managing finances for maternity leave

[eefs]

I'm 12 wks pregnant at the moment, and hope to take at least 6 months off after the baby is born. At the moment, I bring in more money than my dp, and my entitlements when off will be statutary for 4 months than nothing until I return to work. We currently have a lot of debts - car loan, home improvement loan, and due to recently paying off my credit cards then realising that I had a lot of neccesities to pay, a large overdraft.
I am sick of being in this cycle of debt when I actually have a decent wage, so I have two aims:

1. to start living on cash not credit, and
2. have sufficient money to be able to stay off work for the full 6 months I desire.

Any hints/tips?

Can't help but know what you mean- I too earn most of the dosh, and am self-employed so would get v little if we had another baby. No maternity leave package for me! I think if we won the lottery I'd just have a baby with the money (IYKWIM). What really bothers me is that I'd have to start working again so quickly that I wouldn't be able to b/f as much as I did ds, and that my childcare costs would just go through the roof. And they are crippling me at present.

There was a huge moneysaving thread a while ago which seem full of useful information. Or call Alvin Hall!

I'm in a similar position eefs. I'm self employed and earn more than dh. As Aloha said I won't get any maternity leave package, just the maternity allowance that is £75 or £100 a week.
As I'm now 15 weeks pregnant we've had to really look at this and have calculated how much we need to cover so that I can take 3 months off. We're not sure how we will save this, but at least we have a goal in mind. Are looking into all money-saving ideas at the moment, but not really doing much about them! Hopefully this thread will inspire me now.

Would certainly recommend looking at the money saving thread. I am currently on a massive economy drive at the moment in preparation for leaving work in July. One thing I would say is that for me, having absolutely no debt (i.e. credit cards/overdraft/loans) has made me so much more cautious about spending money. Previously, it was always oh well, what's another £50 on the visa etc. Could you perhaps consolidate all your more expensive debt on to your mortgage?.

On a practical note, I am a recent and highly enthusiastic convert to shopping at Costco. I cannot believe how much cheaper the same products are compared to the supermarkets.

It does seem a good idea to consolidate debts in teh mortgage and then remortgage at a new lower rate to cut the overall payments. On the other hand, it will mean paying more in the long term as there will be 25years interest (or 15 or 20) on all your debts and a bit less equity in the house. Still it could mean more time off and less stress... You'd just need to save a few months mortgage payments that way.

Find out how much you will have to pay in childcare cost, and start removing that from your income now. That way it won't be too much of a shock when you go back to work & your income drops, and you will be able to save up some money to use when work stops paying you. Any extra goes to paying off the debts. Good luck and enjoy your pregnancy.
PS would also second looking at the mortgage as a possible way to consolidate debt.

Hi eefs, the money saving tips thread was really helpful to me, it's here - money saving tips thread I looked up some internet stuff at the time and found the rapid debt repayment plan which I used for a while and thought was good for clearing credit card debt. I think I posted details on that thread but if I didn't let me know and I'll find it for you.

Thanks for that WWW, very good thread, have your finances improved now as a result?
I've already been doing the swapping credit card thing, and have just this month finally paid off the lst card, so they will be put in the freezer until an emergency. I have also decided to ask the bank to let me defer payments on the car loan for the 6 months.
I think the big one is food, i.e. I have no idea what we spend and I'm sure if I was more organised I could probably half this amount, i.e. buy milk/bread from the supermarket in bulk etc. I think what I need to do i make a weekly menu and stick to it, and try to cook from scratch. Are there any threads dealing with this? I've done a search but couldn't find anything.
One question about the mortgage - my interest rate is fixed for another 3 years, if I remortgaged would I have to pay some sort of breakage fee for this?

eefs - check with your lender re fees for transfering mortgages.

If you look under Food topic there should be loads of recipe threads in there. And start shopping at Lidl. I've been using it since January, along with Morrisons, instead of Tescos and Sainsbury's, and I must be spending £100 to £150 less per month on food - mainly because there is not a lot you'd want to eat in Lidl

In one of the threads people commented on setting up a weekly menu but doing this for a period of a month. They also said they shop online as this cuts down on impulse buys however some do also go to the supermarket for the few extras you can't get online.

eefs, I was surprised when I went off on mat leave as I thought I would be really broke, but I got a tax refund each month from work which worked out at about £400 per month and really helped.

Also, I re-financed my credit cards onto a Virgin one at 0% and only had to pay £5 per month for 6 months.

Lastly, due mainly to lack of drinking while pg I managed to save a reasonable amount, which I ended up not spending.

Hope you manage to work it out