Tips for a new mum

Working_Mum

Your baby is super young at the moment and their needs are few - to be fair most children and baby's needs are few even as they get older so maybe don't fall for the hype might be a good mantra!!

I'd strive to make time in each day to really treasure these precious moments!! My son is now 25 and my daughter almost 23 and the years have passed in a blink of an eye.

As far as money savings ideas go here are a few which served me well over the years:-

* do laundry little and often - easier to dry and saves issues caused by damp washing hanging around
* make time to prep healthy food for you all so that you have stuff in your fridge and freezer that you can grab and go if necessary. 
* always take snacks and water out with you - as your baby weans it's always helpful to have snacks with you rather than buying expensive and over processed ones.
* ask family members for specific things for birthdays etc - people are generous and would rather get you something you want and is needed for the baby
* when your baby is older and as your network expands you'll be invited to birthdays etc - I had (and still do) a "could come in handy cupboard" and I stashed cheap birthday gifts and cards in here - I bought birthday cards from places like the Card Factory. I bought 20 money boxes for £2 each one year and gave one with a £1 in each as a gift - my son's friend recently sent me a pic of his new home with the money box (we'd given him when he was 5) standing proudly in his utility room (he puts his change in there when he gets home from work!!).
* set up a specific "baby" email address and use it to sign up to local attractions and events - you'll be amazed at how many things are on for free in your local vicinity
* I made a huge native American teepee out of bamboo and an old dust sheet (I got the template online)  - my kids decorated it with spray paint and we used it for years in the garden. It dried quickly if it ever rained and sparked their imagination.
* recycle old pots and pans into a mud kitchen for the garden - a washing up bowl filled with water will bring hours of fun.
* let your child get dirty and fall over - it really builds their resilience.


Organisation is key as they get older and start to crawl and move around - having a lovely daily routine of getting out in nature will set a good example for years! I bought an annual membership to a local stately home and also Magna (near Sheffield) and we rinsed these two places each spring and summer - going to picnics and open days etc. My daughter recently went on a date with a new-ish BF taking a picnic and citing the inspiration was our family trips during summer months!

Make sure you spend some time with your hubby away from the baby - it'll do you both the power of good to have some adult time together. 

It sounds like you're really enjoying motherhood and are working towards a joint family goal which is brilliant to see.

Keep posting and asking questions - this place has a  wealth of knowledge and I learn something new almost daily.

((Hugs))

WM

Katiehound

Probably not a cheap option but our local leisure centre has "baby duckling" sessions.
 The 'early' sessions have really small babies having lots of fun with their mums (& sometimes dads.) great bonding as well as learning a life skill.

littlegreen

SP2024 said:

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. 

Oh I love it, I wouldn't change it at all. I was also doing well in my career, was on course to move further up, but I knew pretty early on I wanted to be at home with them. Believe me there are days when I think being at work would be easier but most days im very happy with my choice! I feel incredibly fortunate to be at home with them but I also know it's because of some life choices (no foreign holidays for example), frugality and a bit of luck as well.
We also get very little family help so we do not get a break from the twins together that nursery would provide, but they will be at preschool from September for two mornings a week (we will pay for first term then they will unlock funding) but is just something to bear in mind though it sounds like you have help so you can get that much needed break

I found the change was that I just end up some days using my skills at work with my toddlers so just different clients ha. Having negotiated million pound deals in my career, none of these come close to the challenge of a toddler trying to negotiate ha. I would say do get out to groups though as it really helps break up the days, meet new people, and personally we have always have quite a clear schedule of what we do on different days and what times. I also wished I'd been chilled until about 4 months and just cuddled them and watched TV more and did things for me. 

I also found once bubs were not crazy newborns the cost of groceries can go down as you start too get some time back to prep. I found when I did briefly go back to work our grocery bill shot up as I was buying everything prepared. We spend about £350-£450 a month on groceries and cleaning products etc. I've recently been able to stop buying nappies however which means we now can have a few more treat products (tried to love reusable nappies but I just couldn't get any of us on board!) There's lots of great tips on this forum about how to bring down shopping costs (afternoon out to supermarket also great bub activity for all ages! Babies love the bright lights and colours, toddlers love a scanner or a Lidl kid size trolley!)

