[SteveU30]

Another tip: www.hotukdeals.com

[R5D4]

Time is the main cost, not money.

But it is time well spent.

[LicensedTaximan]

I've sold my two. Some hopes number one daughter is going to university this September so i'm really looking foreward to that one £££££ . At least she is doing some paid work at the Olympic park, she is selling Mandevilles and Wenlocks plus many other top priced bits and bobs at one of the superstores there. She's working from 3pm to 11pm, mummy picks her up at Oakwood tube (north London) because daddy drives for a living and she doesn't get home untill around 12:30am and wifey is a teacher. At least she doesn't have to get up early at the moment because of the summer term.

[Rob8980]

Not sure if this has already been posted but really within reason they cost as little or as much as you can afford. My advice would be to listen to friends or family that have young children and see what they bought/used. I think the wife and I spent far to much on bits of equipment we never used! Time is the biggest cost. We both work full time and wish we could spend more time with our little girl, but when we do have a family day we try to make it quality time. The wife thinks its about time we started thinking about having another. I don't really think we can afford it but I also know that if she was lucky to fall pregnant we would adjust and make things work some way or other. Sacrifices would have to be made though.

[jouster]

Having read through this thread there are some good answers.....and like most of them say its differet for everyone.

Our daughter is now 16 months old and a total bundle of joy, and even though we are going through the teething stage at the moment with lots of sleepless nights, its all fine to be hoenst.

Largest outlay for us at the moment is the childcare....My wife has gone back to work full time, and her salary is enough that between us nursery is a very worthy expense. I know not everyone can jutstify or afford it BUT I can say in our case it is the best thing we have ever done. Our daughter is advancing so fast and we KNOW 99 % of it is becuase of what she has been taught at nursery.

It works out about £48 a day, and she goes 4 days a week...(mother in law asked to look after her one day a week) and to be honest its doable. Wife is lucky to work from home 3 times a aweek and in the city (London) 2 times....so the savings on travel do help there...so all in just shy of £800 a month.

We also make full use the government scheme to buy Childcare vouchers ...wife gets 250 per month and i get 80 quids worth I think...you just dont have to pay NI or income tax on the monies used for these beforehand....so it saves a chunk of cash there as well.

Initial outlay can be as expensive or as cheap as you like...We went a little silly...wife really liked Bugaboo travel system as friends had one....but we bought nursery furniture NEW from Ebay and was very happy with it. Car seats again have a wide ranges of prices but as long as your little one is safe, there is a happy medium cost wise...we spent £200 on baby seat and isofix base....but the base isnt essential and is really just a convenience thing.

Clothes wise, things have improved massively in the last year with all of the big supermarket chains selling great value clothes with a a great choise as well and most of it is lovely stuff.

Then you have places like H&M too which have some amazing clothes and again prices arent too bad.

I actually made the biggest sacrifice, but this was totally my choice...I decided to get rid of my R8...hence me selling some parts I had left in the classifieds.

I would basiucally use it to drive to the station and back each day and that was it , then at the weekend I would be in the family car (Audi A4 Avant) which meant it was barely being used. So I sold up after two years, lost a minimal sum really, considering the car, and ploughed all of that money back into the mortgage...and that £50k back from car reduced the interest on my mortgage by 44k and saved 17 years too...so a massive change.

There wil however alwasy be the people that choose to shop at Selfridges for baby clothes and sundries and this will mean rocketing cost of bringng up a child...and with that being their choice its all very good for them.

BUt as someone said above, ultimately, the largest cost will be that of your time, and that is worth every single penny.

[NorvernRob]

I've just been speaking to my wife about this, and we both said we haven't even noticed any difference moneywise since we had our son last September.

We are lucky that my parents look after him whilst we both work full time, but from next month we are putting him into nursery 2 days a week (8-2) which will work out around £200 per month, with the childcare voucher scheme our actual outlay will be around £140 per month so not bad at all.

