Partner fired right before I started maternity leave :(

[Deleted User]

Sorry, no you didn't. £500 for a wonderbar pushchair/carseat/hovermower extra-ordinaire is still a lot of money when neither of you are working. Sorry.

You need to be REAL, not make excuses for spending more than you really have to right now.

You just needed something with a five point belt, that will allow your baby to lie down and a cheap baby car seat right now. £200 brand new? Believe you me, your baby won't know the difference if he/she is lying on a bed of gold or plastic. Only you will. And that's who you are spending £500 for.

lol. My mum started life in a drawer because it was the war and that's all there was. Lots of babies did. And they didn't grow up damaged human beings with deformities.

Sorry, I know I sound rude.., I'm just trying to get you to see money needs to be kept for the real essentials right now.

iammumtoone

deannatrois wrote: »

Sorry, no you didn't. £500 for a wonderbar pushchair/carseat/hovermower extra-ordinaire is still a lot of money when neither of you are working. Sorry.

To be fair the pram/car seat was purchased when they both had jobs, neither of them could predict this was going to happen.

The OP just needs to be aware they need to change their mindset and stop any further extravagant purchases. Again to be fair the OP has stated they are happy to buy second hand and already have some second hand items.

melibu1984

deannatrois wrote: »

Sorry, no you didn't. £500 for a wonderbar pushchair/carseat/hovermower extra-ordinaire is still a lot of money when neither of you are working. Sorry.

You need to be REAL, not make excuses for spending more than you really have to right now.

You just needed something with a five point belt, that will allow your baby to lie down and a cheap baby car seat right now. £200 brand new? Believe you me, your baby won't know the difference if he/she is lying on a bed of gold or plastic. Only you will. And that's who you are spending £500 for.

lol. My mum started life in a drawer because it was the war and that's all there was. Lots of babies did. And they didn't grow up damaged human beings with deformities.

Sorry, I know I sound rude.., I'm just trying to get you to see money needs to be kept for the real essentials right now.

Please read the whole post before replying we were both working at the time. Plus, his dad bought it for us in the end so we did not actually spend the money ourselves.

We started buying things in April, and we bought or received as gifts the majority of items we needed before he was fired (at the end of May). Obviously, i am not clairvoyant, or I might have asked for the money instead lol.

melibu1984

In case anyone would like to take a look, here is my budget, if I did have to go back to work.

The salary is estimated as 1560, as I was told I'd be getting a payrise when I go back (due to a good annual review)

I've also factored in child benefit, as I know that is universal, and that is 20.70 per week. (20.70 * 52 weeks / 12 months) = monthly income of roughly 89.70 per month

I have not factored in any other benefits such as council tax, housing or job seekers at the moment. We are still in the process of taking over the lease, so the rent is actually in mine and my sister's name. Based on that, I think we would earn too much to get c tax or housing b. Unfortunately, I guess I won't know the full extent of anything we can claim until my partner is on the contract.

Total incoming 1649.00

Total expenses 1838.31

Essential - 1619.94
Breakdown as follows:-
Rent 1040 (2 bed flat in London zone 5)
Council tax 120.00
Gas 19.70
Elec 33.63
Water 13.00
Home insurance 10.00
TV licence 12.12
Pet insurance 9.49
Groceries 150.00 (I expect this to go up).
Travel 212.00

Notes on pet insurance
The pets (cats Mo and Sputnik) were adopted by me, but my sister and I "shared" them when we lived together. My sister is moving out of the flat we rent and my partner and I are taking over the lease. She can't take the pets with her, so they're staying with me. We go halves on the insurance, but she is paying for all of their food.

Notes on travel - This is the cost of a London travelcard zones 1- 5 which I will need in order to get to work.

Non essential / what I can cut- 218.37

Cutting these will bring me under budget, but there is still very little room if any of the bills go up or there is an emergency.

O2 60.00
BT line rental and BB 30.49
Sky 32.00
Cineworld 19.90
Amazon prime 7.99
Microsoft office 7.99
Credit payments 60.00

Apart from that, i cannot see what else i can cut or reduce. Also, would prefer to have the broadband as it is so important for job hunting and keeping in touch with relatives and friends overseas.

iammumtoone

Have you put your details into https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/AboutYou did it come up with any entitlement?

melibu1984

iammumtoone wrote: »

Have you put your details into https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/AboutYou did it come up with any entitlement?

Thanks for that.

I did a check and it has calculated housing benefit and council tax support for £175.97 per week, whilst on maternity leave.

Whilst working, it would be 100 per week for housing benefit. no council tax support.

Way more than I was expecting, to be honest. It's nice to know the options are there!

Savvy_Sue

melibu1984 wrote: »

Non essential / what I can cut- 218.37

Cutting these will bring me under budget, but there is still very little room if any of the bills go up or there is an emergency.

Sky 32.00
Cineworld 19.90
Amazon prime 7.99
Microsoft office 7.99

I'm not sure when you think you'll have time or inclination to go to the cinema with a baby, and a bit the same for Sky, you'll just fall asleep in front of the TV whenever you sit down ...

Triple check what use you're making of Amazon Prime, I've never thought it worthwhile. And you're paying monthly for Microsoft Office? Get one of the open source packages!

Darksparkle

As someone currently on maternity, I'd try keep the Amazon prime. I use Netflix personally.

Did the calculator not show any entitlement to child tax credits?

TBagpuss

I'd expect you to be eligible for tax credits once the baby is born.

Meanwhile, I agree with encouraging your partner to start looking for work ASAP.

Would his last employer (before the one he's just been fired by) be prepared to provide a reference?

It's understandable for him to be upset about having lost his job but equally, after the initial shock it is reasonable for him to face up to the fact that he has a child on the way and you as a family can't afford to have him sitting on the sofa playing games.

Agencies are a pain but may be a good move in the short term.
He also has to think about how he is going to deal with the inevitable questions at interview.

It may be helpful if he can bring himself to ask the old employers what they will say if asked for a reference. They can't lie, but if they were prepared to give him unnecessary severance pay they may be prepared to give him a reference.

Is he 100% sure that they actually dismissed him for gross misconduct? Is it possible that they told him that they would have to start a disciplinary process, and that he then offered to resign and they accepted? It would explain the 3 months pay and would make his life much easier in terms of a factual reference.

Good luck.

silverwhistle

melibu1984 wrote: »

O2 60.00
BT line rental and BB 30.49
Sky 32.00
Cineworld 19.90
Amazon prime 7.99
Microsoft office 7.99
Credit payments 60.00

Well, I can see nearly £68 in savings (Sky, Cineworld, Amazon, MS Office). What's the O2 for, two mobile phones on contract? Potential savings there: I tend to buy outright, amortise over around 18 months at £10 p.m. and have a Giff Gaff package at £7.50 a month. I appreciate you'll probably want a package with more minutes as you tell everybody about the baby! That's not a top end phone but perfectly adequate 4G etc, and if I manage not to drop it down the loo (like the previous one...) and get more than 18 months then I gain. I agree BB is essential, but you could use Skype and the like to save on the phone.

As pointed out, why have MS-Office when you could have Openoffice, or Libre Office. Is there any possibility you could get work to pay if you do any work from home? Put some of the Sky/Cineworld money towards a few beers to share on the sofa - the German discounters do some good ones and I think I've seen a stout or two, though maybe not milk stout..