Planning for Children

pollyanna24

Hopefully people won’t mind me putting my prospective SOA for when we have a child. I have just given up the pill and we are seeing what happens.

We figured that if we waited till we could “afford” children, we would be waiting forever, so just wondered if anyone could help with my SOA so that we can afford getting into debt (currently only have mortgage and a loan for a car).

Incomings:
Bf wages 1,672.60
Maternity 448.00 *
Child benefit 80.00
Child tax credits 80.00 **

Total 2,280.60

* Think this is right from what I see on site, for 9 months

** Can’t quite figure out if I would get this or not (bf on £27K)

Outgoings
Mortgage 1,009.29 *
Spending for bf 200.00 **
Spending for me 200.00
Groceries 160.00
Council tax 134.00
Petrol 100.00
Loan 97.83
Pet food/treats/toys 50.00 ***
Mobile phones 50.00
Gas 50.00
Electricity 41.00 ****
Sky 38.00 ^
Service on car 33.33 ^^
Car insurance 33.33
Water 24.36
Dog insurance 20.74
Life insurance 20.07
Buildings/contents ins 18.83
Car tax 17.08
Contact lenses 16.67 ^^^
Worming/fleaing 14.73
Xmas (£20 on 8 people) 13.33
Cat insurance 11.89
TV Licence 11.71
BT 10.99
Dentist 7.00
Yearly vacs for pets 5.00
bf’s eyetest 2.00 ^^^^

Total 2,391.18

Shortfall 110.58

* Estimated as fixed is up in April and going on current rates of 5.63%

** I know this sounds a lot, but at moment we get £300 and bf struggles on that. This is for socialising, alcohol, clothes, everything really that isn’t on bills list.

*** I know this sounds ridiculous, but 60 tins of dog food comes to £30 on its own and she needs biccies and cat need feeding etc.

**** This is what I pay now with 2 lodgers, not sure if this will go down, but I have just changed supplier. I am not counting on them being there when I have a screaming baby!

^ I am aware that this is a luxury, but bf is adamant it’s not going.

^^ So far this year, we are in credit with this, but you never know what might go wrong with a car.

^^^ This is a guesttimate for me. At the moment, I just buy a load and use them (don’t wear them every day) until I have to buy more.

^^^^ I am so shortsighted, I get mine for free! Wahey!

I know this is really long, but I have tried to be really comprehensive.

immoral_angeluk

Well for a start the personal spends can be cut riiiiight down. Trust me.. when you've got a baby you won't get the CHANCE to spend that much a month.

mrsspendalot

OK, for a start you would not be able to afford that amount to spend on yourselves (trust me ). You would need to cut this right back. We don't spend anything on ourselves at the moment as we are trying to get out of debt, but once debt free we are going to allow ourselves £50 a month each. Also, would you be returning to work? If so, you would need to consider childcare costs which can be very expensive. You would need to budget for baby clothes and equipment.

chevalier

pollyanna24 wrote: »

Hopefully people won’t mind me putting my prospective SOA for when we have a child. I have just given up the pill and we are seeing what happens.

We figured that if we waited till we could “afford” children, we would be waiting forever, so just wondered if anyone could help with my SOA so that we can afford getting into debt (currently only have mortgage and a loan for a car).

Incomings:
Bf wages 1,672.60
Maternity 448.00 *
Child benefit 80.00
Child tax credits 80.00 **

Total 2,280.60

* Think this is right from what I see on site, for 9 months

** Can’t quite figure out if I would get this or not (bf on £27K)

Outgoings
Mortgage 1,009.29 *
Spending for bf 200.00 **Having a baby is a great way of changing your socialising. You can invite people around for dinner/drinks/dvd etc rather than going out. Saves on the baby sitter. So this could well be less than this.
Spending for me 200.00Ditto you. If you start cutting this back now that would be no bad thing. Also you will need some maternity clothes which you could fund out of the savings you make now. £200 is just shy of what I spend on food for 4 of us a months and two cats, so you can get this down. BOTH of you need to do a spending diary and cut out all unecessary spends. If you have been say spending £50 of this on clothes a month for any length of time, I just can't see that you NEED any more WANT maybe but that is not the same. And if you do need clothes then try ebay for great second hand stuff.
Groceries 160.00Is this what you spend now, or what you think you will spend once you have the little one? Once you are pregnant you can use the 9 months to decide things like real nappies or disposable (and then save up for this) Real nappies save a fortune but the outlay is quite high. However check whether you local authority does a grant to buying them, some do to tackle landfill issues. If you can cut this down by meal planning etc, then you can save the difference for when the maternity pay hits.
Council tax 134.00You can ask to pay this over 12 months not 10 which will save a bit monthly
Petrol 100.00
Loan 97.83can you overpay this to get the repayments down when little one comes?
Pet food/treats/toys 50.00 ***There are several online pet food retailers, that do bulk orders of things cheaper than you can get them in the shops. Also some retailer (well beloved i think are one) you can order direct and get it cheaper.
Mobile phones 50.00
Gas 50.00whilst I understand this is with two lodgers, it is still worth checking you are with the cheapest suppliers, same with the electric.
Electricity 41.00 ****
Sky 38.00 ^ok if he won't budge, then how is HE going to fund it? Out of his £200 allowance maybe, or by selling some stuff? I agree that with a new baby having some form of entertainment in house is no bad thing. Also you could either a) threaten to cancel and see if they will do you a deal to keep you, or b) try and bundle some other services with it so that your overall utility cost goes down.
Service on car 33.33 ^^
Car insurance 33.33this is high, is either of you under 25 or got points? If not then have a look on one of the comparison sites to see if you can get it cheaper. Then have a look on a cashback site like quidco, topcashback etc to see if you can get cash back for swapping:D
Water 24.36
Dog insurance 20.74
Life insurance 20.07
Buildings/contents ins 18.83
Car tax 17.08
Contact lenses 16.67 ^^^someone on another thread was mentioning that they could get contacts online for £9 so might be worth checking with other suppliers. Some of them also give cash back too if you look
Worming/fleaing 14.73
Xmas (£20 on 8 people) 13.33
Cat insurance 11.89I know you need pet insurance but this and the dogs is over £30 a month, can you get a bundles policy for both of them that is less. You have to watch out though because often a new insurer won't cover you for an existing condition.
TV Licence 11.71
BT 10.99
Dentist 7.00
Yearly vacs for pets 5.00
bf’s eyetest 2.00 ^^^^does he work with a computer? if he does for more than a set amount of time a day, he should get a free eye test from his employer

