Can we afford a child?

Gigglepig

I think it would be very hard to support a family on one, minimum wage, salary.

personally there is no way I'd even think about children in that situation, i would better my financial situation first. ( may be good to aim not to be too dependent on benefits, these could change and then what? )

Unless you are very old or have fertility issues why not wait until you have some savings etc and a more stable financial situation.

If your husband is not able to find/keep a job are you sure he would cope with full time child care while you went back to work? In any case it may be god to have savings so you can afford alternative childcare for example if he got the flu and needed to rest

lazer

I depends - firstly no-one is ever financially ready for a child, so the main questions you have to ask yourself are

1 - Can you afford to put off having a child - what age are you?
2 - What is the lilkihood of your situation changing - if possible I would wait until you get a position in a school - as you will probably be entitled to better Maternity pay etc, making the time after the birth more affordable - as in your current situation that will probably be the most difficult time financially
3 - Do you have good secure accommodation suitable for a child?
4 and most importantly - do you really want a child.

If you really want a child, have one. You are working regardless of income and not intending on relying on benefits to bring up your child, so its your decision.

continualdiamond

I turned 31 in Feb and my husband turns 31 in Nov.

Last October we decided we were ready to have a family, both worked and we'd kept putting it off because we both wanted to be in a 3 bed house. We have a 2 bed flat at the moment.

We decided if we kept waiting for everything to be ideal the chance to have kids might disappear.

Middle of January I found out I was pregnant, a week later my husband was told he was being made redundant and that he'd finish work on the 15th Feb.

Immediate panic set in, but life is life, its not ideal of course, but maybe it never would be ideal, you can always convince yourself its not the right time. You never know what is around the corner.

We'll just have to make the best of what we can, we're putting what we can afford from my wage away and have put his redundancy pay aside for when I am off work, that's the plan anyway.

I can't regret our plan, as they say life is what happens when you're busy making plans. Just because in Oct we planned to start trying for a family didn't mean it would happen quickly or take a year or even longer.

Just thought I'd share our situation to show how quickly things can change and you just have to cope with it as best as you can.

Cookiee

warehouse wrote: »

OP, if everyone waited until they could afford to have a child then nobody would ever have one.

I am sorry but I really hate it when people say this. Planning ahead and thinking about costs is better than getting "knocked up and dealing with it when it happens"


I would love to say sod it with financial worry and have a child now. However the drop of almost £800 a month whilst on maternity would result in us losing our home, not being able to pay our bills and not have money to live. I think the OP is being sensible and thinking about how this will affect them financially then getting pregnant and worrying about money - which could result in stress / illness etc etc.


OP you say that your OH is unable to get a job due to dyslexia. What has he tried to do about it? Has he spoken to the job center about courses he can take? Has he not worked since sch? what did he do before? Could you not help him with forms? My OH is not great with forms etc but with the help of the job center he got retraining on forklifts (and I helped with some costs) and now works in a warehouse and a position which does not affect his back injury too much.


There are ways which you can financially prepare yourself for children and I guess your also factoring in your age (I am 32 & OH is 40) thinking of your maternal clock. Whilst it is better for both people to be working, you can plan things around your personal circumstances.


I agree with other posters about once the baby is here, it is fairly cheap to look after them (clothes, food etc) on a budget if you plan ahead and look for good deals (bootsales, FB, ebay etc etc).


I would have a look on here and read some of the pregnancy threads who can give you a good idea on how much things cost. You need to write down how much you earn, your outgoings (and if you can reduce them) and then how much you will be short if you were to take say 6 months off? This would give you a realistic idea on what you will need to prepare for. I know you will get WTC and CTC so using gov website or turn2us will give you some play around with various figures.


We will be debt free come sept and will be starting to try then. We will be putting what we paid into debt (minus £100 for treats - well after nearly 8 yrs in debt we deserve it) and we have worked out after 6 months saving we would have enough to top up my wages for 9 months, of which I would go back to work and OH will be at home.


OP I wish you and your OH the best xx Cookiee xx