Spend less now, work less later...

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds like you are sorted for your baby. Have you worked out your monthly income for when you are on maternity leave? Having savings is good and minimising outgoings is a good. Don't forget you will probably have increased energy bills when off unless it is summer but you won't have commuting costs. Babies grow really quickly so take advantage of freecycle or Facebook selling pages for clothes etc. My DD has just put loads of stuff up on our local selling pages.

EscapingTheAlarm

We've worked it out recently and think that I will probably have to go back after 6 months because after that I'll be in just SMP and would be loosing so much pay each month that we'd be putting ourselves in a very tight position. I feel ok about it because he'll just be going to my mum but I'm pleased we've worked it out now so that it's not a nasty shock later down the line!

EscapingTheAlarm

Well I am now the very proud mummy to one of the cutest and sweetest babies I have ever met (I am biased I know...) and things are going well. We have finally paid off the loan and have moved on to the credit card. Once that's done then we can focus our attention on our huuuuge mortgage debt! I'm not sure how organised with money I've been since the baby has been born but we're not doing terribly so I think I'm going to take that as a positive for now!

ChasingSunshine

Congratulations! Hope you are enjoying getting to know your new arrival.

Well done on paying off the loan with all the preparations for the baby coming.

EscapingTheAlarm

Thank you ChasingSunshine! I can't believe how big he's getting! He's started walking now and is such a lovely busy boy- I can't believe how lucky I am!
I'm back on here to report that we've finally paid off the credit card!! Wahooo! We've also reduced the term on our mortgage by 8 years so we're managing to pay off a bit more of the balance each month rather than just the interest... it does mean it's got very expensive though so we're having to continue to be careful with what we spend. This is definitely not helped now that I'm part time at work as my pay has almost halved!! Little one loves his days with my mum though and I am so grateful that she has him so that we save on nursery fees...
My biggest concern at the minute is that we don't qualify for child benefit but have been receiving it anyway (something to do with National Insurance contributions). I need to look into how we pay it back and am hoping it's not all in one go as that would be a hot to our savings. I'm trying to be prepared just incase...