Total 2,391.18

Shortfall 110.58

* Estimated as fixed is up in April and going on current rates of 5.63%

** I know this sounds a lot, but at moment we get £300 and bf struggles on that. This is for socialising, alcohol, clothes, everything really that isn’t on bills list.You have to cut back somewhere and this is the most painless place to do it.

^^ So far this year, we are in credit with this, but you never know what might go wrong with a car.If you have a lot of money in the car fund, then maybe you could use some of it to overpay the loan?

The main thing to say about babies is that they don't HAVE to be expensive. Here are few thoughts.

When you get pregnant, if anyone offers you any baby kit, DON'T BE PROUD, say yes. I got 18 months worth of clothes from 2 friends, so hardly bought any clothes until first child was nearly 2:D . Also family may have cots, etc that are not longer needed. You don't HAVE TO BUY NEW!

National Childbirth Trust often do nearly new sales, just have to check on their website where they are.

Quite often charity shops don't know what to do with children's clothes that are donated, as they are more geared to adult clothes, so look out for 50p baskets where you can get great stuff for a pittance.

Also you can get some great bundles on ebay, especially in the smaller sizes, which will have been hardly used because babies grow FAST!

Once you have decided about which nappy route to take, and you are pregnant, join all the baby clubs going, tesco, bounty, boots etc. Get loads of vouchers, free packs of stuff etc. I got so much baby bath free, that I didn't have to buy any for about a year. Also you don't have to use wipes for changing baby, cotton wool and warm water do just as well, and are kinder on the skin. They are great though for when you are out etc.

Also a good tip is to shop for consumables as you go along. Ie if you spot baby wipes on offer, by them to store for later, same with nappies.

Another place to look for baby kit is www.freecyle.org. You do have to register (free), but then you can keep an eye out. I often have people getting rid of cots, prams etc on my group. All you have to do is pick it up!! It is free:T .

Best of luck
chev

mrsspendalot

Nappies are about £4 per small pack or £6/7 per large pack depending on brand/ own brand etc. And formula is about £6 a tin, unless you plan on breast feeding which is freeeeee.

doodledo_2

Firstly congratulations on starting your journey to having a baby.

My little girl is two and she is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Like the others have said there is no way in the world you would be able to have that sort of personal spends and to be honest you don't get chance.

I can't remember the last time we went out for a meal, cinema, bought clothes for us etc etc. Not only do you not have time your priorities change.

Tax credit everyone is entitled to and the £80 is what you get per month for the first year then it drops to around £42. You get more if you earn less but your OH earns over the threashold and I think the top amount where you wouldn't get anything is around £50k :eek: (people earn that lol) but I could be wrong just working from memory.

As someone else said try buying bits weekly to spread costs. Once I was preggers I got a couple of packs of wipes etc each week and always when on BOGOF. I had so many I didn't need to buy any for about a year and believe me those extra pennies not having to spend can make a huge difference.

Good luck and hope your annoucement is not too far away

pollyanna24

Wow, thank you so much for your quick replies. Definitely some stuff for me to consider in there.

I knew the £200 thing would come up and I know it sounds like a lot. I reckon I can cut this right down, but think we both need a little bit of money from the "pot" that we can spend on whatever we want for ourselves. Otherwise, what's the point in living?! Just have to work on bf really. Not quite sure where all his money goes, but up to now it hasn't been my place to ask cos out of his wages, he does give me £1,372 towards bills!

£160 on groceries is what I used to spend when it was just me and bf. I now have a budget of £250 with the lodgers (don't ask, but I cook for them and of course loo roll and washing powder gets used up quicker with them there).

