Maternity leave finances- panicking! Help!

[lonelyonee]

Hey everyone, currently 15 weeks pregnant with first baby and I am panicking about the upcoming financial situation.
Just looking for any advice/hints/tips on how everyone manages on maternity pay as it's such a reduction in working pay.
I'm trying to save as much as I can atm but am struggling as my outgoings are quite high (rent, car, food, petrol etc...).
Me and my partner do both work full time but there is no opportunity for overtime for him, and we are currently paying off any debts/ credit cards so that everything is paid off before baby's arrival (which will lower our individual monthly outgoings a little).
Any advice on benefits e.g. child tax which I believe is now under universal credit? Or anything else that may help is welcome as I'm letting the anxiety about money get to me atm!
Thank you in advance! x

Your midwife will be able to help not sure what the threshold is for tax credits tbh I'm lucky dh earns good money and been saving for a year to prepare.

I don't have a clue about finances maternity pay and all that, we're struggling now and both in overdraft every month so god knows how we're going to cope when I'm on maternity 🙈

@lonelyonee i feel the same!
Me and my partner are currently paying off credit cards before baby arrives and i'm panicking on how we will cope money wise!

I know everyone says 'you will just find the money' but right now i'm not so sure where from!

I don't think you can sign up for Tax Credits now; it would have to be Universal Credit. They will look at your figures for the entire financial year, so April 2019– April 2020 and your joint household income would have to come beneath whatever the threshold is, which is unlikely unless you both work in low paid jobs.

I just muddled my way through maternity leave on SMP as a single parent. It wasn't actually THAT bad as the first 6 weeks you get 90% pay anyway and you're spending very little, not socialising in an expensive way, no commuting costs etc. I managed to cover my mortgage, bills, food etc. no problem and still have a little left over to meet my antenatal group for coffee/cake and make a few baby related purchases (stroller, travel cot etc.)

My finances went to shit when DD started nursery at 1 and was ill a lot. Paying for childcare, me unable to work on the days that she or I were too ill to. I built up quite a bit of debt that I'm still struggling to pay off.

Maternity leave was a breeze and very enjoyable, even if living fairly frugally, in comparison to juggling childcare costs with the illness which seems to be almost inevitable with newcomers to childcare.

First of all, huge congratulations. It really is the best thing in the world.
As others have said, look into universal credit (if salary under threshold). Also, perhaps consider consolidating your debts onto one 0% interest credit card. I'm not normally an advocate of that but its a way of keeping your repayments in 1 place and not paying any interest. If you get one with a 1% minimum repayment you could pay as little as £50 a month back on £5k debt etc.
Another option is look at your current expenditure. Food you buy, nights out and general bills. Does your partner buy lunch everyday at work or take lunch.....a big saving can be made by taking your own each day.

Also, things like if you have sky or virgin for example, consider buying a freesat box for £70 and get netflix or prime membership. Its a fraction of the cost and you get a hell of a lot to choose from.
Gym membership......some are extortionate but others like 'the gym' are £20 a month in some areas so money can be saved there.
Its a tighting of the purse strings for a while but not forever.

Thanks for the responses everyone 🙂 here's some more detail for you.
We earn around the same wage each so it's not like he can bring more in than me and supplement me. We bring in between us before tax less than £34k a year.
I have calculated my maternity pay and my outgoings are more than the monthly pay I will receive 😭
Debts aren't huge - just payments to hmrc (they are idiots) and old phone debts and credit card which aren't a lot and we can easily pay off before baby comes so not an ongoing monthly expense.
Tbh I just about scrape by on my wage most months and I'm absolutely shitting myself about the whole situation when my pay near enough cuts in half 😭
To clarify we don't go out or do anything anyway as we are home bodies and prefer to stay in so no spending goes there. We do a massive monthly food shop and manage from that, making as many packed lunches as possible to save money.
I'm planning to keep my phone and get a sim only contract also which will take £30 a month off my outgoings. But even with that I'm way way over SMP.

