MSE Pregnancy Club XII

mountainlioness

nancmat wrote: »

Morning all and bumps.. i feel in a right dilema at the mo re work.. we have debt like everyone else to pay, and we've already decided I will go back to work in Feb because im only on the SMP, so ill be back 4 days a week with bub in nursery 2.5 days a week with mother and myself having it other two, but I'm wondering if I should just do the 5 days or if this is too much for me and baby. I'm not concerned about nursery my mother has worked here for 15 years, new premises and fantastic staff.. but this would mean our income increases by £400 approx a month take home but child care will then be £444 a month.. I feel terrible but the mortgage and bills have to be paid.. BTW this baby wasnt planned, so I havent planned to have this baby knowing we're in a bad money situation, but I cant help that now.. What is everyone else doing after baby is born re work? x

Hi Nanc - I'm going back full time after 6 months... Cub will be in work nursery 3 full days, 1/2 day with local childminder, 1/2 day with me (compressed hours so 5 in 4 1/2) and 1 day with mum. That's the plan anyway, I haven't asked my employer yet.

Like you, I feel fine about her being in nursery so that's not an issue. Our childcare costs are about the same as yours - we can both claim vouchers to cover that. Admittedly, we don't have debts but we do have a HUGE mortgage (250k) and our household income is split 50/50 so really we both need to work (I also want to). I perhaps would have liked to do 4 days/week but boss has made it clear that aint gonna happen so my best bet is to ask for the compressed hours so at least I get a 1/2 day off a week with her.

Edit: should also say that DH is in sales so on commission - it aint so good at the mo so am probably the main breadwinner, so even more need to go back! Because i work in a uni my current course is free so I feel kind of tied to the job.

Glamazon

My mat leave fund was 0 in January when I had my BFP, nanc this wasn't planned but we had planned to start trying around about now IYSWIM. I have been saving hard the last few months and try to pay off £100 off my debt to my Dad and Save around £300, have been doing overtime in work as well but only about an extra £100 each month.

I'm only getting SMP but with that, child benefit, child tax credits and £400 from my Mat leave fund each month I can afford to have 9 months off. I'll work out childcare and stuff in a few months time but ideally I will go back 4 days a week and hopefully OH will get a day off in the week so bean only needs 3 days in childcare.

Suzy - I've tried to find a link to that but can't. I want to have another one soon after this one but think I will probably wait about 6 months after returning to work. I am hoping I get offered the job I go for a week Monday cos it'll be with Hospital Trust so I'll get Mat Pay and they have a creche with subsided childcare!

aless02

ml - my DH is also commission-based (w/ salary though), so I totally understand how you feel! Makes it really hard to plan ahead and budget, doesn't it? For instance, if he has a good month then we can save/spend loads and buy luzury things, but when he doesn't do well we really have to skrimp!!

nancmat

Ahh thanks girls, we cant survive on the SMP so I need to go back and also like you mountainlioness really love my work, plus I am the main earner. We always have of the option of hubby doing contract military work abroad if we get really stuck for money, but this is a last resort, he did it before and i missed him soo much but money was fab, longest we were apart was 9 months..

So im debating the 5 day week, employer is really good and have left it open to me what I do.

Its not easy it is ..

mountainlioness

Aless - I budget on his basic but never know until payday what I have to work with... when we've been bad with the CCs it's a bit of a mare. I put all the details in a spreadsheet when the CC bills come in and if it comes up with a deficit I know he has to make that much more than his basic for us to break even! We've just got one of the Play.com 0% cards so all the baby and home improvement stuff from here on in is going on that, but will still need to save to pay it off

Nanc - I can't imagine how hard that must've been (I miss mine when he's away overnight!) DH's dad did engineering contracts in the middle east when he was young and he always said he'd never do that with his kids - but sometimes you just have to. Hopefully it won't come to that

newmoneysaver_2

I'm only taking 6 months leave too! I'll be back in work on 10th feb 2010. We are trying to build up a pot to help tide us over the SMP phase, plus we have money in our mortgage account from when we did some overpaying before the pregnancy. We have 5k that we can use to take a payment holiday or have as cash if we get really stuck. I hoping we don't need to use this, but the options are there should I wish to extent ML. I am hoping to go back 4 days (maybe some at home, but I haven't actually mentioned this to my boss, yet!!!)
I really want bubba to go to a nursery so that he has interaction with other children/babies...I also don't want to be putting restriction on my Mum, as by March both her and Dad will be retired. I want them to still be able to do what they want, hols etc, cos they have worked for this time IYSWIM.

ETA: I made that sound like Mum wasn't helping at all - I am planning on her looking after bubba 1 or 2 days a week!

This was posted on the parent thread (* I have been lurking too*) - the link gives a list of local nurseries, childminders etc - the more info button also gives an idea of prices

Js_Other_Half wrote: »

http://www.childcarelink.gov.uk/ will let you search for childcare providers by postcode. It'll show you prices too.

aless02

you guys are lucky to have family close by...one of the pitfalls of being an immigrant!! DH's family are a 2 hr drive away.

SugarSpun

I hear you aless - we're both immigrants and have no family closer than a 2 1/2 hour flight away.

I'm working on building a network of people with kids roughly the same age, so we can all rely on each other for occasional babysitting/kids hanging out together and so on. But it's not the same as having your mum watch your kid on a regular basis.

My mum has her plane fare squirrelled away and is waiting for an invitation to come over.

aless02

yeah, Sugar, was just about to say you can probably relate! I have 1 friend semi-close by whose kid will be about 10 months older than mine and am hoping to make friends with more local moms through antenatal classes.

lou66_2

Morning ladies
Just having the same chat about ml at work today, rally dont know what to do as I am surgery manager and me and my boss have built his surgery up from scatch and he hates be having one day off as i know every side of the business so as happy as he is for me he really dont want me to have that long off as he's not sure how it will effect bussiness because we are only a small surgery. Also I am the main breadwinner in the house so having too long off will really effect us. Saying all of that i want to spend as long with the baby as i can so really stuck as to what to do