Council tax. Have thought about spreading it, but it's nice (at the moment of course, this will change when bubbas arrive) to have extra money for 2 months of the year.

Loan. We do (probably should have mentioned this) have savings which I am loathe to touch, but would most likely pay this off when I have to give up work. Our house needs rewiring and replumbing which is what we originally started saving for, but now the money is there as an emergency fund or to top up wages if one of us loses job etc. Really going to try not to touch this, but as least it is there if we get desperate when I am out of work.

Pet food. Really will have to look into this. Sounds ridiculous even to my own ears!

Pet insurance. We have the amount per year policies rather than amount per condition. Our last dog had cancer and his limit was £4,000 per condition and the bills went up to £7,000!!!!

Car insurance. Never realised this was a lot. Think I budgeted £400 a year, but we live near London (if that makes a diff). I am 26 and he is 27, so just over the threshold. It's not a particularly fast or big car, but I went with the cheapest one I found on the net.

Again, thanks for everyone's answers. Food for thought definitely.

PS. I don't think my bf knows what a computer is. Teehee, so no he won't get eyetest for free.

My contacts are quite high again of my shortsightedness. Sigh.

Dumb_Blonde_3

How exciting for you!!!!!!!! And congratulations with your forward planning

Have you started taking your folic acid - ideally you should start taking them about 3 months before you start trying - if you haven't don't panic - just start right away ;-))

Oh yes definately check out the NCT (National Childrens Trust) websites for local NCT sales - I got a lovely baby bath and matching box for about £5. Also I and quite a few other mums I know pretty much kept our little ones in babygro's when they were so small because they are so comfy and easier for changing nappies - pop, pop pop and your done! I don't think my mum was too keen on it though. I now sell my nearly new and unused items at my local NCT sale - its a great way to recycle - HOWEVER we too are trying for baby number 2 so I'm holding onto to some things.

I think that the above posters have covered the financial side of things - your spending will definately change when the baby comes along.

You say that you may not have lodgers when a 'screaming' baby comes along - they don't scream/cry all the time - if they are crying you go through a check list to work out whats wrong - 1) is the baby hungry? 2) has the baby got trapped wind 3) is the baby tired 4) has the baby got a wet nappy 5) constipated etc etc etc - you just have to go through everything at first to rule it out and once you've dealt with it the baby settles - when you fall pregnant and at your first check with the hospital you will get given a book (goes off to find the book) found it - it was at the side of my bed (where else) its called 'The Pregnancy Book' by the NHS - you will be told over and over and over that you only get given the one book so hang onto it for the next - I'm currently re-reading it - its amazing how much you forget as they grow - my little man is now 2 yrs 2 months and he is just wonderful (hard work getting him dressed in the mornings but he's 'at that age'! Some babies unfortunately do get colic (very bad stomach pain) - my son got it around 4 weeks I think he until about 12 weeks - it was hard - it would start around 6pm and he would cry as he was in pain and there was little you could do him - he was too young for gripe water etc.

Anyway I've waffled enough I'd best get on - its a subject I love though - who knows we may be pregnant at the same time - we can share our stories - GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN TRYING !!!!!!!

Chollita

Okay can I sound a note of caution.

I can see you are worried that financially the time may never seem right, but it concerns me that you speak of starting parenthood by getting into debt. Your age is not an issue, you are still pretty young. Waiting would give you time to plan, save up, and your boyfriend might be able to go for promotion and a better wage.

However, if you are determined to go ahead sooner rather than later, do see if you can find out what you would actually be entitled to re tax credits. And if you fall pregnant, resist the temptation to buy the best. Go for Freecycle, Ebay etc, as advised above.

And good luck!

pollyanna24

I have started on the folic acid already, not sure what it does though. Maybe I should have read up on that.

I am worried about the financial side of things when I have a baby. Think I would be silly not to. At the moment, I earn more than my bf (not a huge amount more), so it is a huge drop in wages. We bought our house at what people think is the peak, near London, so our wages are pretty much taken up. However, we bought in a nice area, have a ready made 3bed family home, so don't plan to move soon.

We are very sensible with money and have never really been in debt (I know we have a loan, but hmm, that was the bf again, he's not as sensible as me).

We are saving like mad with the two lodgers we have (they are friends and family, so if they don't mind, maybe one (defo not two) can live with us when we have a kid). Currently have £8,500 in savings which is a nice safety net. Only had that much money before when we were saving for a deposit. I will use this if necessary, just don't want to and hopefully it will be more by the time I have to give up work.

Plan to go back to work after a year (or when maternity is over), but I don't want to work in London (travel will be too much if I have a child to look after as well). My mum is an option. She has her own debt to worry about, but after 2 years, she reckons she will be paid up and then maybe I can pay her to look after the child. I know this all sounds rather vague, but is something I have to look into further.

PS I've been with bf 9 years, people are starting to think there's something wrong with us for not having kids (although I know it's none of their business).

chevalier

folic acid helps prevent against neural tube defects like spina bifida I think.

Is your bf on board about the child and the impact he or she will have on your income?
chev