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Original poster

Making money on maternity leave

147 replies

OrangeCatnip · 24/01/2018 16:49

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??

OP posts:
LeCroissant · 24/01/2018 18:37

Babies do vary a huge amount and it's really hard to predict how you'll feel too. My first was such a chilled out baby and I felt really well and healthy but I don't think I could have done a job around him - I was too consumed with dealing with his needs and trying to keep the house going.

My second was a nightmare and I was totally run down but at that point I was working freelance and I continued working a few hours a week. I shouldn't have - I ended up on anti-depressants and I was so exhausted I formed practically no memories of the time - I can remember my DD as a baby. It was awful.

I can't stress how important it is not to put too much expectation on yourself - it's fine to just go with the flow for the first year and then ease back into it, or to wait until he's older.

expatinscotland · 24/01/2018 18:38

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

Also check if you have to pay them back any money if you don't return after mat leave.

thekingfisher · 24/01/2018 18:39

Are you going to be on maternity allowance or statutory mat pay. If the latter you cannot earn money at the same time. So do bear this in mind.

PurplePirate · 24/01/2018 18:39

I started a new business when on mat leave. I really regret it tbh, it was massively stressful. I wish I'd just loafed about and then looked after my baby when she arrived.

PeppaPigTastesLikeBacon · 24/01/2018 18:39

I know some very successful women who have created a business so they didn’t have to ‘go back to work’. All of them require some level of childcare to make the business work.

My DD is a dream sleeper at 2 (compared to others I know) and even then I only get 2hrs max a day to work around her if I was to work from home. I don’t see that you could have much of a viable business within this time unless you want to work evening and weekends when your DP can take over child care

AccrualIntentions · 24/01/2018 18:39

To be fair, I did watch 4 episodes of Friends today. I do physically have the time to do something more productive, just not the brainpower or motivation. But I'm too lazy to be self employed anyway and a more motivated person could probably make it work if they have a cooperative baby.

londonrach · 24/01/2018 18:40

Lol....you look back on this post next year and laugh. Wait and see op, wait and see...

Viviennemary · 24/01/2018 18:41

I think you will be hard pushed to find a nice little job that earns you around £200--300 a week working from home running your own business. It's pie in the sky. Willing to be proved wrong though.

grannytomine · 24/01/2018 18:43

My understanding, it might be out of date, is if you are getting SMP it will stop if you start a new employment. If you were doing 2 jobs before you got pregnant, or in early pregnancy, you can do that job without losing SMP. Of course your employment might have something in the contract as well.

happydays00 · 24/01/2018 18:44

Meh, it's possible to do some sort of work whilst on mat leave but it is utterly exhausting. I work freelance and my 14 month DD is a dream sleeper but I am oh so very tired. As pp have said, for about 4 months now she totally wrecks the house at every opportunity, is constantly trying to climb up/off things she shouldn't be and my mind feels torn between her and my impending client deadlines. Luckily I've reached a point now where I can pick and choose my jobs a bit but I was established in this industry prior to mat leave so it wasn't a totally new business for me. Good luck if you do choose to go ahead!!

Mybabystolemysanity · 24/01/2018 18:45

I just managed to squeeze keeping up one self employed contract into KIT days while on Mat Allowance with DD, but it was really down to it being a very generous and flexible arrangement with the client. I also have very little contact with the client-just in, do the job and out. I couldn't have done it without my DM looking after baby and/or DH taking her at weekends. I manage to make about £150 a week taking up 2-3 days a month.

It's going to be harder this year because DD now a toddler and much more demanding than a tiny baby. Number two is coming in July!

You might be surprised at how far mat pay stretches once you're in the mindset, particularly if you have a partner covering the rest of the bills.

How about web design for all the other mums setting up WFH businesses? I know I have another creative idea in the pipeline which needs a website and web shop to get off the ground. Possibly you could WFH with clients coming to you at home and advertise yourself as being really baby friendly ( with rates that reflect trying to start up on maternity pay!).

Good luck, but take it one day at a time once baby is with you.

