How to afford a baby?!

NinjaLemur

Cloth nappies do save in the long run but there will be an initial outlay I think my partner spent around 200 on the nappies and reusable cloth wipes but what we saved in the 2 years our little one would've been in nappies doesn't really compare branded nappies you are looking at about 10 pound a fortnight if not more. That being said aldi do their nappies a whole lot cheaper and they are just as good in quality (we still bought disposables for when we would be on holiday or day trips - you don't want to be carrying around a dirty nappy all day)


Baby monitors - no need in my opinion you mentioned your house isn't particularly big, well if you can hear your partner calling out to you from the nursery/baby's room then you don't need one.
Second hand buggys prams moses baskets all that sort of stuff on ebay or facebook mums groups.
There are a lot of websites and companies that offer freebies to new parents I think we got a baby bag from boots. We bought our buggy at a baby show and asked for a discount for taking the display model which would be easier if you go on the final days of the exhibition saved about 150 quid of the RRP.


When is the last time you spoke to Sky (who I'm assuming your satellite tv is with) they quite often offer you deals if you phone up and say that you are finding it hard to justify spending the amount you are on their service, they may not offer you anything immediately but I have found they ring up with an offer within the week.


Like someone said previously you sound like you have your head screwed on and the fact that your questioning whether or not you can afford it means you are sensible enough to realise that your lifestyle will change, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
My partner & I are due a second in April and I can't wait.

chelseablue

I'll second that about the nappies, we use Asda or Lidl's own brand and have never had a problem (we tried Sainsbury's ones once but they were rubbish - avoid!)


We use Asda wipes too.

Mupette

bluelass wrote: »

If you don't want your present lifestyle to change and money would be tight then DONT have one. I detest [STRIKE]some people[/STRIKE] my DIL, who i slate on here whenever i can, and I refuse to help, and threaten to call Social Services on her, who go on they really want a child but go on about how they will have to fork out for child care etc. If in doubt leave it out is good advice.

Corrected it for you, Your Welcome

onlyroz

Spendless wrote: »

Just run through some scenarios with him. You're not going to cover every eventuality, but basically who to phone and when and when to get the hell out of the house. There's no term-time care here for yr7+ and no holiday care once child reaches 12, with the exception of some dance/drama camps and not all cover f-time hours.

I'll be getting him a phone which I'll be loading up with numbers for us and the grandparents. My parents live across the road from the secondary school and so I'm hoping that he'll be able to go there sometimes after school (my vain hope is that he'll spend the time doing his home work ha ha ha ha) but I don't want to assume that they'll have him every day.


He needs to be able to walk the mile back home, let himself into the house, and keep himself productively occupied until around 6:15. I also wouldn't want him bringing all his mates round while we were out either...

euronorris

SG27 wrote: »

I thought it was quite good too! Still I have knocked about £8 per month off by switching today. Not much really but better than nothing! Just hope the service of the new provider is ok. Currently with British gas and pretty happy with the service.

Hey, a saving is a saving


Which provider have you switched to? We just switched to OVO. So far, so good!


If it makes you feel any better, we're with TalkTalk and last night I signed up one of their free upgrade options of a free mobile sim, with so many mins, texts and mb per month - free for 12 months. I've added a bolt on of data for £2.50pm. I currently only pay £7.50pm with giffgaff, so it's only a saving of £5pm, but hey, it's still a saving.


We're in the same boat as you - expecting our first child in June and I'm the higher earner and my maternity pay will only be statutory, so we are making all the savings we can now to save as much as possible to cover us for my 6 months leave, and have an emergency fund.


Need to sell a few bits as well. Declutter and add to the savings fund. Is that something else you could do too?

SG27

euronorris wrote: »

Hey, a saving is a saving


Which provider have you switched to? We just switched to OVO. So far, so good!


If it makes you feel any better, we're with TalkTalk and last night I signed up one of their free upgrade options of a free mobile sim, with so many mins, texts and mb per month - free for 12 months. I've added a bolt on of data for £2.50pm. I currently only pay £7.50pm with giffgaff, so it's only a saving of £5pm, but hey, it's still a saving.


We're in the same boat as you - expecting our first child in June and I'm the higher earner and my maternity pay will only be statutory, so we are making all the savings we can now to save as much as possible to cover us for my 6 months leave, and have an emergency fund.


Need to sell a few bits as well. Declutter and add to the savings fund. Is that something else you could do too?

I'm actually quite excited about getting my energy switched for my £8 pm! We moving to sainsburys from British gas. As it turns out sainsburys are British gas anyway!

Congratulations to you! Ours will be due early August (all being well) we don't really have much clutter. We sold most of our non essential possessions before we moved out a few years ago and have not really accumulated anything since.

SG27

Thank you everyone for all your responses. I feel much better about it all now!

SmlSave

I would just say that your having a baby with the right mind set and I'm totally jealous of your savings. We now have two children and started off with no savings as we had to buy a four door car.

You will be fine.