The money is the only thing that is worrying me and my partner about having a baby even though we both work full time. I know people say there's never a right time to have one but sometimes we cant even afford ourselves! But I cant see us ever having any more money unless we win the lottery! How does everyone else feel?

Terrified! I'm self-employed and always broke, but I reckon we'll muddle through - millions of people do. I just think I'll cut back on things like booze and going out, and I'm not proud - baby hand me downs will suit me fine!

We are the same. We kept saying we will wait until we have more money, but have realised that it is never going to happen! We have decided just to go for it and as Flush said cut down on things - No more take aways and shoes for me!!
Good luck with ttc! xx

Yep, the holidays, shoes and handbags will have to be cut back (!) but if we waited for the "right time", we would never have a baby. We are saving too so that when the maternity pay starts dropping off, we have some extra cash.

I think everyone (barring celebs etc) worries about money when it comes to kids. But you get through.

There is help out there too, such as child benefit and tax credits. And help with nursery fees if needed. And you dont have to splurge on baby stuff, there are bargains to be had if you shop around. And as Flush said, hand me downs are fine as babies dont wear them out! (I have still got a snow suit which my first son had as a newborn almost 20yrs ago. I kept it and both my other 2 have worn it, and its still like new! Im passing it on to my niece when hers comes along!)

You will be fine! xx

I do worry about money too. We have a 5 year old and have put off having another due to money but now have decided to go for it. I think the benefits outweigh the money situation. It will be tight but will just have to cut down on hols, days/nights out etc, I'm sure it will work out fine :)
(fingers crossed!)

It is awful but I dont want to just 'survive' I want to live. But I guess sacrifice will have to be made..........we also are trying to save for maternity leave, hopefully that will help....................

Especially in the current climate my OH work is commition based so this is a worry as although my wage is stable it is not a lot....decisions decisions............

Its difficult and worrying but remember you do get help. I've kept working part time since having my two boys but with them both at nursery the fees were more than what i earnt! This is where the family tax credit comes in and it really does help so i'm not loads better off for working but it does give us that extra money. Now the smallest one starts school next week so the nursery fees aren't so expensive although they will need to go to a few clubs in the holidays but not all the time. Remember you get child benefit too which pays for nappies and milk (if you don't bf) and baby food! Money is one of the reasons baby number 3 took a lot of thought over as will need new car, house and of course have to start with the nursery fees again! ahhh! but they are really worth it and despite all that i really do want another x

how much is child benefit each week?

hi i have 2 children so not 100percent but thunk its about £18 per week and child tax credits varies depending on your household income
x

Morning, you get more for your first child but combined for my two i get about £124 every 4 weeks i think. Its prob about £70 for first child and £55 for subsequent children. Family tax credits cover about 70-80 % of nursery fees but it does depend on how much you and oh earn. obviously if he's a high earner you won't receive as much. You can try out the family tax credit calculator but its never given me the right prediction and always says a lot less than what i'm getting. I don't know why this is so if you do do the calculation on the site, you may be entitled to more than what is says. And remember even if you aren't going back to work you will still prob get family tax credit, just not so much as you won't need to cover nursery fees. I used to get about £300 a month when i was on maternity leave with 2nd lo and oh wasn't classed as a high earner x

For one child child benefit is £75.20 every 4 weeks. If you go onto the tax credits website then there is a calculator-the only personal detail you put in is your D.O.B and you can 'make up' a child and it gives you an estimation of what you may get on your earnings etc.
I think if you splash out on what is really unnecessary swish stuff you can spend the earth, but who really needs a £400 pram thats too bulky to fit in your boot!!!!(sorry if I've offended anyone). I was given a pram which I used for several months and then it went to my mums as it converted to a pushchair and I bought a maclaren pushchair for about £60 I think and that has lasted for 3 years. You don't need a changing table- a changing mat on the floor is fine,cots don't have to cost the earth. I get lots of clothes in sales for lo in the size that she'll be when its that season again.
With being a single mother(who works) I get more tax credits than many people will get, but I do still have the same expences of bills and mortgage etc that you will have and I manage and even have the odd luxury.xxx

I worry about money quite a lot, myself and OH have a very large mortgage (which although is a pain, i'm thankful for it as if we hadn't bit the bullet when we did, we wouldn't be on the ladder!!) our mortgage cost is pretty much my entire wage per month, and then there's our household bills. We do have things like Sky+ and Internet...so we are not struggling, its also very rare that we have to say no to going out due to money...so i think when you look at your lifestyle..there are a lot of things that you don't need to spend on that you probably do because you have the spare cash - to be fair, even when we get pregnant (pma!) i think we'll be okay, a little bit of change here and there, and buy lo's things over the 9 months to avoid a big bulk cost you'll be okay - if you start getting wipes and napps etc. each week during pregnancy when you do your shopping, you won't notice the cost so much and you'll have a really healthy supply avaiable when it gets a bit much - once you have a lo, you won't be able to go out at the drop of hat etc. anyway so you'll find it won't be so hard to save money i guess. Thats what i'm hoping anyway really....i'm sure it will stil be a shock to the system but so many people cope, so its obviously doable!

