Costs of having a child

kathrynha

supermassive wrote: »

The increase in electricity bill is because of poor management of facilities, not because of difference between reusables and disposables.

No, it was because of extra use of the washing machine. How can using a washing machine lots be poor management of facilities? They didn't have a tumble dryer and they weren't washing every nappy seperately or anything. They went from washing twice a week to washing daily, and it increased their electricity bill.

Errata

kathrynha wrote: »

not sure where you get "washed for pence per week" from, /QUOTE]
Experience, and having working brain cells.

sulphate

kathrynha wrote: »

When you're only having one child the cost comparison between disposables and reusables isn't much difference, and not sure where you get "washed for pence per week" from, my friends electric bill went up by more than £25 a month. If you have multiple kids then reusables are definitely cheaper as you only have the initial outlay once.

£10 is obviously a rounded off figure to give the OP some idea of the cost, I can't remember the exact amount, just remember that child benefit used to cover formula and nappies

Is that solely from using the washing machine more? I think it's quite common to experience a reasonable increase in electricity/gas bills when you have a baby because you are at home a lot more, particularly if you were previously out at work all day.

I'll be following this thread with interest as we are expecting our first in February. If you don't mind second hand stuff, you might find a lot of people give you things they no longer use. Bargains can be picked up from charity shops and Gumtree etc. Just note that second hand stuff isn't necessarily as cheap as it seems particularly on sites like eBay where people get carried away in bidding wars. I recently bought a snowsuit off eBay for £9ish thinking I was getting a bargain (I've seen them retail for £30+) but Tesco sell them for £12 or so! So do shop around. Plain babygrows from Tesco, Asda etc are very cheap and I am personally not concerned about buying my baby clothing of amazing quality, because it may not be wearing it for very long.

Maternity clothes - I have bought a few essentials (work trousers, jeans) but one advantage of being pregnant over winter is that I know a lot of my jumpers etc will fit. Fat clothes will work to a point but I remember my "fat" tights being uncomfortable from quite early on.

CH27

The older they get the more expensive they get IME.

thriftylass

We now earn less than before we had our two kids but have almost more disposable money/money for saving despite paying a third of our joint income on childcare. Before the kids most of our income was just gone/spent. Unavoidable lifestyle changes (going out less, drinking less, etc etc) easily covered the expenses for the two.

If you make it a cost based decision you won't have kids, ever. You just make it work with what you've got.

kathrynha

Errata wrote: »

kathrynha wrote: »

not sure where you get "washed for pence per week" from,

Experience, and having working brain cells.

Your working brain cells obviously not up to providing a link to back up your claim, just up to being rude!

Quick Google suggests average 50p per load (https://blog.npower.com/2013/02/ever-wondered-how-much-your-appliances-cost-to-run/)
Which washing daily, as you need to if you are using reusable nappies, equals an extra £3.50 a week, which is considerably more than your suggested pence per week.

kathrynha

sulphate wrote: »

Is that solely from using the washing machine more? I think it's quite common to experience a reasonable increase in electricity/gas bills when you have a baby because you are at home a lot more, particularly if you were previously out at work all day.

Probably not totally, but a considerable amount is. Babies are mucky little things, pooing and spewing lots

Birdie85

This is such a 'how long is a piece of string' question! There's no point in budgeting your child's affect on your finances any further than a year or so in the future as who knows what's going to happen. Your OH could get a massive promotion (or be made redundant!), you may decide that a 2 bedroomed place is too cramped and move, you may have twins (or more!), once your LO gets to school age they may show a talent for a certain activity which requires big expenditure etc. If you try to plan you will a) scare yourself and b) be disappointed when it works out to cost even more than you planned!

For now, just try to save whatever extra you can. This would be a bigger issue where the mother works as the household would be used to the extra money coming in and in that case my advice would be to try to spend your pregnancy (and before if so inclined) living as if you were already receiving SMP and save the difference.

Ebay and Facebook selling pages are a great source of used clothes and toys. The only things you really need new are mattresses and car seats, the rest is down to personal preference.

When it comes down to milk, don't be sold by the branding if you end up formula feeding. They are all more-or-less the same so unless your child has a bad reaction to it, just go for Cow and Gate as it's the cheapest. No point wasting money on Aptamil's marketing machine!

I've just had 9 months off on maternity and we haven't struggled as much as we thought we would TBH; probably because our LO put an end to the kind of things we used to do on a regular basis, like going to the cinema, eating out every weekend, going drinking on Saturday nights, having weekends away etc. I only pay for one proper baby class a week and the other things we do are free or a £1 donation to the Childrens' Centre.

Child benefit covers the basics that your child needs and all the rest is up to you to choose whether or not you want to/can spend it. I know people who were really skint when they had babies yet they were always fed, clean, warm and happy and they said that you just manage with what you have, which I'm sure you will do too!

ViolaLass

kathrynha wrote: »

When you're only having one child the cost comparison between disposables and reusables isn't much difference, and not sure where you get "washed for pence per week" from, my friends electric bill went up by more than £25 a month. If you have multiple kids then reusables are definitely cheaper as you only have the initial outlay once.

£10 is obviously a rounded off figure to give the OP some idea of the cost, I can't remember the exact amount, just remember that child benefit used to cover formula and nappies

When our daughter was born 3 months ago, we spent £85 on reusable nappies (and the council will refund us £30 of that if OH ever gets around to applying). We worked out that we would have spent that much on disposables in two months. We calculated each washing load costs us 6p (dryer 50p if used but mostly avoided).

Your elec bill will likely go up anyway as babies bring up milk on everything!

Also, car boot sales are really good for cheap baby clothes e.g. three pairs of trousers for £1.

ahomemadetouch

our biggest cost is child care but that is covered by our tax credits

ways i found to keep costs down.
Cook in bulk.
Use cloth nappies - i brought most of mine pre loved on ebay and i have been able to sell things we have grown out of - cost of nappies for the last 19 months has been £70 and I have already made some of that back selling stuff we dont use any more.

I did also buy a breast pump as well - due to not being able to breast feed but i suppose that saved money on formula