How did you manage on maternity pay? Advice please.

[AliceRR]

I’m due to go on mat leave early next year.

I get 3 month full pay, 3 month half pay, 3 month statutory and final three months (if I take a year) would be unpaid. I also have about 20 days hol to take before I go on leave and would have around 30 days leave to take at the end of my mat leave as our financial and holiday year ends one April (and I’d be back at work early 2020). Hol would be full pay. Also get up to 10 Keep In Touch days which attract full pay on top of mat pay.

I am also lucky to have just got a pay increase of about 20% which means that I will have a bit more than I would have.

Overall seems not too bad but interested in others experiences and advice as currently DH and I pay 50:50 for all household expenses etc and I hope to keep that up while off. Our expenses are quite modest as mortgage is low but we may move and then of course everything will be different and financially more difficult.

Did you find you spent more or less than you had bugeted for?

I’m just trying to plan in terms of savings (now I’ve had a pay rise I’d like to save more) but also accounting for money to spend on baby (first baby so will need everything).

While on leave I obviously won’t be spending on things like travel expenses to work (£100 per month) and money I spend on buying on lunches every day (easily £100 per month) but there will be other expenses I don’t have an idea about such as baby food and nappies and groups I might attend with baby??

Also wondering if it is optimistic to think I can take a full year mat leave plus holiday but would like to as it’s precious time with baby!

I'm going back many years now, but found that the child benefit = cost of formula plus nappies. Babies don't need a lot else. If you wish to, and are able to breast feed, then you'll be quids in, in terms of actual expenses of the baby.

There is a lot of marketing of totally unnecessary 'stuff' that babies just don't need. You will almost certainly be given clothes and toys as gifts. You will need a car seat, but prams / cots (whichever set up you choose) are all available second hand if finances are such that that helps.
Mind, if you normally spend £100 just on your lunches, you clearly have plenty of 'spending money' you can redirect when on your generous maternity leave.

I’m thankful for my family for helping buying and helping me out as I’m skint! I had money saved but it soon went. Like I live off my partner as once all the bills go out I have like £20 left over each week. I’ve had to go from wet wipes to bowl of water and reusable wipes and now looking at reusable nappies to save some money. Doesn’t help were sorting out our wedding lol. Dreading Christmas! I can’t wait to go back to work which is in 2 months, I will miss my baby like crazy thou.

I went back to work when my boys were both about 6/7 months. I couldn't afford to be on SMP much longer! My package at the time was 6 weeks at 90%, 12 weeks at 50% +SMP and then the remaining time up to 39 weeks on SMP. The months I was on just SMP, I was getting tax refunds so that helped.

I didn't spend as much while I was on mat leave because I was saving on petrol, lunches etc. DH also got a promotion and pay rise while I was on mat leave with youngest, so that helped make up the shortfall.

When I found out I was pregnant I saved to cover my personal direct debits for the year, I also paid my half of the bills and mortgage and OH paid for the daily outgoings like food, trips out, clothing etc. I wouldn't have been able to do a year if I hadn't saved.

@pastabest I will get the increase from September pay which is next week

@toomanypillows That’s a really good idea 🤔

@BackforGood Is child benefit a fixed amount? I don’t know anything about it although have heard of it obviously. I would like to breastfeed if I can.

I sam trying to save now. With my salary increase (takes effect next week) I’m trying to work out how much I can save while I’m on full pay and how much I need to put aside to buy stuff. I haven’t saved much so far as all my savings went on our wedding and then spent money on doing up the house top to bottom

You have all helped a lot 🙂

Did you dh contribute to the cost of the wedding and house renovations?

I had enough saved to cover my contribution to the mortgage, bills and weekly food bill. My husband is shit with money. I could never rely on him.

Careful budgeting plus saving in advance.
We buy a lot in sales or second hand for the baby. Keep an eye on Facebook marketplace for what you need. My rule is if it can go on a hot wash in the washing machine or dishwasher it's fine to buy second hand.

