AIBU to ask you how you cope/or prepare for maternity leave

[Vilanelle]

Hi everyone.

I am expecting my first baby in June 2020 and have started saving for when I go on Maternity leave.

I am having a mild panic as I am struggling to save large amounts whilst also buying items for the new baby.

I am looking at reducing my bills such as Sky and Electric. Currently on a prepay meter and have been told this is more expensive that pay monthly?

Anyone have any good budgeting ideas?

Both myself and DP work full time.

£148pw ×52 ÷12 =£641

Again presuming your partner steps up and pays half the childcare your half of the child care bill will be £266 so even with your reduced wages if you drop a day you will still have enough money when your maternity ends (not denying things wont be tight though). And depending on your circumstances I would see if you can get UC to help with childcare when the time comes.....turn2us.org is a good calculator to use you could try it now and see what it says you could expect.

I found nursery much harder to balance than maternity leave.

See if you have any libraries nearby. We have a sling/baby carrier library and a toy library locally, which also has baby stuff like bouncy chairs and rockers for £10 a yearly membership.
The book library is great as well and they often have singalong and story time classes for free which are great for getting out of the house and meeting people, without spending tons on baby sensory or swimming lessons.
Incidentally I felt under a lot of pressure to attend "branded" classes but baby sensory was a total waste of money and my friends who did swimming lessons cant see the difference between my kid and theirs after £500 worth of lessons.

@RhymingRabbit3 Oh really? It looked completely brand new :s

The mattress for cot is binned, we are buying new for that

@RhymingRabbit3 I have just googled my area and they only appear to have a sensory toy library. Nothing like bouncy chairs etc unfortunately.

Such great advice on here, this is all very helpful thank you!

Nappies you can stick to supermarket brands. Buy whatever is near to you or you can get easily. I like Lidl or ASDA. If you have a nappy bin, buy the refill rolls off Amazon and fill the cartridges.

I don't need half the muslin cloths people said I needed. I buy M&S baby grows as they are generous in size and last longer. At this time of year I wouldn't bother with vests - just short sleeve babygrows and sleep suits.

It's up to you but personally I wouldnt risk it with the car seat, unless it is still in the box/packaging. Chances are it is probably fine as traffic accidents are not that common, but you never know what damage there could be and its primarily a safety device so I dont think it's worth the risk. That's a shame about the toy library, we are lucky in our area with the amount of things like that around.

Sounds like you don't have too many frivolous outgoings, but agree with pp - your DP needs to come clean about his debt as there is almost no point trying to work out a budget when you don't know the exact details of his debts. In regards to Sky, we got rid of it, and now just watch Netflix and Amazon Prime which between them costs way less than Sky did, and if there is something on that we want to watch Game of Thrones, we signed up to NowTW for the couple of months it was on and then cancelled.

This isn't for everyone - we tried and just could make it work for us (although lots of people do) - but washable nappies could save you some cash. There is a bit of an initial outlay but then in the long term you save money. We didn't have/need a moses basket. I think it is easy to buy lots of things for that they will only use for a very short time, but you have to remember a whole industry has sprung up around babies and is geared towards getting us to spend money, so half the 'must-haves' people get are not really necessary.

Anyway, good luck and hope the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly :)

Please don’t use the car seat unless you know the ppl you bought it from!! Also how old is it?? Car seats have expiry dates! Take off the cover and thoroughly check the frame OP.
I also have to say I saved a heck of a lot whilst on mat leave!!
Congratulations btw!

I did not save enough and bought stuff brand new which in hindsight wasn’t the best plan.

I should have bought items second hand as much as possible and saved more. I made a bit of money of money matched betting and doing surveys which helped as I only got SNP.

I only took 7 months but that was because I had to go back as I was pregnant again.

Your Sky bill is huge!!!!

I cut all my sky tv and line rental, pay £14 for internet- use a £4.99 hayu app (I like reality tv), and a free app UKTV Play combined with the digital tv channels...no need for sky really!

