how much did you save for/how did you cope financially during maternity

[coastalchick]

My situ:

8 weeks with first DC. Planned but hadn't expected it to happen first go (am almost 39 and not in best of health so was convinced we would be trying for ages!).

Only entitled to paid mat leave (18 weeks full pay then 8 weeks off with no pay) if been with company 2 years at beginning of week in which baby due.

I will be 5-7 (depending on due date - not sure yet) weeks off that target so not entitled. Only entitled to 2 weeks paid then 26 weeks unpaid.

Obv going to ask if they will pay me anyway as am fairly senior and if I left, would cost them a lot to recruit someone else. HR said they will normally recommend that they pay an extra "something" so not holding out much hope. Suspect I will get 6 weeks paid and rest unpaid.

Will save all holiday as baby due March/April so will get almost 6 weeks paid at end (as carrying over some holiday from this year) but will either be 26 weeks or 22 weeks unpaid.

Can pay mortgage and bills and buy food from OH wages but scared about having to watch pennies. Will get SMP for 26 weeks so that's something I suppose and around £200 per month net (after tax, mortgage and expenses) from rental property I own.

Has anyone else had to cope on no pay? How did you do it? Any tips?

Was in a lot of debt in my early 20's and no longer in debt but it scares me not having an income for a significant period. Plus we are getting married next year so need to pay for that!!!!

We only live of DH wage now as We chose for me not to go back to work.

We prepared for me not going back to work by putting all my mat pay into savings (which we used to pay for house renovations)

We prepared for mat leave by putting most of 1 salary away in the run up to baby so that we got used to living on a lower income.

What I'm trying to suggest is, try popping some of your currently salary away now to get used to it, so it's not such a big shock to the system!

I'm in a similar position worked for my company for 4 years but because is so small there's no maternity package in place so therefore from what I've worked out I get 6 weeks with 90% of my wage then it drops to £540 a month for another 6 months or so, I'm going to find that hard as I'm currently earning £1600 a month income, I did think about opening my own business from home making wedding cakes etc for more income but this is my first child and I really don't know how much time I'm going to have! Aaah so confusing!!

I think you will be entitled to SMP for 39wks, rather than 26.

www.gov.uk/employers-maternity-pay-leave

Do you have any savings? As tootsie says, have you considered saving a big portion of your salary now to top of up your income while on ML? If you are 8wks now, that still gives you a fair few pay checks before the baby arrives.

I would also be realistic about how much money you will actually need while on ML. I have the bigger income and have been worrying like you but once the bills are taken care of, I can't see that many things we'll be spending on apart from food and baby items. It may be more manageable than you realise.

Congratulations on your pregnancy btw!

SMP is £140 a week and child benefit will add another £20 a week so that's around £690 a month plus your other £200, so that's £890 a month. That's really not bad at all but yes maybe less than you're used to. And you'll have your OH income so you should be fine. Just have to keep a sensible head and not live beyond your means but doesn't sound like you'll struggle or be counting pennies

If you can pay mortgage, bills and all food from your OH's salary, you're doing pretty well. I'm the higher earner in our marriage and as such that wasn't the case for us. I'm a couple of months away from birth of DC2 and with both periods of maternity we have had to (partly) live off savings as I chose to take a full year of leave. My occupational maternity pay is full for 16 week, half for 16 weeks, SMP until 39 weeks and then nothing thereafter. Remember to take into account that you'll be saving on some costs during your maternity period - e.g. travel/commute costs.

I paid off all my debts and had about a grand in the bank, I actually spent all my maternity pay on having my horse professionally looked after.

If you take home £1600 a month and are returning to work and using full time child care you'll probably have about the same left afterwards as full time childcare.

Are you in the UK? If so, why aren't you getting SMP?

You'll have smp, child benefit plus your rental income so you won't be without income. You don't have to take a year off. What does your dh earn? Can't he cover mortgage & bills? Or at least some of them.

Sorry, should've said I live offshore so we only get SMP for 26 weeks here!!!

Yes, OH can cover but I feel bad not paying my way (even though baby is obv joint decision!!)

Think I just get scared of actually having to watch the pennies and not saving anything each month

Got 7 pay packets between now and birth. Hoping because we're not really going out or going away like we normally do (apart from Sicily in sept though that's already paid for) can squirrel a fair bit away.

Guess I'm just not used to not having an income it's panicking me a bit!!!!

You'll be paying your way by looking after the baby which would otherwise cost around £1000 a month at nursery (around here anyway). It doesn't sound like you're going to have any money worries tbh, it's just an adjustment to the new reality.

I also had this worry when I fell pregnant, wondering how anybody can live on SMP, but in reality it was actually fine

I think I saved about £600 to buy baby things (pram, cot, clothes, etc). I took a month's annual leave before mat leave and was so huge and uncomfortable I barely did anything, therefore didn't spend any money. Likewise, I didn't really spend any money for the first 2 months or so (the odd lunch out/coffee), on account of being completely shattered and bewildered. So that 'saved' money made up the shortfall for the following 6 months. It's amazing how much money you save by not having a commute/buying lunch every day/not drinking/socialising as much.

In the end I didn't really have to watch the pennies until perhaps the last 8 weeks before returning to work, and even then it was just making sensible decisions. Nobody went without.

Not sure about child benefit where you live but if you are entitled to it, definitely get the forms done as soon as you can! They give them out where I live when registering the baby.

I would also recommend registering for Quidco or similar cash back website if you buy anything online, it's amazing how quickly it can add up.

I also used some of the extra time I had off to get rid of some old clothes and various bits and bobs on eBay and made a good bit of money! Definitely helped.

Meeting up with friends etc... suggest coffee rather than lunches as it obviously doesn't cost as much money. Maternity leave can be hard as you want to get out and about to save your sanity but that usually involves spending money so look out for local baby groups which are usually only a pound or two.

Look out for deals on nappies etc but don't buy too many at the one time (unless getting different sizes). It would be just your luck that baby goes up a size just after you've bought two jumbo packs!

Congratulations on your pregnancy and try not to worry, just take a sensible approach xx

I saved £8000 which was half of my salary so I could take a full years ML. Unfortunately I was signed off work from 28 weeks due to spd and only received SSP so a huge chunk of my savings were eaten up by subsidising my normal wages so I have to go back when Ds is 6 months

I'm self employed so only got MA which is equal to SMP (£500ish a month - I normally earn £30-£35k a year).
I only took 6mo off cause of that and I did my ten KIT days and billed for them.
We were ok on dh's salary as we had no holiday that year and never went out and didn't buy anything g not strictly necessary and got all our baby stuff handed down from friends.

well, found out yesterday have had missed miscarriage so I won't be on maternity when I thought. Means I will qualify for the maternity pay if we are lucky next time around though would obviously give everything and more for this not to have happened.

So sorry to hear that Coastal 😔 hugs

Sorry that your pregnancy didn't go according to plan.
It is an issue, you are right and planning is the best way.
I was going to be main earner and my husband the main childcare. That was fine until I got pregnant with number 2 and we realised we couldn't really afford to live off my maternity pay. My husband then had to become the breadwinner with a change to his career taking priority.

So sorry to hear this, @costalchick. Hope you conceive very quickly soon!