Maternity/childcare costs

[Sarahp2308]

Hi,

This is a little bit of a premature post as I am TTC at moment, We have been putting off TTC for a few years now due to the costs etc, but we have decided if we want children we need to get a wriggle on.

I am finding the costs of it all daunting to be honest, we both work full time and our take home can be anythint between £2600-£3000 a month (varys depending on partners overtime) our outgoings atm are around £1500 at the moment but we need a second car which will probably be around £200-£250 a month, My work place has an additional Maternity leave policy in place where I will recieve half of my pay on top of SMP up until 16 weeks, but then we need to consider childcare which is around £800 a month where I am.

I may be totally overthinking things!! Anybody is a similar situation can reassure/advise?

Use the time before you are pregnant and whilst you are pregnant to save up to cover the drop in salary whilst you are on maternity leave

The thing that stood out to me most here was the car costing £200-250 a month - is that finance? I would really recommend saving then buying something outright. If you can afford £250 a month on HP then you would be able to save that money for a car purchase before the baby arrived.

Our income is similar to yours and I've just returned to work after mat leave. To be honest, as long as you have the money to make ends meet, you just make it work. It wont be forever! Funded hours start at 3 so its not an awfully long time to scrimp a bit. Look in to tax free childcare too.
www.gov.uk/get-tax-free-childcare

Another tip was to save an emergency fund and a 'wages' fund before going on mat leave - we used this to top up what would have been my pay monthly so we weren't living on less. The emergency fund is for what the name suggests!

It's important to think about finances but you will make it work when you have to.

Thanks both, we do intend to start a savings pot, we brought a victorian house 2 years ago which we put alot of money into but it is a high maintenance house, you solve one thing and another pops up, so that zaps our savings everymonth (it was a rental for 10 years so lots of bodge jobs) hopefully we are coming to the end of the road with it now 🙄

@WeDontTalkAboutLove with the car my partner needs something fairly modern as he works on the city centre which has a clean air zone coming in at some point this year..and his shifts mean public transport is impossible.

I spose there will never be the ‘right time’ to have children!

I remember worrying about things like this before I had my two DC. You do often have to accept your finances will take a hit. I personally decided to work part time so DC only had to put them in childcare two days a week. Agree with PP you need to save save save right now whilst your are trying to conceive.
With regards to child care there are schemes to help you with the cost. The tax free childcare is basically where for every £8 you pay in the government pay in £2. So it roughly would pay about 20% of your childcare. Also remember you would get child benefit which is about £20 a week (every little helps).
I see this hopefully as just a temporary situation. When the DC get older I hope to increase my hours again and child care cost will reduce.

I remember worrying about things like this before I had my two DC. You do often have to accept your finances will take a hit. I personally decided to work part time so DC only had to put them in childcare two days a week. Agree with PP you need to save save save right now whilst your are trying to conceive.
With regards to child care there are schemes to help you with the cost. The tax free childcare is basically where for every £8 you pay in the government pay in £2. So it roughly would pay about 20% of your childcare. Also remember you would get child benefit which is about £20 a week (every little helps).
I see this hopefully as just a temporary situation. When the DC get older I hope to increase my hours again and child care cost will reduce.

Thanks @user67864 for the reply! Yeah I have read about the tax free childcare! I think I am just overthinking it all sometimes I’ll say oh we will be fine aslong as the bills are covered and we have food on the table, then the next I’m like OH MY GOD we’re going to have to live on baked beans (dramatic 🤣) but as you say it is a temporary situation!