Who went into debt whilst on mat leave?

[Blah11]

We were coping just fine but now I'm down to 120£ a week we just don't have enough for bills! We're ending up £200 short a month so we're both gonna have rather large overdrafts. As soon as I go back to work I'll be getting almost £100 more a week so it'll be easy peasy to pay my OD off again.. I hope.. so I'm not worrying about going into debt. Never been in debt in my life though so it's not a nice feeling

 

[lollylou1]

i managed to save enough to cover my SMP but its still a bit tight, my SMP runs out on 9th aug, so i am not looking forward to that as we dont go to work until jan

Lou
xxx

 

[Blah11]

i managed to save enough to cover my SMP but its still a bit tight, my SMP runs out on 9th aug, so i am not looking forward to that as we dont go to work until jan

Lou
xxx

I had 4000£ saved but we bought a new house in May so it all went on legal fee's and bits and pieces for the house and since I'm only 21, and was only in work for a year and a half before I left on Mat leave I didn't have years and years to save. Oh well! Hate money sometimes

 

[kaylynn040485]

Well up until this point we had been managing fine and i only ever got the basic mat but OH has lost his job although is in the process of starting up for himself but family have helped us alot otherwise we would be in serious trouble but hoping to ride the storm and hopefully wil b over soon! And on another subject, Blah i would never have thought u were only 21, u come across as so mature!

 

[sophie c]

we've found it really hard as rhys got made redundant! just at the right time hey? im down to £480 a month smp but then we get rhys job seekers, but were always short and im well into my overdraft! gosh i hate money worries!

xxx

 

[Blah11]

Well up until this point we had been managing fine and i only ever got the basic mat but OH has lost his job although is in the process of starting up for himself but family have helped us alot otherwise we would be in serious trouble but hoping to ride the storm and hopefully wil b over soon! And on another subject, Blah i would never have thought u were only 21, u come across as so mature!

what a nice thing to say!


+ Oh no Thats terrible about your OHs job.. typical it happening when you're on mat leave.

 

[Blah11]

we've found it really hard as rhys got made redundant! just at the right time hey? im down to £480 a month smp but then we get rhys job seekers, but were always short and im well into my overdraft! gosh i hate money worries!

xxx

See we'd never be able to survive on that. Our bills alone come to 220£ weekly and thats without food, nappies and stuff for amelie or the car costs I dunno how you do it, I take my hat off to you X

 

[polo_princess]

My SMP finishes at the end at the end of next month .. so i'll let you know lol

We're managing ok on my SMP, just about scraping by with the bills each month, luckily ive managed to put a couple of hundred away to help ease things when i dont get paid.

But i get paid from November again even though im back to work until january.

 

[Blah11]

My SMP finishes at the end at the end of next month .. so i'll let you know lol

We're managing ok on my SMP, just about scraping by with the bills each month, luckily ive managed to put a couple of hundred away to help ease things when i dont get paid.

But i get paid from November again even though im back to work until january.

Wish I could take the year off but we just can't afford to Sucks. Thats good that you get the 2 months paid though, is it annual leave?

 

[littlestar]

i haven't started my mat leave yet but we've worked out our outgoings and we will just scrape by.
my SMP will also be subject to company car tax as i am able to keep my car during my MAT leave which is good in a way as i get to keep a little of my independence, but we could have done with the extra bit of money.

i am going back to work after the 9 month SMP period, as we can't afford to have no income at all from me.

we're looking into as many money saving things as we can though - like i am determined to breast feed and we're investing in reusable nappies, which tbh are really cute! fingers crossed it all works out.

 

[Abz1982]

well I was in debt before I went on leave! Max OD and Maxed Credit card that never managed to pay off! My maternity pay stops in February and I still have to find £400 from somewhere! Looks like its going to have to come from OH! If/when I go back to work I will have £100 a month left over after paying childcare and my loan repayment, but as much as it would help us financially I am not sure its worth it for emma to be in childcare almost 50 hours a week!! Plus it means I wont actualy have time to care for my horse or do anything else like have a relationship with my oh. lol. Well thats how it feels!

 

[FEDup1981]

We did, we were £800 a month worse off, and what ultimately landed us in bankruptcy. Id still do it all again for my boy tho.

 

[Blah11]

We did, we were £800 a month worse off, and what ultimately landed us in bankruptcy. Id still do it all again for my boy tho.

Oh dear, that's a harsh ending for you

 

[Blah11]

I'm £200 into my OD this month! OOps. Also have £100 coming out to book a place in Amelies nursery ffs. just gonna have to be tight this month annd count the pennies

 

[FEDup1981]

We did, we were £800 a month worse off, and what ultimately landed us in bankruptcy. Id still do it all again for my boy tho.

Oh dear, that's a harsh ending for you

It was tough at the time, but has been the best thing we did. We were stupid, but have certainly learnt our lesson!

 

[Linzi]

We really struggled but I didnt tell my OH how bad it was. Fortunately I had some savings which was meant to be for a deposit for a new house but I thought it was more important to take some from there and keep a roof over our heads.

Its really really hard hun Im sorry you're struggling. I dont really know what to suggest.

xxx

 

[Maffie]

I have debts before I have even started on mat leave. I am still taking a year off but will be hard. It's harder as there is child maintenance to pay for OH's kids and a very very costly divorce thats dragging on and costing loads

 

[mellllly]

We had some savings for when I was on maternity leave but then Grahams brother died a couple of weeks after Sophie was born and he had to take unpaid leave as he hadnt been at the company long, then he went back for a week and then the company made him redundant as there wasnt enough work. He went onto jobseekers so it turned out he didnt work for neary 3months which wasted our savings and now we are well in our overdraft.

We scrape through each month, It would have been easier with the savings but the situation couldnt really be helped

 

[Happy]

We are £900 a month down with me being on maternity leave but we are doing ok so far, luckily my OH gets bonus' every 3 months if he hits his targets which he has done all year so far so this tops up my smp each month.

I have decided to go back to work one day a week from October as I have just found out you can do 'keeping in touch' for 10 days and get paid without it affecting your smp. My smp runs out in December and I go back to work 3 days a week in January so for 4 weeks will be relying solely on OH's salary. We haven't really go into debt but I think we are quite lucky with our salarys so have never really had to struggle, I can imagine it is very difficult though.

 

[Sarahkka]

Although we have had a significant reduction in our income this year, we also saved and planned a lot for mat leave and have not had to go into debt or even touch our savings so far. However, it is becoming very clear that we are going to need a second car very soon. And even though we plan to buy secondhand, we still need a vehicle that's in good nick and is big enough for a family and all the everyday baggage like strollers, etc
Normally, we would work like crazy and save up to have 50 - 75% of the price of the car upon purchase. This time, we may have to borrow the whole amount, so while we may have survived the mat year no problem, we will be nailed by a "family" expense anyway.
There's no winning, eh?