Finance panic?

[pandabub]

Is anyone else having sudden bouts of fear at the idea of how much LO is going to cost?? I would love to take off as much (maternity) time as poss but not so sure how much I will be able to afford It's really getting me down....xx

 

[Emmy1987]

Yes I don't think we can afford for me to be off the whole time :/ sucks!

 

[pandabub]

Don't get me wrong, I love my LO and can't wait to have her here with us, but the money thing really scares me sometimes. Hopefully everything will work out...xx

 

[Lauraaraa]

same , i need to take a year off and wont get paid th last 3mnths of tht year and then might need to take a career break for a couple years, i can work though whilst i am off. i need to as i am moving bk north and my job is south, and because all my family r north like my mam she wants me back there

my head is serioulsy all over - i feel like i dont even want to think about it all as it gets me stressed!! so i shove it to the verrrry back of my head,

then bf is going to afghan in march so he wont be here, and i will worry bout him all th time.
and i know when she is born i will cry tears of joy and sadness because he isnt there to see her born.

just so much going on

then money worries also!!!!!!

but i jst keep thinking when my daughter is here it wont matter i will be happy

 

[pandabub]

Laura - *hugs* - am so sorry to hear about your situation; it must be hard with your OH being away. I have a similar attitude - in that I push my fears to the back of my head. Which is very unusual for me.

Also thinking of my baby daughter always brings a smile to my face. If there is a struggle, it will be worth it xx

 

[Kellyx]

I think everyone worries about money. I'm relying on OH to keep us going!

 

[pandabub]

My DF is self employed so am hoping he will have enough work to sustain us! I think it's the not knowing that makes it so hard...

 

[Tracy81]

Yeah I am too. I am paid pretty well but my OH works freelance so he doesn't have a steady flow of work. I will have to wait and see how much work he has whilst I'm off and plan as we go!

I'm paying for all of baby's bits with some savings I had for a big holiday this year...we won't be going now anyway so it's come in handy. But I have no plan for maternity leave etc.

At times I do worry but then sometimes I think worrying won't change anything so try to just think it'll all work out ok. Hope you ladies can worry a little less too x

 

[pandabub]

Tracy - you are so right in that worrying won't actually change anything. I keep telling myself that whenever I have a little attack of the 'money panics'. I have a bit of savings which is meant to go towards a deposit for a house, but might have to dig into that at this rate! Its so nice to have the support here tho xx

 

[oread]

Try not to worry, you can always make it work somehow! We are not very well off financially - my husband is in the military so he really doesn't make much money and that is our only income. Luckily we have the important things taken care off like healthcare and rent, but living in southern california is REALLY expensive and we have been getting better and better at living on a budget without feeling like we have to constantly deny ourselves.

Since I am not making any money I just try really hard to make sure that we are making the most of the money we do have. I cook at home instead of eating out and try not to waste any food, conserve electricity and gas, minimize our cell phone bill and needless expenditures, pay for netflix instead of cable tv, do a lot of crafty/DIY stuff for furniture and decor, don't buy magazines or movies, I plan on cloth diapering and breast feeding, etc. You'd really be amazed at how much money you can save just by planning and being careful, without having to be a total tightwad. Its not worth stressing out about, but you can certainly make some small changes that will help a lot and make you feel more in control financially.

 

[Darlingdamsel]

((Laura))

I am single and self-employed so maternity leave will be fully funded by me other than the statutory amount. I would love to take 6 months, but I am afraid I can only swing 3. Plus when I do go back to work the childcare expenses are crazy. I have no idea how I am afford that.

I have a lot of questions and worries ... but I also know it will work out somehow!

 

[lilwelsh1]

i have been freaking out about finances for a few weeks now, especially since my husbands work went quiet. I'm trying to run my own business but when i had the flu and pleuracy i had to turn clients away. We r barely getting by right now. Its such a shame, we were looking at buying a bigger house before xmas. I am so worried we wont be able to afford anything and the baby will be sleeping in a drawer lol. Its so stressful and all i hear people harping on about is couples having babies they cant afford or moaning about families on benefits. That might be me n my family at this rate if work doesnt pick back up very soon. Talk about bad timing, i feels so irresponsible but how was i to know DH's work would go so quiet? I got quite a while before LO arrives yet so fingers crossed something comes up.

