if we had kept the debt...The end is in sight now for me as DS starts school in 18 months or so which will mean I can up the hours a bit more then... Good luck wioth everything...Oh and welcome to MSE

chicken-noodle

Thankyou- feeling supported already- will do a full SOA this eve when I have all my details at hand.

Thought I would set my first goal which is to pay off the Barclay CC in a month so £200 by the 9th Feb. Not quite sure how is is going to happen yet but hopefully when I post my SOA we can figure something out!!

justmarried06

On a personal note I can't wait to see how you do - its exactly the conversation myself and DH had the other night when we decided to wait at least another 2 years before trying to get pregnant! Debts had a lot to do with it but I've also recently moved to a new job and he wants to find a new one so its a combination of factors.

Will be keeping a close eye on your progress teehee!!!

JM x

chicken-noodle

Its difficult isnt it?
I desperately want a baby and probably would have quite happily gone ahead thinking I could figure out the debt afterwards. Luckily DH is a bit more sensible and we compromised on the cc rather than the whole debt.
I feel a lot better about it all now and this really is the biggest motivation I could have!!

Its situations like these that makes me really realise the extent to which debt rules my life!!

ktb

hi c-n.. I will def be keeping an eye on your progress as this was basically the reason for my own LBM.

I really wish you all the best. My spending diary has been an invaluable insight into my since I started it and I can highly recommend it if you dont do one already.

Good Luck!

chicken-noodle

hi ktb- did you do a diary on here?- would love to have look.

ktb

... rather than do a debt diary on here I actually do a spending diary on paper. My SOA implied that I should have a couple of hundred pounds left after all bill/budgetted monthly payments have gone out of my account but I dont ever see that money and i'm permanently o/d!

So I bought a notebook which I carry around in my bag and now list every single penny I spend right from the big food shops to the money I spend on a packet of polos or a banana on the walk to work. I also keep any the receipts so if there is more than 1 item I know exactly what i've bought.

From this diary and my SOA I have been able to create a spreadsheet so I know exactly where all my money is going every month. Such an eyeopener and a real step forward in making sure I have as much money to throw at my debt as poss.

Obviously doing a full SOA with all monthly outgoings is def the 1st step. Lots of people on here will be able to suggest ways to reduce your outgoings from that too.

nattybone

Hi

I am a newcomer to the site too but am totally hooked and saw your post.
Me and mr nattybone were in a similar situation when we first got married. had debts but the body clock was ticking very loud!;)

We decided that we were going to save one salary entirely and try to adjust to how it would be when we had the baby as I was going to stop work to look after the new chipmunk.:o

It worked amazingly and altho we cut back on all the extras in the budget...we had paid the debts and saved loads as an emergency and baby stuff fund. It was great....dont know what happened to those days! things gone a bit haywire now! 2 kids and working again and debts!:eek:

But...all the best. Go for it. Kids are the most amazing gift in the whole world!:j