Cost of baby - first year

Meepmeep · 29 December 2016 at 9:20PM

Hi all
Not sure if this is the best place to post. I'm expecting end June - if all goes to plan - much to my surprise (IVF and the odds weren't in my favour). I'm trying to put a budget together for the first year and knowing very little about babies I have no idea how much they cost!

At the moment I'm planning to take a year off and probably go back to work part time. But in the mean time - I want to budget for the time I'm on maternity leave.

My mum has offered to buy a pram and a friend said that she has quite a few clothes to lend (different sex baby but figure early on it doesn't matter?). No idea if I will breastfeed or not. I will give it a try, but it's likely I will be on medication after the birth which will make it unlikely.

I think the biggest expense may be a car? OH pointed out that we only own a small two seater and reckons there's no room for pram in the back and it's a bit tricker with a 2 seater. We checked on line to find that we buy any car will pay us £250 for the car. Haha. But I don't know if this is necessary or not. I have no plans on driving.

Any ideas on cost eg per month or if there are certain expenses that are surprising and I'm likely not to realise. This feels completely surreal .....

Many thanks :j

edinburgher · 29 December 2016 at 9:43PM

DD born May 2015, have kept a spreadsheet since then. Doesn't include nursery furniture or pram, these were gifted.

£150.73/month, give or take

The main ones for us have been:

Clothing (about £35/m, even with gifts and shopping around)
Formula (wife could only BF for a couple of months)
Car Seat (we've bought 1 for ourselves and half of MIL's one)
Nappies (everybody poops)
Toys (we don't actually buy many of these, lots of gifts)

I'd say we have a nice lifestyle without being rich (or brand addicts)!

As for a car? You're on your own with that one, I don't think that's a baby expense per se.

mumblecrumble · 30 December 2016 at 8:47AM

Many congratulations! That's big news!

You will have lots of control over how much you spend in first few years. Sorry I'm not as organised as previous poster!

But after the initial layout of somewhere to sleep and a way to travel on going costs are above.

May I add other stuff you may already have in place like a will and life insurance as these become more important.

In terms of everyday stuff, if you're not able to breast feed, formula is expensive but if for medical reasons ask your doctor....

But main thing I wanted to add was about cloth nappies. We saved a darn fortune. We used Terry squares, second hand wraps and strips of an old t shirt as liners. Few buckets and the cost of 2 or 3 washes a week and that was it. Def not as yuck as it sounds.

Have a Google for

Nappy lady

And big big congrats again! It's as wonderful as you think

onlyroz · 4 January 2017 at 11:03PM

Babies cost peanuts in comparison to the loss of income either due to giving up work or paying for childcare.

chanie · 5 January 2017 at 12:54AM

I found that the costs of nappies, wipes and formula was coveted by child benefit (if entitled).

There are lots of products which are marketed as 'must haves' that you can easily do without (nappy bins - smelly nappies were put straight in the wheelie bin outside!!!).

Utilities may go up. This will include having the washing machine on more frequently (plus extra detergent), plus being at home during the winter, so having the heating on. If I'm honest, I wad so busy with the baby, I didn't dwell on it.

Pop_Up_Pirate · 20 February 2017 at 10:45AM

Cost of baby = whatever you want to pay.

Most people go OTT buying stuff they don't need such as nappy bins, bottle sterilisers, fancy awkward clothes.

Second hand cot, second hand clothes, a good sling and a few nappies and that's about all you need.

SmlSave · 20 February 2017 at 9:10PM

Totally agree that babies cost as much as you want.

Nothing wrong with dressing baby in 'different' gendered clothes

I love seeing pictures of my daughter in my son's hand-me-downs, she's lovely even covered in mud.

We did buy a five door car when expecting as it was on it's way out anyway. But it wasn't a need but a want as I walk everywhere.

See if you have a sling library in your area if you might fancy one. You can try out different slings before buying one, which I wish I'd done with my first!

Yurona · 20 February 2017 at 9:29PM

Clothes etc are practically free if you get on your local facebook selling pages (usually around £10 for huge bundles of new or almost new clothes), nursery furniture etc is also very cheap
Breastfeeding is free, formula expensive. get involved with local support groups early on, 90% of women can at least partially breastfeed with the right support (which includes the support to get the right kind of medication), so you might be able to! worth investing some effort.
aldi or own brand nappies are thecssme quality as main brand, but cost a fraction.
babies don't need toys, you can make a lot yourself. kids get expensive once childcare etc hit you, but otherwise most stuff is either cheap secondhand, or unnecessary!

jennyc85 · 22 February 2017 at 3:29PM

I agree you hardly need anything. Breastmilk is free and there's loads of support available if you feel you're struggling. Google 'drugs in breastmilk' as there's a helpline for advice (often drs are massively over cautious when advising on this and there's very little drug wise that should stop you from breastfeeding). A second hand sling (moby wrap or close Caboo are excellent for newborns). We're not even bothering with a pushchair this time round as my first hated it anyway. Cloth nappies can be a cheaper option but if you're not keen on that the best disposables are Aldi. A fraction of the price of pampers and much less leakage. For us the biggest expense is my maternity leave as we rely heavily on my income. I'm not willing to sacrifice that first precious year by going back to work early so we're frantically saving to supplement my income once it drops down after 6 months. It's easy to get carried away with cute baby clothes but as others have said you can pick them up practically for free second hand. Good luck!

Hannah_M · 26 February 2017 at 12:51PM

My baby is 8 months old now and we've really not spent much. A lot of it came from gifts - he's the first grandchild on my side, and my mum bought the cot and all his clothes - I've bought him socks and that's it!

My in laws bought the pram which was a huge help.

I've been breastfeeding exclusively until 6 months when I started with fruit and veggie mush, which I made myself - so much cheaper and healthier than store bought. I work from home and so far have managed to do so with him at home, so I've saved on the childcare costs. We don't have a car - public transport is good enough for us.

We used to buy the cheapest nappies until hubby bought the more expensive ones once and I noticed the difference in leaking, so we've switched. BUT the difference wasn't all that much anyway.

This baby article (link) has a really good list of ways to plan ahead for the baby, so that it works out cheaper.

One thing that's worth investing in is a good camera (£75-100, a regular digital camera) to capture those special moments.

Anjek · 26 February 2017 at 7:24PM

Pop_Up_Pirate wrote: »

Most people go OTT buying stuff they don't need such as nappy bins, bottle sterilisers, fancy awkward clothes.

Agree completely.

Cost of baby - first year

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free