Pregnant and alone and financially unsure if i can afford it.

[Naaaaat]

Im at my last resort writing this post as i cannot get through to anyone in cutezens advice or my local council.

I have just found out i am pregnant and i dont know if i will be able to afford to do it alone. I have a good job that pays aroun 45k a year and my house mortgage and bills are around £1000 a month. Im panicking that i cannot have a baby and afford to be off on materniny leave at the statutary pay and keep my house. Then when it is born and i go back to work can i affford childcare?

I have tried calculating what i can claim benefits wise but i have never claimed benefits in my life and i dont know where to start and the numbers i am calling are all unrecognised.

Im just so worried that i am going to go from successful independent to losing my house single mother with no money and constantly struggling. I am considering an abortion and i cant really cope right now.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hi
It's a scary time but don't panic. You have time now to work out both what you want and what you can afford.
Do you know whether there is any occupational maternity pay available through work? That could make a big difference.
Is saving up before maternity leave an option? That can help you through if you get SMP only.
Do you have any outgoings that you could reduce?
I too am looking at childcare costs and wondering how to manage! I'm 23 weeks pg and have been thinking about it for a while.
I have a DP and that makes a difference in terms of income and flexibility. Will baby's father be around? Able to pay maintenance? Able to care whilst you work?
Today I've worked out that tax free childcare will be better for me than vouchers. Worth looking at the you gov website for info on that. Still not looking massively affordable so I'm thinking about extra ways to generate money.
Do you have family, friends etc who might be able to support?

I'm not eligible for any benifits but you can access calculators via the you gov website which can give you an idea of what you would be eligible for in different circumstances.

Above all- work out what you want and go from there. You have time.

Hi OP, please don't panic.

You need to go through your finances with a fine tooth comb and work out what you have left, if it's not a lot what can be cut out? If your mortgage and bills are £1000 you have over £2.5k left over? That would definitely be enough. Could you save up for maternity leave if you only get SMP? If things are really tight you might have to return to work before 1 year.

In theory £45k is more than enough, I doubt you will be entitled to any benefits but would get child benefit.

To give you a rough idea on childcare a full time place near me (south east but not London) would be £1000 per month. Will you be expecting maintenance from the father?

Some couples don't earn anywhere near 45K but manage ok.

Don't panic OP! You earn a great salary and it's doable if you can deal with being skint for a while!

Assuming no pension, your take home must be around £2800pcm, right? So minus mortgage and bills you've got £1800 left each month.

Can you afford to save £1000-1200pcm between now and your due date? It would leave you £600-800 for everything else which is a decent amount of cash to live on.

Since I've been pregnant I've found it very easy to save because a) I have a real incentive and b) I'm not drinking and my socialising budget has dropped hugely. Then think about ways to reduce other spending. For example, we've just cancelled out Virgin Media (£40 a month that we never use), and I've switched to a SIM only plan (another £40pcm saved).

Even if you don't get Occupational Maternity Pay (check with your employer), you'll still get SMP which is currently about £606 per month. If you were able to save £7000-8000 between now and when the baby comes you'll easily be able to live off savings and SMP whilst not working for 9 months. From what I hear, maternity leave is cheap!

When you decide to go back to work you'll have to think about nursery fees which are expensive, but where in the country do you live?

Most couples don't earn £45k between them. You'll be fine.

Hi OP. That's a very generous salary. Please don't make the decision whether or not to keep the baby based on finances. If we all sat down and wondered if we could afford babies the answer would pretty much always be NO on paper. In real life, we cope, we manage, we find a way.

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I am completely on my own in this im 30 and kicking myself for getting in this situation i was had a sicness bug so went for the mornin after pill to be extra cautious but still got caught out. I do not have a partner he basically wants me to get an abortion my parents live around 2 hours away so they are not that close.

I forgot to mention my basic salary is 16000 per year and the rest is made up of comission so if i am not there i do not earn. My company doesn’t even pay if you have a day off sick. The maternaty pay is the badic and no extra.

My house bills are £1000 and other bills are £500 such as car insurance phone etc then I usually spend about £500 on living food, fuel etc so i spend about £2000 per month all included. i could cut back on the £500 on food etc.

I worked out childcare cost at anout £1000 a month but i havnt accounted for buying all the things it will need. Saving wise i think i could get to about 3-4k

I did try to work out benefit entitlement but got so confused with universal credits etc does it go on you basic salary or what you actually earnt in the previous year?

I want to make it work but it just seems so bleak right now. The fact that i rely on myself and if i cant work i wont get any income whatsoever

Thank you all so much for your help xx

Thank you sooo much xx

The point is i wont be eaning that much if i have to be off work so im trying to find a way to make it work x

Thank you xx

It is hard with commissioned based pay - we will be in same position as that is DHs wage which will be only income for us after having this baby. I would speak to citizens advice or DWP about how tax credits work, some places offer salary sacrifice for childcare vouchers too? I think you need to try and take the finances out of the equation and decide what you feel about the pregnancy, then make a decision. If you want the baby you CAN make it work but it might be hard at first. What about looking for a job closer to parents to help with childcare? I left my old job 200 miles away for this reason. It was hard but I think it'll work out better in the long run

If it came to it OP could you remortgage your house to free up some cash? Some providers will allow you to take a mortgage holiday or switch to interest only for a short period so might be wirth checking those options out. Save as much as possible whilst you're working and use this to tide you over.

Don't worry about the costs of buying things for the baby, you don't have to spend a fortune and you can get a lot of stuff secondhand.

You might find you're better off returning to work part time after mat leave once benefits/childcare costs are taken into account.

Your partner might not want to be involved but if he is working you would still be entitled to maintenance from him so I would claim this ASAP.

I think a trip to CAB would be helpful if you could manage it. It helps to run the figures for all the options if you can. Good luck.

Final thought, I know you said your parents lived quite a long way away but if push came to shove could you live with them whilst on mat leave and rent out your house to provide some income/cover the mortgage?