Year One

The cost of a first baby is mostly the income you do not earn.

Everyone budgets for the pram. Almost nobody budgets for the gap between a normal salary and leave pay, across twelve months. This workbook does both, plus the admin that has deadlines — including childcare waiting lists, which close roughly a year before you need them.

Nine tabs, all formulas live

• Countdown — 29 tasks from mid-pregnancy to the first birthday, dated from your due date.
• Setup costs — 18 one-off items with a new price, a second-hand price and what you will actually pay, so you can see the saving.
• Monthly costs — 11 categories across three age bands, because month two and month eleven cost very different things.
• Income & leave — your replacement rate, income lost across the leave, total cost of year one, and whether your savings cover it.
• Childcare compare — options side by side, ending in the honest number: what is left after childcare if you go back to work.
• Country notes — 15 questions for your national authority or employer.
• Plus Setup, Start here and Licence.

European by default

Leave entitlements, pay rates and benefits differ in every member state and change with each budget, so none are hard-coded. You enter yours; the workbook does the maths and never goes stale.

What you need

Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice or Numbers.

Delivery

An .xlsx file, emailed the moment payment clears. Yours permanently.

Not advice

A planning tool, not benefits, employment or tax advice.