Budget Questions

So DH had a couple of concerns about money and having kids. This is the only thing holding him back so I said I would come up with some answers! (yes I finally asked him, and apart from this hes cool with us trying properly!)

These are all money related:
- How much extra do you spend (per week) on food for the first year? I realise that a new born won't cost as much for food as a toddler will but just some estimates would be cool!
- How much realistically could we expend to spend on nappies? (yup i know absolutely nothing about this stuff lol)
- Are there any other "general" expenses like food etc (except clothes) that are significant enough for us to consider in our budget?

Basically on DH's current income we have a spare 200-300 a pay (and my income is basically all spending money for us at the moment) after everything is paid for which includes bills and food and some spending money for each of us so we can have lunch in town etc. We are trying to work out how much money we may need to save up so that I could take a year (maybe a bit longer) of maternity leave and we wouldn't have to struggle. DH is very concerned with keeping the same "quality" of life that we have. In other words he doesn't want to have to watch every cent we spend which I totally understand, I hated it as a student.

So yeah any estimates or advice would be appreciated a lot! Then at least our budget ideas will be realistic as neither of us have any idea really.

Edited by kebakat

- How much extra do you spend (per week) on food for the first year? I realise that a new born won't cost as much for food as a toddler will but just some estimates would be cool! I dont think our food bill went up.... Max $10 a week. But i guess that depends on if your going to bottle or breast feed.

- How much realistically could we expend to spend on nappies? (yup i know absolutely nothing about this stuff lol)You can get cheap nappies (great for night and day) online for about 28c a nappy. needing to change a newborn about 8 times a day as they poo every nappy. So about $15 A week. Or there is the cloth option which i tried but i just had flats and they were horrible. Some of the other girls have the new lovely ones. i think the initial outlay is quite alot but works out a bit cheaper in the long run.


- Are there any other "general" expenses like food etc (except clothes) that are significant enough for us to consider in our budget? Your power might go up. heating babies room and using the clothes dryer, running baths. Food may go up if you cant be naffed cooking dinner in the early days so get takeaway.

What you can do Stacey is buy nappies in your shopping when you do get pregnant, that way it can save a bit when it is first born. As well as wipes and lotions and potions. We never had a budget we just went with the flow. When Andrew was formula feeding we were spending $120 a week at the shopping. Now we are spending $100 tops then there is takeaways on top of that.

If you want we can catch up and we can have a talk about what we are doing at the moment and what we are planning to do when the next one comes along.

I thought I might clarify our income. We don't earn buckets, he earns 45k a year, i earn 28k a year, my brother in law as a teacher earns almost as much as us combined!!! But just cause of how we live (apart from at the mo we are spending mostly everything cos we just brought a new house and wanna do stuff) we seem to have that left over. it will be a bit less now because of how much petrol costs these days!!

But thanks girls, its helping lots!!!

And yes becks I'd love to catch up!

I cannot exactly remember our budget after having paris but as i was a student, it was not a heap - i think we had $20 a week over.. so were were really quite broke.. but still managed.

Food budget - i found went up a little, simply cos iwas at home more than i used to be, but realistically just meant that the money i used to spend on lunch in town went towards groceries so i could eat at home. I think the main things were bread and milk cos i had to have toast and a milo nearly each time i fed otherwise would have probs with bloodsugar etc. Once The girls started solids, i used to go to t-market - which has now closed, but i used to go once a fortnight get a few apples etc and veges and cook up all my own baby food, freeze it in ice cubes and then could microwave it just like that, instant dinner for bubs and didn't cost alot. (of course now we buy tinned stuff... and boy do i feel lazy, but there's just not enuf hours in the day)

Nappies, hhm For Ayja at the mo, we usually buy 4 smaller packs of the med giggles and that lasts us a fortnight - that said the newborn packs have more in them but bubs uses those extras with their explosions and leakages. We started buying up lots of nappies just like others have said, and we started early.

