Welcome to the first Guest Post of what I hope is many!
Our first guest blogger is Miss
Leslieanne who describes herself as mummy to one gorgeous baby boy, fiance to his delicious daddy, and a girlie girl with passions for art, music & fashion.
Miss
Leslieanne has not one but three blogs!! (she is worse then me!!) I don't know how she does it! These fab blogs are
Life with a little Dude all about her gorgeous little boy,
Kooky Boutique all about her fab
jewlery and
Rainy Day Fun, I
suggest you have a little
lookie!!
OK without further ado Miss
Leslieanne's guest post -
Baby Budget Tips
Tiny people = big expense, sorry, but its true!
*But* there are ways & means to stretch your finances so you can spend less time counting pennies, and more time enjoying being a mummy!
1. If you can, start before your tiny person gets here. Say you find out you’re expecting when you’re 8 weeks – technically, you’ve got 32 weeks left. Get a jar or piggy bank of some sort, and stick £1 in it everyday. 32 weeks x 7 days = £224! That’ll buy a lot of nappies! (Or a lovely cot, in my case!)
If you can keep it up after baby’s born (I’m *trying* to!), you’ll have over £300 on your little one’s first birthday – no scrimping money together for prezzies, plus you could add a lump sum to their Child Trust Fund!
2. Make sure you get everything you’re entitled to. Obviously there’s maternity pay/grant depending on your situation, but since April this year, ALL pregnant women are also entitled to a £190 ‘health in pregnancy’ grant – you’ll need to get a form from your midwife/doctor, but it’s really easy to complete & the money is paid straight into your bank. Claim it!! While you’re at it, check whether you are entitled to any tax credits – and check again after baby is born, because you may be entitled to more.
Visit:
http://entitledto.co.uk/ to check you’re getting all you should be.
3. Send off your child benefit form as soon as possible after your baby is born as payments are only backdated for a maximum of 3 months.
You can’t submit your form before you give birth, but you can request it & fill it in as much as possible so that it just needs posting when baby arrives – first few weeks with a newborn are busy busy, so anything you can get done in advance is a good idea!
4. Another thing you can do beforehand, (maybe when you’re on maternity leave wishing your baby would hurry up!), is register on every baby website you can think of! Pregnant women/mummies are a valuable commodity & all the big companies want a share of your baby bucks!
This is a good thing though, because it means they all want to give you freebies & money off vouchers – and we all love freebies, don’t we?
Do a Google search for ‘baby freebies’ or ‘baby money off vouchers’ & you’ll find plenty to choose from!
5. If you haven’t got them already, register for bonus cards such as Boots & Tesco – all those extra points from baby shopping soon add up! (Whether you decide to be sensible & spend them on more baby essentials of fritter them on mummy treats, is entirely up to you!) Being part of the scheme usually means they send you lots of lovely money off vouchers too, which is nice :)
6. Sounds boring, but try planning your meals for the week. That way, you can make a shopping list that includes only what you need & not get distracted by bundles of naughty but nice goodies that you don’t really need. I’ve saved a fortune doing my food shopping online simply because I only buy the necessities (and maybe the odd treat – I’m only human!) It costs extra to have everything delivered, but the amount I save more than makes up for it – and you can order huge bulky jumbo packs of nappies without having to worry about carrying them home!
7. When your baby starts to join in on mealtimes, make them homemade dinners! Those tiny little jars of mush aren’t cheap, and can’t possibly taste as nice as what you’re having! Or, you could even consider baby-led weaning & eliminate ‘baby food’ from your grocery bill altogether!
8. Rather than spend a fortune on toiletries – share your baby’s! I’m a big fan of Johnson’s bedtime bath as a shower gel (it makes my skin super soft and it smells lovely!), baby lotion is a brilliant mummy body lotion, and baby wipes are perfect for removing makeup!
9. Join the library! Yes, it’s lovely for your baby to have some books of their own, but chances are they’ll get bored and/or outgrow them quickly – get them a library card & there are hundreds to choose from – all free :D In the same breath, find out if there’s a toy library anywhere near you too!
10. Let your baby pay their own way! No, of course I don’t mean child labour!! But every few months, go through their wardrobe & pull out everything that doesn’t fit anymore. Decide what you can’t bare to part with (be ruthless, it’s hard, I know – but imagine how much room a years worth of baby clothes will end up taking up!), bundle up the rest & list it on ebay – again, you can be sensible, use your profits for daily essentials, or naughty & buy a whole lot of new bambino couture, up to you!
And don’t forget, mummy’s are, by their very nature, fantastically resourceful – so you’re bound to come up with a million other brilliant ways to save money before your little person is even crawling :D
I hope you enjoyed this guest post, don't forget to check out Miss Leslieanne blogs!
NM x
