To ask how much you spent/saved on mat leave?

[firsttimemumonmatleave]

Expecting my first child any day now, and starting to get a bit concerned about money! I've always been a saver, but my DH and I have just spent pretty much every last penny buying a house (live in the SE where even a modest property is ridiculous!) We earn equal amounts, and I'm only entitled to sat mat pay so my salary is going to decrease by about 2k a month.

We've worked out we should be able to cover all essential bills with his salary (although with the rates food, energy and petrol prices are going up, that might soon change!) but won't have much disposable income left.

Am I deluded in thinking babies can be quite cheap? I imagine we'll be at home a lot to start with, or just going out for walks, hanging out in the garden etc?

It can be cheap, depending on how you spend your money.

my husband covered all the bills etc but my mat pay covered all baby stuff, like nappies, formula and clothes and baby classes (which obviously wasn’t essential) and days out with nct friends etc.

it was fine for us at the time, and we didn’t struggle as such, but things have changed a bit since then with everything going up so drastically.

We saved enough to top up my stat pay to my full salary each month, but that was because I'm the higher earner and without my salary we'd sink.

Expenditure depends. If you can afford a small initial outlay, using reusable nappies will save you a fortune, as will breastfeeding.

Following as in the same situation and interested to read responses.

When I went on mat leave I had £5k in savings. My first 12 weeks were normal pay but then after that it was just statutory and I was losing £1500 per month so I used all my savings on mat leave. But then I wasn't being careful with my money and still went halves on all my bills as normal cause I'd saved up for it.
I am breastfeeding so there was no cost with that, just nappies and wipes really so it is possible to not spend loads especially if you manage/want to breastfeed

I saved £5,000 for mat leave, which I went on in September 2020. I only spent £2,000 as I still have the other £3,000 in savings even now. It was during lockdown times though so we didn't have the same opportunities to go for lunches/cups of tea etc frequently.

If you're careful and sensible you'll be fine. I think you and I are on similar salaries. I don't spend much on baby but have spent quite a bit on me post pregnancy. Clothes for new body shape, etc. Most baby groups are free or very cheap. Baby equipment can be picked up for a song secondhand.

I must admit we have been terrible with money recently but I got 6 months full paid. Going on to stat mat now and I'm bracing myself, we do have one in nearly full time nursery and a teen too though!

I'm confused by your post, were you single or did you go halves on all household bills with a reduced income even though you were providing free childcare for the father of your child?

I had my baby in 2020 so it was lockdown and not much to spend money on! Although we did do a house renovation which cost a fortune.

I think unless you have childcare costs then in the first year babies can be fairly cheap. Main bits are the equipment to start with (family & friends gave us a few hand me down bits like cot & buggy) and I bought quite a bit of FB market place. Clothes and sleeping bags which need replacing about every 2-3 months. I'd just buy 4 packs of vests/sleep suits etc and do a wash every couple of days. I get nicer bits of vinted. Nappies, milk if you're bottle feeding? A couple of new toys/books each month, although again we got a lot given to us.

Once lockdown restrictions started easing I was desperate to get out of the house and my baby was about 9mo so needed more stimulation. I signed up to a couple of baby music type classes which were quite expensive but I needed it for my own sanity! I'm in Central London and i know friends in outer London pay far less for baby and toddler groups. We did attend some free things through the library so take a look at what's in your area. I found it so important to get out of the house each day and was nice to have 2 or 3 scheduled classes each week to keep a routine and meet other mums.

If I look at my life before our son I'd be out for dinner 2-3 times per week, yoga and pilates classes, bought far more clothes... so I definitely spend less money overall.

Been on mat leave twice. Lucky as I had the NHS enhanced one, but as I'm the higher earlier, we saved up so we could "pay" myself to my full wage.

Would recommend using your annual leave strategically - ie at the end to stretch your leave out. Don't forget also to sign up for your child benefit, think that'll be about £80 a month which you can use for nappies/milk etc. Don't be snobby about second hand clothes too! We bought 2 bin bags of baby clothes on FB for £30 and it clothed my son for 6 months. Half were brand new!

