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Maternity pay - panicking about money

Hi ladies, is everyone ok?
I keep going round and round in my head about all the money we will lose on maternity leave, if i take a year off we will be 12.5 thousand pounds short.
Has anyone else worked their earnings out and been totally gobsmacked and just thought ???????well thats that idea gone then??????? ? i just don't see how this is ever going to happen now. We will obviously save what we can up until we get pregnant and up until i leave work but i cant see us saving the total amount.
Even if i just take 9 months then there is childcare.

Just wondered if anyone else had done the sums and got very depressed?
Have you all saved before starting to try for your babies?
How is everyone going to manage?

I've totally depressed myself ??????

Replies

  • Honestly hun, I really don't have that much advice for you!! When we found out we were expecting our little girl, we were in total shock, we hadn't planned on it and we was so scared about how we would cope!!

    Lucky for us, we have brilliant families who have helped us out sooo much... we would of been totally lost without them.

    I've heard alot of people say though that if you sit down and work out your money you'd never have one, because babies are so expensive!! So best just not to think about it and cope at the time!!
    I know thats cant obviously be the case most times cause of mortgages, bills, etc etc its just not that simple.

    Eeek i've just realised I havnt really helped you much, I just didnt want to R+R!! image
    I hope you don't stress yourself out too much over it!! I'm sure you'll work it out.

    Hope you start feeling better soon hun
    Dani x
  • Yep! I did the exact same thing! Hubby keeps saying exactly what Dani said - if we keep worrying about the money, we'll never have a baby!

    Anyway, I worked out that I will be about ??500 short a month (while getting the standard maternity pay) for what I pay into our joint account. Figured I'd work out the whole year on that amount as you get more to start then none at the end, so ??6000 for main income shortage only, without all extra baby costs as I am hoping to breast feed / buy second hand things. Also will have to give up my second job and lose our lodger! Figured hubby can share his spending money with me for buying those extras for the baby.

    So, trying to save as close to ??6k as poss before I go on maternity and not worrying about the rest. Doing this by putting all the money from second jobs plus car boots into a savings account.

    Anyway, I figure people manage all the time so I'm sure we'll cope. Got past the stage of complete panic and determined we will make it work! Hope you manage to figure things out. xx
  • this has only just hit us and LO is 16 weeks old! i did have quite a good maternity package but am about to go to SMP for the next 3 months, i am only taking 9 months as i get nothing for the last 3. we have come to the conclusion its only worth me going to work one day a week so hubby can look after LO, as childcare would leave me earning about ??2 an hour which IMO isnt worth the stress and travel time esp with the petrol prices as they are! if we have free childcare ie family i would probably go back on more hours

    we are lucky in the fact we can survive on hubbys wage so i dont need to go back to pay the morgage etc it just means we have to cut back on a lot of things, we get child benifit (everyone does) that pays for nappies, formula and basics for baby and we are in the process of applying for tax credits which will also help.

    i think like with all things you live to your means and always find a way, i think if we had said we would wait until we could afford it we would never be parents!!
  • I would be ??1300 short each month. Not planning to try until the end of the year, so lots of saving involved image x
  • Hi ladies

    Thanks so much for your responses. I hope you all don't think i'm barmy!
    I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to me though, its really helpful hearing about all your situations and how you manage.

    We will save what we can and find other ways to make sacrifices, as you all say there are ways and I am sure it wont be half a struggle as I envisage it.
    Quote ???????Bring on the baby... If that comes with a minor degree of poverty, so be it. On the plus side, I'm sure parenthood will come with riches that are impossible to quantify!???????
    Wannabump, What a beautiful sentiment! Every time I stress I am going to re-visit this quote ??????

    Thank you all very much xxxxx
  • ???????Bring on the baby... If that comes with a minor degree of poverty, so be it. On the plus side, I'm sure parenthood will come with riches that are impossible to quantify!???????

    I abosolutely love that quote! How very true! xx

    I am just printing off the Trust policy on it all for bed time reading!

    http://dvcf.daisypath.com/Dakcp1.png



    http://davf.daisypath.com/i8JUp1.png


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