Have you tried using any of the benefits calculators?

www.entitledto.co.uk/help/Calculating-Universal-Credit

I've being trying to find the best one in between work today, thanks for the link @INeedNewShoes I'll check it out!

@eskimod there you are, hopefully we can get some good tips/advice! 🤞🏻

Have a look on entitled.com

I budgeted with shopping / batch cooking / selling unwanted things and buying preloaded items on maternity leave

Congratulations!!! Honestly you will always find a way 😘

Have you added in child benefit? You get £20.70 a week

Hey @PotteringAlong yes even with the extra £20.70 a week I'll struggle. Looking into changing my car to something cheaper but may not be better off doing so after only having it less than a year and can hardly get rid altogether as family are not easily reached through public transport (although I'd rather stick pins in my eyes every day than give up my car!).
Just panicking as we will need to move house just before baby comes too and to be honest I'm doubtful we can find anything cheaper either! 😭 (staying put is not a practical option due to 3 flights of stairs and no lift).

Sorry was skimming the replies earlier on and have now re-read them.

We do not pay for sky or anything like that. Only the phone line/internet which is only about £40 a month and is pretty decent. That comes out of DPs account though.
@moveitorloseit glad I'm not the only one wondering how I'll manage!
@ejmay90
Yes everyone seems to say the same but I don't have the luxury of extra money as all my leftovers go straight into savings.

Hopefully we can get some good advice here! Congrats on your pregnancies also ladies!
@SAHD2020 thank you, I'm going through everything with a fine tooth comb at the moment. Don't think DP is as bothered which really stresses me out! No gym memberships or anything silly like that hanging over us so no money to gain from that. Just think the cost of living these days is an absolute joke unless you earn a decent wage you're stuck living pay to pay pretty much which is really soul destroying for me as I've never had much but really wish I could be at least a little comfortable.
As I said previously we don't do nights out or anything like that... haven't actually eaten out in months and months as we've just not had the money. Only time I've done so is for special occasions and even then I'm very careful.

@lonelyonee thanks! I'm keen to hear everyone suggestions.

We both earn decent ish money but obviously on maternity this will go down. We'll be able to cope but will be stretched especially because I'm getting married in July! We have little savings at the moment so we need to save everything we can for the wedding/baby. My OH has a decent wage but we renovated a house and so have some debts that he's paying off... so when I go on maternity, it will be a little difficult.
Luckily my sister is due to give birth any time now so I should get lots of hand me downs 😊

Have a look at the sure start maternity grant! If you do qualify for UC then you should get a one off £500 if your 1st DC - claim it from 11 weeks before due to date to baby being 6 months (I think....)

@eskimod oh wow you're getting married that's amazing! Yeah I'm sure you'll get lots of hand me downs that'll be really helpful.
@jelly79 we don't qualify for UC atm so aren't able to get that as far as I'm aware ☹️

Basically my car costs a fair whack each month and I've discussed with them about options and they wouldn't give me much money back for it so they advised me to ask my finance company if they will allow a break in my payments and add onto the end payment or a reduction and the same. Although they might not allow this which means bye bye car and me inevitably losing money on a car I love to be replaced with something less expensive 😭😭😭
I'm absolutely distraught over it tbh.

I feel for you, it is really stressful thinking about less money coming in for that amount of time. I'm trying to save as much as I can now but appreciate that's easier said than done.

You said your extra is going on savings now - should they give you a bit of a buffer?

Everything for baby can be purchased second hand except car seat and mattress. If you go to an expectant parent event at mothercare they give you a 10% voucher so maybe keep a list of anything you do need to buy new and get it all at once using that.

Make sure you are getting all of the benefits you are entitled to - there are plenty of calculators online.

Do you have anything you could sell to bring some extra money in? Furniture, clothes (did you buy any new maternity clothes eg?).. I've not found anything someone won't buy on Facebook marketplace!

