Financial preparation- what are you doing?

[wishfulthinking1]

I'm normally v. On top of our joint finances- im a geek and like to make a lot of spreadsheets! Was just wondering if anyone has made / is going to make any changes or preparation in relation to their finances for when the baby comes?

I know I'll get maternity pay etc but ideally I'll change from full time work to part time- just 1 or 2 days a week.

So, basically wanted to see what everyone else was doing! Or any tips from second/ third/ fourth timers!
X

Practice living on the amount you will have as a family when you are on maternity pay only and try to put away the difference (or spend it on nice stuff for you and the baby that you might not have thought of yet)

We're doing what Pascha suggests - the money we're putting away has been used on baby stuff, really, and we've saved some as well :)

For both of my previous pregnancies I actually sat down and did a cashflow for each month I would be on maternity leave and then projected the first few months' back at work. It was quite detailed and a lot of work, but it was very useful for a number of reasons:

• I could see exactly what I'd have coming in. I calculated my maternity pay (just SMP) and added in my child benefit.

• I could see where we could make savings. It's really helpful to occasionally take a detailed look at your outgoings. We were able to renegotiate our life insurance payments, stop a few redundant direct debits and give ourselves a realistic target spend for the weekly shop.

• Both times it made me aware that our spending money would actually be greater when I was on mat leave than it would be when I was back at work, thanks to childcare costs! We saved as much as we could before I went on leave and then hoarded these savings throughout ML to shore us up when I returned to work.

Once I'd done the spreadsheet, I didn't look at it again . But it was a useful exercise in understanding exactly where our money went and how things would change once the baby arrived.