Saving for my maternity leave in July 2013

A question about : Saving for my maternity leave in July 2013

Hi,
I haven't posted on here before, hope this is the right place for this, have just been lurking and taking all the good advice on board, but I feel like I need something to focus my savings on and to save money as I'll be starting my maternity leave on 1st July 2013, which will hopefully be for 12 months.

So far I've managed to put Ј5640 in an ISA and should quite a bit to put in a new ISA in April. This is thanks to a PPI claim and a bonus from work.

I'm hoping to be able to then put about Ј400 - Ј500/ month into either my ISA or a normal savings account. I'm trying to put my savings into somewhere that has a decent interest rate, but also where I can access if needed as i'll be needing to break into my savings from about the end of August until the end of June 2014 to supplement my maternity pay to pay the housebills etc.

I should also get a Ј2000 share bonus in September, about Ј1000 in December and then between Ј2000 - Ј4000 in March 2014 which all come from shares where I work. I've been quite economical on these amounts as the payments have gone down recently.

I've also looked at areas where I think we can cut back and they are:
Groceries.
Petrol.
Heating.
Electric.
Any extra cash will go into the savings account.

For info, in the house there is me, my partner, two dogs and a cat.

I'm also having a clear out and ebaying a load of stuff at the moment, which will all go into the savings account.

For baby stuff I'm quite lucky as I'm getting a load of stuff from my brother secondhand, loads of baby clothes from a friend, pram from parents, carseat from inlaws. Once I know what it is then I can budget for anything we need and don't have. This will have to come out of the savings account.

We are also getting new windows fitted downstairs, some carpentry work done on doors as they are broken and I need to get a few quotes to have the bedrooms and stairs carpeted which will all come out of the savings account.

But I've worked out the figures and budgets for each month and I'm hoping that by the end of my maternity leave I'll still have about Ј3-4k left, hopefully!!!

I've also taken into account child benefit, 10 keep in touch days, work car allowance (which they are letting me keep for SMP) in my budgets.

I'm toying with the idea of starting to grow my own salad, carrots and potatoes, to save money, but not sure if this will be a bit ambitious with a baby on the way???

I've not included any money from my partner as he doesn't earn enough to put into the savings, although he does contribute to the house bills and he needs to pay off his credit cards as a priority.

So I'm hoping to be able to post tomorrow that I've made Ј10 to put into the savings account from selling a couple of DVD's, the guy is coming to pick them up tomorrow.

Cheers

Best answers:

