Year 1 expense comparison
As our baby’s first birthday approaches (boo hoo, look how big he is), I thought it would be interesting to look back at what we spent compared to the estimated average costs I saw on an Irish mummy pages website.
Here is a breakdown of the costs quoted along with some notes explaining why our costs differ. For the items listed below we spent only 33% of the other website’s estimates.
| Item | Mummy pages estimate | Mrsmoneyhacker actuals | Note |
| Maternity clothes | 150 | 150 | 2 pairs of maternity pants, bathing suit, 7 nursing tops |
| Pregnancy toiletries | 60 | 30 | I only bought Pregnacare vitamins |
| Changing table | 150 | 100 | We got a chest of drawers that can be reused as baby grows |
| Cot | 150 | 90 | We used a second hand co-sleeper |
| Bedding | 120 | 0 | Our bedding came with the cot |
| Pram | 300 | 0 | Borrowed |
| Car seat | 160 | 190 | Our price includes a second hand newborn seat and a group 2 seat that suits 0-7 years old |
| Baby carrier | 30 | 33 | |
| Changing mat | 12 | 56 | Probably spent more on this than I should have |
| Baby bath | 20 | 3 | Cheap one in Aldi |
| Baby monitor | 89 | 50 | We use an IP camera with baby monitoring features and we can use it after as a pet cam or security camera when we are away |
| Baby skincare products | 140 | 10 | We still only wash with water and are still using the same tube of nappy cream |
| Baby wipes | 280 | 40 | We use reusable wipes |
| Steriliser | 43 | 0 | Not necessary for breastfeeding |
| Formula milk (average 58 per month) | 700 | 0 | I’m doing extended breastfeeding |
| Bottles | 25 | 27 | |
| Baby food | 420 | 0 | Baby eats what we eat and our food costs have actually gone down since I’m home to cook and meal plan |
| Highchair | 120 | 40 | We got an ingenuity seat that straps onto chairs, grows with baby to toddler, low profile and portable |
| Clothes (first year total) | 325 | 139 | Got most second hand or hand me downs |
| Disposable nappies (first year total) | 580 | 297 | We use cloth nappies, this cost includes nappy sprayer, nappy bags and pail and all cloth nappy supplies including initial cloth nappy rental |
| Safety gates | 40 | 103 | We splurged and got fancy retractable ones |
| Toys/accessories | 200 | 10 | We got most toys gifted to us and a few second hand |
| Baby bouncer | 60 | 25 | We got ours second hand |
| 4,174 | 1,393 | 33% |
The mummy pages site did not include a large number of other things which we spent money on like:
- private antenatal classes
- pregnancy and parenting books
- birthing/post natal supplies
- breast feeding supplies (breast pads, breast pumps)
- soothers
- thermometer
- diffuser
- nasal aspirator
- wipe warmer
- teething supplies (calpol/granules/gel)
- vitamin D drops
- potty training/elimination communication supplies
- weaning supplies (bowls, spoons, sippy cups, bibs)
- blackout blinds
- heating pad
- other baby safety supplies (door/drawer locks etc)
On the remaining items we spent an additional 977€ bringing our total to 2,370€ (over 21 months) which is still only 57% of the other quoted costs.
Income
Add onto that the income we brought in from state maternity/paternity pay, and family allowance to date (8,260€) and tax credits for home carer and spousal shared credits (2,324€ so far), that brings our current income from having a kid to 10,584€.
That means that for the first year we have 8,214€ or 684€/month against the cost of me being off for 12 months (I was contracting when I got pregnant and did not qualify for maternity pay through the company).
My own expenses for the last year average around 1,377€/month (or 16,524€/year) so our savings and/or my husband’s salary only needed to cover an additional 693€/month (or 8,316€ for the 12 months).
Cost vs childcare
Take into account that childcare would probably cost us 900€/month once baby was 6 months old and maternity pay ran out, that would bring us to 5,400€ for the 6 months.
So it cost us 8,316€ to cover my expenses for 12 months (with state maternity pay and tax credits covering the rest) compared to us both working and paying 5,400€ for the last 6 months, meaning that for 2,916€ (or 243€/month) more than paying childcare, I got to stay home for the full 12 months, we were sick much less, there was no rushing for collections or drop offs and my hubby got a clean house and hot meals to boot.
This was more a curiosity exercise for myself but thought I’d share to demonstrate that even if you don’t qualify for maternity leave in your job, if you could put away a few hundred a month leading up to your maternity you may be in a position to stay off longer than you think (if that’s something you want to do).