Costs of having a child

geerex

OP - Why, exactly, don't you work?

Hardly an ideal ethos under which to raise a child.

fawd1

I agree with most of the posters on here. Children cost whatever you want them to cost. We got almost everything given to us (not by asking, just as gifts from very well meaning and excited family) So we bought new mattresses for moses basket and cot (actual things were given to us) and a new travel system (although we only paid £50 for it, as my aunt paid the rest as a gift). The most expensive thing by far about having our two children has been the cost of childcare.

Now before anyone says, well that's ok because I'm at home, I stayed home too as it was more financially sensible, and only recently have we realised that had we not had children, then over the course of the last six years we would have had an extra £100k coming in after tax. And to think we used to believe we couldn't afford to save up for a deposit! We could have bought half the flipping house!

ViolaLass

geerex wrote: »

OP - Why, exactly, don't you work?

Hardly an ideal ethos under which to raise a child.

Crikey, I hoped you ducked while posting that!

GwylimT

Children generally cost as much as you want them to cost.

We bought little for ours as babies. All clothes were plain all in ones etc that are cheap to buy and easy to store for any other future children. For the first six months we used a britax car cot and then moved onto a rear facing car seat, we didn't use a pram as we find slings far easier. Our daughter was breastfed, so just a slight increase in the cost of feeding my wife just as in pregnancy, our son is tube fed most of his food which we get on prescription, he also has pumped breast milk.

Ours have washable nappies, the ones my son is wearing were worn by my daughter, some were purchased others were made using a sewing machine from a charity stop, off cuts and very closely watching how to videos, I could barely sew on a button before, now I can make nappies and bibs.

Toys, if they are anything like our two boxes do the job, many councils have schemes where children receive free books on a regular basis.

All children's groups we have attended have either been free or £1 just to cover refreshments etc. Our daughter had swimming lessons from 12 weeks which were £8 a week for baby and adult, we then did things at home like baby sign, baby massage and baby yoga, most using YouTube.

Our daughter is now four, she has violin lessons £20 a week, she goes to dance class £8 per week and a weekly fun night run at her school which is £4 a week and they have themed activities. Obviously these are additional luxuries, she may carry on with dance and violin in the future or she may decide not to, but we are aware that rhe bigger she gets the more costly these will become, so that is something we always consider before starting any club.

Imdaewen

I had an unexpected pregnancy and we panicked because 'having a child is expensive' and we had only a few months to prepare.

Mad Cafe (facebook selling pages), Car boot sale and Preloved are your best friends. Especially as you can pretty much sell it on for the same price! You can get electric swings for £30, Bundles of clothes for a fraction of the price, bundles of electric toys for £20ish (when one costs £30 new!) baby walkers for £15... etc etc. Sleeping bags (gro bags) for £5! Bumbos for £10 or less.

Biggest one off expenses are:
- Cot (Cot Beds are bigger and last longer)
- Pram
- Car Seats
- Additional Furniture if not utilising what you already have.
- Loss of wages during Maternity Leave
- Redecorating!
- High Chair (I like the wooden two part ones on Amazon, turns into a play table and small chair later on)

Ongoing Expenses are:
- Milk (if not BFeeding)
- Nappies (If not doing reusuables)
- Nappy sacks (12 per 100)
- Sterile fluid
- Baby Wipes (these are sooo useful *everywhere*)
- Cotton Wool
- Bum Cream
- Bath stuff etc

Biggest rip off is:
- Nappy Bins + Cassettes! (Put a bin outside and use supermarket cheap bags at 12p per hundred)
- Top and Tail bath
- Electric/MW Sterliser
- Weaning food (puree)


Supermarkets cycle baby events. So watch the essentials and see the difference in price. Large Tommee Tippee bottles should be £10 for 6.

Don't bother with electric/microwave steriliser. Use a Large Tupper Ware (I marked with a line and cellotape for the right amount of water) and use Milton (liquid or tabs) it is easier for travelling. I had a single bottle Microwave/Steam sterliser for single bottles when visiting others for the day - cost £1.50 at bootsale. Otherwise a large jug would do. And a Jug WILL be your best friend for cooling/heating bottles!

You can introduce solids to your baby if (baby led weaning) BLW from 6 months if baby is able to sit up by himself and is showing an interest in food. Food before one is just for fun and costs nothing really. You will be using extra veggies, so is good for the whole family really. If you lay off the salt you can use food from your own plate.

I find that Child Benefit pretty much covers the cost of babies. I am saving this up to give to use later on for school trips/university etc.

Her baby activities during the week are free as we go to events run by a surestart centre. She goes swimming fortnightly which is free for her but costs the adults £5.

transistor

geerex wrote: »

OP - Why, exactly, don't you work?

Hardly an ideal ethos under which to raise a child.

I had a job but the people I was working for were evading their taxes. My partner didn't like how much the ethical concerns I had with this stressed me out so he said I should quit and that we can afford for me to quit. Shortly after HMRC started investigating them and they think I reported them (I didn't). That was my first job after university and they are my only reference. I haven't managed to get another job since then, I guess because anyone who looks into my employment history will be told I reported them to the taxman, and eventually gave up looking.

When I have kids I would like to homeschool them so I don't think I will be able to go back to work afterwards until their education is complete. I am sceptical that I would find work given the situation because I have no good references and I am already 28 years old. I also don't really see much reason to get a job I will hate when we don't need for me to, we have too large an income to be eligible for any benefits, and there are plenty of household things for me to do at home and since I've been home my partner has been more relaxed by far because he doesn't have to do any chores since they're my responsibility now. It works well for us, we don't cost anyone else any money and honestly I don't see why it would be a problem.

Gigglepig

OP off topic, it is of course up to you if you work or not. but if you did want to have the option to get work later (call it insurance, in case your financial corcumstances change), if you do volunteering at two different places until you get the baby you would have 2 references in place for any future job applications. That would solve the references problem.

It sounds like you were very unlucky with your previous employer. Just because you had one job you didnt like, seems a bit sad to assume you would hate every other job - jobs and work environments are so different.
And personality wise who knows, the kids could be the sort of kids that really enjoy and benefit from attending school, could have academic abilities and interests in subjects that might not be your strength etc so might be useful to keep options open.

transistor

Gigglepig wrote: »

OP off topic, it is of course up to you if you work or not. but if you did want to have the option to get work later (call it insurance, in case your financial corcumstances change), if you do volunteering at two different places until you get the baby you would have 2 references in place for any future job applications. That would solve the references problem.

It sounds like you were very unlucky with your previous employer. Just because you had one job you didnt like, seems a bit sad to assume you would hate every other job - jobs and work environments are so different.
And personality wise who knows, the kids could be the sort of kids that really enjoy and benefit from attending school, could have academic abilities and interests in subjects that might not be your strength etc so might be useful to keep options open.

Oh if they want to go to school of course I would let them, but I really hated school and didn't really learn anything from school until A Level so I want to give them the chance to learn in an environment they enjoy if it turns out they're similar to me in that respect. I'd assume for A Levels they'd go to college though because by that level it makes sense that I couldn't teach them.

And yeah I plan to do volunteering in February and hopefully I can get references for some part time work so I have some personal spending money, but I don't think I want to work full time when my partner gives me permission not to :P