• I'll also do a statement of affairs which I'll post tomorrow, as it would be good to see if anybody has any suggestions of other areas we could cut back on and therefore put into the savings account.
• So this is my SOA I think I have managed to include everything, very open to suggestions on where we can save money:
  Statement of Affairs:
  Income:
  Salary - Ј2158.45 / month
  OH’s money towards mortgage & bills - Ј350.00 / month.
  Total Income: Ј2,508.45 / month.
  Outgoings:
  Mortgage - Ј642.87 / month – I have looked at changing this but we are on quite a good deal with the Coventry and if we change to a 2 year fix, we will only save the cost of the new mortgage application fee I think.
  Buildings & Contents Insurance – Ј23.43 / month – I do check this every year when its up for renewal and I know we have the cheapest quote available.
  Council Tax - Ј101.34 / month.
  Water Rates - Ј38.69 / month.
  Gas - Ј50/month – we are on LPG and 1 bottle costs us Ј50, so averages out over the year.
  Electricity - Ј44 / month.
  Home Phone & Internet - Ј30.18 / month – we can only have BT in our village so are pretty stuck.
  TV Licence - Ј12.12 / month.
  Mobile Phone - Ј7.00 / month – I recently changed contracts and this was the best one available for my usage.
  Pet Insurance - Ј28.16 / month – this is for 3 separate insurances for 2 dogs and a cat.
  Gas / Plumbing Cover - Ј16.58 / month – this is with british gas.
  Food and Household Shopping - Ј270.00 / month – I’m currently adding up all the receipts for the month, so will have a better idea at the end of this week.
  Car Insurance - Ј45.31 / month – this is for my car only, I did have a company car and this is why the insurance looks quite high, I’m hoping this will reduce again next year.
  Petrol - Ј120.00 / month – this is a guess at the moment as again I’m keeping hold of all my receipts to work it out.
  Personal Loan Repayments - Ј350.00 / month
  0% loan for mountain bike - Ј150 / month – this ends in November.
  Pet Food - Ј17.00 / month – for cat and dog food.
  Dog haircut - Ј5.00 / month – 1nr dog needs haircut every so often and we take him to the lady down the road who charges Ј25.
  Cineworld card - Ј14.99 / month
  Pilates class - Ј20.35 / month – at local council gym.
  Dental Insurance - Ј14.00 / month – when I moved house I couldn’t get a Dentist so went private.
  Haircuts - Ј55 / month – this is for a cut and colour, I do sometimes colour it myself.
  Christmas Presents - Ј16.00 / month – for my familys presents.
  Birthday Presents - Ј16.00 / month – again just for my side of the family.
  Holiday - Ј100.00 / month – I would like this to be more as travelling is one of my passions, and I quite often end up paying for OH as he can’t afford it and I don’t want to go by myself, although this may change.
  Total outgoings - Ј2,188.02 / month
  Balance - Ј320.43 / month
  The balance needs to go into my savings account for when I am on maternity leave.
  Savings:
  Cash ISA Ј5640.00
  Savings Ј3,600.00
  Other Income:
  Share Dividend from Work in March - Ј2,100.00.
  Share Dividend from Work in September - Ј2,000.00 (although not sure we will get this).
  Share Payout Dec / Jan - Ј1,000.00 (again not sure we will receive this).
  Other Info:
  I also have a bad magazine habit, so I’m going to try and stop this and ask for magazine subscriptions as birthday / Christmas presents.
  I know I haven’t included a clothes allowance, not sure how much I spend, its not too much as if I need new stuff I’ll try and get it from Ebay or in the sales.
  I’m also trying to cut back on buying lunches at work and snacks.
  Like I say would welcome peoples comments / feedback / ideas on where we can cut back?
  Thanks
• Growing salads and eating small snacks for lunch are not really priority items for you, IMO. Neither is selling DVD's. It's irrelevant compared to most of the big hitters on your list. It would be a sort of 'active' form of procrastination - pretending to make an effort when it's really not that material.
  Even buying ready made salad bags every day would cost a maximum of 30 pounds a month. You're spending 55 quid on haircuts. My female friends probably spend more like 55 pounds in a year.
  270 pounds a month on food sounds high to me. Is there any contribution from your husband? I spend a maximum of 100 on myself, generally lower.
  If you are paying for car insurance monthly, don't - they charge 20-30% APR. Pay the lump sum and you'll be better off long term.
  On some level the most important thing is not necessarily giving these things up so that you can 'save' more, but so that when you are reliant on your savings you have less commitments.
  I would also look at the longer term prospect of whether it seems sensible for a mother to have only Ј10k in savings. It sounds like a lot, but it's only 5 months' wages. How secure do you think your job is?
  Apologies if this seems rather oppressive, by the way - just trying to give a viewpoint.
  I tend to think that 'old style' money saving techniques like selling bits around the house / growing food / selling craft items etcetera are far more useful for people with limited income. You're earning Ј65/day - best off spending your time on leisure so that you're relaxed for work rather than stressing about the pennies.
• Hi, thanks for the reply and the suggestions
  Growing salads and eating small snacks for lunch are not really priority items for you, IMO. Neither is selling DVD's. It's irrelevant compared to most of the big hitters on your list. It would be a sort of 'active' form of procrastination - pretending to make an effort when it's really not that material. - i know that taking lunch to work and selling stuff on ebay is not going to make that much difference but I would normally spend Ј3/4/day on lunch at work, if you total that up over a year thats quite a lot. Also I need to have a clear out so putting stuff on ebay if it makes a few extra pennies is worth it.