I’d also like to add. That unless you are 100% sure the car seat hasn’t been dropped and broken internally. Or been in a crash

That’s the only item and a mattress that I’d suggest new.

I’ve just seen about you don’t know the person who you brought the car seat off

Then yes. I would go and buy a new one. It’s your child’s life at risk. If you’ve brought one that’s even been dropped it could be damaged b

I second going to the library for classes. Check out Hoop app for helpful ideas. Better in bigger areas like London.
I generally refused to pay for any classes if I could help it!
Cast your net wide, you can normally visit children's centres in other boroughs for their baby classes too if you register on arrival. Put your car to use and go on some adventures to lesser known places.
Also, there are schemes which rent out the reuseable nappies and slings. Again might be big city based. Could be worth one longer trip to hire it all out for a year.
Congrats!

Also. I’ve been with sky every year.

I cancel every year. I go right up till the day before the 2 weeks is up. I get a deal every time.

I pay £28 for movies and tv.

I can't help with the mat leave part as I am still pregnant, but am in a similar position.

SMP is not that much, so save all you can now. Look at your outgoings and bills and see what you can cut.

If you have a next to me crib bought then you don't need a moses basket as well - the bedside crib is the alternative (I went for the next to me as it is bigger so hopefully will last longer).

Next to me cribs are bigger than moses baskets so won't fit moses basket sheets and the Chicco brand ones are more expensive (£20 for 2). However, travel cot sheets are not much bigger so you can buy and use them instead - Asda do then about 2 for £7 I think.

Don't worry too much on nappies yet until you get an idea on sizes, but if you are going for disposable the Aldi ones actually one in a recent test of disposables and I think the Lidl ones came third or so, so definitely worth trying to cut the cost.

Aldi have a baby event from 9th Jan and Lidl have one around 16th Jan, so have a look and see if you can get any bargains. There are also still sales on at the moment, so look around and see what bargains you can pick up.

Do not make the mistake of buying too much - babies grow quickly and you will end up not using it all. There is nothing wrong with buying cheaper basics from supermarkets/Primark - after all I have been buying in size 0-3 and they only have to last a couple of months before being in the next size.

Are you planning to breast or bottle feed? No judgment either way, but if you are going with breastfeeding, then you are not going to need a steriliser yet. If you are bottle feeding or mixed feeding check the sales - Amazon do have them popping up on daily deals occasionally. If you set up an Amazon baby wishlist and add items you want, you end up with a notification if they go on deal, so you can keep any eye.

If you are the higher earner then it could be worth looking into shared parental leave, so you go back to work earlier and your partner takes over on parental leave and pay - if he qualifies the parental pay is the same amount as basic SMP anyway. That is going to work better for us as I am the higher earner (we will have to live on savings as DH's wages plus my SMP will not cover our bills whilst I am off). If not and you plan to go back earlier, or even at the end of your mat leave, speak to work about compressed hours or look at what you can both do to manage the childcare between you to cut how much you spend on nurseries.

@CornishMaid1 I hope to breastfeed.

So the next to me crib, can this be moved downstairs? I need something for baby to sleep in downstairs you see.

Argh the car seat, she seemed so nice and genuine too. Is there anyway I can check to see if it has been in an accident or just buy new?

I am not going for branded items, I will be on the hunt for bargains!

@OnlyFoolsnMothers how to you have internet without line rental?

Dont need to have a phone line for internet anymore- even when I did I got the most basic phone line (never plugged a phone in and didn’t know the land in number).

We don't have a landline. We have Virgin broadband so don't need one for internet.

PP have all given excellent advice so far. The only thing that sticks out for me bills wise and I don't think anyone else has mentioned it, is the water bill. That seems high to me. Ours is £20 a month on a meter and that's for 2 adults and 1 small child in a 4 bed semi. Any chance you are massively in credit? We used to pay £25 and they wrote to us and reduced it because we were paying over our usage.

