How do you do it?!

[sausagesandbeanz]

I need some advice please, getting slightly desperate!
New mum, currently on mat leave.

Didn't have the opportunity to save for mat leave last year due to furlough and didn't have any spare cash.

I did a benefits calculator to see if I could get additional help with SMP and it came up saying I'd get approx £900 pcm on top of SMP so I thought that wasn't bad and I could manage.

Skip to now my statement from the other day from UC says I'll only be getting £200.
Me and my partner are absolutely skint. We can just about pay for the bills at the end of March and then that's it, we will be 100% struggling at a loss of over £1k pcm.

He's got 2 other kids which we have 50/50 and provide everything for when they're here, the costs are as if they're with us full time but obviously can't claim for them because their mum does (rightly so) and our housing is cut because the gov say we don't need a 3 bed house as we technically only have 1 child (although we have the other 2 half the time and they need somewhere to sleep!)

I'm at my wits end, we 'earn too much' for extra help but haven't got enough money to pay our bills. I don't know what to do anymore, we only need the help until I end of August!

All this and on top, if I go back to work full time (which I'll need to) we can't afford to pay for childcare before claiming whatever back from the gov.

How the hell do people do maternity leave & childcare under the age of 2 without help?!
Or how can I make money while being on mat leave?

Any advice would be welcome, we're nearly out of options to the point of going our separate ways for a period of time, moving in with parents and saving as much money as possible.

Just to add, we don't have any stupid subscriptions except for Netflix, everything else we can't get rid of due to contracts or being a genuine bill.

Is the car finance in your name? If so then it's now nothing to do with your dad.

Depending on the type of finance though you may have to pay half of the contract value (not just half the car value) in order to be able to hand back the car.

@user1471457751

No it's in my dads name, when we originally started the whole car thing probably 6/7 years ago I couldn't get credit and I couldn't afford a crappy car (which I've never had an issue with having one by the way) so he offered to do it for me and I've paid him each month no problem for the whole 6/7 years (this is my third car through him).

I think that's what makes me feel worse about it is that he's trusted me to be able to do it and I've just found myself in a sticky predicament and I don't want to break that trust with him but I know it wouldn't be him that would get the hump it would be his girlfriend.

So legally yeah it's my dads problem but morally it's mine and I know that 😕

Sounds like a really difficult situation. Yeah, people saying "just get rid of the car" arent thinking about what they're saying. You cant leave your Dad with your debt- please dont be that person!

Maybe you could look into what the options on returning it would be though perhaps?

If the older 2 DC care is 50:50 and you have documentation to prove that them I believe you are entitled to have a house big enough for them however you may still only qualify for a 2 bed if they are the same sex or differing sexes and under 11/12.

Hello

I'm sorry you're having a bad time with money

Please go to the money saving expert forums - there will be more detailed help there.

With your dad and the car payment - would he split this with you 50/50 ?

There's also a lot of free tips and ideas online about living frugally and within a budget.

A budget would be your first step - writing down everything you've got coming in and everything you have going out. Then go from there.

Check out the £10 a day thread - there are ways of making extra money but only you know if any are right for you

@savvy7 do you know where I can find that? Thank you for your suggestion 😊

I'm sure it's on the Money Matters thread or Credit Crunch

If you've just found out you need to apply for child benefit separately, then your already £80/month better off, that's a great start.

In the subject of things you might have missed applying for, have you looked at sure start maternity grant? You might qualify as your on UC, if baby is still under 6 months? It's a one off £500, aimed at helping buy baby equipment, but as you already have that you could keep it towards the first months childcare.

Remembered something else that helped, with my eldest I changed from maternity pay to ShPL/pay part way through, so I'd get to use more KIT days (I still took all the leave, just under a different system). I used to 10 you get on SMP, then change and also used the 20 on ShP, so 30 days in total. I worked one day a week (6h), on a Sunday so DH could have him, and got full pay for the day I worked on top of statutory pay.

Check out amazon flex. If you have a reliable car, might as well make use. Believe you can take your kids. Not ideal but might help.