How to afford a baby?!

enthusiasticsaver

Your insurances look a little high. Have you done price comparisons? Also whilst I am a firm believer in saving for pensions you seem to be paying a considerable amount of your disposable income on this. Does this not come off before your net income - ie is the £1733 before or after pension?

theoretica

Have a read of both her job's maternity policy and your paternity policy. Parents may now share the year of babycare leave, and if your employer is more generous than hers, or she is the higher earner, it may work out financially better for you to take a portion of the leave rather than just her.

SG27

sweetilemon wrote: »

SMP is 90% for 6 weeks then £138pw until 39 weeks so that's enough to cover the shortfall. How many years is your mortgage over? Is that the best rate? £600 seems a lot for the outstanding balance. Holiday at £100 is a nice luxury but can be freed up for baby spends if necessary. Will you save money on petrol when your OH is not travelling to work?

Completely forgot that £600 includes £100 OP that will have to go. No more MFW:( yes the holidays will have to go too. And yes petrol will be less with mummy staying home. Although it will increase substantially if we can use her parents for babysitters. They live 45 minute drive away.

SG27

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Your insurances look a little high. Have you done price comparisons? Also whilst I am a firm believer in saving for pensions you seem to be paying a considerable amount of your disposable income on this. Does this not come off before your net income - ie is the £1733 before or after pension?

Home insurance is high due to the age of the house. It's very old. Car insurance I shop around each year at renewal.

The reason the pension is so high is because I only started age 30, so have a lot of catching up to do. I have no work pension so it's a private pension which comes out after my net wages.

Redacted

SG27 wrote: »

Home insurance is high due to the age of the house. It's very old. Car insurance I shop around each year at renewal.

How old is old? Our house was built around 1925 and our insurance both this year with Dial Direct and last year with esure was about half that, including things like accidental damage, home emergency and legal protection covers. Are you in a high risk area? Flooding spot?

Are you still in contract with your phones?

And are the car costs for both cars? If you needed to, could you SORN one for a bit?

Beckyy

I agree your buildings insurance in a little on the high side unless you're in a flood area or have previous claims. We have had some local flooding before and people with large claims have paid less than that afterwards with old houses. Maybe price comparison will knock it down a bit, or Quidco will give you a little back?

euronorris

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50

Haircuts................................ 2


Are these right? If so, the presents amount can be knocked down.


The haircuts amount seems awfully low though. £24 per year, for both you and your wife? I think you may have underestimated here.


With the council tax amount, is that the true monthly cost, or just the amount you pay each month for 10 months? If the latter, then that can be readjusted down. I think councils allow you to pay over 12 months, rather than 10, if you ask them to.


With regards to water, is your house metered? If so, are you currently paying the correct amount or possibly overpaying? You may have a balance built up with them. We recently checked and were overpaying, so we got a £137 refund and reduced our DD to £21 pm.


When was the last time you shopped around for energy suppliers? There are a lot more on the market now, with some very cheap deals. Again, we have just switched, savings ourselves £150 per year.


Hope that helps

euronorris

Also, you've got entries for both gas and electric AND logs/chimney sweep. Is that correct?


If you have a log burner/fire, I'd expect your gas bill to be considerably lower than it is.

SG27

Ok thanks I'll try to answer all the questions!

House is 1700 and listed hence the high cost. I do a comparison each year.

My phone is sim only £7.50 wife's phone is still in 2 year contract.

We need both cars and also no off road parking so no chance to SORN.

Presents can be knocked right back!

Haircuts is about right. I get free hair cut from my BIL and wife's cousin is also a hairdresser so much cheaper!

Council tax is 10 months you are right so this can be reduced.

Water is metered. They dramatically increased the price earlier this year so we argued it and gave a reading and the dropped it back so should be right ish.

Shopped for energy sullied last year but the saving wasn't worth switching. I'll try again soon.

We only use the stove during the evening. The heating is on low all day while we are at work.

lee111s

Why is your heating on low all day? Seems like a waste of energy. Do you have a thermostat and a timer so you can time the heating go off 30 minutes before you leave in the morning and to come on an hour before you get in from work?