£1000 a month debts and about to start Maternity Leave!

slowcoachme

I can't see your gym membership fees on your SOA. What ever they are, you can't afford it.
What do your benefits consist of if you were earning over £40,000 a year or is that your predicted maternity pay?

BirdSeed

Hi. I can't offer anything (new) in terms of your finances but I do know that babies are expensive. Nappies cost a bomb and if you are using disposables then expect to use many more than you think you will. It's an idea to register with all the baby product sites and supermarkets as they offer freebies and loyalty points. Also look on eb4y for discount vouchers. Don't be afraid to stand in the supermarket with a calculator working out the best price / deal for nappies. Also, join local facebook sites for baby item sales, sometimes people have an overstock of nappies and sell them on there for a bargain price.


Good luck with everything, I'm sure it will all come right in the end.... :-)

LannieDuck

Could you try any little home start-up businesses while you're on mat leave? I'm thinking maybe offering to take in people's ironing (while baby's small, she'll sleep a lot), or walking dogs (you could manage one while pushing a pushchair).

Do you/your OH have any skills you could monetise? Play any instruments, or have specialist knowledge that you could tutor at weekends?

It won't make up the £700/mth, but you might be able to get a bit closer to your target. Obv a weekend job in a pub or at a shop would be even better, but I realise they're not always that easy to find.

Lawa

Another peice of advice from a mom who has been thier.

Buy your baby bits (clothes ect from ebay local for sale sites.

But pushchairs ect second hand.

Look at local baby events in supermarkets ( nappies on amazon) I used reuseables but think of extra washing and washing powder.

Like i say consider you may not be able to breastfeed. It is critical you get the righ support early on ( I didnt and stopped after 48 hours)

You will get your 80.20 a month for child benefit.

Lmh71365

Sorry if this reply is a bit scattered - I've just bullet pointed as I've been reading responses.

Firstly thank you all for your overwhelming response, it's a very sticky situation and it's somewhat comforting to know I've not missed anything really obvious but also, you have helped me to revist avenues that we had crossed off, and think more deeply about smaller solutions adding up rather than drastic solutions like running away to Iceland and living in a mud hut

Some points:

I like the home-start business. As for skills, I am quite good at Art and could look at selling commissions, cards, small pieces, etc. How do other things (eg, those companies who send you tapes of interviews to type up, etc) affect pay - are there plenty that are "not a formal payslip" payment kind of companies?

Baby items are all bought (all presents - we have been SO lucky), right down to mountains of baby wipes. The only thing we will have to buy is nappies (help!!) and formula if she doesn't take to breast feeding.

The benefits I put down are just Statutory Maternity Pay, I didn't realise I would still be entitled to child benefit / child tax credits so that's amazing news! I will definitely be looking into that ASAP.

Phones - we hate paying for our phones, trust us. I checked 2 months ago about buying out of mine and was quoted about £400. I almost died. I am thinking though, I have an iPhone 5s so selling this *might* raise enough to clear the contract?? My OH is buried in his because Vodaphone are cruel humans. As I said, we did sell his phone & replace it with a cheapy to save money. I do use mine for work, laptop, everything though so I'm cautious of parting with it in case that's a serious mistake.

Prescription - this is private, the NHS will not fund it, so we cannot pre-pay and have to pay per pill. Now somebody's going to tell me if it's not life-threatening, it's not essential. To my partner, it is desperately essential and that's all I'm going to say.

Childcare Plans - Our local nurseries will not take babies less than 12 weeks old, for the first two months we would therefore need a private nanny (£1200 a month). After that, childcare in our area for the hours we need (both myself and my OH work 8am-6.30pm) and four days a week is still about £6-700 a month AFTER the childcare vouchers I can get from my work.

Moving in with Mum - we have just started a new tenancy, we can't move for 6 months, am I right? There's no easy way out of a tenancy?