Good luck.

@NCforthisone222 I'm not single. Live with my fiancé but it's something that we'd already talked about. I was the higher earner so I didn't mind about paying my half still.

This is what we're doing, so I won't be out of pocket- I have full maternity pay for 4 months, another 9 weeks @ 70% and then 1 or 2 months unpaid. We'll pay me my full salary for the partially paid and unpaid weeks out of our savings, and I will make normal contributions to our joint account so we don't feel it while I'm off whatsoever. My employer will make pension contributions as normal.

The most important thing imo is that women are not out of pocket while on maternity leave- this isn't fair at all when considering the burden they carry. All costs related to pregnancy and maternity should be shared costs, right down to breastfeeding bras.

I think it depends on a lot of circumstances, which isn’t particularly helpful. If breastfeeding comes easily to you and you’re happy at home with just you and baby, it could be very cheap. However, you might struggle with breastfeeding and want to pay for a lactation consultant or pump. You might pay for these and decide breastfeeding still isn’t for you (which happened to me) then you have the cost of bottles, a perfect prep machine (obviously not essential but I wouldn’t be without mine), and then the monthly costs of formula (about £50 for us). Your baby might be colicky or have reflux, so you might be buying things that might help that. Your baby might have Cows Milk Protein Allergy and so on formula or a breastfeeding diet that takes that into account.

I wasn’t happy just sat at home with my baby. I find it really boring so I try and do a mix of things and try to do some with other mums because it can get quite lonely. Classes can be really cheap - the children’s centres and libraries might have things on - or they can be more expensive. For me, the balance is one pod class a week (£5-10 depending on the class), one lunch/coffee out a week, some money for picking up forgotten bits or drinks when I’m out and a free/cheap activity so we walk to the library quite a bit. However you feed baby will likely need a feed if you’re out for a couple of hours so you’ll need some money to just buy a drink while you feed baby or baby falls asleep when you’re out so you buy yourself another drink so they can stay asleep.

I’m coming to the end of my maternity leave and we’ve probably used about £4K of savings but some of that was buying big things, like stuff so we could go camping and also doing some bits on the house that have needed doing. I would guess we’ve used about £2.5K on topping up my pay. There is also the cost of things to do together at weekends. We asked for National Trust membership for our birthdays and so visit a few of those sites and just take into account the cost of a drink and sandwich each when we go out.

Thanks for all the responses so far! Definitely not snobby about second hand bits and pieces - everything I've bought for baby so far (besides the car seat) had been a hand me down or from marketplace or a charity shop.

My DH and I have a joint account so no worries about me being out of pocket there - just want to make sure we can balance what's coming in vs going out. I guess I always have the option of going back to work after 9 months once I'm down to the completely unpaid portion of mat leave.

Appreciate this problem is mainly of our own doing and most people plan and save for mat leave. Just bad timing with the house purchase!

Don’t forget you might be eligible for child benefit which is just under £22 a week which is nothing groundbreaking but definitely helps towards baby baby bits until your back at work! www.gov.uk/child-benefit

Also worth looking into reusable nappies - there are local nappy libraries you can use to try out them before buying too. Have a look on Facebook!

We have separate accounts, I know Mumsnet hates but we like it. We have a joint account for bills / house / food etc.

We didn't have any savings, I had a pretty good package but the last 12 weeks were hard. I've got twins so double up everything.

Your lifestyle will naturally change with a young baby so meals out etc drop off for a while so you save there.

The harder hit was going back p/t and childcare, and the long term hit on my career. It took 7 years to get back to where I should have been.

There's definitely lots of things you can do cheaply, I used to make a flask of hot choc and walk with friends rather than cafe etc.

OTOH there are often unexpected costs, and breastfeeding can be expensive if you end up buying a pump, bf clothes and eat as much cake as I did!