Making money on maternity leave

[OrangeCatnip]

So my maternity leave starts on Monday (yay finally) if our little one arrives on his due date I will have 4 weeks without much to do other than lady muscle exercise, practicing self-hypnosis etc etc. I also desperately do not want to go back to my old/current job after my year of leave and so would like to use this time (and hopefully after he is born) to start up something, a little business or money making scheme so that I can justify staying at/working from home. I have worked out that I would need to make £250-300 a week to make up for what I would lose in earnings minus childcare costs. My place of work is likely to be filling posts in the spring so I am keen to see if I can make this equation balance before then or at least see if there is potential so i don't miss that opportunity unnecessarily. (my work place is boring and i'm looking for an excuse to move to something more exciting that i can justify to myself) OH is supportive either way.

I am in a creative field (think design and computers) and I am computer literate so happy to learn new skills if they are in that direction.

Yes know that my baby will take much of my time at first but by the time he is a year old or so I hope there will be enough opportunity for me to do this. Any ideas? I don't mind if there is an initial outlay to buy software or do some short term training. Have any of you started a business or similar while on mat leave?

P.S. Why isn’t someone taking advantage of this massive workforce of motivated out of hours staff??

'Why isn’t someone taking advantage of this massive workforce of motivated out of hours staff??'

Who do you think looks after all the babies?

Haven't done it myself but DD is 12 months and sleeps for 2hrs a day, max. I can't see how you could be productive enough to make 10hrs work a week work in this situation but someone may be along in a minute to say otherwise?

nothing much to do in the last four weeks you can
Sleep
Shower
Frontier alone
Wear makeup
Watch daytime telly
Rest your ankles
See friends
Drink got coffee
For The Last Time ......enjoy it.

I say this with love but you will look back on this post and maybe laugh, 1 yr olds are the hardest!

If anything a toddler is less compatible with WFH than a baby is - they sleep fewer hours and don't stay where they're put. Working for yourself while officially on maternity leave from your company may also land you in some trouble tax-wise. Leave is supposed to mean leave - you're allowed to do up to 10 days of KIT days but no more without losing your eligibility for maternity pay. You would have to register with HMRC and fill out a self-assessment for tax purposes, and this could leave you needing to pay mat pay back. I don't think you can set up in business for yourself until you are no longer receiving maternity pay; selling bits on ebay or doing market research surveys is one thing, £1k plus a month is another.

People do manage to do bits of WFH around kids, but a lot depends on how much attention your child demands. It's difficult to make more than a bit of hobby money doing it unless you do all your work after they're asleep at night.

Have you had children already?

If so, it is fairly clear tbat trying to work on amything that requires concentration with a one year old around is pretty impossible unless you do it during naps.

The reason that lots of employers do not take advantage of it is because, legally, mamy contracts lf employment state that it is a disciplinary offence to work for anyone else (either on a self-employed or employed basis) so most employees dont want to lose their jobs. Plus, if there are restrictive covenants, the party inducing the employee to breach the contract could be liable for any losses/subject to an injunction

Self-employed parents will receive maternity allowance and that stops if you do more than 10 KIT days.

Plus, most people just want to enjoy their maternity leave. If not, they go nack to work

Hi OP, are you planning to try to work from home with your baby/toddler there? I have a 1.5 year old and struggle to fit in 2 hours of work per week. They need constant watching, playing and looking after, in between the cooking and cleaning up! Babies often don't sleep through the night til they are 2/3, so you may also be fairly tired. If you have childcare options (family to look after baby 1-2 days?) this may be a better option for you.

Gosh, I admire your spirit but I'd see how parenthood goes first before paying for software/training/whatever. I had great plans for mat leave with DS (currently 6m) but he's the worst sleeper ever so I'm too zombified to do more than keep the house clean, dinner on the table, exercise and manage some kind of a social life mainly involving drinking inferior coffee whilst sitting on the floor singing Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Also, to put it bluntly, I wouldn't hire someone to do skilled creative work for me if I found out they were doing it while simultaneously watching their child. Keeping an eye on a toddler and doing work that requires focus and concentration are not super compatible.

I used to think like you before my dd was born, then I realised that babies take up ALL your time, plus your soul, and then whatever is left of you they will have that too.

I speak as someone who ran my own business before DD, had ideas of all the things I could do whilst at home, I was so very wrong. She is 11 months old now, if I manage to unload the dishwasher then it's a pretty productive day.

Check your work contract, you may not be allowed to do paid work while on maternity leave

I have a friend who has managed to start her own business in the first year after having her baby, but she can only do this because her mum takes her baby for her to work.