We're not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but we have realised now just how much cash we must have been wasting every month when we were child-free.

[p1tse]

Little ones cost as much as you like, but can you afford the other half bringing in no money?

Statutory maternity pay if used just for baby stuff will cover your basic nappies, formulae, clothes

[NorvernRob]

Originally Posted by p1tse

Little ones cost as much as you like, but can you afford the other half bringing in no money?

Statutory maternity pay if used just for baby stuff will cover your basic nappies, formulae, clothes

That's when you have to save some money to cover yourselves.

We knew that during the last 3 months of my wife's maternity leave we'd be over £4000 down in take home pay, so we saved enough to cover all the bills whilst she was off. This also allowed me to take 6 weeks extra paternity pay when my wife went back to work - those 6 weeks with my son were fantastic and worth every penny of being skint!

Rob

[neilios]

Originally Posted by p1tse

Little ones cost as much as you like, but can you afford the other half bringing in no money?

Statutory maternity pay if used just for baby stuff will cover your basic nappies, formulae, clothes

We're managing just fine on one income....

[DOBLY]

Those calculations for the cost of raising a child usually include the cost of buying / renting a larger house with more bedrooms than are needed by a couple - that's where the huge numbers come from.

[richard plumb]

Originally Posted by neilios

We're managing just fine on one income....

I guess we were 'lucky' in that my wife wasn't working before kids, so staying at home looking after them was no drain on the finances at all. But they're 8 and 11 now dear...

[sheriffwoody]

Originally Posted by neilios

We're managing just fine on one income....

Suppose it depends how much your one income is - if one of you earns in excess of £50k then I am sure you will manage just fine, but if you are only on £20k then i reckon you would struggle - presuming you are in rented accomodation or have a mortgage etc to pay. If daddy has paid for everything (not saying yours has - just a figure of speach) then don't suppose it matters how much you earn.

[neilios]

Originally Posted by tailwhip2000

Suppose it depends how much your one income is - if one of you earns in excess of £50k then I am sure you will manage just fine, but if you are only on £20k then i reckon you would struggle - presuming you are in rented accomodation or have a mortgage etc to pay. If daddy has paid for everything (not saying yours has - just a figure of speach) then don't suppose it matters how much you earn.

My business collapsed earlier this year,so we've had no choice but to manage on one income...And its no where near £50000.
We as a family decided spending large amounts of money on prams,toys etc a waste,most of our daughters clothes are second hand from my partners friends at work,and both grandma's buy new outfits from time to time...The pram was given to us by a consultant,and the child car seat was bought off ebay for £20....

My patners pal is an accountant at mamas and papas and they as a family think nothing of spending £900 on a pram,or thousands on toys,clothes swimming lessons etc,etc.....But thats there choice...

Childcare is the main expenes until they start school,then costs slowly start to fall.....

[dejongj]

Oh no the costs as a baby are nothing compared to when they start growing up. Mine are now 9 & 6, but their social life and growing up is more time consuming and costly. Damn they grow rapidly, we just had to but new shoes for both for school, then plimsoles for both, new trainers for school (they are left there) and a duplicate pair for outside school. That was 8 pairs of shoes

Then there are the swimming lessons, tennis lessons, horse riding, theatre clubs, track&field, hockey, music lessons. Sometimes I think we did it wrong hd should have encouraged TV and computer games my wife wouldn't have time to work if she did organising all of that outside after school and in the weekends.

But, wouldn't be without them. it is a huge change but great fun.

[David 8]

How much does it cost to give someone your kid to look after between the hours of 8 and 4?

So 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. Multiplied by however many years it is before they start school.

[jouster]

Our little lady goes to Nursery 4 days a week from 8 am till 6pm it's approx £43 a day which includes all nappies, and breakfast lunch and dinner. So in a 4 week month it's about £700 quid.

