Wanting to start a baby fund ...

enthusiasticsaver

Work out how much you will have to live off when on maternity leave and see if you can manage on that. Save the difference. If you are able to save enough to cover the unpaid time after maternity pay stops that is even better. Then you have choices about when to return to work if you are not ready after 9/12 months. Obviously you need your employer to agree to extended maternity leave.

Most of the expensive things can be bought second hand or gifted by family. You will need pram/buggy, a cot and bassinet/pod/Moses basket and car seat. Aldis do loads of cheap baby equipment which is very good value.

thoragunnr

I spoke to my boyfriend about wanting to start a family and he said yes and seemed okay with it ( I did ask whilst tipsy but I made it clear I wasn't saying it because I'm drunk)


I never ththought about nursery fees. That's a lot of money in one month f9r 3 days a week!!!

I work in a nursery myself but could never imaigine that it may cost.this much

Lally86

Child fees are a very good point. The max mat leave you can take is 12 months. If you work full time and are in no receipt of benefits then you will not be eligible for free child care. My child will be starting the baby room in 3 weeks. It is £89 a day but averaged out throughout the year. I pay £250 a month for two days and no holidays, I pay for term time only. I am lucky as I work in a school so do not need to pay for holidays.
Do not buy a second hand car seat, I actually think it's illegal as after 5 years the plastic starts to deteriorate and is unfit for use. You will save a lot buying a second hand pram. You may be surprised that you can find some cheaper things. I bought a crib for £30 from John Lewis (on offer)
You will be shocked just how much you will need to spend. There will be a lot of stuff that you would not have budgeted for.

kingfisherblue

My daughter had a cot from Freecycle (and later a toddler bed). She bought new mattresses for both.

You need a pram or a pushchair that can be used from birth - check the size of your car boot to make sure it fits. Prams can cost a fortune, but they don't have to be expensive, especially if you buy in the sales.

A baby bath is useful, but not essential. I found a top and tail bowl invaluable, but my daughter barely used hers. Muslin cloths were about £3.99 for four from Aldi when my granddaughter was born a couple of years ago. A box for keeping supplies in is handy, but it doesn't have to be a baby box specifically - any will do. You might have something in already (box, basket?). A bag for when you are out is essential, but again, it doesn't have to be a specific baby bag. You can buy a fold up mat from the pound shop and pop that into a bag.

Bottles are useful even if planning to breastfeed, but maybe just start with a few. I had ones from the poundshop, but bought decent teats (most were brown when my daughter was born - I paid more for silicon anti-colic teats). I used a pack of small dishes from Ikea instead of 'proper' baby dishes, and still use them in the kitchen over 20 years later.

People will gift clothes, or you can buy second hand - the first sizes are used for such a short time that you don't get much use from them. The same with bedding - Freecycle is your friend!

Don't buy too many toiletries, as you don't know if your baby's skin will react to certain brands. You don't actually need many anyway.

You could start a 'change pot' for baby items, separate from your savings. Throw any spare change into it at the end of the day, or save all 20p pieces - you'll be surprised how quickly it mounts up, and you won't miss it.

warby68

I agree, its not the 'stuff' you really have to save for, its the fall in income which is sustained if you need childcare. Yes, we saved like mad to afford this.

People can be quite generous with baby gifts and if you're not loaded, asking for practical things is great.

You sound as if you aren't particularly well off at the moment and have little behind you yet in terms of savings I don't mean to sound judgmental and if you wait until you can easily afford it the time will never come! However, its easier and more enjoyable if you aren't on the breadline so make sure your decisions are full discussed and planned for as a couple even if it mean waiting a while longer. The full costs , especially of childcare are scary and if you work in a nursery but don't know the costs lol, then you're probably at quite an early stage of doing the necessary research. You're right to consider your future housing too. eg it might be better to get your move to slightly bigger out of the way first or weigh up the cost if you want to do it in a few years.

Of course, plenty of people don't do this - they want a baby and just go for it and don't think of the consequences but as you're asking the question, I guess you aren't one of those.