Do you have children already ? Don't want to put a downer on your idea but 1 year olds are a lot harder than babies ...I have a one year old now almost 2 and I work evenings so at home all day and i barely manage to get any basic household jobs done some days ! I also have a 5 year old and it's only they are at the stage where they are becoming more independent and I can get on with things while they play ! I think it's overly ambitious to plan to do enough hours of work at home to bring in £200+ a week without paying for any childcare so you actually get anything done !
On that basis I would enjoy my last 4 childfree weeks....relaxing, eating warm food, watching tv, sleeping (mine still does not sleep at nights!) and see how you go with a baby before you make any future plans !

Going against the grain a little bit here.... and I’m expecting biscuits

Within the first year of having a child I still managed to study around 15 hours a week and then work 20 hours a week and study. I had very limited help on the childcare front and my husband worked emergency services shifts.

Don’t ask me how I did it, I’m not sure. I think I got through on a wing and a prayer. Plenty of people told me I’d never do it. I’m on maternity leave again and I’m running my own business but I don’t do it in my own and it takes up significantly less hours. Ill be going back to my employed job in a years time.

I guess the sensible thing would be to work out how many hours you’ll need to put in, what resources you’ve got with regards to help with your child and around the house and take it from there.

Good luck

It is expressly against my contract to do any paid work while on maternity leave and HR confirmed with me I knew this when going through my mat leave package

You should check your contract doesn't have anything similar

I have a feeling you will look back on this post and laugh one day. I mean it in the nicest possible way but babies are ridiculously time consuming.

I thought I would have a load of free time on maternity leave but I don’t. Wouldn’t change it for the world but I don’t get a spare second until my husband gets home. My son is 8 months now and if anything he is harder to look after now he wants to be played with and talked to and is moving around.

I work from home. I'm a freelance graphic designer and have two other businesses (making and selling online) The first year is the easiest, because naps, lack of cooking and minimal playing et . From 12 months until they start school it's bloody hard. They nap less and need more attention, more meals rather than just stick on a boob, playing with you, exercise etc. I would have to work from 8 - 11pm or later every night instead, 7 nights a week. When all I wanted to do was go to bed at 8pm myself, not start work. I love being my own boss and lovely to be there for my son but it's been far harder than my friends that go to work in an office and get to leave work in the office. He starts at primary in September and then it will be easier again, but be prepared for it to be bloody hard and exhausting for a good 3-4 years first!

Yep, I was going to say, work in te evenings... except all I wanted to do was sleep.

You can't work on ml I though apart from your kit days.

Apart from that it's never going to work with a baby - maybe 45 mins snatched here and there while they nap. My mind was mush in the first year too because of the sleep deprivation.

I’m with you there Milkandtwo, it’s so much harder when they’re toddlers. I had a deadline 2 weeks after DDs birth and found that quite easy to reach but reaching deadlines when she was 2 were bordering on the impossible. She started school this year and there is an expanse of time where I can get things done easily which is rather exciting so there is hope for you!

maybe 45 mins snatched here and there while they nap

And yet, that is mostly how you do it and get it done!

And make sure it's something that requires no brain power! As if you're starting the days work after child is in bed you are super tired and need to be on automaton mode. Thankfully the businesses I started were creative in the inception (and I did this stage when DS was a few months old and still napping lots) but, once up and running, it's just like being a factory line worker, churning the work out and fulfilling orders! So intensely boring really, but boring is good when you are shattered and something you should be aiming for to get you through toddler and pre-school years!

It would have been much better (less exhausting and better paid) to keep my job as a web designer and paid for childcare but I was made redundant on mat leave. Not better for DS perhaps? Unsure on that one, as I regret plenty of crap parenting due to exhaustion.

You can only be stopped from working
during maternity leave if you are not allowed other jobs during your usual employment. Placing special restrictions during maternity leave only, is discrimatory.

Thanks for all your replys. No children already. regarding the Tax problem. i have left a contracting position so my maternity leave is not with my company it is statutory with no real job to go back to unless my managers decide they want me back afterwards.

I know i may be being very optimistic thinking i will have time for this but any business i start will begin very slowly and have minimal hours to begin with i would think. the idea being that by the time it is up and running, he will be older and less dependent on me, i may even be able to afford a couple of days of child care if needed.

Is this a pipe dream? :)

I'm on maternity leave with a 10 week old. She's pretty chilled and is getting a lot better at night sleeping but I get absolutely naff all done all day. The days just disappear in a haze of sleep, eat, nappy change, wind, play, repeat.