The one thing i think i wish i had budgeted for was my own skin care etc.. because we didn't have much money and i felt like that was a bit of a luxury so just really had to ration it out.. so stock up on that during pregnancy too, stuff like body lotions, makeup, even shampoo etc, that way the extra money spent on nappies doesn't make as much of a dent cos you aren't buying all the other stuff.

Am sure you will cope wonderfully, seriously - there is no good time to have kids, they are still gonna put strains on budget no matter how much you plan theres things you can't account for, and if you wait till you think you are financially ready, that time may never come. That's because the more money you have, the more you need, and the more you find to spend it on. I now have no idea how we lived on an income of just on $20,000 for so long with a young baby.. which thankfully has steadily gone up due to mikes company being wonderful and giving raises each year. All i can think if i was careful, i didn't indulge and i planned ahead, saved tidbits of money, laybyed xmas pressies in june with the midyear sales, bought clothes the next size up at the end of season sales so that paris would have something to grow into.

In our budget once i start work, i have figured out we will still be exactly where we are at now, because we no longer qualify for daycare subsidies.. so we will have $200 a week over which is absolutely wonderful, don't get me wrong but I can't wait till girls no longer require daycare.. i figured out if we didn't have to pay that we'd have nearly $1000 a fortnight left over... and that's the reality that bites.

Maria might be able to help you there... she knows a few online sites that stock in larger sizes.

I've probably said this before... but it really depends how expensive you want to make it.

The only other expense that I haven't found mentioned, and from what you said, isn't really relevant for the first year as you are planning on staying home... childcare. You might just be above the threshold for getting any subsidy, so once you do go back to work it'd be a decent chunk of your pay packet.

My theory is that babies aren't really half as expensive as I'd been led to imagine. They eat next to nothing (well... depending if you have a gobble monster child or Hannah) and you can subsist clothing wise on second hand (yay trade me), sales, and hand me downs... and have a few really nice outfits for going out.

That's the same as maternity wear I guess. I bought a few items on sale and providing you have basic stuff, (like say, black pants) you can get away with wearing that when you are out in public. Most of the time I lived in large t-shirts and a gross skirt I stole from Mum

Anyway.. there ya go!

I bought fuzzis on the easypay plan - $75 a month for three months. I figure after four months, I've sdpent the same amount that I would've for disposables so after that, I'm saving money. I am going to get osme for Jake after I've paid off this lot. He Hopefully won't be in nappies much longer, but I can use them for Taine too, so won't be wasting money at all.

My parents offered to pay for a lot for me - cot, pushchair, carseats, high chair/ If you don'tmind second hand you can get great bargains from trademe.
We are on VERY limited income and cope with two kids no problem. It CAN be more expenisve, but that is probably more from parents having to take time off than from the kids themseves.. School age might be a different story though!

Well we earn about the same as each other and spend pretty much one of our incomes on the mortgage (although we are paying extra to get equity built quicker). At this stage we don't know if we will qualify for either an interest only repayment option or a mortgage break as we won't be at 80%, however, our bank has said they will look at our savings as well. So now, on top of the mortgage repayments, we are saving enough to enable me to have 6 months off work. They may be an option for you if you really need it though kebakat.

OF course if we conceive straight away when we start trying (which I don't think is likely) or if I have to leave work early because of complications we will be in the poo - but I decided that we could always find a reason to not have a baby and it was better just to go for it.

Edited by miss

With the nappies thing, I think for the first couple of months I'll be using disposable ones and then I'll most likely end up using cloth ones like fuzzi bunz.

I really didn't think the baby itself would be expensive but DH did and I can show him this thread!

And as an afterthought, my work use to have childcare subsidy, not sure if they still do but it's something to consider way down the track!

Oops better shut up and go to work lol

I know when it happens we will have 4 very clucky grandparents on our hands as it will be the first on both sides (and its not likely our siblings are going to produce any babies for the next few years if ever lol) so we will be loaded with offers of help for the big stuff which is nice.

And I found out from IRD that we will be entitled to a little bit of help. it's not much but hey it helps!