Hi all very personal thing to ask but I wondered how many people were in a similar situation to me?

I got in to debt becuase of an ex boyfriend about 8 years ago. Most of it is paid off now, only £6,000 outstanding which I pay at £215 a month, there is 5 years left to pay this off but OH will remortgage once his mortgage comes up for reneweal next year.

My quesiton is, are you in any form of debt or have any money worries about when you get pregnant?

I will get paid maternity leave and plan to come back to work 4 days per week after a bubba (but less daily hours).

Just wondering what other's financial circumstances are?

Hi hun i too have worries, i am unable to work due to a health issue, which i most proberbly will have for the rest of my life. We rent a house privately. DH earns just too much for us to get any form of benefit apart from the new incapacity benefit and am currently applying for disability living allowance. Financially things arent great, we have very little savings, but enough to but things for a baby, prams./cots etc etc. I t isnt a great time for us to statr TTC however we figure that realistically things probably arent going to get much better for a while so have just decided to go for it. People cope, young mums cope so there is no reason tht we wont as we have to. no one said bringing up a child is easy but we are prepared to do whatever it takes to be a mummy and daddy and when we do our child may not have the best of everything and may not be drowning under mountains of toys and designer clothes but our child will be drowning in love.

Can we have a sticky bean now please!!!!! xoxo

IMHO, if everyone waited until they were financially comfortable, not many people would be popping out babies ;p

we're fortunate enough to not be in any debt but we're not exactly rich. we can afford the main things a baby will need, the little extras and will have enough money per month to meet all our needs. we won't be able to have shopping spree's like we would normally indulge in, holidays will become a once-a-year thing (if we're lucky!) and nights out aren't an issue because we wouldn't be able to have those even with spare cash ;p

basically, we'll be able to pay all the bills, provide for the baby and every once in a while treat ourselves, but that's about as far as it'll go. my friends all think it sounds majorly depressing, but i couldn't imagine a better scenario than being skint and having a gorgeous little one to take care of :]

hope everything works out for you x

Hey hun,
We've got about $4,900 worth (for the car) and the payments are taken out in allotments. Other than that just monthly bills. But still leaves us enough to live comfortably, and will be enough to get everything LO needs

We've got a bit of savings as well, but are choosing to save that for visiting home ( international plane tickets are expensive!) and most of our family is rooting us on to conceive, even though half of them don't even know we're trying, they're just anxious for when we do! So there will be lots of stuff coming from family as gifts as well.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. When you become a mommy, I hear everything just kinda 'works'.

Hey Nessicle,

If you are able to provide a loving, healthy and stable environment for your baby (which it definitley sounds like you are), then you should have no worries hunny.

If we all waited until we felt like we had all the money we need BEFORE having a child, then most of us wouldn't be having any children at all!! When it comes to having a baby, I believe things do just have a way of working out. Example: you will be able to afford diapers (and esp. if u use cloth it won't be much at all after startup) because you will no longer be spending money at nice restaurants or going out for drinks nearly as often! Breast Milk is free, too!! Plus almost everyone knows someone (who knows someone)who has quality baby items to give or sell cheap.

Plus, you sound like you've got a good plan for getting out of debt...do not let money worries and financial BS keep you from enjoying your ttc journey, it's all enough of a bummer as it is.

Good Luck! And I'm glad you posted this topic as DH and I had to give this some thought ourselves when his hours were cut recently (the usual prelude to a lay-off), but we are still trying...and I've decided to do it shamelessly!

EDIT: Looks like I repeated Sophmore a little...oops!

Hey hun,

I have been woundering if im doing the right thing financially aswell, My DF Is currently ill and has been told there is no way he is allowed to go back to work and needs a full time career so i cant work to look after him, and we are now claiming benifits and we are one of the lucky few that are living comfortably on them (We acctualy have more money because we dont have to pay council tax and the intrest on our mortgage).

But we decided that we are in a brilliant situations at the moment and neither of us will be returning to wor for at least 5years so our baby with have both partents at home which i love the idea of and i never thought it would happen but now it seems great, not having to worrie about child care.

And as the other ladies have already said you always find a way to manage! no matter what your baby will never go without there will always be someone out there to help you

So get pregnant already hehe!
Zoie
xxx

I think most people nowadays have some sort of loan/s, be it car, mortgage, college, holiday, wedding etc etc. Unless they r in a very fortunate situation otherwise.(lucky them)
it is just a matter of changing prioritys when LO comes, as another girl said, no shopping sprees, maybe not eating out as often etc etc

Thank you all for telling me your fabulously honest and private situations!

It really helps as you just assume everyone ttc must be at some financially stable point in their life but I agree with everyone else that no one would be having babies if we waited til we were completely financially stable

I know so many people with babies and mum already has a friend who is saving her expensive pushchair for me when I have a baby so I think in terms of material items I will be absolutely fine plus you can get second hand cots etc in very good condition these days!

we're also very luck that Marks' mum doesnt work so when I go back to work she will be able to have baby for free (or a small amount each week).

It's really reassuring to know that I'm not alone in worrying about the future financially xx

yeah well said about changing priorities!

Me and Mark rarely go out other than for a meal once or twice a month and I'd rather have a baby than go on an expensive holiday - child places are free a lot of the time anyway so wouldnt have to worry much about future holidays

yeah I know what you're saying about the benefits etc - OH and I earn well together but I'm the breadwinner and I want a year off with a baby to be at home as much as possible and also cut down my hours a bit so I'm there more. Don't think we would qualify for any help whatsoever apart from Child Allowance that everyone gets!

And like you said - I'd rather my baby be drowning in Love! He/she will have 4 aunties and two sets of grandparents to spoil him/her rotten!