Good luck with it all but it is a real treasure to be able to spend this time with your children getting to know them, getting to see their firsts, and helping them become the people you want them to be

CapricornLass

I hesitate to recommend too much as my two babas will be 37 and 35 this year respectively, and I had no choice but to go back full time after they were born and things will have changed anyway.   However, I do remember these two things made life a lot easier for me:

1) If you decide to make home-made purees for your son, make a batch of a single veg or fruit puree, then put a teaspoon of it in an ice-cube tray, and freeze it.  Store each type of veg/fruit in its own box in the freezer.  Just take out the required number of cubes out first thing and defrost it ready for your baby's dinner.  The advantage of this is that you can increase the number of cubes as your son gets bigger,  you can also mix and match e.g. cauli and peas, or raspberry and apple, and you will be pureeing fruit and veg in a decent quantity to make doing it worth while every couple of weeks or so.

Incidentally, if you are able to beg/borrow/steal a mouli grater, this will make pureeing anything a doddle.  Or possibly a blender or liquidiser and sieve?

2)  Make yourself up a going out bag and store it ready to go - mine was a nappy changing bag in snazzy pastel stripes.  In your bag you want something to lie your son on, if your bag doesn't have something suitable already,  a couple of spare nappies, a couple of good large strong plastic bags for wet clothing or those that are simply indescribable, cleaning wipes or two clean flannels that can be damped down, one for face, one for bum, bum cream ( see if there is a travel or small pot of it available) at least one change of clothing, and a small toy  On the day,  you just need to add bottles of milk/water/food, and off you go.  If you refill the bag again as soon as you can when you get home, then it is always ready for use, and it means you can get out relatively quickly and you are less likely to forget something.  The above list isn't exhaustive by the way, and you can change things to suit you and also adapt it as child grows.

Celloviola

Congratulations!
Be sure to check that if you get maternity pay from your employer on top of statutory minimum, that you don’t have to pay it back if you chose to leave. It may be that you have to return for a minimum period to avoid having to do this.

Bizzywizard

We had a great Car boot sale by us and every sunday morning we would go round a pick up plastic toys and new clothes or barely used. We came home cleaned them all and put them away until needed. So instead of people buying useless gifts, we would say pop the money in his/her bank account. My kids had no idea there gifts were second hand. But, we saw it as recycling and a big money saver. And we are typical middle class, but I like to think I'm savvy....the only issue I ever had was my brother would always buy (would never do the money thing) the most annoying loud Zebra etc toy just to annoy me....my kids loved it too!

Once the kids grew out of the toys, we went and id a car boot sale and recouped all or money!

I wish I had saved the £3000 allowance per child from day one ....we just cold not afford it, untill they got older!

Jj3003

I have an 8 month old and these are the money saving tips I’ve used the most. 

1. Boots recycling scheme. I recycle wipe packets, formula lids/scoops and nappy packets. I then use the scheme to buy £10 worth nappies and get 500 worth advantage points which I can then use on other baby essentials like Calpol. The boots nappies I’ve found to be really good.

2. website Bum deal to compare nappy and wipe prices

3. Trolly app to compare all supermarket baby products ( this made me realise that Kendamil formula is significantly cheaper at Iceland at £9.25 compared to about £12 all other supermarkets) 

hope that helps, enjoy the time with your new baby, so many lovely moments to come. 

Rosa_Damascena

Congratulations! 

Its worth remembering that less can be more when it comes to babies. They grow so fast and so use up and wear things out. There are plenty of nice clothes to be had in chazzers, especially for occasions so there is no need to pay extortionate Jojo Bebe Maman prices.

Do always think about why you are buying. I got a real thrill from buying stuff for my niece when she was a baby, she never asked for it and didn't appreciate much of it for more than 5 minutes. Babies want time and attention rather than stuff. Oh yes and restrict screen time to educational programming. Its easy to stick them in front of a phone or tablet but it does no more than hypnotise them.

MarriedtoFinn

BEDDING
Tip for later, when your child/children get older:
Buy large multiples of cheap-ish single duvets in SUMMER weight (4.5 togs) only.  I'd suggest up to six per child, for the following reasons...
Use ONE in summer, TWO, pinned together with large nappy-type safety pins (also similar avail. in crafting shops), in spring and autumn, and THREE together for winter.  Thus having the options of 4.5, 9, or 13.5 togs.
This means that you will always be able to launder them at home in your own washing machine (separated), and never need the expense and hassle of taking them to a laundrette.
This has been an invaluable method of using bedding for us, must have saved massive fortunes! : - )
Also, at times when they've been sick or wet the bed, there are clean ones ready to be used.
Can you imagine having to trek to a laundrette to launder unpleasant duvets with maybe one or more poorly child/children?  Not fair on them for a start, and may just not be possible.
We don't use down at all, but hypoallergenic fibre, and this can be washed and dried in a flash.

Buying summer-weight duvets may be cheaper in winter, when could be on offer!