How much did you save before having a child?

AWPTheo

So tonight my partner and I were talking about when the right time for children etc would be (a whole long way in the future most likely!)

Our biggest worry is financial, and by our calculations to live at our current standard, buy all the recommended items and cover expenses, we would need to save £15k just to see us through the first year! :eek:

How much did you all save before having your first child?

Lizabeth21

We didn’t save anything. Once we knew our first child was on the way my husband started seriously budgeting knowing we would be loosing my wage.
(30 years ago now!). Always had a budget which included savings when we could. Always re mortgaged at the end of the deal. Always moved money to get the best deals.
If you wait till you think you can “afford” them .....

FreddieFrugal

We didn't save any amount especially, just have always saved.

That said - baby hasn't cost us much at all. Obviously loss of income during maternity leave was the biggest hit. But in terms of purchases for him, he's not cost a huge amount.

We had more money in the bank at the end of OH's maternity leave than we did at the start, and that's despite her being the main earner and taking nearly a full year

You don't have time to spend money - at least we found - when you're looking after a new baby!

He added roughly £10 a week to our shopping bill (it's much less now he's weaned)
£15 a month to gas bill (because of the home being occupied all day)
£20-£30 in clothes every 3 months (until 6 months old when sizes last longer)
Travel system - £200
Cot and wardrobe - £250
Carrier - £15
Books - mostly gifted and also use library
Toys - less than £100
Bottle feeding stuff - £200

But remember people gift you things and we got mothercare vouchers given from work which we used on the bottle stuff

So all of that added up is not a huge amount and a lot of it is one offs

"Your current standard" may be the thing that has to change if you're finding yourself with a huge amount to cover.

comeandgo

I had two children in two years. Never saved anything up front, I worked a couple of evenings a week until I got back to full time work when youngest was five. We just cut our spending back.

GwylimT

As we knew we wouldn't have my wage for at least a year when children came along we prepared by living on my wifes wage as that is what we would be doing when a baby arrived. That way all of my wages were set aside as an emergency fund, it was two years before our daughter arrived so we had two years of my wages squirreled away.

jackieblack

Same as most of the above... No savings, just adjusted our budget to our new circumstances. We had been living on one wage and using the other to renovate our house (a doer-upper was all we could afford) so we didn't have a very consumerist lifestyle with frivolous spending beforehand so didn't have an expensive 'current standard' to keep up nor feel we were missing out.

LavenderBee

Same as the above really - I'm not going back to work at all so we're actually planning a more permanent lifestyle change, which is partly made doable due to having to move for Hubby's work anyway (which we receive financial help for, but also gives us the opportunity to downsize our unnecessarily large home in the South East for something more practical, somewhere cheaper). We will be downgrading some things such as getting rid of the second car (don't need it since I'm not commuting for a few years), and knocking our regular city breaks on the head.


I've drawn up a spreadsheet of what we need for our baby (it's our first), and in researching costs there are wild variations. Branded prams are more expensive than my first car (and my second for that matter...), nursery furniture from some designer retailers is beautiful, but 5 times the price of Ikea. You spend your money where you like really. I'm desperately hoping I can breastfeed so won't be wanting much in the way of feeding equipment, and plan to cloth nappy and wipe, so hopefully our ongoing expenditure when baby is little will be minimal (though the latter is a large initial outlay).


On a personal note, I'm also downgrading my toiletry and cosmetic choices and ensured I don't need anything new in my wardrobe!

riotlady

Baby was a surprise so absolutely nothing prior to getting pregnant! Saved up about £350 to get baby essentials during pregnancy and got a lot secondhand. I also maintain about £1000 in an emergency fund just in case something should happen to one of our jobs, but I had that before getting pregnant anyway.

£15k sounds like a LOT, it might be easier to cut back on lifestyle/expectations than to try and save that much?

millysg1

How did you get £15k? Seems a lot. We had enough to cover loss of income for while I was in satitory pay. A lot stuff I asked for Xmas and birthday present when I was pregnant. There is no need to buy everything brand new. It’s amazing how many good quality stuff you can get second hand. Especially for stuff they only use in the first 6 months. People spend £1k on pram that they grow out of by 9 months. I got a cot for £20 that looked brand new. I did buy and brand new mattress. Newborn and tiny clothes I bought se I d hand of eBay, which is good as he never fitted the tiny clothes and only lasted 2 weeks in the newborn clothes. Everyone bought us tons of 0-3 months clothes as present.

You’ll make do with whatever money you have, don’t put kids off just for more savings,

gardner1

AWPTheo wrote: »

So tonight my partner and I were talking about when the right time for children etc would be (a whole long way in the future most likely!)

Our biggest worry is financial, and by our calculations to live at our current standard, buy all the recommended items and cover expenses, we would need to save £15k just to see us through the first year! :eek:

How much did you all save before having your first child?

For most people you just manage through as others have said if you wait until you think you have enough money you'll be to old.Family member was like that always an excuse....house,jobs,money,holidays,cars etc....in the end couldn't have kids because of a medical condition,7 years before she was in tip top shape

Comms69

AWPTheo wrote: »

So tonight my partner and I were talking about when the right time for children etc would be (a whole long way in the future most likely!)

Our biggest worry is financial, and by our calculations to live at our current standard, buy all the recommended items and cover expenses, we would need to save £15k just to see us through the first year! :eek:

How much did you all save before having your first child?

Does this means paying for social activities, because that is a direct 1:1 saving when having a child....