Hi Ladies,
in the last few days it has hit me that maternity pay is rubbish! I stupidly thought you got 90% of pay for 12 weeks and not the 6 i will actually get (i know this depends on the company you work for)!
Hubby earns ok money, but we earn the same so our income will half yet we'll have an extra person!
We are depsratley trying to clear £4k off credit card (had to use when Hubby was self employed and run oit of work before he got new lesser paid job) to make things easier, and we have gone through direct debits and cancelled any unneccessaries (i.e contact lenses when i already have glasses and weight watchers subscription) but i am really panicking now.
I am sure i'll ahve to go back to work after 6 months which i am really gutted about, although we might ask mortgage co for a mortgage break, but looking at our terms i dont think they'll agree.
Also one last thing in my ramble, will tax credits definatly use the last years earning, or will they re-calculate if you tell them of drop in income? I ahve calculated that based on SMP and hubby's income we would get £90ish a month child tax which isnt much but would help.:\?

[Modified by: ilovepicknmix on 03 November 2009 17:57:46 ]

its a tough world out there!!
we have saved long and hard,so can afford for me not to go back to work for a few years(ill be a kept woman!!)but on the other hand our bungalow is too small and we will neeed to move eventually,and hubby says when we do i will have to go back to work as he wont be able to take on a bigger mortgage.......we keep doing the lottery!! and were not entitled to tax credits as hubby 'earns too much'apparently!! xx

lol will def have to try the lottery!
I know we'll manage as everyone does, its just scary!

it is scary,i have an 11 year old son from a previous marriage so i know how hard it is and we had to tighten our belts,i sent off for offers,used vouchers and coupons and got baby clothes second hand,we never went out much and luckily now myself and my hubby dont have a social life(lol)so we wont miss it!

Yup, maternity pay is not great at all :( We are trying to save but have a bit of debt behind us, i'd love to be a sahm but our mortgage is that big that there is no chance!!

me too jellytots, am pretty sure i'll have to go back after 6 months at the latest. We are trying to get as many hand me downs as we can, and sell any things we dont need/use like my bike that i've used 3 times and has been int he shed for 12 months lol!

I think everyone will be secretly worried about money at some point - well millionaires aside.

You find ways of managing - get coupons wherever possible. Mothercare and boots/asda have a baby club which you can get vouchers for.

Think the trick is to plan ahead and you're clearly doing that!

As for me, I'm fortunate I get 6 months full pay with my company, whether I take any longer will come down to weighing up whether we can afford for me to take unpaid leave or go back to work part-time and pay childcare costs. We've only just got married so our savings are no longer as big as we'd like. We're also unlikely to get tax credits, although I dont think childrens allowance is means tested - could be wrong though.

I know everyone gets child benefit which is £20 a week. We got married in Aug so we no longer have saving either, although we got married abroad so didnt cost anywhere near as much as some. I suppose i should check that my company doesnt offer anymore than stat pay? i'm sure it doesnt but will have to look at the policy!

Yep def check your company's policy... you may be very well surprised.

Oh and theres a similiar posts (and rants!) over in pregnancy
http://www.babyexpert.com/chatroom/topic/140395

Hun I dont know if my answer will be much help but I hope I can offer u some sort of reassurance and not scare u half to death!!!

I dont think theres ever a RIGHT financial time to have a baby, no matter how much u save, or scrape together etc etc u will always worry u dont have enough money but u will always find a way to come... its like survival!!

I had a very good job when we started ttc DD1 but it was always risky because the job was NHS and always subject to funding... at 4 months preg we lost the funding and although they tried to place me else where I was left redundant, I struggled to find another job and was unemployed when DD came along, yet we managed... we had to cancel a lot of things, reduce sky packages, we havent been abroad since, we downgraded our car but we managed as a 1 income family... and hey we still manage now and we are having baby number 2 so another mouth to feed...

without scaring u what Im trying to say is u will find a way!!!!

Thanks Mand C, I'm glad to hear it can be done. We've asked for argos vouchers for christmas, so that should help with a few bits lol!

good post ladies!
my OH has always said we cant afford a baby which i have always replied with well we will never have kids then! there is never a right time to have a baby, me and my OH have huge mortgage payments, we also have a nice car thats quite sporty so we're lucky enough that we can downgrade on the car hopefully saving a few pennies on the loan we have for the car and the insurance that we currently pay out, i never thought id say it but cant wait to get rid of it in the new year for a Family Car haha!
I will also at this moment in time only be able to have 6 months off which i am gutted about, i will have to pay out for childcare so will have to find a balance between paying someone else to bring my baby up and me working...why is it alwasy so difficult, i beleive though that when we have our babies everythign will work out, ive been told that once baby is here you dont want for ewt, you cut your cloth according is a common saying ive heard and im sure how ever hard it gets as long as baby has food nappies and clean clothes you wont worry too much! hope this helps i waffle on a bit haha!

good post ladies!
my OH has always said we cant afford a baby which i have always replied with well we will never have kids then! there is never a right time to have a baby, me and my OH have huge mortgage payments, we also have a nice car thats quite sporty so we're lucky enough that we can downgrade on the car hopefully saving a few pennies on the loan we have for the car and the insurance that we currently pay out, i never thought id say it but cant wait to get rid of it in the new year for a Family Car haha!
I will also at this moment in time only be able to have 6 months off which i am gutted about, i will have to pay out for childcare so will have to find a balance between paying someone else to bring my baby up and me working...why is it alwasy so difficult, i beleive though that when we have our babies everythign will work out, ive been told that once baby is here you dont want for ewt, you cut your cloth according is a common saying ive heard and im sure how ever hard it gets as long as baby has food nappies and clean clothes you wont worry too much! hope this helps i waffle on a bit haha!

I'm always pleasantly surprised by how people cope when they have to - obviously I'm not saying bury your head in the sand, but like someone else has said, if we waited til we could 'afford' it we'd never have kids!

As for tax credits, I asked the same question (alreday have a ds so already claiming them). They are calculated on last years earnings but you are also meant to tell them about a change in circumstances (ie your income reducing due to maternity pay), so when you tell them that they'll adjust your claim. Thay always ask for estimated figures for this year, then after April will write and ask you for definite figures (so you can estimate your maternity pay then wait til you get your P60 for actual figures), but bear in mind they will re-calculate if your figures are different and ask for any overpayment back. I was concerned we'd earned to much the previous year and would';t have a claim that could then be adjusted, if that makes sense, so I just put a letter in with my original claim form explaining this, and it was all sorted out - we don't get much but every little helps!

And yes, everyone gets child benefit - there's a form in your bounty pack given to you when you have the baby for you to send off

I'm panicking too. Massively. But I think it's so true when people say you never feel well off enough to have kids, so sometimes you have to just go for it and know you'll work it out somehow.

I own a clothes shop which hasn't been going well this year because of the recession. I'm seriously thinking I'm going to have to close after xmas which will be so gutting, but I'm starting to lose money and it's becoming so stresful that I'm worried about the effect it will have on bubs. If I close I don't think I'll get anything as my accountant advised me not to pay NI over the last couple of years as I wasn't taking much of a wage, just putting all the money back into the business. So now I'm probably screwed.
And hubbie's in the building trade so isn't getting
much work at all.

But like people have said, a baby needs lots of love, food and warmth, which doesn't cost too much.

Good luck everybody, and keep getting those lottery tickets!!

XXX