To ask anyone with 2+ kids & working…

We also had a 3.5 year age gap to minimise nursery fees at same time. Also only had 9 months off for maternity leave so didn't have any unpaid time off on maternity leave.

Just went for it but had to return to work very shortly after having DC2.

It’s much more affordable if you are entitled to the 30 subsidised hours from 9 months old. I’m on mat leave at the moment, DD1 is 4 in October. There’s 3 years between her and DD2 (almost to the day). I get 6m paid MAT then 3 months statutory & 3 months unpaid. I saved through pregnancy to pay for all of my personal bills and my wife picked up my share of the joint bills when my salary dropped.

We had a 3 year age gap and as I went back full time after my first, the loss of salary due to childcare costs meant by the time I had a second mat leave I wasn’t that much worse off just being on mat pay. I only sent my oldest in for his 30 hours when I was on mat leave so it worked out well and meant I got some alone time to bond with the baby too.

3 year age gap so had 30 hours funding at nursery

Paid full pay 6 months and half pay 3 months

Have savings from being made redundant in between kids

DH could afford the mortgage

We have a 3.5 year age gap so DD1 left private nursery when I started maternity leave with DD2, and she just had her free hours at playgroup then started reception while I was still on maternity.
Never had to pay 2 sets of childcare.

We had a 4.25-yr age gap. Children are now 6 and 2, love each other, and are not in nursery simultaneously 🤗

Never really understand waiting til first is in school. If money is that tight, aim for when first is 3 and save a year of nursery costs while you're on mat leave.

I have a 19 month age gap. I achieved this by only taking short maternity leaves. 6 months with DD, and 8 months with DS. I also went back FT after both (in fact I’ve always worked FT - mostly to avoid the pension gap that PT brings).

Had twins so got two for the price of one!

We had a surprise second baby so there was no planning or saving. It might be controversial but I’m of the mindset we can’t get this time back so we have taken cash out against a 0% credit card and accepted we will just have that debt for the next few years.

I think putting off a family you really want for a time in the future when you’ll have the money is a bit daft if you have the option to have that family sooner and just take out a loan if needed.

We had a surprise second baby so there was no planning or saving. It might be controversial but I’m of the mindset we can’t get this time back so we have taken cash out against a 0% credit card and accepted we will just have that debt for the next few years.

I think putting off a family you really want for a time in the future when you’ll have the money is a bit daft if you have the option to have that family sooner and just take out a loan if needed.

Probably too late for you OP but posting here in case anyone else had the same question!
I went back already pregnant. I used my accrued annual leave to go back part time - ie working 3 days a week taking annual leave for 2 but being paid for 5. So when the second maternity came round I was paid based on my full time hours.

School age doesn't mean without a cost, the school holiday vs annual leave is an expensive headache.
You have to reevaluate your household budget for a while and take advantage of things like tax free childcare, universal credit top up for childcare, dependent leave, etc
Somehow it works but you don't know how, there is a 2.5 yr gap between mine, no family support, both parents work, you cut your cloth accordingly and muddle through best you can!

Saved a lot pre first child, including making sure all house maintenance type jobs were completed to minimise expenditure later on and overpaying mortgage.

Had long maternity leave with second so that the time without the oldest on free hours was fairly short. Also took oldest out of childcare when on mat leave.

It's not actually just about saving for maternity leave, but saving for the period when you have 2 pre-schoolers in expensive childcare as well (think we were better off when I was on maternity leave).

I got 6 months full pay with my employer then 3 months SMP. During my pregnancy and for the first 6 months of mat leave I saved like a MF to afford those additional three months. I then had accrued holidays and B hols to use on top of that

6 months full pay, then I did six weeks SMP and 6 weeks annual leave. Saved enough to cover six weeks salary, just!

I saved hard whilst pregnant and we lived pretty frugally during my second mat leave. Helped a fair bit that it was still COVID times so not loads of socialising.

Everyone has different circumstances k after first child we struggled massively financially then had to move and took on an expensive mortgage where i had to work around the clock, so a second child was never afforded… theres the sacrifice, work out whats more important ♥️

Saved like mad, budgeted for lower income, removed oldest dc from childcare for the year.

Yeh age gap so there is one child at nursery at a time. Also factor in when they get to university age. A friend has kids 1 year apart and is anticipating having to cover the financial shortfall for both kids now that next one gets results tomorrow.

I had an accidental pregnancy when I was 39, had one fallopian tube and on the depo shot. Therefore I did not even remotely expect a pregnancy and only found out when I began showing at 4.5 months, too late to do anything.

We couldn’t afford maternity leave so I put baby in full time nursery and cried my eyes out every day torturing myself about what a terrible mother I am and how I had fucked up my child.

Turns out she was fine and is now a happy, delightful nearly 8 year old who is very loving, balanced and doing great at school.

Another one with the 3-year gap! DD1 got her 30 hours funding a couple of months before DD2 arrived.

We just went for it but moved to an interest only mortgage for 5 years. Only just moved back to repayment now that they’re in school

Age gap of almost 4 years to allow a bit of financial recovery time and nursery funding to kick in. Ran up a big overdraft and credit card which we then repaid once I went back to work again.