  Even buying ready made salad bags every day would cost a maximum of 30 pounds a month. You're spending 55 quid on haircuts. My female friends probably spend more like 55 pounds in a year. - I should have probably clarified this, its only been the last couple of months i've been doing this as its for a cut and colour, normally I would colour it myself but whilst I've been pregnant I can't stand the smell etc, normally it would be Ј25 for a cut and blowdry and then about Ј5 for a home colour kit. I'll look into getting it done at the local college and see how much I could save doing it that way, but I do need it cutting and colouring properly to look presentable for work.
  270 pounds a month on food sounds high to me. Is there any contribution from your husband? I spend a maximum of 100 on myself, generally lower. - This is a guess at the moment as I'm saving all my receipts to see how much I actually spend on groceries, this includes all household stuff ie cleaning products, toiletries and food, going to add it all up at the end of the month, hopefully I'll have spent less! Would love it to be Ј100 for me for the month. My OH (not husband) only contributes the Ј350 to the bills and then buys an occasional amount of shopping, but won't contribute to the meal planning that I have been trying to do, even though I have asked for his input, but he says he doesn't want anything and will eat anything I plan for, but then when I have done meals he has complained that he isn't that keen on them and goes and buys food himself. So yes this is a problem at the moment and not sure how to deal with it :0(
  If you are paying for car insurance monthly, don't - they charge 20-30% APR. Pay the lump sum and you'll be better off long term. - agree, I couldn't afford to pay a lump sum at the time i renewed but will look at doing this next year.
  I would also look at the longer term prospect of whether it seems sensible for a mother to have only Ј10k in savings. It sounds like a lot, but it's only 5 months' wages. How secure do you think your job is? - agree, but when you add my maternity pay to that and child benefit etc, by the end of my maternity leave I should be left with about Ј3-4k which I hope to then add to when I go back to work. My job is pretty secure, I've been there for nearly 6 years and if I did get made redundant then I should get a job doing a similar thing quite easily (fingers crossed).
  Apologies if this seems rather oppressive, by the way - just trying to give a viewpoint. - nope its good to have another persons objective view :0) I was ready for the constructive criticism otherwise I wouldn't have posted.
  I tend to think that 'old style' money saving techniques like selling bits around the house / growing food / selling craft items etcetera are far more useful for people with limited income. You're earning Ј65/day - best off spending your time on leisure so that you're relaxed for work rather than stressing about the pennies. - I'm quite enjoying saving as much as possible, and I have lived a quite extravagant lifestyle in the past and need to get into good habits as eventually I'd like to be in a position to start making overpayments on the mortgage and build up a really good savings pot. I'm not getting too stressed over the money as if the worst come to the worst I can go back to work earlier than 12 months, but want to do as much as I can to make the 12 months possible, as when I do go back it will probably full time.
  Thanks for the input
• Hi GF,
  There's a Baby Fund Challenge here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4224759
  Quite a few of your bills are a lot cheaper than ours; like your water, electricity, gas, mobile phone, council tax.
  I now take my lunch to work rather than buying it in. I've saved a lot of money and I'm losing weight. A win win.
  Like Derivative said, if you are able to pay for things like insurance at once rather than monthly the cost is cheaper. I have a virtual pot and save a bit each month to pay annual bills.
  We have 2 cats and don't pay pet insurance. It's the risk you need to decide whether you want to take. Years ago one of them needed an emergency operation. That cost Ј400 plus follow-ups. I would say we've saved money over the years by not paying insurance.
  We also don't have gas or plumbing cover but I have wondered about getting it.
  Our food and household shopping costs around Ј150 a month for the 2 of us and the cats. I'm lucky that I work across from a mini supermarket so try to nip in after work and pick up the sell-by food and we do our other shopping in L1dl/Ald1. Cutting out takeaways also cut our food bill.
  For things like exercise classes; search UTube. There are loads of DVDs on there.
  I've cut down on the frequency of hair cuts to save a few more pennies. Mine cost Ј25-Ј30 a time. I used to have it cut every 6 weeks, then knocked it down to 8 weeks and my last cut was 5 months ago. I have long hair so it's easy to get away with.
  I think your magazine subscription for Xmas/birthday is a good idea. I have that on my Am@z0n present list. Keep an eye on this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=1075149 for offers on your favourite mags.
  Consider getting a monthly saving account. F1rst D1rect have a one year saver that pays 6% AER and you can save up to Ј300 a month. On maturity move the money into your ISA or spend on your maternity leave.
  Good luck.
• Hi Peonie,
  Thanks for the link I'll check it out .
  I'll try and get the car and house insurance pots sorted out for next year now then.
  Unfortunatly one of our dogs and the cat quite regularly go to the vets so we have got our money back on their insurance two fold, so more than happy to pay this.
  I'm going to try and do meal plans for this month and then take out only the money I need for petrol and groceries and to try and stick to that, so I'll see how it goes. Going to try it on Ј200/month for groceries and see how I get on and maybe try and cut it down from there if it goes ok.
