financial help questions

[sarah890]

hi, we are on the verge of trying for a baby and i just wanted to know the on going cost of having a baby after its born- between then and going back to work? can anyone help me??

[ss_storm]

It really depends on a lot of things, and probably how much you want to spend! Will you be b/f or formula? if b/f will you be expressing for bubs (for when you go back to work), so you'll need bottles, EBM storage containers, a pump.
Will you be using cloth nappies or disposables? Then there is the cost of day care when you do go back to work, unless you have family that can babysit.
Clothes are another ongoing expense, so are you happy to buy 2nd hand or prefer new, do you have friends/family with older children that can pass on hand-me-downs.

DD is formula fed and we use cloth nappies, overall I would say I haven't really noticed an increase in our expenses, but once she is eating and ready to go off to school/day care i would imagine that's when we would start forking out more money.

[amberj]

We managed to set up the nursery and get everything we needed for pretty cheap (comparatively)- $800 or so, using ebay. Then it was ongoing costs- nappies, formula, toys and clothes (although again clothes were mostly hand-me-downs, so no big deal). We put an extra $50 a week in our budget to cover the costs of nappies and formula. Now that Peter is 16 months old, those costs have decreased significantly, to maybe $20 a week? We still have about $30 a week set aside for Peter related things- eg- cost of fitting car seat when it was turned to forwards, the odd toy etc. Our grocery bill may have gone up a little since he started solids, but not really noticeably- maybe $10- $15 a week.

Honestly, I buy most of Peter's things second hand- ebay or op-shops- and its cheap as chips. If you were BFing, thats a huge money saver. Clothe nappies are an expensive outlay, but save you money in the long run.

The biggest cost is loss of income in one of you staying home with bubs! (but its so worth it!)

[sarah890]

hi ss_storm

thanks alot for your reply. u did help me. so u didnt notice much of an increase? did u have to save money for when bub was born? when did u finish work? how long are u hav ing off till u go back to work?

if u dont mind me asking these questions. if u want to email me directly my address is spearson@live.com.au

hope to hear from you soon

[sarah890]

We managed to set up the nursery and get everything we needed for pretty cheap (comparatively)- $800 or so, using ebay. Then it was ongoing costs- nappies, formula, toys and clothes (although again clothes were mostly hand-me-downs, so no big deal). We put an extra $50 a week in our budget to cover the costs of nappies and formula. Now that Peter is 16 months old, those costs have decreased significantly, to maybe $20 a week? We still have about $30 a week set aside for Peter related things- eg- cost of fitting car seat when it was turned to forwards, the odd toy etc. Our grocery bill may have gone up a little since he started solids, but not really noticeably- maybe $10- $15 a week.

Honestly, I buy most of Peter's things second hand- ebay or op-shops- and its cheap as chips. If you were BFing, thats a huge money saver. Clothe nappies are an expensive outlay, but save you money in the long run.

The biggest cost is loss of income in one of you staying home with bubs! (but its so worth it!)

hey thanks for that. looking at figures really help. so did you start saving once u started trying for bub or it just happened then u had the 9 months to save? if u want to email me directly, my address is spearson@live.com.au.
hope to hear from u soon.
cheers- sarah

[ss_storm]

no worries sarah, glad to help out. i was working full time until about 4 weeks before my EDD. we did try to save, but it didnt work too well as we were still paying off lay-by's on her cot, pram, car seat etc. plus our other household expenses/debts. i would have had a few hundred $ in savings by the time i finished work, but it didn't last very long! i'm planning to have a year off, i am due to go back to work in june, dont want to go back though so we will see how we are financially when it's time for me to go back.

I'm lucky that my fiance has his own business which he runs from home and also does a fair bit of contracting work so he can (at the moment) bring in enough money to support us. the government baby bonus, if you are eligible for it, is also a great help.

even if you start putting $20 a week into a savings account (and don't touch it..i think this was our downfall! lol) by the time bubs is here you should have a fair amount saved up. buying groceries in bulk has also helped us- we did a huge shop before i finished work and we didnt need to go again for at least a month- stock piling is great!

[sarah890]

no worries sarah, glad to help out. i was working full time until about 4 weeks before my EDD. we did try to save, but it didnt work too well as we were still paying off lay-by's on her cot, pram, car seat etc. plus our other household expenses/debts. i would have had a few hundred $ in savings by the time i finished work, but it didn't last very long! i'm planning to have a year off, i am due to go back to work in june, dont want to go back though so we will see how we are financially when it's time for me to go back.

I'm lucky that my fiance has his own business which he runs from home and also does a fair bit of contracting work so he can (at the moment) bring in enough money to support us. the government baby bonus, if you are eligible for it, is also a great help.

even if you start putting $20 a week into a savings account (and don't touch it..i think this was our downfall! lol) by the time bubs is here you should have a fair amount saved up. buying groceries in bulk has also helped us- we did a huge shop before i finished work and we didnt need to go again for at least a month- stock piling is great!

so overall, other than cots, prams etc. the only things are nappies and formula if i find i cant breastfeed are the only on going costs once bub is born? and by buying alot of things second hand and hand-me-downs would help too?

