Soon to be mummy, is £300 a realistic disposable income?

janninew

I understand what you are saying Kayalana regarding shopping!

I certainly spend more money now I have a baby than previously, not a huge amount granted, but more. I have to buy a 4 pint full fat milk a week, a 12 pack of weetabix extra, more fruit and a few extra snack bits. Me and hubby haven't changed our eating habits, we never bought alcohol and still don't and still buy what we always have. Our daughter eats what we do most of the time but there are still a few extra's that I buy that I never use to.

maman

fluffnutter wrote: »

Have you got children?

I'm not trying to be particularly challenging. I'm just wondering. Lots of people think that babies fit into your existing lifestyle. The reality is that they don't. Things inevitably change. You do still have friends of course, but I doubt many new mothers want to socialise that much - too tired, frankly.

If you're not prepared to let a baby change your life, why have one? They're not accessories. They're very small and need all your attention for such a short period. The best advice I was given was to write off six months of my life from when my baby was born. If you try to continue with your existing lifestyle, you'll soon find everything falling apart spectacularly.

Of course I have children, I'd hardly make those comments unless I could back them up.

I don't think I'm some kind of superwoman but I didn't find I was too tired to socialise. I wanted to keep in touch with friends and have conversations about other than babies. I wanted nights out with my DH. I found we could bring up DD and do those things.

On the food budget conversation, I think it is possible to keep the budget fairly static or even spend less. In my case it was because I had more time to cook from scratch (not that we ate ready meals as such before but I did by pre-prepared veg and ready to cook meats) and shop around. I suppose it depends on your starting point.

emsywoo123

notanewuser wrote: »

I cook mostly from scratch - which costs less. A 2 year old probably eats a 6th of an adult portion of dinner or less. We don't miss that off our plates!!

I had a jacket potato for tea last night. Must remember to think that my 2 year old only needs a sixth of a potato.

And 2 bits of toast for brekkie. Just a third of a slice for DS then.

A sixth? No.

notanewuser

emsywoo123 wrote: »

I had a jacket potato for tea last night. Must remember to think that my 2 year old only needs a sixth of a potato.

And 2 bits of toast for brekkie. Just a third of a slice for DS then.

A sixth? No.

Are you always this literal?

DD will eat a whole slice of toast maybe once a week (she's not a bread lover). On other days she has something else (we don't eat bread).

At 2 they apparently need *around* 7-800 calories a day. Some of that comes from whole milk.

Most parents will give their children too much food. I give DD a little, and of she wants more she can have it. I don't limit her food at all, but I have found that she'll have times where she barely eats, and others where she doesn't stop!!!

This is an interesting read.

ema_o

Hi OP - I notice you said that you can't try living on just £300 at the moment because you have things you need to stock up on for the baby.
I think it's worth setting your budgets now, eg how much of the £300 will be spent on socialising, whether you will each have some spending money etc - and try to stick to budget for those things. Then buy what you need to for the baby and you might find you have a bit to put aside for your friends wedding / emergencies before baby arrives.
I would recommend checking out car boot / NCT nearly new sales etc for things you need for the baby. It's nice to have new things, but often you get things that have had little use. In particular clothes are worth picking up second hand as they have often only been worn a few times. That might give you a bit more to spare.
Check out your library / netmums / sure start centre for things to take baby along to, good to get out of the house and keeping busy means there is less opportunity to spend money! We found there were plenty of groups that were free or only a couple of £.
We had a bit more disposable than you, we each had £25 a week which paid for socialising, our own clothes, meals out and any baby groups. We had a bit more put aside for holidays / emergencies. I have to say I could have managed on less than the £25. We changed our habbits, didn't go out as much and went for special offers when we did eat out.
Oh and Christmas can be far cheaper especially if you tell people you are going to limit gifts - maybe suggest a secret santa if a group of you usually buy each other presents. You might feel like you have to spoil baby, but at less than a year old you tend to pick stuff up as they need it. I don't feel bad that my boy got a few bits from the car boot for his first christmas (and they were some of his most used toys!).

OrkneyStar

On the food costs point.
I gave up work around about the same time as the economy started to go poop poop lol! So as well as having less money coming in prices have gone up. DS is 5 (nearly 6) now, and I can say honestly that we spend LESS on food than when I was working. This is mainly because I shop differently now. I used to shop on the way home from work and chuck things in- they were not unhealthy as such but more of the top range things and so on! I only rarely now buy top range brands (eg Fairy, Persil), tending to go for mid range price and sometimes value, sometimes yellow stickered. Up here we only have 3 supermarkets and local shops so it can be harder too (eg we don't have Aldi, Home Bargains, massive supermarkets with 10 varieties of item!). We used real nappies, though occasionally disposable (holidays, sometimes at night) so that cost us an initial outlay, a teeny bit more washing powder and a little when using the disposables (though that was over by just over 2 as he was dry by then). I do sometimes buy the odd child-specific food item for his lunch box or a treat but never more than I can afford. Best of luck OP. I think you will be fine, try not to stress too much, I second trying the breast feeding but I would say perhaps buy a few bottles and a way of sterilising them and perhaps one tin of milk/some cartons, I know someone said 24 hour shops are great (they are, we don't have 'em here though!), but really it would be so much easier if you don't have to go then. Unopened bottles could be passed on/sold if you don't use them and a health visitor may even take the milk too (to pass on) if un-opened. Breast feeding can be a bit of work to get established and yes tiring during growth spurts, but it really is the easier option imho. Best of luck.

delain

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Sorry dont wanna argue but dont see how that is realistic

Dont see how its possible for food bill to actally go down as your still needing the same amount of milk within reason? So whatever you buy for the weaning stage is on top of a normal shop..

My shopping bill didn't change too much... If you are cooking from scratch already there isn't any difference, all you do is take a little out for baby before serving yours.

Also leftover mash/pasta etc does babys lunch next day! It's not until about 1 that I would cook standalone dinners for babies.

I don't think my younger 2 had any packaged 'baby food' at all :think:

Edit I see this has already been done!

Kayalana99

delain wrote: »

I don't think my younger 2 had any packaged 'baby food' at all :think:

Edit I see this has already been done!

This was my orignal plan but now im pregnat again DS had to be put on baby food. I literally had 3-4 weeks of having to force myself to get out of bed just to make him a bottle..and jars were kind of pushed at me. Im feeling better now in general but still having good days and bad days.

Hoping I can get back on the ball now with it all and start proper budgeting as well.

OrkneyStar

Kayalana99 wrote: »

This was my orignal plan but now im pregnat again DS had to be put on baby food. I literally had 3-4 weeks of having to force myself to get out of bed just to make him a bottle..and jars were kind of pushed at me. Im feeling better now in general but still having good days and bad days.

Hoping I can get back on the ball now with it all and start proper budgeting as well.

This is a perfect example of things not 'going to plan' or being 'ideal', in our own eyes as much as others. This is why we cannot take a simplistic view and say what will or won't happen. I think OP's budget is still ok though, whether things go fairly well as they did for us (I say fairly, seeing all through those rose tinted glasses lol), or if you have some 'blips' (insert own word here if needed!) like this poster. As a parent you must also be gentle on yourself and not compare to others achievements or failures, set your own goals and do your best to meet them within reason.
We are also all different, different energy levels, interests, family support, and so on.
Hope you feel better soon Kayalana.

EmmaHerts

I had two babies between 2011 and 2012. Our food bill only goes up slightly because I don't want to give my children cheap meat.

I didn't/don't want to socialise because I am too tired and that's okay. My youngest isn't even 5 months yet.

Also; we all parent differently and that is fine. Let's not be so judgmental!