We had no choice but to start the new car finance agreement. My previous vehicle was also guaranteed by her, was costing £680pm including servicing, and I was 9 months into my 48 month term, with £10,000 negative equity. It's a lifesaver that I work for a dealership so was able to fiddle the right deal to hide £10000 negative equity in our new vehicle AND reduce our payments by £180pm.

I am posting this on this forum 2 weeks before, because I am desperate, but this doesn't mean I haven't been exploring every option I have. Since finding out I was pregnant we have reduced our rent by £300 a month by leaving our luxury flat for a cheap (for our area) house, reduced our car finance by £180, saved £1000 a year on car insurance and £275 a year on car tax, cut our grocery bills by £300 a month and more than halved our fuel bills. We've also spent 6 months desperately trying to get my husband into a similar job field to me where he can earn what I do.
That's good going, isnt it? Wouldn't you lot be proud if I'd posted that at the start?

Gym - I'm hesitant. We really use this as our entertainment, downtime and social life. My gym offers a creche for free, multiple baby-swimming classes, etc, all as part of my membership. We spent £36pm each on our memberships. I know you think I won't use it after baby is born but if I'm still going regularly at 8 months pregnant and she's got a safe place to stay while I'm at my classes, I can't see it not happening?

My mum is, indeed, in a very serious situation herself but won't take it seriously - "something always comes along at the last minute" is her response to every conversation I've tried to have. However, I agree with whats been said on her, she needs to accept the risks and I need her help to negotiate with my lenders. With reduced payments, every penny we can save will help, and every extra penny I earn if I go back to work will help even more.

I'm definitely leaning towards the return to work option - something which we'd ruled out as we deemed the value of baby being looked after by one of us as more important than the little monetary value it would raise, but I'm starting to realise that with a few cut backs and clever planning, this could actually have a greater financial benefit than we had calculated!

Before somebody says it - my mum can help with babysitting, but minimally. She works irregular hours (eg, often smack bang in the middle of the day - so both morning & afternoon are written off), and with an hours drive to-and-from us, makes it very difficult for her to be effective in cutting childcare costs. She will not stay at our house looking after baby as she has a beloved pet dog who she doesn't want to leave alone. Your view is probably the same as mine on that one!!

On_my_way

Your mum could always bring her dog with her to your house to help you maybe one or more days a week? Of course she can't just leave the dog for hours on end so she can't really do anything except bring her dog with her.

I think people have given all the suggestions they have - hopefully you will work things out not just for yourselves but for your mother as I am sure she is just trying to make you feel better about things but she is in a very serious situation and is likely to be very worried.

matttye

Get rid of the car and buy a £500 banger that will last you until you return to work. Instant £500 a month saving.

You cannot afford to keep the car unless your husband gets a better job.

rising_from_the_ashes

When is baby due?

From April, shared paternity leave comes into effect so, if after 1st April it would make more sense for you to return to work (statutory min break of 2 weeks) and OH to look after baby


Might seem harsh but you have a big shortfall which seems impossible to plug with the usual cut-backs and really needs some drastic action ie the above, increasing OHs salary a lot or some sort of debt management action - as debts are shared with your mum, she'd need to be willing to take this on as well

I am a bit confused why you would take on new car finance (I have read your explanation) as I don't understand how you were planning to finance it (it would've been obvious at that point mum's house wasn't going to sell in time)

Re mum baby-sitting - I also don't understand why she can't bring her dog with her?

rising_from_the_ashes

Prescription - if this is necessary, then your OH should be able to go to his NHS Dr and have it (or a drug that will do the same thing) prescribed

Gym - sorry but you can't afford this .... it doesn't matter if you class it as entertainment or another heading, you don't have the £70+ / month to do it!

Car .... again sorry but however you look at this, this is the absolute killer. Regardless of whether you've 'refinanced' and saved money, it's still costing £500 / month .... plus £120 / month insurance (seriously? :eek:) and goodness knows what else - this is money you just don't have ....

byjimini

Could your mother not move in with you? It would save her money on bills, and then you have your own child carer.

I read the topic at work earlier today, I hope everything works out for you.