Baby groups near me are £5 or £6 a week, I go to 2 a week. Then there's lunches/coffees with other mums probably 3 time a week.

I've found I've got both more and less time in the right places to save. More time to meal plan and shop carefully but less time bored and likely to shop due to that!

When are you due? I met up with other mums but as lots of us were taking the whole year (lovely if you can manage it!) and it was spring/summer we met up at parks or for walks and brought packed lunches which saved on coffee money.

As long as neither of you earn over 50 grand a year, child benefit is £20.70 a week, so enough to be a real help.

1@C0untDucku1a He didn’t contribute to the wedding but I moved into his house and cost of wedding was about half the equity. We have paid for the renovations about 50:50 but he has put some of it on credit card which is why his credit debt continued...

Honestly if I went into all our finances it’s a long story

@thomasthecheekyone @Verbena87 That sounds sensible. I haven’t ruled out second hand and certainly plan to look in the sale. I am due 10 Feb so thought I might get some stuff in Jan sales. I think it’s early to buy now (I am 20 w) but having a look so I know what I like and can budget for it.

We don’t earn over £50k each so I agree £20 a week will help go towards nappies etc. Again don’t m or how much they cost or how many I’d go through(!) but think a PP said that about covered milk and nappies. And presumably I will save some money if I can breastfeed - not that that’s why I want to do it!

I have a friend due in March so will probably get together with her at times and maybe we can just pop over to each other’s houses or go to park together etc in summer so have some company without it necessarily costing a lot.

It’s just weird because, being my first baby, I don’t really know what to expect at all on mat leave. I’m ok with babies as my brother is a nearly eleven years younger than me so I’m confortable holding a baby, feeding etc (I know some people, like my friend who is expecting, say they don’t know what to do with a baby!) but I don’t know what to expect in terms of lifestyle which is why it’s hard to budget for so it’s helpful to know about what you have done in terms of going to groups and the cost etc. I had visions of being home alone with baby all day until DH comes home!

I’ve heard NCT is good for meeting people but that’s another issue...

I took a year but we shared finances so i will have paid less than my usual share during maternity leave. Stuff like nappies, baby food etc just comes out of the joint pot. I'd worry about setting a precedent where you pay for all baby stuff as when things get more expensive with childcare, swimming lessons, bigger toys etc will you be expected to pay got it all?

I found a sling really helpful for not being stuck in with baby - it meant once I’d recovered from the birth I was able to do my normal cross-country walks (couldn’t have managed the footpaths with a buggy and it was great for headspace). We got ours on eBay for £15 then friends passed a more sturdy one on once he got heavier.

The only thing I paid for was Pilates where you take baby along, so he got some social time and I started to get my knackered core and pelvic floor pain free and functional again at the same time. Didn’t do NCT but have a gang of mum-friends now from Pilates, breastfeeding group (free and brilliant support - definitely give breastfeeding a good go as it’s so liberating not having to take bottles/formula as well as being free) and kids sessions in the library. I did have to consciously work on my shyness and reach out to people/ask for numbers/set up meet-ups but reckon that’s been good for my confidence! Our week during maternity leave would usually involve an hour at the gym doing Pilates, an hour at the library doing reading and rhymes, and an hour or 2 at the breastfeeding drop in as regular ‘out of the house seeing other humans’ activities, then walks and picnics with others maybe once a fortnight.

I’d get the minimum amount of ‘stuff’ to begin with (car seat, place for baby to sleep, way of getting out of the house so sling or pram, nappies, vests, babygrows, muslin cloths, hat, blanket for baby. Breast pads, maternity pads, couple of soft stretchy nursing bras and tube of lansinoh nipple cream for you) then buy extras as you find you need them.

I'd also suggest looking for ways to save money now. So while still at work I changed our energy supplier & we started shopping at Aldi/Lidl as opposed to Tesco. For branded stuff B&M or Home Bargains is fab. We also cut back on takeaways & eating out.