 

[meow951]

I am exactly the same!

I just try and think that it's too late now lol And once baby is here we will do whatever we need to to make it work.

My mum and dad weren't well off at all! And they made it work so that means i can too.

 

[nkbapbt]

I worried about it too with our first. A LOT. I did not want to go back to work, but knew I would have too...until our son was born 17 weeks early and it was just impossible for me to do so.

I am worried with this baby too, but my DH is a super star. He bought us a beautiful apartment (with no help) and we have everything we need. I fully trust in his ability to sustain us again, even though I know I don't tell him that enough.

I think the not knowing is the worst, but things just seem to work out. And when they dont? There is so many ways to make them work regardless of situation and there are so many knowledgeable ladies on here willing to lend their advice and point you in the right direction.

 

[DaisyDoodles]

I'm a childminder so will only be able to take 2 weeks off after the birth, I don't get paid for time I take off and the parents I work for won't be able to get cover for longer than that!

Still, it's an improvement on when I had my son, at the time I was running a pub and got 2 days off (while I was in hospital!)

But even with going straight back to work, I'm still worrying about how we'll make ends meet, we're not entitled to any help at all!

 

[Szaffi]

Finance troubles everyone, but it's not so bad. With DD, we tried to get everything fairly cheap but good quality and not get sucked into the buy every little new thingie for your baby marketing.

So we got some things on sale, second hand, borrowed and tried to spread the cost. Once the baby was born, it turned out that our only big expense was diapers - but managed to collect a bunch of coupons for that too. She was BFing, so no cost there. A couple of doctor bills, but she was very healthy, luckily.

I also found that we were spending less - we didn't go out, I still couldn't drink, so no booze, no eating out, no cinema tickets.

We also prepared a lot of food in advance and froze it, so we didn't order out much. Once DD started to have more of a routine, I prepared most meals from scrach, so even our grocery bills were down. I came back to work when LO was 8,5 months old (I only get 20 weeks of paid mat. leave) and even then, the primary reason wasn't financial, but because of my carrier.

 

[pandabub]

Just reading everyone else's posts does make me feel inspired to make this work with whatever means necessary. Thank you so much, I love how positive everyone is - despite the obvious fears.

Daisy, you are a wonder - how on earth you were back to work after 2 days is a wonder to me and I think you are remarkable for doing so. This may sound completely naive but is there any possibility that you can take LO to work with you (due to the nature of your job)? Or is that out of the question? xx

 

[miss cakes]

what im worried about mostly is childcare i dont know how im going to get my older ones to 2 differant schools and this LO to nursery before getting to work and i cant even drive im totally on my own aswell so got noone to ask for help then theres childcare costs on top of the mounting bills ive got already its gonna be very very hard! at the moment im trying not to think about it and just concentrate on having my little girl then ill worry about all that crap afterwards! lol im thankful i qualify for the surestart grant or this baby would be sleeping in a drawer at this rate aaaargh! x

 

[chelleyve]

I am exactly the same!

I just try and think that it's too late now lol And once baby is here we will do whatever we need to to make it work.

My mum and dad weren't well off at all! And they made it work so that means i can too.

I am going with the same belief - Mum & Dad got through this in the 80s, so we will now - plus we have the added benefit of OH being stable employment unlike Dad who was self employed.

It's going to be tight and I have to go back to work - but I am taking as much Mat Leave as possible - and will also be considering my career when off!

 

[DaisyDoodles]

Daisy, you are a wonder - how on earth you were back to work after 2 days is a wonder to me and I think you are remarkable for doing so. This may sound completely naive but is there any possibility that you can take LO to work with you (due to the nature of your job)? Or is that out of the question? xx

Going back after 2 days wasn't by choice!

And I work from home now so I am lucky in that I can have baby with me, I'm just not looking forward to working right up until I have the baby (god help me if I go into labour with 3 kiddies here and have to wait for their parents to turn up!) and then only having 2 weeks to adjust to sleepless nights... I'm used to handing kids back at the end of the day and getting a decent nights sleep!