Should I even be considering a baby at the moment?

When my partner and i first started talking about starting a family,his first question was...can we afford it...there is never a right answer to that qeustion,i don't think! We both have very good jobs and wonderful house and plough all our money into making a nice house for ourselfs,i'm lucky i work as a private nanny and i can take our baby (when it shows up) along to work with me,which means we won' have to cope with one wage,which we would struggle to do! So,after alot of talking we came to the answer there is never a right time to efford a baby,you just do! Gandparents and in laws,etc will all help if you need it,so don't worry,i think that in the current climate everyone is worrying about money and income and bills and debt...shall i go on!?!
This doesn't mean your not gonna be a good mum,just means your looking out for your childrens future!! Good luck!!sorry to rumble on.....

yep we've been given loads too. Excited family members (my parent's first grandchild!) have bought bits and pieces for us. My friend has given us a beautiful pushchair, monitors, bath seat & clothes. We've got loads already and all we've spent ourselves is 25p on a baby t-shirt from Tesco's in the sale and £12 on some trackie bottoms for me!

I was also worried..having 4 is hard work money wise, number 5 was a complete accident! i had given everything i had away and ive had to start from scratch. Im 21+4 weeks pregnant.
My sister turned up yesterday with her baby sons clothes (enough for the first 6 months!), a baby gym, top&tail bowl. Then my 2nd cousin called saying she had a baby monitor, moses basket, clothes etc etc! so ive gone from nothing to having almost everything in the space of 24 hours lol. These days beggars cant be choosers and im so grateful! Life is really tough at the moment money wise for everyone, and no one knows when it'll start getting better again..or even if it will! so take what happiness you can, except any help thats offered and if you want a baby..go for it xxx

I think if you think about money until you are 100% happy, you could wait a really long time, I think life is too short. I am due in april and have bought lots second hand from NCT sales, already been given lots be cousins etc. and have used discounts at mothercare like 10% when spend £100. So you dont have to buy everything new and spend thousands before baby arrives. You never know what is around the corner in this life!

tbh if we all waited until we were 100% financially secure none of us would be parents at all! there is never a right time to have kids, money wise. having a baby don't have to be costly. before it's born when you're buying stuff like cot and pram etc it's easy enough to wait for the mothercare and mama's and papa's sales- chances are you'll find exactly what you want for less. ebay is also great and like millsroobs said, you don't have to spend alot on baby clothes, nothing wrong with asda, tesco, primark, etc. thinking bout it now, I'm pretty sure the only expensive thing I paid full price for in the first few months was the cotbed mattress. everything else was in the sale, secondhand or given/lent to me by family and friends. as others say, go for it if this really what you want and good luck x x

We could afford to have children when we were both working but now with two I can't work because of child care costs but we manage. When the girls were small my mum helped out with nappies and milk and the mother in law saves a bit each week and gives it to us for shoes or whatever we need. We're not well off (don't think anyone is at the moment) but we manage. Babies don't need to be expensive. I don't spend alot on babygros vests e.t.c you can pick up perfectly good ones at tesco or primark and if your family want to help out then let them. Good luck xx

We had our unplanned bundle of joy in April last year & our fixed term was up in the July when it had all hit the fan! Yes we struggle but we cut back on a few 'luxury' items but when we look at our little boy it is all worth it. Go for it hun x

Only you can decide if it's the right time, like others have said, there is no financially right time!!

You should have a look at www.moneysavingexpert.com it's a great website (no I don't work for them!!) run by a guy called Martin Lewis, you might have seen him on tv or heard him on radio. He's, as the site name suggests, a money saving expert!! Do a 'money makeover' ie check through all your finances making sure you aren't paying out for anything you don't need to, for instance, check a comparison website (like moneysupermarket.com) to make sure you are with the cheapest gas/electric supplier. Write down everything you spend for a couple of weeks and see if you are wasting anything, make sandwiches for work rather than buying every day. If you spend £3 a day on lunch, that's £60 a month! There is loads of good advice on how to save money without having to restrict your lifestyle. (I found the website a little difficult to navigate to start with but it's worth the extra effort)

You might have already done all this but if not, it's worth trying. Somebody else made a good point too, everyone starts offering you stuff when you get pregnant!! Good luck x