Baby Costs - !!!!!
Discussion
Sheepshanks said:
NerveAgent said:
Its of no consequence to anyone but in a thread started by a high earner moaning about costs (which can be cut) its kind of relevant.
To be fair, he's only on £65K. That's hardly "high earner".I know this is PH and we are all powerfully built company directors but BY ANY MEASURE - £65k is a top earner.
I think he nearly squeezes into the TOP 10% ON HIS OWN - let alone including the missus.
(£48.5k net required).
Look at quite how many households are to the LEFT of £65k in this diagram.
The VAST VAST majority.
phil-sti said:
I can't really be bothered to read 5 pages but I have 5 kids and we have a combined income of approx £50k and we do fine. Something isn't adding up or one of you has a secret fund running.
Does that include benefits? OP thinks anyone on less than £50K is getting showered with child, and other, benefits.
oyster said:
Lotus82 said:
DoubleSix said:
rich12 said:
You have a joint income of £110k and you are worrying how to survive with twins???
Spend less??
tSpend less??
tish answer there rich12, well done.OP I feel your pain. Despite having higher income and less kids childcare is ruinous, and I have found it difficult.
Shame your employer doesnt do tax vouchers. I only qualify for the minimum but it helps me feel less sore.
Some people are lucky enough to have family that can do one day a week, is that an option?
Ultimately we have just had to change our lifestyle a lot. The flash cars have gone, paid down debt, and hammered down the outgoings on food especially. It's not fun when you are used to lifes fineries but I derive my pleasure from other things these days and perspective has shifted as a result.
It does get gradually easier but there's no doubting the 'squeezed middle' is a tough place right now.
Kids are worth it though eh?
I feel like I am being targeted. If we both earned £49,999 a year we would get £'000's in handouts, however we don't and for a period during maternity we will go 3 months on my wage alone - that will be no fun at all.
Not because of your salaries - you've worked hard for those.
But because of the bit in bold - you do know what most women get is 3 months at 90% and that's it?
otherman said:
Sheepshanks said:
To be fair, and the original point of this thread, is that the OP has no idea how people with less than £110K coming in scrape by.
Actually no. Someone else (not OP) said that and it was an ironic post, which you then took out of context by quoting only part of. Lotus82 said:
I have no idea how people on less than £110k a year manage. There is Government support for people who earn less and unless I know how much they get it is hard to make a comparison. Just receiving weekly child benefit would be nice but we don't qualify for that.
No holidays.
I drive a Fiat Panda.
My phone is paid by work
Sky has gone
Shop at Aldi
No holidays.
I drive a Fiat Panda.
My phone is paid by work
Sky has gone
Shop at Aldi
Maybe I can help.
With our first child my wife went back to work part time and we used a local childminder which worked out really well. With the second child it was no longer worth her going to work. She would have only made £25 a day after childcare. We would both prefer her to be home with the kids anyway so it made it an easy choice. However, we did need to cut back on expenses. My wife is very good at this kind of thing, these are a few things we did.
Changed mortgage product, saving 1% on the interest rate.
Sold the BMW and bought an old banger Honda HR-V
Checked the usual gas/electric/water/broadband deals and swap them over.
Stopped shopping in Sainsburys and used Lidl/Aldi (Probably the biggest saving while not really noticing)
Stopped going out for meals and drinking sessions (happens with young kids anyway)
Holidays in the UK (Not as bad as it sounds after trailing our first born round Europe)
Invested savings in a BTL that provides healthy positive cash flow per month.
Some of the above may seem a bit crap, but life does change with children and priorities change. I would really like a nice car yet I don't get mad when my 2yr old throws his bike at my old Honda and It doesn't require £150 quid tyres etc etc. My point is, If you are feeling the squeeze then let something go, because nothings that important and worrying about money isn't much fun. The things you think you don't want to loose will be forgotten soon enough. And you will have the chance to aquire them again in a few years.
I earn under 40k.
Wife earns Nothing.
No benefits except child benefit.
I Don't feel short of money.
With our first child my wife went back to work part time and we used a local childminder which worked out really well. With the second child it was no longer worth her going to work. She would have only made £25 a day after childcare. We would both prefer her to be home with the kids anyway so it made it an easy choice. However, we did need to cut back on expenses. My wife is very good at this kind of thing, these are a few things we did.
Changed mortgage product, saving 1% on the interest rate.
Sold the BMW and bought an old banger Honda HR-V
Checked the usual gas/electric/water/broadband deals and swap them over.
