Tips for a new mum

SP2024

Hello! I've been lurking for the last month or so and finally got round to signing up. 

I'm a new mum, baby is 10 weeks old and after much discussion and plenty of spreadsheeting I think we have come to the decision that I will not return to work after my maternity leave is up. I say "I think" because it'll be tight. So I'm looking at all the ways we can cut back. 

Most of our cut backs will be on things for ourselves, we aren't big spenders but we do waste money on food. I've been following the grocery threads (need to sign up in June!) and I've started meal planning and using up everything we buy. 

I'm breastfeeding and hoping to do this for the first year. 

I've started buying baby clothes off vinted and just washing in a little napisan before the first use. Luckily my mother in law loves to spoil the baby so we have lots of lovely outfits to wear when we go out. 

I also managed to buy tmsome brand new washable nappies from a lady locally. I'm having mixed success with leaking at the moment but we will persevere and hopefully make them work. 

Has anyone got any tips, advice or just general stories of their own experiences? I am part of a mum group but none of the ladies are interested in frugal/slow living and I feel like a bit of a hippy outsider for wanting to do things differently. So any support would be welcomed! 

easyasonetwothree

Firstly, congratulations! Sounds like you're settling into motherhood really well.

From my experience, I've found some great (but also some rubbish) second hand stuff from lots of places - vinted, eBay, charity shops, local mum2mum markets and Facebook marketplace. 

Try to find pieces that are dual use, or can change over time. Like buying a high chair that converts to a table and chair for a toddler etc. 

You could try a toy/book swap with the other mums, share around a few pieces at a time so the kids can play with different things without buying new.

Don't always assume that making baby food from scratch will be cheaper, I buy the fruit/veg puree pouches from the supermarket which are 100% fruit/veg and organic, and work out about the same price but a lot less faff than making your own puree!

Look out for free/cheap activities at local church halls or libraries or farms, or find drop-in ones that don't ask you to sign up for a term in case your little one doesn't like it.

At this age, try to do stuff that YOU enjoy and bring little one along. Before long you'll be in the play park and soft play stage!

You've got this!

Brie

You might benefit from outlining your budget and posting it on the debt free forum.  If you go on there on the top sticky you'll fine the Statement of Accounts and if you fill that out and post it back on that forum there should be some good advice on where you might tighten things up a bit.  They're generally a happy and helpful bunch.

Also if you go back to the Old Style Money Saving you'll spot a few ongoing threads about money saving tips for food, cleaning, etc.  There's the "what are you making for dinner" which has ideas sometimes about what to do with those yellow sticker things bought at the local shop or found through Olio or a community fridge.  There's also a "fashion on the ration" which I admit I don't follow as I'm not a fashion sort and only shop about twice a year for clothes.  

BTW Congrats!  

littlegreen

Hi similar to you just about 2 years down the line. I did go back to work briefly after my one year mat leave, but that was just to be sure I was confident to take a career break (but the extra few months income also helped - my husband took additional unpaid parental leave from his work so I could do this and worked out slightly better off as I was the higher earner)

My twins are now just over 2 and we survive quite happily on one income of just over £40k. We are lucky however our mortgage was locked at a low interest rate until twins are at school.

My tips -
 any child benefit I put into a spare savings account. I then use this for anything my twins need outside of food and nappies and birthday/xmas - playgroups, clothes etc come from this. I also sell their old stuff on vinted/fb marketplace and money goes into this account. 

Buy everything second hand - Kids don't need a lot of outfits. Especially when they wean and then tumbling around outside/in paint and wreck it. Second hand it all. I also buy all their items second hand even for birthday/xmas. At this age they do not know. Their first birthday they got a ridiculous amount of stuff (too much!) But I only spent about £40 from charity shops/fb. I already have items in a cupboard for xmas that I've seen in charity shops this year.

Gift other people items your children have done. E.g. grandparents. Cheeky but I'm all for the card was drawn from your grandchildren and they've helped mix this cake! 

Feed them what you are eating as soon as practical. We baby led wean but did use a few pouches when out and about, but generally from about 10 months they just ate at we ate just less spice and salt. No fancy snacks, instead of babybels I just cut up cubes of cheese etc. Bulk make other snacks like Falafel, frittata and freeze. Pre packaged pricey snacks are for long days in the car etc. Lots of places also do free or cheap kids food. Tesco for example do free babycinos in their cafes. Lovely trip out with small ones

Keep a budget and check you are keeping to it. Pre plan for yearly expenses from monthly income. Try and start living on one income now and save your mat pay as a buffer. We also give ourselves the same pocket money each month (£125 each) to spend as we please. So there is no resentment if I come home with an expensive shop brought coffee as it has come from my pocket money. I've soon learned that a pricey coffee is not really worth it, and a once in a blue moon treat!

Find cheap days out. National trust always have day out vouchers going throughout the year. Something like a bus journey will amuse a young child no end and is super cheap (I must admit this gets easier as they get older for example bug hunting is something we can do now!) And maybe invest in an annual pass to a zoo for you as most kids go free until age 2 or 3. It's a big expense but worth it if the place also has a play area as well and you can use as often as you want. You may get bored of seeing the same bunch of lions, your kids won't

littlegreen

Oh one more thing - try growing some of your own food. We have a small allotment but as a starter getting a few fruit bushes/rhubarb plant/courgette or squash plants/strawberry plants/seed potatoes/ tomato seedsd/spinach. These don't require too much work and generally give a decent crop. Saves money, saves on your carbon footprint but also gives you an immense appreciation of what farmers have to manage and personally has made me even more militant about preventing food waste

Matty246

 A small thing you probably know so I apologise in advance. You need to put plastic pants over cloth nappies. 

gt568

Try to remember that as your husband is working, he will be tired.

kimwp

Look out for the baby sales- people selling their baby stuff including toys. Don't go overboard buying lots, babies really don't need lots of toys when they have the world to look at and play with.

