Is it enough money to live?

[henrythesloth]

Hi all, I’m about to start my maternity leave in one months and feel a little bit upset because of the money. My husband and I live in Leatherhead. Rent is £1200 and on the top of that - bills. His monthly income is £2800, mine is £1900. All was fine until now. I’m not sure how will it work when I go on mat leave. My company only provides SMP which is pennies. Husband is saying he cannot earn more - other companies offer the same salary as he already has got. No savings, no backup plan. Any advice? Feel so upset.

£1750. And yes, for us it is small amount of money as we spend a lot on food, activities and days out.

That's a relatively large amount to have left over every month.

As 2 adults we spend about £300 a month on food. That's leaves you with £1450. How is that not enough?

You have a number of problems, entirely of your own making. You have no savings, you have accrued debt, and you have an ongoing £300 commitment. Easy to say what you should have done, but you can't go back in time.

You'll have to do what everyone else does, spend less and earn more. There are no magic wands (although there is child benefit so make sure you claim as soon as possible after you give birth). Set a strict budget and stick to it. Get used to having a lot less money than before. Hopefully the joy of parenthood will sustain you.

You really need to start planning childcare for your return to work now.

OP, I don't think you need extra help. Your joint wages can easily cover housing, bills and food with plenty to spare. You don't need help to maintain the levels of activities you have been used to. You just need to cut back on those as most do when they go on maternity leave.

So a grand a month for food, etc

I think you'll be fine

This.

OP, kindly, you need to stop sticking your head in the sand. Sit down and work out a budget ASAP. Check the EntitledTo site for any benefits.

Yes it will be tight but doable. I've been a single mum for years and cutting your costs to the minimum is normal

• cut food & toiletry bills by buying own brand
• cook from scratch
• bf if you can, it's cheaper
• charity shops are your friend
• check Freecycle and community Facebook pages
• borrow things like a cot and a baby bath

You'll soon get into the habit of not spending a penny you don't need to. Remember to claim child benefit as soon as your dc is born. It cannot be back-dated.

Congratulations and good luck.

Your maths is totally wrong

You will get £1000 per month averaged over 39 months.

I'm curious what professional fees are

The rent is £1200 so that leaves £1400 to pay the bills

Utilities £600
Food and household £500
Professional fees £300

leaves £0

SMP after 6 weeks - around £700 after tax if not even less

your not going to be taxed on SMP if that is all you are recieiving and would possibly get a tax rebate in April 2025 if even if you have returned to work by then

As for fun stuff - there is lots of stuff you can do for free to have fun, it doesn't have to cost a £100 for a day out

Remember to claim child benefit as soon as your dc is born. It cannot be back-dated.

I thought it could be backdated 3 month

@ MikeRafone

No £2600 is after rent is deducted

Her DH earn £2800 plus £1000 mat benefits. See previous post.

£2600 after rent to live on if just you, hubby and the little one is quite manageable, unless have lots of debt, ridiculous commuting costs etc????

@henrythesloth
Not trying to alarm you but this is an excellent point. Something you should start saving for and planning for right away.
You're looking at over £75 a day for 5 days care. Daily rates are typically higher the fewer days your child is in nursery.
The majority of your salary could be swallowed up by that if baby is in 5 days per week.

I am sorry how it is £1000 if that’s what my work sent to me. Where do you see £1000 here?

My work sent me this breakdown. Where is £1000 per month?

What are you getting for the first 2 months of your maternity?

Just clicked on it.

Add it all up and divide over the 9 months and it's around £1k per month averaged out.

Other people are doing great things with the numbers, but I just wanted to point out the obvious here, @henrythesloth, you have said “we spend a lot on food, activities and days out” as if it will continue like this. You will have to cut down on these. They are not an essential, they are a nice-to-be-able-to-afford-it. Budget, budget, budget.

And, this, “I think when I have hard times, country need to help me, as I contributed a lot” is bollocks. You don’t pay in and keep a tally so you get the same out again.

As someone who went out almost every night before having a baby, I can assure you that the amount of activities that you'll want to do/be able to do will go down significantly. I spent very little compared to before on mat leave. I paid for a few baby classes, the occasional take away coffee while I pushed the pram around the park, and very occasionally we went out with our baby to the pub/lunch with friends/a very quick drink with a friend. I had no interest in shopping. Days go in a blur.

And you sound like you are very close to London - as others have said, I'd definitely focus my concerns more on the childcare aspect. We paid 1K a month on 4 days of nursery.

Edit- saw you are in the home counties. Definitely look for a good nursery soon and start saving for that if you both plan to return to work

Add it all up and divide it by 9.

OP you've had months to research this and plan- why have you left it till the last minute? You've caused yourself even more anxiety than needed. I was a 25 yold single mum with an unplanned pregnancy and had everything in place months before I started maternity leave/knew what I was entitled to.

@henrythesloth add it all up add child benefit divide by 9 should roughly be £1000

I assume you know the birth rate is tanking ? No one is poping kids out left right and centre.Or have you been living under a rock for the past 3 years ?

Try planning for 6 months or a year and rather than month to month living pay check to pay-check.

You could even save and have a holiday. Next summer

Good luck with the baby OP
.
Hope you can take stock of your attitude to money and make it work for you.

You have one month before maternity leave starts. If you don’t spent lots of food and stop all activities and fun stuff for the next month, how much can you save? That will help, plus the £1k a month maternity leave and child benefit.

having children means changing spending habits, so a good time to reassess.