Is anyone else worried financially?

[Lousie598]

A friend of mine had a baby 3 months ago now. Everything was fine until she hit the half pay part of her maternity leave. They are now in a monthly deficit! She is not planning on going back to work full time either so the deficit is here to stay. This got me thinking and I compiled a spreadsheet of how we would be financially. With the assumption of child tax credits still be permitted for us 'rich' middle class families after the next election (we are on a mega £37K before tax between us).

The horrifying result was that providing the bills stay at this years amounts (not going to happen!) When on the second half of my maternity leave and if I then went to work for three days a week we would have the massive amount of £50 spare a month. That is budgeting for no luxuries just normal bills/childcare. That is seriously tight! If I went back to work full time then child care eats away around half of my take home pay but we would have around £200 a month left over which is less frightening! But then I think about a poor 1 year old baby in child care from 9 - 5 5 days a week. My mum was able to take four years from work to care for me and my sister. If I was to do that I would be saving until I was in my 40's!

We did play with the numbers to try to reduce child care bills - me 3 days, hubby 4 days so only one day child care needed. We could not even pay the bills!

We do have savings but they are there for emergencies - hole in roof, boiler breaks etc not just paying the bills!

I know that if the baby was 'accidental' then we would just have to cope but doing the maths before a planned baby it just seems far to expensive or doom the poor baby to spending its days in child care and not with it's mum!

Is anyone else freaking out financially or do you all have nice rich husbands! I need a better job!

 

[PeanutBean]

Yes I'm very worried about my next. I've just been doing the sums recently and they are not good. I only got SMP with Byron and I am much the higher earner so we didn't heve much coming in at all. I predicted at least £6k in debt by the end of my leave but luckily for us the recession happened and our mortgage almost halved. W are a bit in debt but I have two months of work where I'm only working 2 days with the rest on annual leave so won't be spending much more (and childcare was paid in advance) so we can pay off almost all the debt before the new year. We've also not have to hold back and have had work done on the house and suchlike so we've been so lucky.

For once childcare comes into the equation it's a different matter. I want to go back part time but we would only afford this is a got a pro rata pay rise of £3.5k which would make us about £300pa less well off than my being full time now. We seem to be just under some boundary in the CTC as with 3 days in childcare we only get £550pa but if we had 4 then we would get over £1000! We expect to have about £900 spare over the whole of the coming year. When I have another baby we are going to have up to double the childcare costs which will be almost my husband's whole salary. It's just no good. If stayed at home we would be about £5k pa short. The real issue though is that when the interest rates go up we will be up shit creek. It's totally terrifying. I am just praying that something will come up before then, DH get a better job, or sell his book and make lots of money in advance, or some such thing.

 

[Althara]

Money is one of the main reasons I know I have to wait!
The OH and I are both University students. Rounding down, that's 6k a year on the loan to pay back each. 3 years at uni, £18k each and £36 between us. To get myself through law school, if I do not manage to find a training contract between now and when I start (likely, given the current economic climate) that's a £10k loan just for the course. Probably another £3k on housing.

At least £49k of debt between the two of us. Before interest. And that's some scary stuff xD

Seeing as we don't let live together (2011, hopefully!!) I can't empathise with you on the bills front... But this whole student debt thing is starting to get me down already

 

[Baronessgogo]

I wish i had a nice rich husband, instead me and him make £20,000 a year between us, and he has a degree! (tho i do only work the equivalent of 3 days per week). So this means if you can't afford a baby then i definately can't!!!

 

[toffee87]

I really wouldn't worry about student debt, it's the BEST loan you'll ever get in terms of interest rates and payment flexibility. It could get me down if I thought about it, mine's £13,000 and will be £18,000 after I've started and completed teacher training. The point is, if you get to 55+ and still haven't paid it, it gets written off! So really don't panic. It's taken out when you're earning a decent salary, and only a small amount. My OH gets £20,000 a year (new teacher) and think £40 comes out for the student loan. So, we're still left with £1160 a month (after tax, loan and pension etc).

Plus, you don't have to start paying for a year after you've graduated, and that's only if you're earning enough. I've not started yet, and I graduated last year. It's only about £100 a year interest, which is nothing really!

Anyway...whilst I'm not worried about student loans, I am worried about finances in general. Luckily teachers get a good maternity pay anyway, so providing I teach for 12+ months beforehand, I'll have a decent amount. I would sh*t myself if I got pregnant now, on subway wage (min wage).

We started living together 3 months ago, and combined (before tax) we get £32,000 a year and would not be able to even consider a baby at the mo.

 

[angie79]

oh yes i really worry and again the same as others the reason we are waiting. I will be on the lower end of the pay bracket and my oh due to his work being outside works seasonal which means winter we live on nothing as it is. I have decided that i would take 7 months off work including the time before baby would come and i will get full pay for 3 months of that. I worked out that to live after that we would need £500 - £600 a month plus £500 for emergencys - total £2500 to save and thats before we buy anything for the baby.
Has anyone else thought that the baby could be looked after (nappies and all basics) with the child benefit and child tax credits which i would get being on low pay.
I'm aiming on saving around £3500 to £4000 - is that realistic?

 

[Bambi1985]

Yep, this is the main reason we are waiting.

Moved in together a couple of months ago so the majority of our savings went on deposit, furniture etc so now don't have that much for when I go on maternity.

Although OH has a fairly good salary, he also has 3 children from a previous relationship which he has to provide for, so maintenance & days out when their with us takes up a fair bit along with rent and bills. We would probably manage but it would be fairly tight. If I went back to work full time, my salary would only just cover childcare costs so I would rather sacrifice the little take home pay i would get to spend time with LO.

HOwever, saying that, our ideal situation would be for me to go back p/t and rely on my mum & MIL for childcare. OH works shifts so some weeks would be home during day so then they wouldn't be needed.