[ss_storm]

Yeah pretty much! As I said before we use cloth nappies (sposies if we are going away..it's much easier and DF said he doesn't want wet/dirty cloth nappies lying around the car! Lol) I bought probably 4 packs of terry towelling nappies, at about $20/$25 a pack and there is 8 in each. I haven't had to buy any since. The only ongoing cost with that is wipes and nappy liners, I buy wipes in bulk from Big W, about $15 for a box of 8 packs which lasts probably a couple of months, nappy liners a bit over a week and a box of them is about $8. I don't know how much it would cost using disposables full time, I buy a pack of about 48/54 whatever the size is, and because I only use them when we are out of town, which is not very often, they would last about 4 months, possibly longer.

Formula, I use a tin in a little less than a week, the one I use is about $18, and if it is on special, like it was at Coles last week, I grab a couple.

Clothes I have bought a lot off ebay, and will be going op-shopping when I get my act together! I've only bought a couple of things new for her and they were on the sale rack. Before she was born I got a heap of baby clothes (size 0000-000 and a few larger things) given to me by workmates. They grow so quickly in the early days that if you wash regularly you won't need too many outfits. For the first probably 8-10 weeks she was in wondersuits/all in one suits all the time, it was only once she started being a bit more manouverable that I started putting her in 'normal' clothes, I just found it easier with the all-in-ones to begin with.

I can't really think of anything else, apart from a few toys. We bought her play gym brand new, but that was on sale, and a musical mobile for her cot. The rest I have bought off ebay and weren't too expensive, I set myself a limit of $5 per listing that I bid on, and tried to bid on listings that had a number of toys in them, rather than just one toy. that's not really an ongoing cost though, although as she gets older we will start buying things for an older age group.

[HotI]

Another cost to factor in is your wardrobe during pregnancy, and after if you are breastfeeding. My boosies grew heaps in the first trimester, and i needed to buy new bras by 10 weeks? pregnancy. I bought maternity bras, thinking i can use them for feeding if they last that long. It is hard to know how big you will get. For feeding, you might want feeding singlets as well as maternity bras.

I can't wear some of my clothes already, and have to get some everyday clothes soon. You can go to e-bay, or borrow if you have friends that have recently been pregnant.

You also need to take folic acid prior to getting pregnant, and it is good to take pregnancy vitamins during pregnancy and for breastfeeding.

I have also bought a few books on pregnancy and birth, cos that's how i like to get my info.

take care,

[amberj]

Sarah, we started saving from early pregnancy, so that by the time we had to buy all the baby stuff, the money was there. Putting aside a bit each week really adds up over the course of 9 months and you have a nice little sum to get yourself all set up.

Babies don't have to be expensive. In looking back, my advice would be not to get too sucked into buying all the baby products on the market. They are babies for actually so short a period of time, and they outgrow things (toys, clothes, feeding stuff) so, so, so quickly. I am constantly amazed by how much baby stuff there is out there, and for how short a period of time its used. My experience is that they need more stuff when they are toddlers!!

[sarah890]

thank you so much ladies. you have really helped me alot. my car has jus shat itself and i have had to get a loan for a new car so thats kinda stressed me out abit with figures and repayments and the cost of having a baby hence all of the questions. other than whats already been said, any other financial advice before i fall pregnant and bubs born??

[jackrose]

You might also want to consider a few little potential pregnancy related costs if yyou are wanting a realistic budget.

I was not aware of such costs before I fell pregnant and was quick to learn! It all depends on the model of care you want and choose while you are PG, but you may need to consider some GP costs if you share maternity care with a GP. Also, my ultrasound cost about $150 (the first was a dating scan and I can't remember if i had to pay for the second). If you have an Ob you will need to factor in those costs too. I didn't have one so I can't tell you how much that will be. I went throught the public system so no costs there. Some women choose to hire a private midwife or doula to assist with the labour which is good idea in many instances for a first baby. you may wish to consider such costs even if you decide not to use one.

And with regards to baby, I'm with the other posters, they don't cost all that much! The other ladies have given you a good outline. With toys you can always join a toy library which keeps costs down and interest levels up!

[tenar]

Personally, I have found having a baby to be pretty expensive. We haven't bought much stuff, and none of the big things that many people have had to buy, and still the costs mount up and up. I think we've spent maybe $3000 or $5000 so far, and DD is only 6 months old. Not sure I dare to add it all up...

We could have gone cheaper, but we could have gone a lot more expensive to. We have bought cloth nappies, some toys, a cot but no other furniture, and some of her clothes. Also a baby carrier (ergo), and gear like a baby bath, nappy bags, etc. Lots of the little stuff really adds up. We have not had to buy a pram, nursery furniture, formula, many disposable nappies, and we've been given or borrowed a lot of clothes and some toys. We're not planning to pay for childcare, but we will have significant loss of income, as I'll stay at home to care for her.

If you google "costs of having children in australia" you'll find a paper that estimates the average cost of having kids. One of the big costs is accommodation, and that's going to slug us when DD gets old enough to not really fit into our bedroom any more (ie when she outgrows her cot), or if we have another child. We'll need to rent a bigger place, and that will costs us more.

[sarah890]

alot of different opinions is great. thanks everyone! as i am not actually pregnant yet, i am thinking getting the contraceptive needle so we can sort things out first. 3 months ago i went off the pill because i had trouble getting my period- after 6 years which i thought was weird but i had tests taken and nothing was wrong so i didnt bother to go back on it. as i was comming down from it, my mood swings and hormones were all out of whack and my poor partner copped it all.
so thats why im not sure whether to get the needle or not? would it be worth it? has anyone had it? what are the side effects?
i am reluctant to get it because we both want to have a baby but its just our finances, i realise we are never going to be financially ready so thats why im sussing it out.