Alma spends 565 euros a month on her son: “it’s a waste to buy new clothes that will last a few months”

In this episode of “When we love, we count”, it is Alma and her husband, parents of a 12-month-old girl, who participate in the exercise and open their accounts for us.

The income of Alma and her husband, parents of a one-year-old child

• First name : Alma

• Age : 34 years

• Work : inspector of public finances
• Number and age of children: a one year old girl

• Total household net budget: €4794

• Place of residence: suburbs of Lyon

Alma and her husband have a one-year-old daughter and all live under the same roof. They live in a house in a suburban suburb of Lyon, which they own. They pay to credit of €1000 per month.

After moving quite some time, we wanted a place where we knew we could stay for several years. The choice of the house with a small exterior is also a consequence of giving birth: we bought it in 2021, I was already pregnant. With children we preferred to have space.

I lived part of the Covid crisis in a 12 m² Parisian powder room and, clearly, my goal was to be able to escape in the future, and also to allow my loved ones to escape. . Hence the house, with the possibility of hosting friends and family if necessary.

Every month Alma and her husband receive everything 4,794 €including their net salaries of €4,700 both, and €94 allowance. In this regard, Alma states that she is not sure of the amount she receives from family allowances, since she has noticed a different payment each time since the end of the eight-month parental leave that she had shared with her husband.

After 8 months of parental leave shared with my husband, we both returned to work in September. I imagine that this €94 must be the amount we will receive from now on. Furthermore, apart from the “monthly” expenses for me, the first cost for my daughter was parental leave. We shared these months with my husband, without any remorse. But during these 8 months the loss of salary was compensated by our savings. Today we are back to two salaries and clearly the aim is to replenish savings, particularly to finance some work on our house in the years to come.

Alma adds, regarding the parental leavethat every parent who took it only received €400 net monthly during this period: 5 months for her, 3 months for her spouse.

The couple also has a monthly credit of 230 euros for the purchase of a car and spends 240 euros on household utilities, including EDF, gas, water and wood pellets for the stove. She says pellet prices have doubled this year.

Expenses for the care and hygiene of your one-year-old baby

After explaining her total income, Alma shares how much she spends on her son.

When her daughter was born, Alma spent approx €400 to equip yourself with childcare equipment second hand, including a cot for your baby, a co-sleeping bed, a breastfeeding chair, a carrying sling, a changing bag, a chest of drawers and small containers, a small bathtub, a stroller and a high chair. As regards new purchases, Alma explains that she has created a changing table with a few boards, that she has purchased a mattress €50a diaper bin for €30and small equipment such as vacuum cleaner, scissors, bath thermometer, pacifiers and bottles.

Their loved ones and families have given them a number of things:

We are very lucky to already have many relatives with young children. They lent us a lot of clothes, blankets, sleeping bags, some baby equipment, toys.

Also, she is my in-laws’ first granddaughter and they have spoiled her a lot, and so have we. They offered us a car seat, which was a great saving.

Hygiene sideAlma spends a budget of €20 per month for your child, used for disposable diapers (those that the daughter wears during the day at nursery are provided by the facility and included in the nursery costs) and other hygiene products:

We buy disposable wipes, but I alternate them with wipes I made from old sheets. We use physiological serum very little, especially when he has a cold, but in these cases I buy large one-litre bottles.

Since his birth, we have had to consume two bottles of liniment and two baby shower gels. When we finish the current one, we will wash it with our own body wash, which is hypoallergenic. Also included in this budget are trash bags for diapers.

For the health budgetAlma spends €30 mutual insurance for her baby, and had some one-off expenses such as osteopathy sessions reimbursed 100%, the purchase of vitamin D, probiotics for infant colic, homeopathy for teething and paracetamol purchased without a prescription.

The budget for clothes and toys for a one year old

As for the clothes for her daughter Alma she buys many second-hand products:

I buy second hand, both for economic reasons and for conservation of resources. I think it’s a waste to buy new clothes that will only last a few months. They lent me a lot of clothes when my daughter was born and, in turn, I gave her too-small clothes to a friend who gave birth to her almost a year later.

I find many clothes in the desired size/season, often on Leboncoin. And then I complete it by buying new what I can’t find. I only bought shoes when they were new, because I couldn’t find what I wanted second hand.

For the toysAlma works on the same principle:

I also buy them second hand: clear out the garages of friends and neighbors and I know that when my daughter no longer uses them, I can always resell them or give them to someone.

Parents estimate the expense €20 of clothes per month, e €10 of toys.

Food expenses for a one year old

Alma’s daughter was exclusively breastfed until she was 6 months old and since she is cared for 5 days a week at the nursery where lunch and snacks are covered and included in the childcare budget, food balance just for his daughter it’s short. In fact, Alma estimates the expense €30 per month for meals at home, which include powdered milk for the morning and evening bottle, jars when the child cannot eat the same meal as his parents, boudoir-style biscuits and rusks.

As for purchasing food, Alma explains that she buys vegetables from the gardener at the local market and buys meat and fish at the market. For the rest he goes through classic mass distribution in brands such as Carrefour, Lidl or Grand Frais.

We cook a lot, so the bulk of the budget is raw products from the greengrocer, butcher and fishmonger. We have always tried to favor fresh, local, seasonal products. Not necessarily organic, not being convinced that there is a big difference with conventional products. Since the birth of our daughter we have also paid a little more attention to the price.

Alma explains that she would like to reduce the family budget for food:

I find that we continue to throw away too much damaged or expired food because we haven’t been careful. I am very greedy and I easily fall in love with cakes or desserts, I find less time to make them at home since I returned to work. I would like to make more homemade biscuits and stop buying industrial biscuits.

Childcare expenses for Alma and her one-year-old daughter

Alma’s daughter is held in one association nursery5 days a week, for approx €400 per month, based on the number of hours of assistance which may vary depending on the needs of the family. Since it is an association nursery, it is the structure that directly receives help from the CAF based on the family ratio of the children cared for.

Alma explains that she never uses a babysitter in the evening, ad hoc:

Our parents don’t live far away, they were the ones who took care of our daughter the few times we needed it.

Transmission of the value of money and pocket money

Alma tells what relationship with money in his familywhat was passed on to him, and his current relationship with his daughter:

In my family we didn’t really talk about money. We never lacked anything, but when something cost too much my parents said so without any problem.

I got pocket money quite young (in primary school) and I find it useful for learning how to manage even a small sum. On the other hand, I always had the impression that my parents saved little and found themselves in difficulty in the event of an important and unexpected purchase (household appliance failure or something similar).

So for me it has always been obvious to put money aside and be able to deal with unexpected expenses. My parents were very compulsive in their daily purchases: no big splashes, but lots of small “pleasure” purchases that ended up weighing on the budget.

The couple opened a savings account for daughteron which they put €50 every month. Explain the purpose of opening this account:

If her grandparents or other relatives want to give her money, it will go into this account until she is old enough to manage her own pocket money. The goal is for her to have a small nest egg for projects when she is older.

Since Alma’s daughter is still very young, many expense items do not yet concern her, such as activities or free time activities designed specifically for her, or school supplies and canteen expenses.

At the end of the month 3,334 euros remain to the couple. An amount they use to pay property taxes, bank charges, mutual insurance, car credit, food budget, telephone bills, Internet subscription, etc.

Adding up all the amounts spent on their daughter alone, Alma and her husband spend 565 euros monthly.

Thanks Alma for answering our questions!

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