Financially planning for baby

meltedlemondrop

Hi - im currently going through IVF and I’m stuck in this limbo of not knowing when or what to plan for. On the one hand you can’t plan your life around something that’s got no guarantees of happening, but it would be stupid to not plan at all for something you are taking proactive steps to try to make happen. 

Before I start I realise that I am privileged to even be in the position to need to ask this question in the context that I am. So if there’s anyone who is struggling financially right now, this is also a way in which this post could be triggering and I don’t want to upset anyone. 

All of a sudden because interest rates have ballooned I need to put some money in an ISA to avoid savings interest tax, and I’m reluctant to take an interest rate cut compared to a normal account to do so, so I’m looking at 1 year fixes. 

Because I can’t open 2 ISAs in a year I need to put as much as is sensible into that one year fix, but I don’t want to be stupid either given that I HOPE (you have to have some hope) that I will be successful and will have a little one in less than a year. I’m also aware that this is quite likely not to happen as well, and that’s why I would kick myself if I didn’t maximise interest on a whim of a hope of something that doesn’t happen. 

Do any of you have any guidance on how much I need to keep easily accessible for pre-birth and newborn costs? This is to cover first 3 months as after a year I will have access to the money again and also if I’m on maternity I will have a reduced income which will impact on tax free savings allowance. 

At the moment funding IVF cycles is not something I need to think about YET because I have my NHS goes and also a go through work. I’m only beginning my first NHS one. 

While I realise I’m privileged to even have to ask this, I’m only slightly over threshold and hopefully you can tell by the fact I need to keep some money available and that I can’t really take the hit of 90/180 days interest lightly, that I do not have unlimited resources! Those with unlimited resources could gamble on the stock market, or could take the tax hit from having too many savings (though they’re probably paying a financial advisor to make sure that doesn’t happen 😂)

HampshireH

This will depend entirely on your current income and eligible income for your employer's maternity package if they have one 

Personally we saved enough to cover the mortgage for a year knowing that the mat package was good for 6 months before reducing to statutory mat pay (we had 2 household incomes)

Pre baby It would again depends on how expensive a lifestyle you lead. Marketplace and online second shopping is a godsend for a baby and baby bits as they soon grow out of stuff.

If your preference is new and I'm fashion / to look expensive then it will be expensive.

Bought new we got a travel system and cotbed, prep machine and bedding/towels. As well as bottle teats (not bottles) and obvious hygiene bits.

Cold water sterilising was a dream and a bottle warmer was a waste of money.

Everything else was second hand bought or freebies.  Made it very affordable. We did an Amazon list of stuff we wanted to buy and when work or people asked what we would like as gift ideas we shared the link. We had a small house and couldn't really spare the space for duplicates.

meltedlemondrop

Thank you - yes it’s good to know that a lot can be got second hand. The mortgage payments are a good shout in terms of being able to cover living expenses for a year. My maternity package with work (if I can stick it out working there long enough before I go off!) is 6 months full pay before dropping to stat, and I’ve been squirrelling away some money to supplement that. I save about 1/3 of my income right now so by just ceasing the savings payments I could afford to lose 1/3, and the specific savings should be able to top that up a bit. On top of that there’s obviously maternity wear and all the new baby essentials. I’ve heard 1-3k quoted, but some have paid £1k on a pram alone! 

Savvy_Sue

Our local NCT used to run sales of secondhand baby stuff. Always good quality. Worth looking out for in your area.

HampshireH

meltedlemondrop said:

Thank you - yes it’s good to know that a lot can be got second hand. The mortgage payments are a good shout in terms of being able to cover living expenses for a year. My maternity package with work (if I can stick it out working there long enough before I go off!) is 6 months full pay before dropping to stat, and I’ve been squirrelling away some money to supplement that. I save about 1/3 of my income right now so by just ceasing the savings payments I could afford to lose 1/3, and the specific savings should be able to top that up a bit. On top of that there’s obviously maternity wear and all the new baby essentials. I’ve heard 1-3k quoted, but some have paid £1k on a pram alone! 

Exactly what I mean by it depends on how expensive you wish it to be.

For example we got the following in a bundle for £499

Travel cot, travel system, highchair, bouncer, isofix, window black outs and a few other bits. Absolute bargain and more than adequate. Our replacement more practical for woodland walks etc buggy at a 10months was £100 on marketplace and we sold the original for that price too.

Our biggest one time expenses has been the cot and then highly crash tested extended rear facing car seats (but that comes at 12months ish any way and you'll be back at work based on your post)

Personally £1k on a pram is crazy but it's personal preference. You can make it as expensive as you choose. Sounds like your well positioned. You won't be spending your wages on thinks like lunches, coffees, dinners etc that you may now so you will likely see a natural saving.

You won't need as many of the essentials as you think