Please could someone help me with SMP

A question about : Please could someone help me with SMP

Thank you everyone

Best answers:

• Sorry, can't help with calculations for SMP and income tax etc, but I would re-examine the requirement for spending on baby clubs and eating out.
• First of all congratulations on your pregnancy.
  I can't work out how much money you will be taking home. Just my tuppence to your plan.
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• I didn't spend much on maternity leave. Like others have said, you do not have the time/energy to be doing an awful lot of socialising! There are plenty of free (libraries usually)/cheap groups to join for baby and you socialise there - may not be the people you would normally choose but you can find some gems of friendship sometimes and anything is better than babytalk all day every day!
  Play dates are usually at eachothers houses/parks - it's SO much simpler than being out in public with multiple children/buggies etc etc but if you do want to get out maybe look up buggy-friendly walks etc
  Do factor in your nappies/wipes/formula(if using) as this the only real cost babies have.
  Our food costs went down, I was around to cook and make better choices. Alcohol bill although not high in the first place went right down as one glass of anything would send me to sleep!!!
  Just my opinion but I wouldn't stop pension/mortage payments etc until you actually couldn't afford it...
  Try not to worry
• Thank you Thriftylass and Katiegizmo.
  I do intend to do mainly free classes. I would love to try baby sensory or water babies.... Water babies is so much ЈЈЈ though. I think I'll give that a miss and do the baby sensory instead and just take the baby swimming at the local pool now and again, should I feel the need.
  Stopping my pension payments was probably done in haste! I was panicking abit about the drop in income. I know I am very lucky that my husband can foot the bulk of the bills and he will still have money left over for whatever we need.
  I have heard good things about Aldi nappies so I will be purchasing those.
  Thriftylass, the Ј100 towards a credit card is debt unfortunately. Its on interest free for the next year and I owe Ј3500. Minimum is Ј35 but I pay Ј100.00 a month at least . Im going to try and pay this off as much as I can before maternity leave
  We also have car finance outstanding which we are saving to clear and this will be gone in January. Wahoo! Never, getting a car on finance again.
  We have had some unexpected car repairs recently (Ј500!) which has set me back a bit.
  I currently have Ј2000 in a savings account which I can use for top ups/emergencies on maternity leave.
  Thanks for all your advise. Its just pretty scary...taking such a drop in money. Im sure we will cope though.
• Because of the timing of your maternity leave being March/April I think you will get to take home just about all of the 138 per week as you won't be anywhere near the personal allowance for tax until you actually go back to work in the new year. I don't think its necessary to spend a lot while on maternity leave - home based (or friends houses ) are often a lot less stressful than trying to juggle a baby out in public but obviously you don't want to be a recluse. If you want to do an expensive class how about asking for contributions towards it as gifts. You may find it trickier finding the money for childcare when you do go back to work as that is expensive - look into childcare vouchers if your employers do them.
• Join all the baby clubs you can find, you sometimes gets freebies/good offers. Get every points card going. Learn to shop around both online and off and plan your meals - you will have more time for this kind of thing even if it feels like you no longer have a life outside being 'mummy'
  One cost that did go up more than I expected for us was gas/electric - I needed the heating on more as I was in the house with a little one, doing more washing loads etc etc. Might be worth checking you're on the best deal you can be now although your due date means you'll avoid the freezing weather with a newborn at least!
  we did sensory, loved it. Was well worth the cost in my opinion, and worked out per session was not more than I used to spend on a lunchbreak from work! I liked that sensory had a free play time so you and baby got to know others outside the actual class structure.
  By the time we got our baby, money had lost a lot of it's importance for us. Of course it's a necessity but values do change a little.
  And your earlier question about when your mortgage fix ends, yes it should automatically move to the SVR
• I went back to work Sept and was on the same as you. It worked out at Ј500 and something a month. Changed by a few pounds every month. Dont forget everyone is entitled to Child benefit regardless of income, so that's another Ј80 odd.
  Re class, check your local surestart. One other side of town had a free sensory room that you could book for private use and up to ten could fit in. Also, they have playgroups etc. We do Rhythm time which the first is free so you can see if you like it, then about Ј4 a class but my little one loves it. Look on netmums and see whos around you too, as could always meet with other mums and babies get to socialise too. We did NCT which meant we had Mums local we already knew which was great.
  HTHs x
• As notanewuser says Ј50k bracket for partner. Only Ј80 a month roughly, but still worth applying for.