Stopped shopping in Sainsburys and used Lidl/Aldi (Probably the biggest saving while not really noticing)
Stopped going out for meals and drinking sessions (happens with young kids anyway)
Holidays in the UK (Not as bad as it sounds after trailing our first born round Europe)
Invested savings in a BTL that provides healthy positive cash flow per month.
Some of the above may seem a bit crap, but life does change with children and priorities change. I would really like a nice car yet I don't get mad when my 2yr old throws his bike at my old Honda and It doesn't require £150 quid tyres etc etc. My point is, If you are feeling the squeeze then let something go, because nothings that important and worrying about money isn't much fun. The things you think you don't want to loose will be forgotten soon enough. And you will have the chance to aquire them again in a few years.
I earn under 40k.
Wife earns Nothing.
No benefits except child benefit.
I Don't feel short of money.
Sheepshanks said:
With fairly finely balanced finances, isn't buying a single BTL pretty risky?
I already had one so now have two. I think the risks outweigh the gains for me. The two BTL's cover the cost of themselves plus my home. Couple this with a Buffer in easy access savings and I feel covered. This may not work for everyone i'm sure. I just wanted to give an example of how money can create income. Plus you say finely balanced, but I said I don't feel short. I'm in a lucky position of having a small mortgage. This is why I do sympathise with the OP, Even on more than double my income, he may well have much larger mortgage repayments.kapiteinlangzaam said:
Hi
Baby room cost us £1k+ and the pram the same.
Car seat and isofix is another £400-500.
A decent buggy is £200
clothes.... £300?
Other baby crap and gadgets..... £500
That's up around the £4k mark without breaking a sweat.
£500?
only if you buy 10 year old stuff from the local recycling centre
The issue here being that new parents are a marketer's dream.MiniMan64 said:
£5k on baby stuff? What on earth have been buying? £500 more like.
WTF.Baby room cost us £1k+ and the pram the same.
Car seat and isofix is another £400-500.
A decent buggy is £200
clothes.... £300?
Other baby crap and gadgets..... £500
That's up around the £4k mark without breaking a sweat.
£500?
only if you buy 10 year old stuff from the local recycling centreThey know full well that new life hangs by a thread, and without the latest baby transportation / nutrition / learning 'system' (note how it's always some kind of system you're being sold here) your child will grow up to be a feckless drongo.
One wonders how our own parents ever 'managed'.
Mobile Chicane said:
One wonders how our own parents ever 'managed'.
It always amuses me that these types of thread bring out the Four Yorkshiremen without people recognising that it was satire.Our parents managed with rationing, no seatbelts, expensive flights to Europe and literally not one Starbucks. Not to mention actually having to meet face-to-face to whinge about how hard-up they were rather than doing it 24/7 online.
That doesn't mean I aspire to go back in time to live in what is today's equivalent of a developing country.
Life was a LOT harder for our parents.
For example, you want a system because then when Junior falls asleep in the car you can move him onto a pram base without having to wake him up and ruin the shopping trip that's going to be hell anyway.
You want a pram with big wheels so you can go and visit somewhere green rather than live in the concrete jungle for the next two years.
You want a baby monitor with video and movement sensor because you lost your sister to cot death and you are damned if that's happening to your kids.
etc...
Sure - these are all "nice to haves" not "must haves" but the whole point in life is to have some nice things, if you can.
Of course the marketers take advantage of that - but why not?
It's like saying fervent football supporters are taken advantage of by shirt makers and Sky - of course they are. So what?
swerni said:
MiniMan64 said:
Some posts on this thread are illustrating quite how lucky some people don't realise they are.
£65k not a high earner? Wow.
What's luck got to do with it?£65k not a high earner? Wow.
Or are you saying you work harder than those in the third world and they have had the same opportunities as we have?
If the OP can't manage having kids on £110k combined income then he is spending too much and needs to recalibrate his expectations and cut back.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work it out.
95% of families in the UK manage on far less.
It's just a pointless thread.
gregf40 said:
Just being born in the UK is like winning the lottery in the grand scheme of things. If you were born in some tribal village in Africa the chances are you wouldn't make adulthood...let alone be on £65k.
And, while not so extreme, being lucky enough to be born into a family with the right sort of parents, in a nice area and go to a good school are a tremendous advantage in the UK.Not everyone makes the best of their opportunity, and some do break out of the other end of the scale, but it's certainly very lucky to have the right start in life.
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