First Baby Crisis.

Loulabelle1305

Hi All.
I am in need of your advice. I am in a slight pickle.... Anyway i started my new job 15th October 2013. I have been working non stop since the age of 13. Me and my partner are in that rut where we earn enough to survive but not enough to live.....

Anyway i shockingly found out recently that i am 13 weeks pregnant. As you can tell this was a complete shock! However it is a very much wanted child... We are absolutely PETRIFIED about money. Due to me not being with my company long i am only entitled to Maternity allowance. So my income will be halved. My partner only earns £1000 a month from his job. We have a £200 fuel bill each, each month. Two car insurances etc etc. Due to the location of our home we are unable to sell one car and survive on one as there is no public transport. My partner has a £500 credit card bill aswell.

We have bought what we can second hand and have also had a few hand outs from my parents. We have tried to make as many cut backs as possible but with our cars being almost as much as our rent - we have a problem.

I have done a benefits checker and we are not entitled to anything. However surely we cannot be expected to run a family on £13,500 a year + maternity allowance of around £130 a week!!!!

I am really starting to fret about this and dont really know what to do. We are trying to move home but are on a waiting list!!!

Heeeeeelllllllllllppppppppppppp!!! :(:(:(:(:(:(

nannytone_2

how old are you both?
once the baby arrives you can apply for child tax credits

Loulabelle1305

nannytone wrote: »

how old are you both?
once the baby arrives you can apply for child tax credits

Hi. Thanks for your quick reply. I am 23 and my partner is 22.

nannytone_2

so too young for working tax cewduts until after the baby is born.

if your biggest issue is the cost of keeping 2 cars, then id seriously suggest that you consider moving either nearer to work, or somewhere with better public transport links

BigAunty

If you are not entitled to any benefits (but do double check again on the Turn2us online benefit calculator) then your only options are to up your income or decrease expenses. You indicate that you will experience a dip in income from losing around £130 a week income (£110 by the time you receive child benefit) so you simply have to find a way of reducing your outcome by that amount to prevent slipping into debt, not rocket science but not particularly pleasant either.

You already probably know that your outgoings and debts have absolutely no influence on your entitlement to benefits which is calculated solely on income (and yours will appear to be around £380 per week including child benefit).

You have already indicated that part of your hardship will come from servicing two cars so in your heart you know what change you have to make. Your fuel bill is also very large for what I assume is a 1 or 2 bed place, though its a while since I've lived in a property of that size to know what a usual bill should be (mine was £100 a month for a 2 bed 1.5 years ago). How much is your rent?

Download the MSE budget planner and work through the site to identify where to slash your living costs - frugal recipes, cheap groceries, lowest insurance/telecoms/broadband/energy tariffs, etc. You might be able to get the rest of what you need for the baby on sites like Freeshare/Freegle/Gumtree freebies.

Post a SOA on the debt free wanabee board and the members there will help come up with a strategy to deal with that debt and cut expenses. See the Up Your Income board. See the old style board for ultra thrifty living tips.

You've pitched this as a benefits issue but if you aren't entitled to any then its simply a budgeting issue and you must make changes in your household expenses to deal with it.

aleksrothis

Don't forget about child benefit - around £20/wk

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/

thriftylass

How long are you planning to take off. Could you take one car off the road for the time of the maternity leave and do without the second as you won't need to commute for a while? It would save road tax, fuel etc. With that income I would think you'd be able to get child tax credits etc (I thought you just need to earn less than £26000?). Double check with http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxcredits/payments-entitlement/entitlement/question-how-much.htm#6.

And I agree with the above post about the SOA, like this one. Find out where all your money is going where you could make potential savings.

Loulabelle1305

I am a home carer hence the £200 a month fuel bill and my partner has to travel 60 miles a day to his work. We currently shop in aldi, fixed electricity, dirt cheap house phone etc etc.....

thriftylass

Loulabelle1305 wrote: »

I am a home carer hence the £200 a month fuel bill and my partner has to travel 60 miles a day to his work. We currently shop in aldi, fixed electricity, dirt cheap house phone etc etc.....

But once you have the baby you won't be a carer for a while and can save the £200 fuel? Or do you mean you care for a family member?

Also how much do you spend in Aldi though and how much is your fixed deal a month?

The good thing is a baby doesn't cost much especially if you are able to breast feed (though I know not everybody can). You can get cheap second hand bundles of clothes on ebay. And baby usually won't need any toilettries apart from cotton wool and water at the start.

Loulabelle1305

Hi. Yes i wont be a carer as i will be off work so my fuel bill will be massively slashed. So that helps. I usually spend £40 in aldi and my fixed deal for electricity is £40 a month. My mum has bought second hand things so she has been a massive help. I think its just the thought of having half of the income but the same bills if you get me??? I do hope all expectant mothers go through this!

thriftylass

Loulabelle1305 wrote: »

Hi. Yes i wont be a carer as i will be off work so my fuel bill will be massively slashed. So that helps. I usually spend £40 in aldi and my fixed deal for electricity is £40 a month. My mum has bought second hand things so she has been a massive help. I think its just the thought of having half of the income but the same bills if you get me??? I do hope all expectant mothers go through this!

So if you only spend £40 in Aldi on groceries a month which is impressive where does the rest of the money go. Could you possibly list your income and all outgoings like

joint income £1400 (on maternity leave)
rent 400
fuel 250
food 40
leccy 40
Water ??
council tax ??
insurance ??
entertainment ??
gifts ??
clothes ??
TV ??
internet ??
Phone ??
debt repayments ?? and so on.

That should give us a clearer picture. Don't worry just yet. There are loads of people here with helpful advice and hints and tips to save here and there. We earnt more (but the problem was the same depending on where we/you live) but thought how can we live of one wage in maternity leave (our bills were bigger too) and how can we afford to pay £1000 in childcare later etc but changes just happened. If you have a clear picture of all your spending and bills we'll figure sth out :cool: