Maternity Leave Money Saving Tips

[CoffeeMonkey]

Evening All,

Just wondering if anyone has any good money saving tips for while on maternity leave?

I’m just finishing up 3 months company maternity pay & switching to statutory maternity pay so things will be very tight for the next while (hoping to take at least 9 months maternity leave in total so potentially could be a very tight 6 months )

DH & I have just been through our monthly outgoings & cancelled anything unnecessary but just wondering what things other people did to help save some money, all advice & tips very welcome!

We saved a ton beforehand. Covid did help, as we had nowhere to go.

I've only been on statutory and after this month I will get nothing. It's going to be tight, but you just have to cut all unnecessary stuff out.

I'm not returning for a year, but luckily I've used a month of holiday before I go back. That should help alleviate the money stresses.

For anyone pregnant reading this, definitely save up before hand and plan to live on the savings. Sounds like it’s a bit late for that advice for you Op
Can you actually afford to pay your core bills? So housing, council tax, power, water? Then it will be a case of looking at really low food budget, not going out much and literally not buying any extras. So no cosmetics, clothes, treats etc.
Do you have savings but just not want to touch them or have no savings at all?

@CoffeeMonkey

You might also want to think about childcare costs when you do return to work and how that will impact household budget. This may be a more significant hump than just the end of mat leave.

But really it is a simple exercise in cost reduction, plus possibly income increase. You can get advice on the frugaleers threads, plus the making £10 a day threads to increase income (not by taking on another job, which you can't do while claiming mat pay/leave). But a job isn't the only way to make money.

Money Saving Expert have good budgeting threads. Once you have fine tooth combed your regular debits, cutting out the extras, you then need to look at each purchase thinking do I need it or want it? If you do need it, then think can I do this cheaper?

The baby doesn't need classes.
You need company (so budget the cost of a few coffees) and entertainment and stimulation (netflix/find for free - library, online courses). But it needs a bit of budget.

I remember that first mat leave, being thoroughly skint and quite the change in life and space. But enjoy the slow life. Though sounds like you know how to do all that from the pandemic.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

We do have a decent amount of savings (thanks Covid!) but want to try to keep these for emergencies, out of the norm purchases etc rather than day to day spending & monthly bills.

Thankfully we can meet our core bills each month so as PPs have said it will be a matter of budgeting & no extras.

Will def check out the Frugaleers threads & Money Saving Expert, thanks @Starface, hadn’t thought of either of these!

We know it’s totally worth it for me to spend time off work with our little man & it won’t be forever but just looking any ideas to help in meantime, thanks again everyone

@CoffeeMonkey I agree, Statutory maternity pay is crap. I’m just about to enter my second in 2 years and I’m dreading it. DP earns a good wage but I still stress about it because we don’t have the massive cushion we’re used to. It’s daunting.

I found a few ways that helped reduce food bills; DS used to like sitting in his shnuggle bath tub and watching me so if plonk him on the counter and make pizzas for lunch (natural yoghurt and flour of equal quantities then bash what ever you like on top) which worked out about 10p per base, we used to walk quite far away in pram with snacks and drinks and then have a picnic to pass a day. Roast a chicken and have that for dinner then pick every tiny piece off and mix with Mayo for the sandwiches and what ever else you like. Kidney bean and coconut curry is absolutely great or kidney bean, carrot and coriander burgers. Very cheap ingredients and it takes a bit of effort (which you probably wouldn’t normally do if in work but trust me maternity days are loooooong) but very tasty. Fish cakes made with sweet potato and whatever tinned fish you have in the cupboard (find a nice herb to go with it) is pretty cheap and again, time consuming. Lentil Dahl is ridiculously cheap to cook, we found a lush recipe and would keep it in the fridge for 2/3 days and warm up with toast or meat or what ever we were having.

Finding things that are literally a few pence per portion but tasty will be key.

I don’t know if any of this had an effect on DS but he loves food, will literally eat anything and I can’t help but wonder if it had something to do with watching/helping with all the food prep.

Aside from food bill; you could change tariff for energy (even if on a fixed ok with exit fee you can switch to standard foc and then move). Car insurance dropped when I told them of my change of circumstances (mat leave not commuting and 0.25 of the mileage I used to do). Change bank account for up to £125. Sell old clothes on eBay. Sell baby items unused on Facebook market place. Sell old books, my first year uni books sold for over £150!!! Any old kitchen appliances you don’t use like air fryers and the likes clean them up and sell them.

If you find any tips please share them here because I wanna hear too 😂

Meal plan all meals and do an online food shop for those only, draw out pocket money each week in cash and only spend that, once it’s gone it’s gone. Sell all your maternity clothes and anything else you done need on eBay, most of my maternity clothes sold for close to what I paid new for them. Also music magpie CD’s, DVDs that you don’t use, shop around on the sites to see who is offering the most per cd etc. We had quite a large unused collection so we kept our favourites and sold the rest for a few hundred.

Get out and walk, I was doing 10k a day on maternity with the dog and pram. It killed a few hours during the day and was great for fitness and losing weight.

I saved up just under 10k to cover my maternity pay and managed to save most of that as I was really careful what I spent money on and used the money I made from selling items and under spending on the bills for my pocket money xx

I saved before I got pregnant, as I wanted to enjoy mat leave. But then we had Lockdown and therenwas nowhere to spend it.

Honestly in your position I wouldn’t take all that leave as being on ML without money can be miserable. Can they be flexible with your working? Eg wfh or letting you use holiday to reduce your hours? If so then def explore those things first.

@AperolWhore

Meal plan all meals and do an online food shop for those only, draw out pocket money each week in cash and only spend that, once it’s gone it’s gone. Sell all your maternity clothes and anything else you done need on eBay, most of my maternity clothes sold for close to what I paid new for them. Also music magpie CD’s, DVDs that you don’t use, shop around on the sites to see who is offering the most per cd etc. We had quite a large unused collection so we kept our favourites and sold the rest for a few hundred.

Get out and walk, I was doing 10k a day on maternity with the dog and pram. It killed a few hours during the day and was great for fitness and losing weight.

I saved up just under 10k to cover my maternity pay and managed to save most of that as I was really careful what I spent money on and used the money I made from selling items and under spending on the bills for my pocket money xx

I say no, don’t sell mat clothes. Most women don’t go back to pre-pregnancy sizes straight away and keeping your mat clothes means you don’t have to buy replacements if you don’t lose weight quickpy / for future pregnancies.

@Ozanj trust me when you’re breastfeeding and doing 10k a day the weight falls off. I was back to pre-pregnancy weight and in normal clothes after 6 weeks but obviously if she’s still wearing the maternity clothes she wouldn’t be able to sell them.

[quote AperolWhore]@Ozanj trust me when you’re breastfeeding and doing 10k a day the weight falls off. I was back to pre-pregnancy weight and in normal clothes after 6 weeks but obviously if she’s still wearing the maternity clothes she wouldn’t be able to sell them.[/quote]
I have breastfed for the past 22 months and and walk 10k steps in one go every evening; it’s not always the case that mums can lose weight. For me it will come only when I stop breastfeeding as my high prolactin levels (DS is feeding 3-4 times a day) are causing intense hunger. HV says my situation is the normal one in her experience.

One thing I did was work out what food I actually had in the cupboard. All those packets/tine that can just sit in the cupboard. Discovered how much I had in my freezer and cupboards. Then I meal planned and tried to use up all the things we had. So if I had lots of chicken thighs in the freezer, planned a meal a week around those until used up.

Used washable nappies, then cheeky wipes. After the initial outlay ( got voucher from the council towards washable nappies), saved money as only used 1 disposable nappy each night and if out/emergencies.

I also found making my own food for weaning so much cheaper than bought pouches/jars/packets.

If you saved over the expected amount due to lockdown Op, spend a bit of it! Honestly. This is such a special time and you don’t want having no money when you actually do have money to ruin it! Not saying blow it all but allow yourself a bit and enjoy!!!