What exactly did you do for extra cash during maternity leave?

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DS is 5m & although not hugely struggling (yet!) with finances, I really want to start bringing in some extra money to see me off work as long as possible.

So I'm interested to know exactly what you did to get more money when off work....so I can follow in your footsteps!!

this won't help you, but I was barred under the terms of my employment contract from earning money elsewhere, be it through self employment of any sort, or part time work for another business. I wasn't even allowed to do voluntary work without the company's permission. This applied during maternity leave too.

Yeah I think I'm the same. I guess I'm looking more for little 'top up' ideas, rather than a mini job.

eBay/car boot/Facebook selling?

I did matched betting on websites, but this can lose you money if you don't get it exactly right...

I also did car boot sales and Ebay. Have never sold stuff through Facebook but I have friends who have and they say it is very good. I did most of my shopping online (still do) and always went through Top Cash Back. To be honest, Top Cash Back is more of a long term thing then making money in the short term as it can take weeks or even months to have it come through but it doesn?t cost you anything and you can trade it in for Amazon or LovetoShop vouchers or Tesco points or cash. I do my car and home insurance through it as well and both DH and I have an account so have made well over £250 already this year (due to going through it when we transferred to Sky and getting £120 cash back and a £100 M&S voucher). I save it all up and trade it in for vouchers in November to do my Christmas shopping. I also signed up to Jackpot Joy but I would only recommend this if you are disciplined when it comes to gambling! Basically, if you bet £2.50 a week then you get ?free spins? on their games for real money. I average about £15-20 a month on this. The other thing, make sure to buy your nappies, wipes, baby stuff from Boots as they are by far the best taking into account the advantage card. It is triple points on all baby stuff and they often do vouchers (300 points - £3 ? if you spend over £30). Like the Top Cash Back, I save these up and then use them at Christmas Time. This year I have over £80 worth of points already. Also, speaking of which, if you have a Boots Advantage card, they are giving 750 points (£7.50) today when you spend over £30 in store (or £50 online).

Some friends went interest only on their mortgage during mat leave.
EBay what you can
Look at any ways you can cut down at home - check subscriptions/sky/utility packages etc to see where you can save.
Check Quidco for cashback deals on switching suppliers/mobile phone companies

I did the 10 Keeping in Touch Days when I moved into the last 3 months of my mat leave. It meant I had approximately the same as SMP for those 3 months. And, most of our savings are gone.

I worked evenings in Sainsburys when on mat leave with ds1. I could what I liked outside my normal contracted working hours of 9.30 to 5.30 so I worked 15 hours evenings and one weekend day and was able to arrange shifts around dp's shift pattern elsewhere. I was very lucky to be able to do that, I know.

With other dses I sold stuff on ebay: charity shop bargains, cards and fabric stuff that I'd made etc. But Sainsburys brought in more money and it was regular money.