Bills not tiny for today's tots
Although it is well-known that raising a child is an expensive business, new research has shown that proud parents cough up an average of £2,628 just to build their newborn the perfect nursery. According to Halifax Home Insurance, parents are splashing out on Plasma TVs, designer furniture, signed football kits and other luxury items just to give their baby the best start in life. Babies in Wales and the west of England are the most spoilt, with the average nursery costing £4,927, while Scottish parents tend to be the stingiest, only shelling out £574 on their new baby's bedroom. Across the country £1.8 billion is invested in giving Britain's babies the best bedroom, while one in ten couples who had set a budget admitted they went as much as £1,000 over what they had planned to spend on a new nursery. Vicky Emmott, senior manager of underwriting at Halifax Home Insurance, said: "The new baby boom is all about the amount parents are spending, to ensure their children start life in a luxury home nursery. "Parents are spending almost half the price of a new car on their children's home nurseries. Many expectant parents are unaware how the costs of cribs, Moses baskets, baby monitors and toys soon mount up."
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