I think planning for children is one of those things where a 'happy medium' is the best most people can get to given many couples have to rely on two incomes but better a 'happy medium' than being miserably skint



Good luck

thoragunnr

You're right, warby68. I'm not too well off myself as recently I've lost a lot of money due to illness but I'm hoping to find a better job soon and will be putting money aside for emergency funds so if anything does go wrong or I do get pregnant earlier than planned, I got some money behind me.

I will be moving money across frequently if I haven't used it into a separate Santander account, it has 0.10% interest on the savings account whereas Natwest is only 0.01%

I will be researching more information and tips about saving for baby now that I've had the talk with my partner and he's okay with it. I did speak a little before about this but it wasn't as serious as last night when I properly asked and explained.

I knew the costs roughly but not how much it was when added up... we don't really have too much information of the fees for parents... we just get told they pay for fulldays/half days etc.

I'm sure as I save more and get back on my feet, we'llbe in a better financial place.

I don't have to be pregnant by this time next year or in 2019, it's just I wanted to start making preparations to avoid just bringing a child into the world without being secure .



Great ideas and tips,kingfisherblue.
I'll defiantly keep those on board

Toots14

I started saving as soon as we started trying to conceive. I wanted enough money to allow me to take a full year off and allow me to go back to work part time and get use to having a smaller income each month. I was already putting money away for our wedding (started trying after) so was used to saving a certain amount each month.

Our nursery is £36 a day so you can already see how wildly the fees differ.

chanie

We saved up about £1500, but we'd only been living together for about 6months when I fell pregnant, so all of our money went on mortgage, bills white goods etc. I went back full time after 7 months, as I was the higher earner.

In terms of costs:
Buggy system - we paid about £250, which is pretty cheap.
Cot - £200, including the mattress
Formula - about £12 a tin. Should last just over a week initially and just under by the time they start weaning.
Nappies - £4 a pack and should last a week ish.
Nursery - £800+ for a full time place.

As other posters have said, the biggest expenses are either the not returning to work or the salary hit on part time hours. When we had two in nursery, OH had to work part time as we couldn't afford £1500 for two full time places.

The biggest tip I have is for you and your partner to have work which will support flexible working (or at least one of you). That could be part time, or compressed hours etc. For example:
- a colleague and her husband both work full time with two in nursery, but the husband is a teacher, so they only need term time only childcare.
- another colleague works 5 days and their partner works the other two. Whilst they don't have to pay for childcare, they don't get much family time together, nor much of a break!!!
- My OH retrained, as his work wasn't flexible and they needed him there Mon-Fri 9-5pm and that was it. I work compressed hours to cut down on childcare costs.

chelseablue

As said above childcare fees are the biggest outgoing for us. we pay £750 a month for 3 days a week

We live in South East England

Spendless

chanie wrote: »

The biggest tip I have is for you and your partner to have work which will support flexible working (or at least one of you). That could be part time, or compressed hours etc. For example:
- a colleague and her husband both work full time with two in nursery, but the husband is a teacher, so they only need term time only childcare.
- another colleague works 5 days and their partner works the other two. Whilst they don't have to pay for childcare, they don't get much family time together, nor much of a break!!!
- My OH retrained, as his work wasn't flexible and they needed him there Mon-Fri 9-5pm and that was it. I work compressed hours to cut down on childcare costs.

Completely and utterly agree with this. That was part of the issue I had, along with the childcare cost. My employer didn't have part time workers and back then the right to request any flexible working didn't exist. Where I live only having full-time workers for the type of work I do (which is nothing special) is usual and has been so throughout my kids upbringing. The part-time jobs that exist here are outside of childcare availability. My husband has worked away since youngest was a baby, so unable to do something on an evening instead. Even at the beginning of last year, finding myself unexpectedly out of work, I wasn't comfortable applying for jobs that had my working into the night as DD was still 12.

I'd say find out more from your current employer, do they have part-time workers, do they give a staff discount for using the nursery?