[David 8]

Originally Posted by jouster

Our little lady goes to Nursery 4 days a week from 8 am till 6pm it's approx £43 a day which includes all nappies, and breakfast lunch and dinner. So in a 4 week month it's about £700 quid.

Thanks. That's not quite as bad as I expected. Only £43 a day? For some reason I was thinking it would be that much per hour. I'm obviously confusing child minders rates with trades peoples.

[jouster]

For what its worth we live in rural Essex. I'd assume greater london prices would be far higher

[David 8]

Originally Posted by jouster

For what its worth we live in rural Essex. I'd assume greater london prices would be far higher

That's true, it'd probably be a bit more where I am. Still it's good that they feed and change her. So all you have to do is collect her after work and put her in bed. Job done

[mjn]

Originally Posted by David 8

Still it's good that they feed and change her.

As opposed to?

[jouster]

Well there are options where they'd only get lunch. We opt in to have we breakfast and tea supplied

[imightbewrong]

I think he means, you provide the food/nappies rather than they do - not that they don't feed or change them

We used to use childcare in greater london (essex border). Was £55 per day for child one, £50 for second child. That was 8-5. We decided it wasn't worth it really, plus we weren't totally happy with the care, so ultimately SWMBO left work when #2 was about one. Now #3 is about one.

[jouster]

Yeah we both work full time and little lady is getting so much out of nursery. So for us it has totally been the best thing.

We even have a parents evening in a couple of weeks and she is only 16 months.

Could be interesting.

Madison must concentrate and try harder. Hahhaha.

[dejongj]

I always wonder why we are "happy" to pay minimum wage to look after our most precious. Not just nursery staff but also security staff. I know a bit ot, but I find it odd.

[jouster]

If it cost more is still pay it. But that is the standard wage paid for daily childcare.

Are you saying we shouldn't use national health cos nurses aren't paid enough and therefore wouldn't provide a good enough service

[dejongj]

Originally Posted by jouster

If it cost more is still pay it. But that is the standard wage paid for daily childcare.

Are you saying we shouldn't use national health cos nurses aren't paid enough and therefore wouldn't provide a good enough service

No I am not saying that as we don't determine the charges for a hospital visit directly, but parents and say company directors do for their "property". Anyway don't want it to go off topic, it is just something I wonder about at times. Not a biggie.

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by jouster

Our little lady goes to Nursery 4 days a week from 8 am till 6pm it's approx £43 a day which includes all nappies, and breakfast lunch and dinner. So in a 4 week month it's about £700 quid.

We're £340(ish) a month for 15 hours a week.
If you want them to have breakfast there, you provide it.
Lunch is included though.
You're obviously £4.30 per hour, we're around
£5.60 per hour.
This is Aberdeen.

With regard to Dejongj wondering about nursery staff wages, I also wonder about this.
But, whilst I think they are all wonderful and do a great job, I'm also aware that the girls concerned, how can I put this kindly..., probably 'weren't the most academic' of pupils.
God, this sounds harsh, but they're only probably going to earn minimum dough whatever they do.:-(
No saying its right, just saying earning minimum dough there is maybe better than the alternatives, as they're working in a rewarding job , rather than a menial one.

[jouster]

I think that's a bit harsh. I know more than a few clever guys an girls that made a decision to go into childcare rather than anything else because they enjoyed looking after children

[imightbewrong]

> But, whilst I think they are all wonderful and do a great job, I'm also aware that the girls concerned, how can I put this kindly..., probably 'weren't the most academic' of pupils.

Same. One of the reasons we left nursery - much rather have SWMBO look after them.

[jouster]

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. All of the girls at the nursery we chose are all lovely girls and our girls education and general behaviour is fantastic because of them

I can honestly say that for parents alone, it is impossible to give them the same kind of attention and stimulation at home.

that can be seen when you compare a stay at home child and a nursery schooled child and I believe studies will back that up.

If the cost is too much I totally understand not putting a child in. But there is no better place for a child to learn from others.

Just my tuppence worth.