So how much does a baby cost?

Ishtar

Don't be put off by the losss of a salary - we live quite comfortably on £35k a year. I used to be in paid employment, now I'm a stay at home mum and loving every minute. Yes, it can be difficult, but once you adjust to the change in circumstance you'll feel much happier.

We had to make quite a few small lifestyle choices - not going out so often, cutting back on the holidays abroad, and generally watching our household budget. Of course, now I'm at home I've got more time to cook things from scratch, have baking days, etc, etc, which all contribute to the savings at the supermarket.

On a practical level, we found using washable nappies gave us great savings - for an initial outlay of approx £100 (eBay!!) we've hardly had to buy disposables, which start out quite cheap then get more expensive as baby gets older. For equipment such as cots and prams you could try your local Freecycle group or eBay - not forgetting the NCT Nearly New sales (as previously mentioned). The one expense, which goes without saying, is to buy a new car seat - at least then you will know the history of it.

Rather than using cotton wool for nappy changes, we used water and Tesco Value face flannels, which were 20p each, you can cut them into smaller pieces...they can then go in the bucket with the nappies and you can wash the lot together.

Hope this helps!!
D.

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Ah we dont have as much as £35k between and we have one baby girl - i stay at home and plan to until she goes to nursery at about 3ish. You will find that you can still go on hols, have a life, etc, but what you wont realise is you could end up better off in a weird way. Now with bubba in tow i find that i cook and eat very healthy therefore an awful lot cheeper than we used to, also now we dont drink apart from xmas or special occasions, or the odd glass of wine with a meal. I used to go out with mates every week and that used to be expensive - now they either come to see me (fascinated with playing with baby) or i go out occasionally and find i enjoy it so much more as its a rarity. Hubbie is the same. Also my spare time is no longer spent trapsing around the shops looking for 'bargains' that actually mount up and hurt my purse.

All in all we really love our life the way it is now - you still have off days but i used to have them anyway so no change there.

lebly

having a baby costs nothing - its the bringing them up thats the expensive bit.

There are ways to keep cost down and there are losts of threads on this on the site.

My houshold income is less than £30k and we manage and we have 3 children so dont panic enjoy it!

mummytomoo&roo

I agree, our household income is less than £25k, we have 2 small children, a lovely home, run a car and motorbike had 3 holidays last year and tick along nicely although we don't have a huge mortgage or credit card debt and i'm great at budgeting!

Initially babies can be expensive as you have to buy cot, pram, highchair, babyseat etc, etc but there are so many ways to save money you should easily manage.

Don't forget you will be entitled to child benefit - about £18 a week which will be enough to cover the nappies at least!

You can't put a price on babies, if we believed everything we heard, none of us would have kids..... so go and get babymaking!! lol

squashy

We managed 2 children on a sole income of around £19k and did just fine. We just had to be quite careful about what we spent and didn't have many luxuries really. The babies were breastfed and had cloth nappies too. When they were both at school we were then able to get earning a little more.

Of course if you want a brand new designer buggy and a lovely co-ordinated nursery, plus all the gadgets you will spend a lot more. I think the minumum you can get away with is:
Initially,
Car seat: £80 (Never buy second hand)
Sling (optional but good investment instead of pushchair): £50
Re-usable nappies (saving around £15 a week in disposables): £200
2nd hand puchchair if needed: £50-£100
Babygros, towels, hats, socks etc (you will get cute little outfits as presents so don't bother!): £100, less if 2nd hand.
Cot & mattress (delete if you have the baby in with you!): £70

Then monthly you will need about another £25 or so in baby clothes, plus £60 in disposable nappies if used, not sure how much formula is but you can bet it's pricey! If using formula you will of course need all the paraphernalia too so cost of bottles and sterilisers etc to add.

They don't need anything else except lots of cuddles! I won't mention baby food as a bit of pureed carrot etc from 6 months isn't going to add much to your grocery bill over the year.

robnye

do people with more than one child, find the 2nd/3rd/99th cheaper than the first.......

i have 3 dd's, 2 are teens, the other is 11 going on being a teen. i disagree with the so called official figures for child rearing (sounds like being on a farm he he), if you are sad enough to sit down and calculate or even keep note of how you are spending on kids.... then you are wasting quality time with the kids......

TBeckett100

thanks everyone, we should be fine then. the start up costs, pram etc seem ok we can buy as we go along before the birth but you ready so many stories!! you have cheered me up.

inkie

The start up costs (lol!) can even be reduced - get things off freecycle - keeps things out of landfil and cash in your pocket!

immoral_angeluk

The costs can be as variable as anything as it really depends on where you shop, what you buy etc.
Generally setting up costs of a baby? Anywhere for £100 to £10000!
We're on a low income but manage fine with a toddler and a newborn baby in nappies and bottlefeeding!
Will give you our example..

Newborn nappies - Tesco own £1.48 for 20, roughly 8 changes a day.
Approx £18.35 in an average month.

Toddler nappies - Tesco supafit £6.97 for 44, roughly 4 changes a day.
Approx £18.64 in an average month.

Formula - £5.98 a tin, currently averaging one tin every 5 days.
Approx £37.07 a month.

The rest of the stuff like pushchairs, cots, clothes etc you can get anywherr from freecycle to debenhams! All depends on your budget. We spent hardly anything on our 2nd baby as we got most of it off freecycle for nothing!

Avoriaz

TBeckett100 wrote:

….I earn a modest 35k a year and my partner less……(as i plan to keep her at home…

£35k is not modest to a lot of people, especially as you also have a second income.

Does she share your “plan”?

My “plan” was to make sure Mrs A always went out to work and didn’t have babies. Fortunately she willingly agreed with my plan.