I'm sure when it does happen we'll manage to sort something out but all this money stuff is so confusing lol!

 

[PeanutBean]

angie - we haev spent about £1000 on Byron during my maternity leave. We were given quite a lot of stuff and some stuff was bought for us but we haven't really found it to be very expensive at all. The childcare will be though!

Althara, I agree with broody about not worrying about student debt. It is indeed the best loan you can get and if you're doing law you'll be raking it in eventually. I don't even consider my student loan. Defer every year and don't think of it from one year to the next. After 8 years I'm still quite far off earning enough to have to pay it back. Not sure I ever will.

 

[fairygirl]

broody21, i'm paying off loads of debt from credit cards and loans. But as a teacher myself I'm just about to get signed off on Mainscale point 4, which I consider to be real money for such a demanding job! But it is absolutely one of the best professions pension and maternity wise! With luck I'll be starting maternity leave next Sept, dunno if I'll get my next mainscale point if I'm on leave but it should be based on my performance this academic year. Anyhow, good news is if we save, save, save now most of my debt will be cleared by Sept, then when I go back the following year I can afford to do a 3 day week and still take home a decent wage. But I can absolutely relate to everyone talking about finances, I had to share a house with my brother for almost 2 years just to be able to keep up straight and cut up the credit cards. OH came along and his unemployed months were some of the worse ever, we were living in a room basically. Now he works at a casino so works nights and gets tips. We are really hoping that he gets more training and by the time LO comes along he can wangle the same 2 days off a week, maybe more day shifts and my stepmum can cover childcare any other time, saying that she might have to get a job with more hours as my dad got made redundant and is only temporarily employed. We will have to wait what the future brings, and I shall now refrain from gettig on my high horse about the benefits system (GRRR).

 

[toffee87]

fairygirl, like you I have debt from credit cards *shudder* , overdrafts and money I owe my Dad. Oh joy, eh! We're determined to get straight though, and so far we've been refraining from spending! Don't feel the need now we have kittens and a big tv hehe.

What do you teach? xxx

 

[fairygirl]

I teach a primary split year 1/2 class. Second year with the little ones after 2 years in yr5. What are you looking to do and which ITT?

 

[fairygirl]

Oh and I just had to pay back 1400 after my Graduate overdraft finally was nomore So that's set us back a little bit.

 

[Althara]

Thanks for all the reassurance about paying off the student debts ladies! That's definitely a weight off my mind, we can just worry about 'proper' debt we're bound to get into xD

 

[amylk87]

Like others, its the reason we're waiting. Once i finish Uni though, even with my debt - me and OH will comfortable. I think we're just lucky though. Our friends, who have a 3 yr old and baby due in december, are struggling.

 

[runnergrl]

I am in the US so Im not sure what the currency difference is, but yes, this is my main concern. I am the main financial contributor as my husband just started a sales job and its 100% comission. I pay the mortgage and all of the bills as of now while he tries to become successful in his chosen field. This is and probably always will be the only reason we ever fight. I had this dream in my head that my husband would be my protector/provider and never EVER thought I would be the one supporting him.. I guess life's funny that way. I hope he gets it together soon, as we want to star trying this summer. oh and I too, am a teacher...

 

[angie79]

angie - we haev spent about £1000 on Byron during my maternity leave. We were given quite a lot of stuff and some stuff was bought for us but we haven't really found it to be very expensive at all. The childcare will be though!

£1000 omg blimey - may i ask on what

xx

 

[PeanutBean]

angie - we haev spent about £1000 on Byron during my maternity leave. We were given quite a lot of stuff and some stuff was bought for us but we haven't really found it to be very expensive at all. The childcare will be though!

£1000 omg blimey - may i ask on what

xx

Is the omg because you think it's a lot or a little? I definitely think it's a little! It's been on bedding, toys/books, play mats, clothes, next size car seat (we had a travel system bought for us), small buggy, toiletries, steriliser and couple of bottles (I BF so not many), cups/bowls/cutlery, real nappies and accessories. Think that's about it.

What we didn't have to buy:
Bought for us - cot, chest of drawers, travel system
Lent to us - rocker chair, bouncy chair, moses basket and bedding, cot mobile, some toys, clothes, breast pump, baby carriers.

I reckon that's the bulk of the stuff we use. Can't think of much else.

 

[lozzy21]

37K and your worried about money?

If we earnt 37k we would be rollling it it.

We earn 25k between us. Iv worked out what we would be on when im on mat leave of £125 a week whien my ssp goes down. We will be able to survive on this but we are planning on having saved nearly 3k to spend on baby things and to top up our income untill i go back to work. My mam will be looking after lo so we wont have to pay for childcare.

 

[PeanutBean]

In theory we are on £37k too but it hasn't actually ever been more than £25 due to a combination of DH starting off part time before moving to full time and then me being on maternity leave. Believe me with an £800 mortgage as was we had little to spare before and now we'll be paying £500 childcare a month things are going to be very tight indeed.

 

[goddess25]

Its certainly a worry... my advice would be to try and get debt free. My husband Nd I were lucky enough to pay off all our debts and I managed to save about 5000 pounds to supplement us while i am on maternity leave. I am getting 800 pound a month of the government and now we are starting to struggle. I go back to work in Feb and want to try for another baby right away but our problem with the next one is we cant find childcare and my husband is thinking of becoming a stay at home husband and dad so it will just be my wage which means i wont be taking much maternity leave next time we will see how it goes.

Financially it always a worry, but you dont have to go daft with what you buy for the wee one in terms of pram/nursery and clothing. Prams range from cheapish to vv expensive if your a trendy wanna be cool mom. Things will work out, but its tough. If you think about it too much then we would never go for it and have kids.