Left over income on Maternity Leave

[essexanon]

Hey all

So im starting maternity pay in July, and trying to cut back and save now so that when my income drops dramatically, our bills still get paid.

If I save enough, I should have around £350 per month to live off for food, fuel and any other bits.
(I wont be driving much, maybe £20-30 a month fuel
food I usually spend around £120 a month and OH spends around £80 a month of his money on top ups but we will both cut down where we can and family will be sending weekly food parcels as they said I will be too busy, broke and tired to cook)

The £350 left is my money only, OH's money is all accounted for as he is having to cover 80% of the house hold bills, his own bills and some of mine whilst im on maternity leave.
This £350 is including the Child benefit I will be getting for the new baby and my 17yr old.

Im only taking leave for 9 months and there is no way the last 3 months we can live once the maternity pay stops.

Is this doable? how much did you have left after bills etc if you don't mind me asking?
what things did you do whilst on maternity leave or before to save money?

Im just curious to know if there is anyone out there that's had to do this, and did you survive? im having nightmares about money and surviving financially whilst on maternity leave?

P.S Our household is:
Me
My OH,
17yr old (who is in FT Education and is getting a part time job so he can use his own money for his pocket money and travel)
Baby on the way,

Thank you! someone please reassure me this is doable

xxx

Yeh totally doable , nappies , wipes formula
Etc are minimal prices. I’m on maternity leave and going back next month (dd six months old) full pay stopped a few months ago so been leaving on not a huge amount! (Around £200/300 a month)
Will you have annual leave to use too? You could have 8 months mat leave then the last month of annul leave so at least you get a full wage?

I managed; it’s not for that long and I didn’t spend much money the first few weeks. At Christmas I also agreed with my family to only do small token presents so that it wasn’t a huge expense

Bulk buy meat and learn to batch cook, that way you will always have 'ready' meals in the freezer. Something to consider is washable wipes instead of wet wipes. We use cheeky wipes (£40 starter set) which sounds a lot but we have only used 2 packs of baby wipes for our 1 year old since he was born so it saves money long term as we can use them for our on the way baby too.

Work our what you don't need, any phone/tv/broadband deals coming to an end soon that you can move around.

If you are going to breastfeed then great it's free but if not start with Aldi formula as it's £6.99 a tin and just as good as the expensive ones.

We got all our stuff second hand including bundles of clothes, will be doing the same with our daughter when she arrives.

I got full pay for 6 months but I'm the main earner so pay all the bills. I also usually work shifts so am used to getting £200-£300 at least on top of my monthly salary.

yes I will take month 10 as annual leave which is full pay so will take 10 months off total.

clothes- hoping we have a girl (find out tomorrow) as we have lots of girls in the family who have all kept baby clothes for me.

bills- I have literally re-shopped and moved around what we can, ive also overpaid on last years council tax so that will come off this years bill, I will also change this from 10 month to 12 months to make the monthly payments lower. We both only have pay as you go mobiles and ive haggled sky from £120 a month to £70 a month.

my mum and sister are also helping with buying wipes and nappies every week (few sizes of each) so hopefully I wont have to buy these for a couple of months.

I plan on breastfeed, but will definitely make a note of the Aldi formula if it doesn't work out.

Thanks everyone for all their suggestions and stories so far! I really appreciate it xxx

In the exact same situation.. after child benefit etc I have estimated to be left with £350 a month (for me) to live on excluding fuel. We pretty much started saving soon as we found out I was pregnant.
I think its doable- depending what kind of life style you have.

My LO is 4 weeks old and I haven't really spent a great deal this first month. One thing my mum has always said is 'you'll never be able to afford a baby but you'll live within your means' and it's so true.

I've found Facebook brilliant for second hand maternity clothes (there are "Preloved" groups as well as the market place) and baby stuff generally.