Reusable nappies are much cheaper than disposables as well as being better for the environment

Do you really need to move? I don't see a problem with three flights of stairs unless you need to lug a pram up and down them - you could consider keeping the pram in the car and/or using a sling.
Also while I don't have any advice on how to reduce your current outgoings or what benefits you need to apply for (apart from maybe scrutinising your monthly food shop for cheaper swaps if that is an option?) - can I just recommend not buying new stuff for the baby at all (bar maybe car seat and mattress for safety reasons)?
Get everything secondhand (sometimes kind people give away baby stuff for free as well, check on facebook marketplace or freecycle)... and you really don't need most so-called "essential" things for baby!
Also - recommend breastfeeding (formula is expensive) and you could consider cloth nappies which saves money in the long run too

I am currently in the same position. Looking to drop from nearly 1800 to statutory may pay, I cleared my debts before trying only because my husband didn't want us to have the added baby pressure (I know this isnt the case for everyone).

My stress currently is husband is currently out of work so I worry how we will cope. I've been putting money aside every month to save for my time off.

Same as you I'm trying to do something with my car...whether that be pay it off or whatever...I'd also agree at looking at your finances such as your credit deal (I moved everything to 0 percent including overdraft). I also spent time looking at our bills like gas and electric and switched those, I also got the cheaper internet so we pay 27 for internet and now TV (40 sounds alot!). Next year I might put my phone on sim only too.

It's going to be tough but doable!

@paperplant yes we have begrudgingly had to stay where we are due to properties falling through in the last couple of months. The living situation is quite cramped and although my apartment is decent enough the walls are paper thin which results in us hearing EVERYTHING that happens in apartments surrounding us. Parking is quite frankly a joke and the spaces are tiny so getting a baby in and out of the car would be a real problem. Not to mention you can get a 3 bedroom house for the same rent we pay on our 2 bed apartment in the area.
We could manage but we would be miserable tbh with you, we've been looking to move for quite a while now.

@McHelenz & @ELM8 We are getting help with buying the more expensive things from family and I'm going to ask friends to not buy clothes but look at more practical gifts such as bouncer/steriliser/bottles/breast pump... that kind of thing. I'm saving money now that I will only use for big things (car insurance/tax) and the rest I will subsidise my Mat pay with which will bring it up monthly a little.
Hoping finance company are flexible and allow a temporary break in payments so I don't have to get rid of my precious baby car!
Things to sell... not really got many of those, been trying to flog clothes/shoes for months on and off with no luck so 🤷🏼‍♀️

Good luck OP! You sound really sensible with your finances and I hope you manage to move and manage to balance your incomings and outgoings. And congratulations of course on your pregnancy :)

Congratulations! Hope your pregnancy is smooth and the dreaded morning sickness stays at bay.

You’re right to think about it and get yourself financially in the best possible position rather than sticking your head in the sand.

I would say switch any contracts you have to cheaper ones (there are always cheaper ones). We were paying £35 for phone line and internet and I wangled us a £14 deal for the same thing. Same with gas & electric too! Definitely look into your car insurance too.

When it comes to buying baby stuff, start now to Spread it out and go second hand where you can. See if NCT do any ‘nearly new sales’ as well as utilising eBay and Facebook marketplace. We got a cotbed for £20, baby bath for free and piles of bargain clothes. It really it amazing what you can get for very little for the baby. Only things we bought new were car seat and mattresses.

Another tip is use cash back sites for anything you possibly can. Food shop online? Check what cashback you can get. I use both Quidco and top cashback - whichever offers the best % for the site I’m using - and I’ve earnt over £400 back in the 5/6 years I’ve used it.

I’ve used it for car insurance cashback, uswitch cashback etc.

Sign up for mothercare and mamas and papas parents to be events, you often get money off vouchers etc.

Keep doing what you’re doing: save, save, save. Register the baby as soon as you can as once you’ve done that you can apply for child benefits (an extra £80 a month).

Good luck!!