Also you calculation of £592 for SMP is based on 4 weeks. Do you not get paid monthly? It will be slightly more if you are paid monthly. And then if you add monthly child benefit (£84) then you are looking at just over £700 a month.

The next 2 me crib is great for the bed but too large to move easily.

Do you have a pram bassinet? The baby could sleep in there downstairs initially provided you supervise naps. That said, after first couple weeks DD would only sleep on us!

OP as I am the higher earner but my DP got better parental leave pay, so I took just over 4 months maternity leave. He then did the rest. She then went to a childminder after 9 months.

My DD was mixed fed mainly as there was a chance I would have to go back on medication.
I was given random unused bottles from a friend and collected more free ones at a baby fair. (If you can get free tickets worth going to see if you can nab freebies otherwise don't bother. ) After trying one of each type I discovered my DD only liked the cheaper Asda and Boots bottles. So don't rush and buy loads of expensive bottles as your baby may dislike them.

I also got a Baby Box. In England you have to do an online course and then they send it to you for a small fee or you can collect it if you are near a collection point. It comes with its own mattress and sheet. Then depending on what's available it will can come with a bag of nappies and wipes plus random other things You can put the baby in it to sleep until they are about 3 months or simply use it for storage. If you have pets you do need to keep the out of the room and ensure they can't sleep in it. I used the baby box as day time sleeping option.

Also supermarkets sell cheap changing mats to use at home. I'm still using the one I got from Asda after 16 months. I looked the other day and it was £6. Other places sell them for £12. eBay sells cheap portable and foldable changing mats for your changing bag.

@MrsL2016 Thanks for this. According to the online usage calculator I can more than half my monthly expenditure with a water meter so have applied for one today!

Congratulations op

You actually sound like you have very little left to buy, yet are still pretty early on in your pregnancy, so well done for that! It sounds like you can start knuckling down now to save.

I would definitely cancel sky and get prime or netflix - its a fraction of the cost yet has so much to choose from. Binge watching is perfect for maternity leave anyway We cancelled Sky, they since offered a very cheap deal but we decided it was still more than we are willing to pay, so are sticking with Netflix.

I am unsure why you are spending so much on electric. We are a family of 5 in a 4 bed detached house and spend £50 a month tops on our prepay metre! You definitely need to have a think about why your bill is so high. Do you use your immersion heather a lot? Or a tumble drier?

Look at phone contracts. We have tesco pay monthly that cost us about a tenner each.

If you change your internet supplier, go through a cashback site, we got £80 refunded when we moved to plusnet - whilst also saving a tenner a month!

Don't move the 'next to me' around, get a small moses basket or if your pram has a good quality, lie flat carrycot, then use that downstairs.

Meal planning and batch cooking saves a fortune!

Look at all insurance policies, note in your diary when they are due for renewal and prepare to shop around - again try cashback sites too.

Can you or DH work overtime over the next few months? Or take on a 2nd job short term, eg delivering take aways? When I was pregnant, I took on a zero hours job showing people to their seats in our local concert venue. Got to watch free concerts as well as earn decent money haha!

Just throw one thing in with your groceries each week - eg a packet of nappies/maternity pads/baby wipes/cotton wool/nappy cream etc - you really won't notice the expense then as its just a few pounds a week, but will help you to stockpile the essentials.

You do not need everything now! Seriously, you will get given so much stuff, you will end up with too many clothes etc, I promise! Just buy the bare minimum for now. You will likely receive gift cards etc too remember.

As you plan to breastfeed, don't buy a lot of feeding equipment yet, til you see what you need. You may never need a steriliser or bottles, but even if you do, they can be easily picked up when needed. Don't bother with a breast pump yet either unless you see a really good deal. If you are only needing to sterilise occasionally, it will be cheaper to just buy a a couple of bottles and a microwave steriliser.

Good luck op, we have all been there. At least you are incredibly organised

Between myself and DP we have been putting away £500 a month. Massively helps!