AIBU to ask how you managed financially with the reductions associated with maternity/ nursery fees?

[Isla2021]

Myself and DP are planning for our future and would like to TTC next year.

I am a planner at heart and I can't help but worry about financial impact of having children, particularly up until they start school, starting with a reduction in pay during maternity and then followed by extortionate nursery costs. All being well, we are both fully employed and I know we will manage but I would like to set some money aside as a monthly booster should this be required each month. I may also consider reducing my hours during the early years from 5 days a week to 4, my employer is very flexible so this is a possibility and my DParents have expressed a keen eye to look after our future DC for one day a week (they are very much looking forward to being grandparents although unaware we would TTC next year - I am mindful that this is not a guarantee and as this year has shown us, things can change).

Its made me want to reach out to ask how everyone else coped, is it really a noticeable drop in income? How did you manage?

I also need to look at Child Benefit, I believe we are both currently within the threshold for this however; I am not sure how much this would be!

Do you have any tips/ advice having been through it yourself? Would it have been helpful if you had saved a pot of money, i.e enough to transfer £100 a month for the first few years?

For those who wish to disclose (absolutely understandable if not) please can you outline the estimated drop in income that you had and how you found it? I need to work out what my reduction will be during maternity, I work for a local authority so if anyone has any information, please let me know! (time to search through the staff portal to find out more!)

Thank you in advance!

It depends on your wages, lifestyle, housing costs. When I had DD my job paid 6 months full salary, I only took 7 months mat leave so lost very little income. Both DH and I compressed hours, with a 32 hour 4 day week, meaning our income only dropped marginally due to tax/NI/pension/student loan reductions/childcare vouchers, plus you get child benefit, and we only had nursery costs 3 days pw (£46 per day here)

We used to spend a fortune going out, holidays, booze, take away or eating out, hobbies, but much of that naturally dropped away after children due different priorities and less free time, so that freed up tons of money without feeling particularly painful. We did move house though as wanted a more family, safer area which increased our mortgage considerably when DD was 1.

But we were lucky to have the luxury of still being able to easily afford our bills and essential spending. If you are already living quite a frugal lifestyle through necessity because of low income/high housing costs it will be much more tough and need more careful saving in advance.