Confused short term saver - baby on way

laurasbump

I am almost 3 months pregnant and will only get OMP (approx. £400 per month) for 6 months from next December a huge drop from my usual £2k I usually bring home. I'm useless with money but before finding out I was pregnant I'd begun taking action b paying off 3 of my 4 credit cards leaving me with a £23k egg loan outstanding, £1k egg credit card and a £2k overdraft with HSBC.
I'd like to take the 6 months off work and with my partner's help think I can manage on less than half my regular income by offsetting my loan repayments for 3 months and saving for the next 6 months.
However, I'm confused by the savings accounts out there. I want to get the best I can for my monthly £500 I plan investing for the next 6 months (and then withdrawing approx. £400 a month for the following 6, from December). The rest will be used for essentials we've overlooked. What type of account should I go for? Anyone seen any particularly good instand access savings accounts around at the moment?
Bit concerned that I won't be able to find a way out of debt after the baby arrives - will have to pay approx. £500 for childcare when I eventually go back to work. A little nervous to say the least. Have cut down on my usual luxuries, including £50pm rarely used gym membership and my next step is took look at Martin's budgeting and debt tips.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

A worried mum to be,

Laura

ReportInvestor

Good luck with everything, Laura

Birmingham Midshires
Internet Easy Access Issue 6
4.9% variable rate - includes 0.60% bonus for 12 months

Looks hard to beat unless you want to use ICICI Bank.

grumbler

ReportInvestor wrote:

...Looks hard to beat unless you want to use ICICI Bank.

Despite 6-months break she is likely to remain a 20% taxpayer. 4.9% gross (3.92% net) can be easily beaten by (almost) any cash ISA: http://www.moneyfacts.co.uk/savings/search/savingsearch.asp?currency=GBP&investment=3000&monthlyInterest=0&noticedays=30&noFixedTerm=1&age=0&accounttype=3&next.x=22&next.y=6