SP2024

easyasonetwothree said:

Firstly, congratulations! Sounds like you're settling into motherhood really well.

From my experience, I've found some great (but also some rubbish) second hand stuff from lots of places - vinted, eBay, charity shops, local mum2mum markets and Facebook marketplace. 

Try to find pieces that are dual use, or can change over time. Like buying a high chair that converts to a table and chair for a toddler etc. 

You could try a toy/book swap with the other mums, share around a few pieces at a time so the kids can play with different things without buying new.

Don't always assume that making baby food from scratch will be cheaper, I buy the fruit/veg puree pouches from the supermarket which are 100% fruit/veg and organic, and work out about the same price but a lot less faff than making your own puree!

Look out for free/cheap activities at local church halls or libraries or farms, or find drop-in ones that don't ask you to sign up for a term in case your little one doesn't like it.

At this age, try to do stuff that YOU enjoy and bring little one along. Before long you'll be in the play park and soft play stage!

You've got this!

Thank you! Dual use items are such a good idea. I'll keep a look out. The longer he takes to outgrow things the better because it breaks my heart! He's already getting too big for the bassinet on his pram, I thought I would have a little baby for far longer. 

I went to our local library yesterday and I've got a list of all the baby groups that they have on. I've already signed him up for a library card so hopefully we can get some good use out of it. 

SP2024

Brie said:

You might benefit from outlining your budget and posting it on the debt free forum.  If you go on there on the top sticky you'll fine the Statement of Accounts and if you fill that out and post it back on that forum there should be some good advice on where you might tighten things up a bit.  They're generally a happy and helpful bunch.

Also if you go back to the Old Style Money Saving you'll spot a few ongoing threads about money saving tips for food, cleaning, etc.  There's the "what are you making for dinner" which has ideas sometimes about what to do with those yellow sticker things bought at the local shop or found through Olio or a community fridge.  There's also a "fashion on the ration" which I admit I don't follow as I'm not a fashion sort and only shop about twice a year for clothes.  

BTW Congrats!  

Thank you, I will check out the debt free forum. I hadn't thought of looking on there as we luckily don't have any debt apart from the mortgage. 

I'm getting so many good ideas from here. It is an amazing resource. 

SP2024

littlegreen said:

Hi similar to you just about 2 years down the line. I did go back to work briefly after my one year mat leave, but that was just to be sure I was confident to take a career break (but the extra few months income also helped - my husband took additional unpaid parental leave from his work so I could do this and worked out slightly better off as I was the higher earner)

My twins are now just over 2 and we survive quite happily on one income of just over £40k. We are lucky however our mortgage was locked at a low interest rate until twins are at school.

My tips -
 any child benefit I put into a spare savings account. I then use this for anything my twins need outside of food and nappies and birthday/xmas - playgroups, clothes etc come from this. I also sell their old stuff on vinted/fb marketplace and money goes into this account. 

Buy everything second hand - Kids don't need a lot of outfits. Especially when they wean and then tumbling around outside/in paint and wreck it. Second hand it all. I also buy all their items second hand even for birthday/xmas. At this age they do not know. Their first birthday they got a ridiculous amount of stuff (too much!) But I only spent about £40 from charity shops/fb. I already have items in a cupboard for xmas that I've seen in charity shops this year.

Gift other people items your children have done. E.g. grandparents. Cheeky but I'm all for the card was drawn from your grandchildren and they've helped mix this cake! 

Feed them what you are eating as soon as practical. We baby led wean but did use a few pouches when out and about, but generally from about 10 months they just ate at we ate just less spice and salt. No fancy snacks, instead of babybels I just cut up cubes of cheese etc. Bulk make other snacks like Falafel, frittata and freeze. Pre packaged pricey snacks are for long days in the car etc. Lots of places also do free or cheap kids food. Tesco for example do free babycinos in their cafes. Lovely trip out with small ones

Keep a budget and check you are keeping to it. Pre plan for yearly expenses from monthly income. Try and start living on one income now and save your mat pay as a buffer. We also give ourselves the same pocket money each month (£125 each) to spend as we please. So there is no resentment if I come home with an expensive shop brought coffee as it has come from my pocket money. I've soon learned that a pricey coffee is not really worth it, and a once in a blue moon treat!

Find cheap days out. National trust always have day out vouchers going throughout the year. Something like a bus journey will amuse a young child no end and is super cheap (I must admit this gets easier as they get older for example bug hunting is something we can do now!) And maybe invest in an annual pass to a zoo for you as most kids go free until age 2 or 3. It's a big expense but worth it if the place also has a play area as well and you can use as often as you want. You may get bored of seeing the same bunch of lions, your kids won't

How have you found the change? I've always worked, probably far too much. I didn't expect that I would feel this way. 

I suggested living off just my husbands income last night after reading your reply and we both think it's a brilliant idea. Luckily neither of us are big spenders but the grocery budget needs to be reined in. 

We have been to a few of the NT sites locally and have enjoyed them. I'll look out for the vouchers. It's a good point about a bus journey. At the moment I try to do too much and I think I over stimulate him. It's easy to forget that everything is new to a baby.