Will this be extremely tight or AIBU?

[monaaay]

Name changed to be honest about our financial situation!

DH brings home around 2100-2400 after tax a month and I bring home about 2k ish.

Combined income is about 65-67k per annum before tax - depending again on overtime.

New mortgage rate means we will be paying £1000 a month on our 2 bed house.
Essential utility bills will be £400.
Car insurance is £150 a month for both cars. Car payment of £300 a month.
Food shop currently about £400 a month (including toiletries, cleaning products). We can’t do it any cheaper than this no matter where we shop as we have to rely on the free from section which is always unfairly inflated.
Building and contents insurance and life insurance combined are about £70.
Car tax £30 between us.
Fuel for both of us again £200-300 a month.
Phone bills = £50 a month.

= overall £2500-2600 of essential outgoings a month, slightly more than DHs wage

I’m going on maternity leave soon and we haven’t had much opportunity to save due to needing to do house repairs. We probably have £1000 disposable savings to use to top up my maternity pay, everything else earmarked for emergencies. My works package is fairly generous (NHS) so works out overall that the first two months I’ll have 90% of my full wage, then the next 5 months I’ll have about 70% of my wage. Another 2 months of SMP (worried about this) and then I’ll probably need to go back to work when baby is 9 or 10 months, can’t afford unpaid leave. We’ll be just over the threshold for being eligible for any kind of UC even in my unpaid leave

I don’t think there are any costs we could make cheaper other than not having the car payment and having a cheaper car in many ways would just be false economy as would cost more in the long run. We live in a supposedly cheap part of the north but public transport is crap and we’re in the suburbs so do need to drive. I do shop on Vinted and try to find yellow sticker deals when I can

We should be fine when I return to work, I’m not worried about that. Childcare will only cost £150 a month for 3 days thanks to the 30 funded hours. We are fortunate enough that we will only need 3 days. One day we have family help and the other day will be my day off, as I am going back 0.9FTE over 4 days.

It’s maternity leave I’m worried about financially… does the situation above that I’ve described just sound normal and will we make it work? I’m really worried about being skint. Please be nice, sorry if I’ve been ignorant anywhere as I know there will be folk far worse off than us but I am just panicking a bit that what would’ve been a very decent wage 10 years ago now doesn’t go very far at all

My sister is already asking me which baby classes I’m going to go for and it’s nearly £80 for 6 sessions for lots of them… really don’t know how we will stretch to it?!

Dont forget you wont be paying as much tax on your lower income, so you may take home more than you think, it wont be 70% of what you take home now for example, it will be more

Do a tax calculator

The other thing is, do you need both cars in the way you do now for the time you are on maternity leave, can you sell the one you have the loan on ? Get an old banger?

I wouldnt be paying 300 quid a month on a car, plus all the fuel

You don't need expensive baby classes- try the local library, they're free.
Classes are really more for you than for baby when they are little.

We’ve had an old car previously and maybe it was bad luck but we ended up paying more in the long run, false economy for us. It needed so many expensive parts we probably paid £3000-4000 over the three years of having it

If your worried about managing when you get to SMP, can you return to work earlier?

Most NHS trusts will let you spread your occupational maternity pay out over the duration of your mat leave. This is what I did and managed perfectly fine over mat leave with no savings. Your first two months pay will be lower as SMP won’t have kicked in but then it evens out and I found it much more helpful for budgeting.

You'll get child benefit and won't have work expenses such as travel, canteen lunch/coffee. Sounds tight but doable.

I suspect your childcare will be more the £150 - not sure the free hours will work the way you assume.

What we've done for all three of mine is work out how much less you will have when you go back to work (working part time plus nursery fees) then start putting this into savings straight away. This way you will get used to having this amount less, plus you will have a pot of money when you are getting maternity pay.

You need to also work out what the average pay you will be getting each month is until you go back to work - include any KIT days in this and paid annual leave you can take at the end. Put the difference into savings now - if it's less than the above.

You'll need to get used to living off this amount now so it isn't a shock next year. And congratulations!

In your position, I'd go back to work when your baby is 6 months. It's actually an easier age for them to settle in to nursery and your finances will not be so stretched.

Spoken to the childminder and she has confirmed it. I know, I was shocked too. The 3 days in term time are covered by the 30 hours. No top-ups to pay if we pack lunch and snacks, nappies, wipes, and pay for own trips.

Her day rate is £45 for the school holidays. She spreads the cost for the holidays pro rata across the 12 months.

13 weeks a year x £135 a week = £1755 for the year

£1755 / 12 = £146 a month.

We will also get tax free childcare so it’ll be a bit less than that too.

I’m a bit lost, are you a teacher? Will your child only be in childcare for the summer months?

Sounds very doable to me. Essentially dh covers all the basic expenses and your salary is spending money.

I don’t think there are any costs we could make cheaper other than not having the car payment and having a cheaper car in many ways would just be false economy as would cost more in the long run.

Are you sure about this? Because you'd have to spend 3,600 on a car in a year to make it cost the same. Have you done the maths on getting a loan to purchase a car and making monthly payments?

It's 100% your money and choice and it's fine to say you just want the nicer car or security. But large monthly payments might make the difference between going back after 10 months or 12 so it might be worth the faff for the time.

Are youbusing any nhs discount schemes? Some places let you buy supermarket gift cards with a discount. Not loads but it helps.

This is doable OP. Your partners wage covers all of the bills, and your maternity pay will cover the spending money. You just have to get used to spending a bit less each month, which is likely the case for most couples who have a newborn 😊

Remember you continue to accrue holiday while on Mat leave so can take that at the end to extend the time off.
KIT days are also paid if you can do some of those?

No, why? We won’t be paying for term time as 9 month+ from September 2025 get 30 hours funding for term time

You have a very nice amount of spending money though? Your partners income pays for the essentials, your income pays for a second car and all the luxuries.

Thank you. This is true. I haven’t thought that we will probably want to go out less.

£400 on utilities for two people? Check the comparison websites.

Child benefit adds over £100 extra a month cash.

It does but it also covers savings, clothing for us and baby, people’s birthday and Christmas presents. If we’re without that for a few months it will be tricky

Council tax, water, broadband and gas and electric. Isn’t that what most people pay?

Hadn’t thought about child benefit. That will help

Keep in mind the 30 free hours from 9 months doesn’t automatically start in September. If your child is born into Sept it’s January the hours will kick in, so you could have 4 months full fees.

What brand? I have a nissan and it barely needs a penny, just the usual brakepads, discs, tyres.
brands like nissan, honda, hyundai are normally more reliable

She is due November this year so we should time it well.