Don't want to go back to work. Suggestions please?!

[LastMangoInPeckham]

I'm due back at work in 6 months and already dreading leaving DS in nursery.

I have some savings, approx £7k.

I was thinking of using this to try to set up my own business and therefore be able to stay home with little one?

Or is this pie in the sky? Should I just accept my lot?

Depends on what the business is really.

What skills do you have?

Hmmm....bit of social care, bit of management....sort of fancy a change though and trying something completely new!

Other than Childminding, there's limited work you can do whilst looking after a baby.
I know of hairdressers, etc., who have been self-employed to family members or a few clients who liked the way they cut their hair and were prepared to stick with them (obviously a cheaper deal for them) to come to a house where there was a baby, but there's not that much you can do whilst looking after a baby / toddler, surely ?

So what's the business?

Doesn't your maternity leave come with the condition that you have to return to work or repay mat pay?

Id imagine its not really feesible to work from home much with a little one. You would be restricted to naps and evenings and even they acn quite frequently go to pot when teething/needles/colds hit.

What are you thinking of doing?

I have just turned a corner after years of being at home, next financial year I will be declaring a decent income i.e.hopefully an average income.

In your situation I would question what you need to earn, what you need to spend etc. Are you after pin money, do you manage all the other household accounts by shopping around for utilities/ insurance/ phone etc, changing bank accounts to optimise cashback, do you sell on all your no longer needed items?

I've been at home because my eldest is Autistic and childcare hasn't been an option. I've found that I can live fairly cash neutrally in many areas by buying good quality second hand toys, clothes, furniture and then selling on when not used.

If you're due back in 6 months does that mean you're 6 months in? Could you defer your return and take a sabatical on the back of maternity so I'd guess your little one would be 2 and more ready for mixing with other active children. It'd also buy you time to play with a business.

I buy and sell. I have an eye for a bargain. Its a long way from my Engineering background but completely fits around my DC. Its sometimes hard work though. I cant control the peeks and troughs. December was a majorly busy month work wise, a stressful month for the DC with lots of change going on. I found myself regularly working at midnight, up at 5am with the DC, school run then flat out till collection of the DC feeding them doing homeworks, beds then work till midnight. Working all day Saturday and Sunday aroundthe DC and housework went to pot.

We as a family had a lot of illness Jan and Feb. Work still needed to be done. No sick pay or parental leave for the self employed. My bottom line has suffered.

For me it's this or a life on £63/ week careers allowance. The reality of self employment isn't necessarily the grass is greener. Its just that you have a little more flexibility.

I'd also say its much easier to get things done pre baby mobility and maybe if you have a DC who is still napping several times a day you aren't quite visualising the reality of the toddler years. Trying to work with a mobile but unsafety aware DC crawling/climbing/ running around would be very very challenging.

Agree about the terms of maternity leave; check how much of the £7k you'd have left if you have to pay, potentially, everything over SMP back to your employer.

You'd be looking for work to do in the evening so you're around with the baby in the day. Sitting at a PC with a toddler trying to get your attention is no fun for either of you and people who work from home tend to have a room / space where they can seperate themselves from the family to work. You need to seperate working and child care, even if you want to do the childcare yourself.

I'm not sure what you mean by a bit of social care and a bit of management that you can do from home. However I would say you should carefully develop a business plan and be honest about the feasibility and what's required or you risk losing your savings.

There are plenty of jobs you can do some hours in the evening, or at weekends whilst your OH is in charge of your LO, if it's a little bit more money you are after, but obviously that is different from a FT job, or being self employed, and they tend to be on NMW or perhaps a little more.

Thanks. Think I knew it was bit of pipe dream! Just need to enjoy mat leave and prepare myself for inevitable.

You might find that the closer you get to your return date the happier you are to leave the wee one at a nursery and the more keen you are to return to work yourself. It took me til about my DD was 4 months before I thought 'yeah I could happily leave her with someone else other than myself' and was really quite looking forward to going back to work. Things change so much at this point that it's hard to see the woods for the trees...

Depends how much you need to earn, or how much you can reduce your outgoings.

I haven't been employed for 17 years. I left teaching to home educate my 4 dcs. I have tried numerous self employed businesses to add to the family pot. Unfortunately none worked, because although in theory they were good ideas, I didn't have the time to make them work.

So, I'm a SAHM and love it. But consequently, we live on a very tight budget. We get by, but have nothing left at the end of each month. The house needs loads of work doing and we have a week long UK based holiday most years.

I don't regret it though, as for us home edding has been such a fab experience and our dcs have benefited from this.

I worked for the first six years of motherhood and I hated leaving the dcs, so that was why we took the decision we did.

Our way of life wouldn't be for everyone, but it's worked for us.