First baby
Having a baby is an incredibly exciting, albeit very expensive time for parents. According to latest estimates, raising a child to age 21 costs us £218,000¹ on average.
However, there are ways to budget and manage your money best when having a baby. See below for some resources that will help you to avoid blowing your budget on your little one.
Top Tips
- Form a small buying group with other parents to take opportunity of better prices in bulk buying. Use the collective buying power to buy in bulk necessities such as nappies, shampoo, toothpaste and even perishable goods. A single family doesn’t need 3 huge packs of potatoes but 3 families might!
- Sell your clutter on eBay! Whether it’s unwanted presents or your children’s outgrown toys, this is a great way of earning a bit of extra money to spend on the family.
- Entertain your kids for free! Family activities can be expensive but there are lots of fun things to do for little or no cost. Take advantage of free entry to museums and galleries, ditch the cinema for the park and reuse old wrapping paper for arts and crafts.
- Save money on expensive ready meals by cooking your own food. If you can find the time, this will be cheaper and more nutritious and it’s a great thing to do with your kids.
- Don’t be misled by special offers – 3 for the price of 2 is not a good deal if you don’t use everything you buy! Whilst it’s great to stock up on items you need regularly when they are going cheap, don’t fall into the trap of buying more than you need, especially with perishable items.
- Make full use of discounted travel. Children under the age of 5 can often travel for free, whilst family discounts are usually available on public transport.
- It can be tricky to find time with a growing family, but try to allocate a financial ‘holiday’ a couple of times a year to look over your family finances. Are you on the best energy tariff? Can you switch to a different internet provider and get free calls? Can you get a cheaper car insurance deal?
For more information about this, check out our report with Family Action – First Baby in Breadline Britain.
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