How do parents afford maternity leave?

lynzpower

Lynz - I know everyone says "you'll manage somehow" but it really is true!!

Trouble is my mortgage is almost the whole of my OH wages so I can't not work. We are trying hard to save so that I can take the full 9 months but it is looking increasingly unlikey this will happen and I will only take the 6. I know i am so so lucky to even be in that position.

this is exactly the position we find ourselves in.

certainly, OH is planning not to be earning 13k, we hope that in a few motnhs, there might be a promotion in the offing. However, we felt it useful to use the figures we have got, to plan around, so that we are not being "pie in the sky" but if he earns 15k then we'll get no tax credits or benefits and voila we still have the same money to exist on.

I dont know where the press get thier examples of all these people tapping thousands out of the system- if we can barely get 200 quid a month, adn thats with one of us working full time on what is a v low wage

[Deleted User]

I guess we just have to spend all our time on here and never go out spending and start sqirriling away money wherever we can! I have become obsessed with saving even the littlest thing now. We are trying to overpay our mortgage as well but we know once the baby comes those extra payments will go out of the window! Done all the big stuff (checking utility suppliers, downgrading sky etc) but now got to do the little stuff like not spending.

Good luck Lynz we will hopefully find a way. I am currently looking into selling second hand books on ebay as a means of extra income for the next 5 months but am not sure of the profit margin so will have to see..... is there anything else you can do to save for a while?

rchddap1

Partner and I did a quick calculation on how much we'd pay out in extra bills if I worked....ie, childcare, fuel, car maintenance, clothes, etc.....worked out that I'd be bringing nothing into the family coffers. So we made the decision that I'd be off work for a while. Am really loving it. Not sure if / when I'll return to work, but that will be my decision rather than work's. Which feels fantastic. I had saved quite a nice little sum before I stopped work to make things easier though.

We don't have much (if any) spare cash left over. But both we and our little one are happy...which is what counts.

lynzpower

shelvis wrote: »

I guess we just have to spend all our time on here and never go out spending and start sqirriling away money wherever we can! I have become obsessed with saving even the littlest thing now. We are trying to overpay our mortgage as well but we know once the baby comes those extra payments will go out of the window! Done all the big stuff (checking utility suppliers, downgrading sky etc) but now got to do the little stuff like not spending.

Good luck Lynz we will hopefully find a way. I am currently looking into selling second hand books on ebay as a means of extra income for the next 5 months but am not sure of the profit margin so will have to see..... is there anything else you can do to save for a while?

You name it ive done it! Im doing matched betting, sold everything on ebay & amazon & green metropolis, pigsback, every survey site going, avid collector & user of MO vouchers, any freebie of use secured, got a second job, quidco queen, the lot! we ve downgraded to the point where we simply cannot downgrade anymore, without leaving our 2 bed place for something smaller, but i dont think its fair or practicable for 3/4 of us ( including dog!) to live in a studio flat, which aside from leaving london - which comes with double job insecurity- and we'd both have to leave our jobs, then start again accruiing time in our new jobs to get maternity/paternity leave ( dont you have to work somewhere for 18months before you get paid Mat leave) theres nowhere else we can go downwards in terms of lifestyle.


I do buy clothes and the odd sandwich etc now at work- adn obviouslt I could stop these, but its not that - id have to if I had no income ?

I dont really get it! :A

Carmina_Piranha_3

i found postage costs swallowed up any profit from selling books on ebay or amazon, especially books which can be bought new for £3.73 from asda there's a second hand book stall in our local market, she pays 50p-£1.50 for paperbacks but won't take hardbacks.

i've had some vouchers from pigsback and keep meaning to get into free fivers, i just don't have the time or brains to work out what to do

asda and tesco both take some money off coupons for things i haven't bought. asda take up to ten percent of the bill if the coupons are normal ones, they won't take internet coupons or any with another shop name on them - but pampers coupons work well. join up to pampers, huggies etc and also tesco baby club.

jbbonce

Carmina_Piranha wrote: »

fair enough (i quite like living in the midlands by the way ) but we don't know how much the OP has to pay for housing costs. in my midlands town you wouldn't get rent much cheaper than getting a mortgage (my sister pays £750 pcm in rent for her house,lucky to get a house cheaply, or if we had too many children to fit into the shoebox.

:eek: My rent is £450 a month! You must live in a much nicer midlands town than i do.

Spendless

lynzpower wrote: »

and we'd both have to leave our jobs, then start again accruiing time in our new jobs to get maternity/paternity leave ( dont you have to work somewhere for 18months before you get paid Mat leave)

No
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/statutory_maternity_pay.asp#caniget

Carmina_Piranha_3

hers is a 3 bedroomed house though with a big garden and it's not on a council estate. ours is a 2 bedroomed ex-council shoebox with no room to swing a cat if we could afford to keep a cat :rotfl: she looked at a tiny house last week actually because she's got to leave her current house, and said no straight away. so maybe she pays more because she wants more - you can probably get a 3 bedroomed house for £400 pcm if you're not after owt fancy. will ask my friend, she used to rent a small 3-bed house.

keelykat

I only work part time, so when we do get pregnant-hopefully loosing my wage won't be a major problem. However we are currently on a budget to get most debts/bills cleared for january, so when the time comes we'll be able to just concentrate on the baby and not panic too much over money. Obviously things will be tight, but if we're sensible it should be ok. We've been discussing this for quite a while now-ive been broody for ages but getting pregnant with over drafts/loans outstanding/bills etc isnt a good idea!

Keely.

LilMissEmmylou

stuff the tesco mother and baby club lol its pants in comparison to boots join it!

Its doable if you want to do it. Rent wise some people seem to have high rent and say it cant be reduced, i say pha to that, im shifting from high wycombe (where a grotty 2 bed flat is £650 or so a month) to Liverpool where a 3 bed house with 2 receptions is about £400! hassle, sure it is, worth it? completely! I did it because i want my daughter to still have a half decent house to live in and to have spare cash to buy her stuff and well £250 a month is a lot to save on rent as for mortgages, sorry im not help there as i havent got one.