Any tips welcome

[Everest1]

So im 8 weeks pregnant and ideally would like a year of work.i will get statutory maternity pay. We are in private rented house. Obviously my wages will be reduced dramatically. We dont have anyone who can assit with childcare if i was to return to work.How do people manage? My partner works full time Thank you xx

If you rent privately then you may well be eligible for housing benefit once your income reduces dramatically. You may want to try and save plenty though as housing benefit is paid in arrears, and also obvs just because it is sensible!

You can also apply for tax credits including working tax credits on mat leave, plenty of women are entitled to these when they drop to SMP, and they also contain a childcare element which will go toward childcare costs if you do decide to go back to work.

Both of these benefits are means tested so they will depend on your household income, but it sounds like if you won't manage with your DPs wage and your reduced wage then you are probably entitled to them?

Additional options are to try and work around each others shifts to avoid childcare costs, even a couple of evenings a week work on your part can make a difference! You will also get £20 per week child benefit and while it's not much it will help cover the cost of baby essentials which is quite nice.

The best advice if possible is for both of you to save as much as you can before the little one gets here to act as a cushion for when the baby arrives :) and don't forget that while you are entitled to 52 weeks statutory maternity leave , the SMP pay is only 39 weeks - something to bear in mind if you want to take the full year off. But in the same breath you should be able to take some accrued leave either side of your may leave if you have been working full time (save your leave now to take before MATL, then you will accrue more leave while on MATL which you can take at the end).

Sorry that was very waffly!

Oh and most importantly, the best thing to do is check out a benefits calculator, the 2 main ones are EntitledTo and Turn2Us, as I just realised you most likely won't be able to apply for any of the separate legacy benefits and will be on Universal Credit which has mushed them all together!

Definitely they are your best bet for planning your income; you can even adjust it based on hypothetical scenarios (e.g returning on different part time hours) and see the side by side comparison of how that would change your entitlements. Very handy.

Thank you do much. Youve been a great help x

Start budgeting now, I worked through all our bills and income
Then from that a goal of what we could save, and literally saved saved saved ( I admit I was lucky to have the capacity though that was because husband earnt more he is an awesome worker and pays his bills but terrible At saving so we got a joint savings account to Poole both our resources

Do you get full pay for any of the first part of your job? As I pay about £300 pm out in travel costs for work so first two months I saved that in addition.

I looked into free baby clubs locally when he was little, and got a lot of clothes second hand on Facebook for sale sights ( they go through clothes so quick that the second hand clothes were good as new but was getting a whole wardrobe for close to £10 a go. Same for toys ( he is now 13 months ) for £10 once I got about £150
Worth of toys .. just kept an eye on the for sale sight brought stuff not as and when needed but when a good deal
With the right bits came along for future use.

Using Aldi nappies to make savings stretch.( used pamper sand both to the same effect )

Don’t forget milk .. your plan may be to breast feed but it may fail ... I hadn’t budgeted for that so that hurt.

End of Mat leave I did have paid holiday to take and the bank holidays I was paid for also. Not sure I’m your works policy but that gave me a month and a half of paid
Holiday at the other end of my maternity leave with an income.

I did get a yearly pass to a local zoo when son was 6 months ( also has soft play etc) that was invaluable as although I paid £44 I literally went every week it gave us fresh air ( always packed a picnic / bottles so
Didn’t buy anything ) and the soft play helped him socialise and run off steam.

You can get lovely second hand snuz pods etc too just buy a new mattress and you will save £100 easily .. which buys more time

I homemade weaning food ... just buy some freezable pots already had a hand blender ( you can buy baby food blenders but I think it’s not needed if you have a blender )

By the way congratulations 🥳

Nearly new sales ... check it out if you google it then search your area ... you can go to a baby nearly new sale it cost about £1 to get in but there is usually buggy’s baby clothes high chairs etc had a few bargains before . Personally the clothes bundles are best on Facebook ( just wash everything before wearing and you get ah idea on cleanliness when you pick up from their house )

You are very welcome, congratulations and best of luck

Just wanted to second what Newmumma said, in the age of social media you can honestly get so many baby bargains and it is all high quality stuff. I am 37 weeks and needed a new cot for this little one, a lovely relative found a beautiful Mamas and Papas convertible cot bed for £15! And it is so new it still has the plastic guard on the rails that stop them getting dirty and chewed!

A good tip I also learned while friends and family were helping source bits for me (unplanned third pregnancy so was a bit "eek" financially as I hadn't planned any more children for at least 10 years!) is to go to car boot sales. Lots of people selling baby stuff will be willing to almost give it away so they don't have to trudge it home again.