All of these provided us with substantial savings. Also we tried to put money aside for when I was on mat leave. That went into a savings account which was really handy for when our joint income dropped

@NerrSnerr Yes I do need to be careful about that. I won’t be buying it all but probably a bit more than him.

@Verbena87 That’s interesting. I have done a couple of baby yoga classes. The yoga teacher has now gone off to have her own baby but plans to be back in November and is planning to do baby yoga classes so I hope to be able to do that.

The shopping list is helpful! Already got loads of maternity / feeding bras as my boobs have been massive since day one!!

@RainbowsArePretty I think we are going to be more money conscious now. We do have a nice new Aldi and Home Bargains close by so maybe should go there more often. Having said that I have a relative who works at one of the big supermarkets and we get 10% off our food shop there.

Do not rely on KIT days. I took one when I was 9 weeks into my mat leave and earnt a total of £7 for my efforts after tax etc. It would have been better had I taken it when I was in the SMP only portion of my mat leave.

For the crib if you hire a bednest that will only cost around £80.

@Paradyning Really?? What is that? I was thinking of taking it while I am on the later stages of mat leave when I get SMP or no pay but assumed I would get the equivalent of 2 weeks’ pay in total ie almost half a month wage

No way you should be funding your maternity leave. It’s both your children. We have entirely joint finances but if that doesn’t work you need to find a solution that does. It’s bizarre to be in a couple and have to act like a single parent (or worse as a single parent would hopefully get maintenance)

@Welshmaiden95 I don’t think I’m acting like a single parent. I just want to make things as easy as possible for both of us and not put too much strain on DH.

We started saving the minute we decided to TTC, which was quite fortunate given we hit the jackpot first time 😂

You should get better pay for KIT days if you are in the SMP only bit. Can you ask your HR? I got shafted as I said

@Paradyning Yes I will ask now that you’ve given me a heads up. I just assumed it would be fine!

I used one year's holiday in the weeks before birth so I started may leave 2 days before birth and a few weeks of the next leave year at the end of Mat leave. Are you going to share the parental leave or are you intending to take it all? What about the cot and baby clothes etc. from his previous children - could they be used?

I'm only getting SMP and am taking 8 months mat leave. As soon as I found out I was pregnant I started saving as much as I could while still paying 50:50 with DH on rent and bills. Managed to bank 2k which has helped massively.

DH now pays all the rent and bills and I cover food shop and anything for DS. In your situation if you need to still contribute 50% on mat leave you need to figure out how much you need to try save!

We got bought lots of stuff for DS but that only really covers the newborn and 0-3 age range as everyone stops buying for them and that's where the expense kicks in. We buy a lot of eBay bundles, you'd be surprised of the quality of the clothes being sold, some arrived new with tags on. I've just gotten him a Next Snowsuit for winter second hand on eBay for £2!!!

Keep an eye out for baby events especially in Aldi their baby sales are brilliant. They grow into the next age range so quickly, halfway through an age range I start looking to set up his next wardrobe on eBay and in baby sales. That way I'm never left with a huge chunk to pay out.

Stock up now on things like wipes and nappies but remember not to buy too many of one size (DS was in size 1 for ages, 2 for a few weeks and size 3 we are still on and so far for the longest, every baby is different). 5 months in and I'm only running out of wipes now

Now with Xmas on the horizon I'm thinking ahead to what he will need (toys, clothes etc) so if someone asks what to get him I can suggest something that he actually needs.

Before having DS I would have been adamant that I would have wanted everything brand new for him, now he's here and pukes, poos and dribbles on everything I'm less precious about it!

It's all doable you just need to prepare as much as you can and be smart with your money.

@Ladylapsang I would have share some leave with DH, especially at the end when I only get statutory, but he doesn’t think he’d be able to get the time off.

No DH’s kids stuff. We haven’t talked about it and they are 13 and 15 so it would be really old and I doubt their mother even has it.