£720/Mth savings for baby on way - best options?

Blitzdemanwedders

Hey everyone,

I trust this finds you all well

The goods news is my fianc! has just found out that we are expecting our first child, the bad news is that she does not get anything specific from her employer for maternity leave.

We have run the numbers and we can afford to save around £720 a month together for the next 9 months to help with baby funds.

Any idea what would be the best option?

Have an awesome week

xylophone

Has she ever had a Nationwide Flexdirect account?

Have you?

If not you can each open one.

Make sure that you credit each account with £1000 a month from an external source - you can immediately withdraw what needs to go elsewhere.

Once you have reached £2500 in each account, ( continue to credit the accounts with £1000 each month), open the 5% Regular monthly saver for the rest of the money.

Alexland

Yeah stick to high rate preferably easy access cash products for now and build a plan for how your expenditure might change and how you will live on the reduced income both during the maternity leave and possibly after too.

Don't waste money on £700 prams, buying all the gadgets in advance of understanding what you need and there is no shame in getting some stuff second hand. Having a baby was the hardest thing we have ever done and now we have another on the way it's going to get even harder!

Alex

kidmugsy

Alexland wrote: »

Don't waste money on £700 prams, buying all the gadgets in advance of understanding what you need and there is no shame in getting some stuff second hand.

We found that a combination of new stuff, second hand stuff, and hand-me-downs did pretty well.

Katiehound

xylophone wrote: »

Has she ever had a Nationwide Flexdirect account?

Have you?

If not you can each open one.

Make sure that you credit each account with £1000 a month from an external source - you can immediately withdraw what needs to go elsewhere.

Once you have reached £2500 in each account, ( continue to credit the accounts with £1000 each month), open the 5% Regular monthly saver for the rest of the money.

and if you can switch an account into the Nationwide Flex Direct with 2 x DDs you can be referred (see referrers board) and collect £100.
You then refer your fiance and you each get £100

dawyldthing

I’m another for shopping around. I’m 18 weeks pregnant and have bought bits online including

pram/pushchair make sure you get one with a lie flat, with Car seat. £23.88 off eBay
Carry cot. £28 off eBay -
Play mats/ Swings/bouncers/ pods. £2 - charity shop
Moses basket inc mattress & blanket. £10 off Facebook
Play swing. £10 off Facebook

There’s no end of offers online. Other thing is you will get some maternity pay so work out your bare minimum you’ve got outgoing now and try and out that aside if you can (hopefully the £720 pm is close).

Have a look on the savings bit on here too

dawyldthing

Plus if you’ve just found out you’ll have prob 8 month to save, possibly 7 depending when she goes on maternity

Alexland

kidmugsy wrote: »

We found that a combination of new stuff, second hand stuff, and hand-me-downs did pretty well.

I spent hours meticulously cleaning second hand stuff with Flash wipes to look new again. Some people would say they only want the best for their baby but they grow up so quickly that they won't get full use out of an item and the money saved has been invested so we can help with university and/or house deposit in future. We kept everything in the attic so I have been sorting through it again in prep for the next one. After that it will be going on eBay to pay for future stuff needed.

Alex

trailingspouse

It isn't 9 months.


Presumably you are now about 6-8 weeks pregnant - that's a couple of months gone by.
And you won't want to be buying all the stuff the day the child arrives (or even the day before...) - most people buy the big stuff a month or two beforehand - so that's another two months knocked off the 9 months.
I would say you only have about 5-6 months for saving.

AnotherJoe

Go to NCT sales. My daughter picked up a lot of good stuff at those. I believe if you join it you can get earlier entrance to the sales, well worth it for higher value items like buggies.
As everyone else points out, your main savings will come not from higher interest rate savings accounts, but from not splurging on a whole bunch of brand new stuff you either never use, or use about three times before its too small or would be perfectly find second hand because its hardly or never used, or is just in good condition.

There's no need to buy everything you need right now or even the week before birth.

BucksLady

Blitzdemanwedders wrote: »

Hey everyone,



The goods news is my fiance! has just found out that we are expecting our first child, [/QUOTE


Congratulations - hope everything goes well for you