Is it possible to survive on £450 a month?

anna_1977

HI,
re nappies, I used to do nappy testing, the Health Visitor is the who suggested it and I had at least 6 months worth of free nappies (worth asking)

esbm

It's also worth factoring in some emergency fund savings (starting now.,) if something unexpected and expensive comes along you'll get yourself caught in a big debt trap before you know it.

esbm

I'm 35 weeks pregnant and seriously don't buy stuff! Google 'what do I actually need for baby' and it comes to v little. All we've bought new is pram (could buy 2nd hand or free cycle), car seat and some cloth nappies. Everything else we've borrowed, been given or got from free cycle!

DigForVictory

Congratulations! Well done to OH for stepping up to being the Stay At Home parent, too.

You have several jobs at the minute, including gestating, so between you list out everything you do within the boundaries of your house (& garden?) so you can divvy them out with clarity.

If this means him improving his cooking, so much the better - younglings weaned on home cooking are happier, healthier & less expensive. You won't mind coming back to a messy kitchen if there's hot food to eat in the next 30 minutes & several more portions in the freezer?!

Do we need to mention that the wardrobe of glorious clothes that need dry cleaning may benefit from intelligent storage & a reality check in a few months time?

Short term, when your energy levels have recovered from the news, have a few days off together in Europe. The Euro is cooperative, the Catholic countries have *much* better maternity wardrobes, and you can have a holiday in advance of some of the changes whilst investing in a few well chosen mementos. Sort the cellar for the Christening (within reason), pick out a few infant outfits that are truly eyecatching (or just invest heavily in Irulea, currently Princess Charlotte's go-to couturier, with an eye on prompt resale back in the UK?!) and have fun!

All the very best!

beckstar1975

Wow - we are a working family of 5 and have that much to live on due to being on DMP. Babies are cheap - especially if you use cloth, check for local nappy services/libraries (ours gave us a free £30 voucher).

Our first born's first outfit was a babygro I had won in a bundle for about £6 in ebay which covered him for the first couple of months.

Pepperoni

chasingfreedom wrote: »

Currently you get 15 hours per week free childcare from age 2 so you'll only have 18 (or less) months after your maternity before that would kick in and you can start reviewing your position and hubby could maybe go back to work because the childcare isn't so expensive.

It's means tested to have free childcare from age 2.

Otherwise its 3/4 years of age.

https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/free-childcare-and-education-for-2-to-4-year-olds

Mummyisbeauty

Yep can be done. Bottle feed breast milk (you can express and freeze), use cloth nappies, buy clothes lots from ebay and cook from scratch. We lived on less when our son was born due to an IVA and even now we live on not much more.

MoneyMission2015

You've had lots of great advice on here.


I definitely agree with the batch cooking & cooking food from scratch when your baby starts eating solids. I loved making all the different meals for my daughter when she was that age & she enjoyed eating them. My friend used jars for her baby & used to often complain that her daughter was a fussy eater, then one day I gave her a few of my batches because I didn't have room in the freezer and she said her daughter gobbled them all up with no fuss I think my baby food cooking was a lot better than my grown ups cooking is :rotfl:


One thing nobody mentioned is maybe when your baby is sleeping during the day, your OH could join some of the online survey panels. It can be tedious at times but even if it's just for 30 minutes a day the vouchers would add up & would come in handy for Christmas/birthdays or other purchases you might need. I haven't done any for a while but when I was doing them I would get a few surveys done while I watched TV & at Christmas I ended up with about £120 in vouchers for various retailers like Amazon, New Look & M&S.


Also make sure you always shop around when you do need something new & try to get cashback wherever possible. I use TopCashBack and have earned over £500 from renewing insurances, checking the retailers on there before I buy anything. It all adds up & as I said, it can come in handy.


As others have said, try car boot sales, ebay, facebook pages for baby things. If you do go with disposable nappies, don't bother with those nappy genie things, my sister gave me one & it was rubbish. Much easier to just put the nappy straight in to a nappy bag & then when your baby is safe you can take the nappy out to the bin. Don't pay attention to these lists of things you supposedly need for your baby, as long as they have somewhere to sleep, a safe place to roll around, a car seat for travelling in the car, clothes, food & lots of love they will be fine.


Best wishes with your pregnancy & enjoy your time off with him/her. It really is an amazing time.

ajbell

Love the way you said "current husband"

andyfromotley

What is the other £25 on petrol going on each week? Thats a lot of motoring every month when it doesn't include commuting. Do you honestly even need the second car?

Hubby can get an evening or weekend job? All income too, no tax or NI for him to pay. that would be a huge boost to a limited income.

I'm sure it can be done with a bit of belt tightening, just don't fall into the trap that buying useless stuff for you baby will make you good parents. That will help enormously in limiting your spends.