It's just devastating when you see things like this -

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/columnists/john_gaunt/article1621151.ece

and realise that life would probably be easier as a parent if you didn't bother going to work!

A x

I think Hjanea is right - having a LO can cost a fortune if you make it! There's always bargains, and if you think about it, when your off-spring is tiny, its the one time in their life that they won't care about brands or the look of what they're wearing.

I don't mean my child will be dressed in bin-liners, but I reckon babies are so cute, that they'll still look adorable in the basics. Plus, there's armies of knitters to rustle up cardies etc in my family.

I plan to keep working even if its just writing a couple of articles a week, and OH is a uni lecturer, so I know that will cover the mortgage. If things get really bad, I'm not adverse to moving to a smaller house, as we don't really use half our rooms apart from places to put clutter.

Luxuries etc seem so unimportant when I compare them with wanting a BFP. Yes, I'd love an expensive coat - but if its a choice between that and wearing the old one for a few more years (plus bump) - I know what I'd go for.

Everyone I know who has kids say you just manage, and ithink that makes sense. Just another note on the whole hand-me-downs thing - there is a fab website where mums give baby stuff away they no longer need, I read about it, I think it is just called freebabystuff.com or something! One to find out more about when we all get our BFP's!! x

It does worry me a bit as I am the main earner and we could not pay for mortgage, bills etc with my husband's earnings. Also I only get statutory maternity, which as pay cuts go is pretty severe, so worry about being able to take time off when the baby is born.
I have planned though that as and when I do get pregnant then I'm going to really cut down and save as much as I can each month. Also I have a friend who had a mortgage holiday when her baby was born, and as I'm with the same mortgage company then would maybe look into that.

I would ideally like not to have to go back to work full time but would have to but nursery fees are extortionate - my friend has gone back full time after having her little boy and their nursery fees are £700 per month. That's more than my mortgage!!

Going back to work part time would be better but I seriously doubt that my work would be up for that, which is fair enough really as they are running a business.

What does annoy me though is that women are penalised as most companies wouldn't be up for them returning to work part time and if they want a part time job then would most probably have to leave their current employment and get a job that is probably lower paid (and I don't just mean because you do less hours) and has no link to their previous job.
For example, I work in IT yet if you look in the paper at part time jobs then they are nearly always for call centres or things like job shares for receptionists and stuff like that. There is nothing wrong with any of these jobs but they have no correlation to what I do now and would be a waste of the last 6 working years of my life.

Does anyone know what I mean? Sorry, have gone off on a bit of a tangent there.

Claire-ski, the government introduced flexible working legislation to avoid the situation you mentioned.
Your company has to offer you part time work unless there is a very good reason not to, if they deny you that then they can face employment tribunal. Obviously in some small businesses it's not always practical to have people working part-time, but very few larger companies can justify declining it.

So don't panic about that aspect. I had to write a few forceful letters after I had my son, but I got my way in the end.

lulabellarama, that's so reasurring to hear that. I know that I'm not pregnant yet but these things do pop into your mind.

I work for a large multi-national company who seem quite on the ball HR and policies wise so hopefully, as and when the situation occurs, I will be able to carry on working but with less hours as per the legislation you mention.

Hey
Money is actually about to stop me and oh trying. We are in such bad debt that we cant afford to have a baby. My wages pay for the house and if im not working we cant afford to live. We need to clear a lot of debt before we can afford for me to give up work.

Im desperate to get some things paid off so we can get them cleared in the next month so we dont have to stop trying :(

Its a complete nightmare! Any financial experts out there?

xx

DH and I starting saving for wedding/babies when I moved in with him about 18months ago. I stopped working in March of this year and hubby earns good money. Maybe if we hadnt saved money I would worry abit with the credit crunch at the moment, but we are more than happy with the way things are going.

It's all about saving your pennies, isnt it, even though it sounds really boring!

xxx

My partner (will be my husband in 11 days time!!!) earns a good wage luckily and so we manage to live off his wages and for now save the majority of mine.

This means we a) learn to live on less money and b) save whilst we do it. We did it for a year before we bought our house and it worked so we chose to do it for the baby process too. I do worry we might struggle a little whilst we adjust to it but im hopin my planning and obessive saving tactics over the years help make it easier!

My advice would be to try and adjust your living situation to what it will be when you have a baby so it isnt too much of a shock when you do. Research nurseries, part time working verses full time and everything else related to what life will be like when you have a baby and in the mean time SAVE SAVE SAVE SAVE!

xxx