For those who don't mind answering, can I ask how much money you had saved when you decided to TTC?

My husband is worried that we don't have enough. We've got about £4100 in our savings account. But we could do with a new fridge/freezer, oven and a new car too! Which would soon eat that up! Although DH may be getting a company car.

I'd be interested to know what kind of financial situation over people are in.

Im not sure if this will make you feel better or worse but we havnt saved at all!

Were 'go with the flow' kinda people lol

im sure £4100 is plenty!!!! xxx

same here

going with the flow, if it happens it happend im sure we will manage xxx

um, I feel stupid now - but none. When I got pregnant with DS we were in the process of buying a house, so all our savings went towards that. We managed though, as we both work. We have nohting set asisde but of course we have most baby stuff we need now already. 4k sounds like plenty. I do however have a savings account for my DS,for whenever he might need it. I put aside €75 euro a month there since he was a couple of months old.

I am sure £4000 is plenty too.
As far as I can work out the biggest cost is using child care or the reduction in your earnings if you plan to be a stay at home mum.

I have a friend who has just had their 4th kid who tells me,
Your first baby costs a bit but most peoples family will help out with things and you can buy 2nd hand. Beyond that babies don't really cost much, they need a new mattress from Ikea, but they don't need the flashy new toys or lots of clothes, mine have to share their toys and nor do they need their own rooms. (They have a 3 bedroom house). Having lots of things and rooms to themselves just means that they grow up spoiled, and don't know how to share when they decide to get married!

One of my other friends confirmed what he said. You can be as indulgent in kids as you want to be and we make good use of supermarket special offers etc.

When you think about it there are plenty of people both now and in the past who manage to bring kids up on not a lot of money but love is free and far more important than all the clothes and toys in the world.

Nothing specific - though we are aware of things we'll need, like possible new car, and the fact we'll only have 1 income.

Nappies are probably the biggest expense, and probably the one you won't get help with (wo buys napies as a gift?), nor get second-hand - unless you use re-useables.

I figure that if you "save" specifically for a baby, you'll never think you've saved enough, as things come up (car, fridge etc) that you need. Unless you are totally irresponsible (which you obviosly aren't or you wouldn't be saving, or even thinking about money), you will be fine.

Don't put it off for the sake of money, or they'll never be a good time.

we saved nothing

£4000 is plenty to get all the things you need for a little one. As others have said you will get a lot of things bought for you (i.e. Grandparents wanting to buy the pram/cot etc, friends giving clothes etc). My friend once commented that you can raise a child on whatever you have, they had their first when she was 18 then her daughter when she was 24 and in a much better position financially. The main thing your child needs is love.
We haven't saved anything specifically for a baby but we are making sure we are in a bigger house out of the city before he/she arrives.

We read somewhere that you should have about 5K in savings before having a baby (not TTC!) but it wasn't so much for the cost of a baby, but the cost of the situation i.e. topping up maternity leave, childcare etc.

We have been TTC for 6 months and have about 6K in general savings and just generally add to it monthly and this will help us if/when (!) we have a baby because I will take a big drop in salary to take 9 months maternity leave (which I would like) and also to go part time and childcare expenses. We also use this pot for anything else like car/house stuff or holidays.

Thats my situation but I have friends who don't really have any money and don't really need to spend much either due to family support etc.

We don't have much saved either... we're also "going with the flow" .. But we have alot of 'disposable income' per month so we know that we'd have plenty for everything. I think as long as you're living comfortably as it is, it shouldn't be a problem that's plenty of money!