Schlimbesserung · 24/01/2018 18:46

I've worked from home for about 14 years now and did so when 3 of my children were babies. I didn't take maternity leave, just closed down for the month or so I was in hospital each time. However, my business was already established and I'd already had one baby.
Don't underestimate the exhaustion of having your first baby, it can be a huge shock even if you get an easy one. With the second and so on, it was fairly easy to work while they slept next to me while they were tiny, but once they were mobile it becomes much more difficult. Also, once your business takes off it becomes harder to only work while the kids are napping or only in the evenings. So you can end up working so many hours that you barely sleep at all and you can end up feeling that you don't do anything properly.
I managed to work, keep the house in order and bring up 4 children, all at the same time (the hardest part isn't that you have so many roles, but that you have to carry them all out at the same time!). I did this for 12 years and earned a decent wage. At the end of it I was a wreck, emotionally and physically. I wouldn't do it again.

grannytomine · 24/01/2018 18:48

Mine are all grown up but I did dress making/knitting commissions when my first was a baby. I could do it round him sleeping. I'm retired now but I do payroll for small firms. It is easy money if you know how to do it, not much help if you don't but I'm sure there are similar things.

grannytomine · 24/01/2018 18:50

Just to add i don't work in the day, days are mine. I do it in the evening while watching TV and it doesn't feel like work.

sausagerollsrock · 24/01/2018 18:52

🙄 I love all the people on here that are going to start ‘a little business’. Yep because that’s all there is too it.

Loonoonow · 24/01/2018 18:55

I worked from home on a sub-contracted basis when DD was 6 months plus. It was great, made me some money, stopped me being bored and also helped her develop good sleep patterns as I was sometimes so engrossed in my work I wouldn't drop everything at her first murmur and she got used to dropping back to sleep on her own. Later she would play beside me for an hour or two while I worked and we chatted.

Luckily for me she was slow to walk, because once she became mobile at around 18 months, the bubble burst. I had to have eyes in the back of my head! I reluctantly resigned my post and accepted that if I wanted to work I would need to work outside the home and arrange proper childcare.

Littlemissmuff · 24/01/2018 18:56

I hate to say this but I really don't think it will work. Your life is never your own again and your free time is sleep time.

arethereanyleftatall · 24/01/2018 18:59

A friend of mine runs a beauty salon from her home. It's been perfect with children. She simply takes more bookings when she can, and not if she can't.

Milkandtwo · 24/01/2018 18:59

Just don't start an MLM or try and make baby harem pants from monochrome Scandi inspired fabrics. Wink

WizardOfToss · 24/01/2018 19:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Throughtheforest · 24/01/2018 19:07

I had both my dcs as a self-employed single mum, with no family support. I took a few days off around the birth, and went straight back to work. The dcs went to nursery part time when they were a few months old.
I worked from home anyway, and managed to keep things going while the babies were at home, fairly easily for dc2, who slept a lot during the day, and with a lot of difficulty for dc1, who slept very little. With dc1 it was very tiring, and not good for my health. But there was almost no maternity allowance then, and I couldn't afford to pay the costs of the business without earning any money from it.
I suggest that you take your maternity pay, and use what time you can to make the preparations for starting a new business at the end of your maternity leave period.

StereophonicallyChallenged · 24/01/2018 19:09

Granny - you do payrolls while watching TV?!! Shock

Really?

I have worked in accounts for a long time - but not as an accountant; and I think payroll is one of the functions that requires the most amount of concentration. So many regulations esp with auto-enrolment now that I can't even listen t a radio while I work most of the time as its too distracting!

PinkyBlunder · 24/01/2018 19:10

Just don't start an MLM or try and make baby harem pants from monochrome Scandi inspired fabrics

Grin

But baby harem pants...so cute!

StubbleTurnips · 24/01/2018 19:12

With my first - after one she would have been fine. 0-1 though she was high needs, but when she could walk / potter she was brill and slept a bit more.

Second child - I did 2 half KIT days a month from 3 months and contracting towards the end of my year off while he was asleep (writing reports). He was easy to start.
He turned 1 and is now the devil in Hatley pyjamas.
Nothing, and no one is safe.

So mixed views here Grin

MagicWillHappen · 24/01/2018 19:13

I'm on maternity leave op. I started matched betting when ds3 was about 3 months. I do about an hour in the day (in dribs and drabs on my mobile) and two solid hours every night (10pm-midnight), pretty much 7 days a week.

I make about £1k net now. Month 1 was £350, month 2 was £600 and since then (3 more months) £1k has been doable.

It's not classed as income so is tax free and doesn't interfere with employment at all which made it great for maternity.