To ask how much you saved for mat leave if you are the main earner?

[Namechangingnorma]

I am not actually pregnant yet but ttc. I think I get approx 3 months salary, including holidays from work and I would want at least 10 months off, which means I need to have approx 21K in savings to cover this period. Am I missing something or does everyone spend ages saving for mat leave? Or did you find your expenses went down went you were on mat leave? It just seems terrifying trying to work out how to cover it and if I got a BFP next month it wouldn't give me enough time to save up but I am 34 and really want to get on with it.

Is your expenditure on bills etc actually £21k for 7 months, so £3k a month that you personally cover? That seems very high. Work out exactly how much you will need to cover essentials, not what you spend at the moment. Maybe your partner will have to contribute more than they do currently and have less spare cash to spend on themselves.

When I was the main earner I saved so I had enough to top up my maternity pay to the equivalent of my normal salary. Didn't have a choice really as we couldn't have paid the bills on less.

Should add I only took nine months inc holidays. Spent approx 2 years saving and we both worked overtime.

It completely depends on your outgoings. We made sure we had enough money in the bank to cover our outgoings for the period I'd be on a reduced wage, so we know we can manage without dipping into our savings for day to day stuff.

I'm already shocked at the price of nappies and formula so have some 2nd hand reusables and am hoping to breastfeed. The only additional costs (now we've bought everything for baby) should be cake and heating ... I'm sure it won't be that simple!

Maternity leave started last week and baby is due in a couple of weeks, so I can't tell you if we're on track or not.

I spent very little in the first few months of my dd life. I didn't go out - or just for a coffee. And didn't buy much (newborns don't need much) and was certainly not spending what I did when working normally. So you might not need to save as much as you think. Also your partner should be able to contribute? You get 550 quid from the govt every month up til they are 9 months old. So if you are frugal and perhaps take a mortgage holiday you'd be amazed what you can do. Lidl is ace. As are nct and other second hand sales.

I've worked out I need 12k (if we're very frugal while I am off). That should do me 6 months and I'll get the 6 weeks at 90% salary and holidays so I'll be off about 8 months total. I've saved up 6k so far. I'm 34 as well.

Thanks, yes 3k is our monthly outgoings (1700 mortgage and bills on top etc) DH income is sporadic so I feel I have to work on the basis of saving to cover both of us in the worst case scenario, I would just hate to be forced back to work before I was ready because we were relying on income for DH that didnt happen.

The actual cost of the baby is not so much in the 1st year especially if you buy second hand but I totally get that the mortgage still needs to be paid etc - save enough to cover your bills at least.

Akachan - are you ttc or already pregnant? Think I am panicking as just come back from a belated honeymoon where we put our best efforts in I had a miscarriage a few months ago and have just spent a lot of my savings on house renovation.

I received a salary for 9 months- first 3 full pay, second three 90% and last three half pay plus SMP. I them took another month off and used annual leave up.

We did not save in advance of my ML. The first 6 months on ML we saved as much as we could to cover the last three where I was paid a much lower salary.

It helped that I did not buy any new clothes or go out for some months to keep the costs down. I also breastfeed which saved money.

I'm not TTC yet Norma but plan is to start at Christmas! Sounds as though I'm in a very similar position to you, husbands income is very patchy so I'm having to assume zero! I should get a bonus in April so hopefully we'll have a little more to play with but if not then baby must live in a box and be wrapped in a dish towel (or hopefully we'll get some useful gifts). Really good luck to you x

Akachan - it really does, my bonus is due May time and I am totally counting on that. I am pretty risk adverse so am with you on the assuming zero, it will just be great if it's not the case. Good luck with ttc-ing when you start x
p.s. am sure baby would be very happy in the box as long as the dish cloth is comfy

Wow Bumblequeen what a fantastic maternity package

Nothing as did not take much time off.

A lot of mortgage lenders will let you have a maternity break - which can reduce your outgoings in the short term (although obviously you'll still have to pay it back and will probably pay additional interest). Might be worth seeing if that's possible for you?

We had £15k saved when ds(9) was born to cover ml, was off for 8 months.

A grand.

I did BIG jobs for my KIT days tho.

You'll also get tax credits once the baby is born which will help too.

Expenses go down massively

I had 12k in savings pre-baby, and I got excellent maternity pay (essentially 6 months full pay).

Blimey I only just realised that you need to budget for mat leave .. I only get 3 months full pay and hope to take 6 months off at least. DP will take the next 6.

Not ttc yet btw

I have very little savings due to a disasterous year but my maternity package with the NHS does cover all my outgoings. I'd like to save as much as I can in the run up but I'm not sure it's going to happen. DH has a steady wage though.

Don't rely on a mortgage holiday for maternity leave though - I rang my mortgage company before I got pregnant to ask if that would be a possibility for us and they said no. They wanted to go through all my outgoings to assess whether I would be able to pay and when I said that I could do it but was hoping to take a payment holiday to reduce our outgoings whilst on Mat leave it was a flat out no. They also said no to switching to interest only for maternity leave period too.

I am hoping to be able to breast feed and would like to us reuseable nappies (for economic and environmental reasons). Apart from a car seat and cot mattress everything else will be second hand from Gumtree or borrowed from friends.

The only thing I consider a necessity (or should that be luxury) whilst on mat leave will be internet access & Netflix for when I am tied to the sofa!

As much as you possibly can! I did a budget, worked out how much I would need to cover bills etc over x period of time, then saved like mad. When I was off I paid myself that set income each month. I was never flush, but I was never totally broke either. DDC 2 is now on the way, but being part time and paying for child care, not any spare cash to save :( think I'll be back to work a lot sooner this time round. Good luck

I think I had about 6K saved, but we also massively reduced out outgoings to around 1200 per month, by overpaying our mortgage in the 2 years before we ttc. Is any overpaying now an option for you?