How much did you spend a week/month on maternity leave?

[MummyLE]

Interested in hearing what other mums spent while on maternity leave as I'm worried I'll be stuck in the house all the time with nothing to do! I'm planning on booking baby classes for a 6-week period but other that that, is it possible to do things on a £50 weekly budget?

Thanks! X

No clue as this is my first - but would also love to know this too!

Barely anything. One baby class per week (£7,paid termly). Few coffees a week maybe a tenner. Doesnt have to be extravagant.

As above poster said, can be as little as you want. I did one baby class which was £5 a week pay as you go.

We'd usually do a coffee stop somewhere with other mums and then we'd take it in turns to go to each other's houses for lunch or cake and a cuppa.

I'm expecting No 2 shortly and I've saved up £1200 just as a pot, with aim of having £50 a month for spends.

My last group of baby mums and me were just happy to go walking, chattering etc

I ended up spending a fair bit - various baby groups (swimming, baby sensory, baby signing, baby and toddler) some further away than others so had to factor in petrol costs too, 2-3 coffee ☕️ meet ups a week and sometimes lunch thrown in too. It all adds up! Expecting number 2 and have been trying to save more this time round.

Look at local churches etc they have classes for a couple £.
Library ask either do free classes or couple £.
Also soft plays a free for under 1s and just have to pay for yourself.
And of course parks, beaches, walks are free haha

I was to tired to do anything for the first few months, but towards the end I needed to get out the house, so went to a group/activity most days. Fortunately where I live there's plenty on thats either free or £1/2 so hardly spent anything, maybe £5-10 a week. If your looking to keep busy cheaply check out;

Library- rhyme time or stay and plays
Sure start (if you have one)
Community centres
Church halls
Groups in primary schools
Council leasure centers (ours did baby swim sessons for £3)

Honestly the first 3 months you won't really take baby anywhere - they can't go swimming till they are over 12 weeks and pointless taking a newborn to baby clubs. I took my 4 month twins to a baby club last week and honestly they didn't get much out of so I'd say wait until 6 months. Then most groups are a couple of pounds to attend

DS is four months and I saved 8k for my mat leave & have managed to save another 2k since going on it

We’ve signed up for two classes per week at £6 each and have 3-4 coffees per week and the odd lunch.

My mum friends live v close so we tend to pop round for garden coffees, so it’s basically socialising for the cost of a cake.

I don’t have a car so we walk everywhere which keeps costs down too.

I spent nothing on baby activities. £0. I went to the free groups at my local children's centre and to library rhyme time. "Hoop" is a great website for free kids activities. Things might be a bit different at the moment, as paid things seem to be reopening faster than free things.

I used to pay to go out for coffee and cake with a friend who had a baby at the same time as we met in the middle because we lived quite a way apart. Other than that, none of my spending was specific to being on maternity leave - just regular life expenses.