  Just put a load of stuff on ebay as part of my clear out and so far made Ј30 which has gone on baby stuff, but got that from ebay in excellent condition and for half the cost of brand new stuff!
  Cheers
  GF
• So this morning just set up a new cash isa for this year, was very excited about getting up early to get this done
  Have made quite a bit on ebay over the last week or so, of which some has paid for baby stuff from ebay and the balance has been transferred into my current account.
  I still have a declutter to do in our office/ outbuilding where I'll either ebay or free cycle anything we no longer use.
  Been trying to get OH to turn off and pull our phone chargers, laptop plugs etc to try and cut down on electric, but this is proving to be a challenge!
  Although I have got him now logged into the TCB site so he can earn extra cash back when he buys bits for the bikes he fixes
  Also off to do another menu plan today, hopefully for the rest of the month and I'm planning on batch cooking and freezing next weekend when OH is working away all weekend.
  Still need to plan my grow your own stuff, but not been too keen on doing this yet as its still freezing up here so going to wait a week or so.
  Got a sewing machine though this week as something to keep me sane / mind occupied whilst I am pregnant as I can't do any of the outdoor sports I would normally do as I get way too tired. Already I have sorted our door curtain out which will hopefully help to reduce the heating costs and have a draught excluder to make.
  My brothers visiting today and bringing me loads of their baby stuff which will be good as that means we won't have to buy certain things.
  Going to work out how much I've earned overall on ebay later and will transfer to savings account, will post on here.
  GF x
• That's some great activities and you have done all that while you are tired. Go you.
  I live in the north west of England so not a million miles from you. And the ground is hard here too. I've on planted a few sweet pea seeds but nothing for food. Actually, I'll plant some seeds indoors this weekend to get them started.
  I'm impressed you have made a door curtain. I've sewn for years and have not attempted one yet.
• Ah well peonie, I'd normally be out mountain biking / mountaineering or something so really find it hard to not do anything at the moment and I was on annual leave last week which helped :0)
  I'm impressed with you planting indoor seeds, I still haven't got round to doing any gardening yet, sweet peas are gorgeous aren't they.
  Don't be too impressed with the door curtain, all I did was sew the bottom up so it fitted properly and didn't drag on the floor, I bought the curtain itself a while ago, so cheated a lot!! Think I need to practice sewing in a straight line before trying to make an actual curtain ;0)
• That is active, I've kept my activities down to gardening and going on my exercise bike until the weather improves.
  Well, I did not get round to planting the food seeds but planted flowering bulbs instead. Much cheaper than buying them grown.
  Even sewing the bottom of a curtain is more than I have done.
• So I haven't been doing very well on the money saving front in the last couple of weeks as not been feeling great, been having back problems and other pregnancy related issues. Mostly on the food shopping that my money saving has gone down hill as I've not been able to finish off my batch cooking :0(
  Will try and post a revised savings pot etc in the next couple of days.
  We are getting the windows and carpets fitted on Friday though so that will be good and it had already been budgeted for.
  And I am really dim soemtimes, just found out that I should be able to get either a cheaper mortgage deal or reduce my mortgage term from 24 years to 17/18 years! So currently looking for a good remortgage deal to get that sorted out.
  Still working on other halfs money saving though as he is still going on about take aways etc, when I've told him that we are trying to save money and I'd much rather have a fresh home cooked meal as they generally tend to taste better.
• I hope you feel better soon. Getting the new windows and carpets will be lovely. How much mortgage payment do you think you save each month? Tonight we went to the shops to buy food rather than get a takeaway.
• Thats good not getting a takeaway and going to the shops instead, particularly when your probably looking at between Ј10-Ј20 for a takeaway for 2.
  If I didn't shorten the mortgage term and kept to 24 years I'd probably save about Ј150/month, but I think i'd rather reduce the term to about 18 years and keep the payments approx. the same as they are now, and then make overpayments when I can afford it. Just got to find a mortgage now!
• So again not been too good a week on the money saving front as food shopping hasn't been going to plan as I've just been feeling so rubbish with my bad back, tiredness etc with being pregnant.
  On the plus side the carpets and new windows have been fitted so that should save money on the heating bill next winter, we've already noticed the difference on the noise reduction :0)
  Also managed to get some spotty c*th k*dston like oilcloth fabric for reupholstering two chairs for Ј10 instead of what would have been Ј25 delivered with c*th k*ston, so very pleased with that and going to try and get them reupholstered this weekend.
  And I got a PPI claim back for Ј615 which was for credit card PPI and a bit of a shot in the dark, as I couldn't remember if I'd taken any out or not, so definatly recommend sending those PPI letters! This has gone straight into my savings pot.
  I still need to sort my signature out and try and get back onto keeping track of what I'm spending.
• So just tried to remortgage with the Yorkshire Building Society who have said that they won't give me the required amount I need to remortgage, which seems crazy as i'm not asking to borrow any more money just literally transfer my existing mortgage over and they are saying its unaffordable????? Does anybody know how they calculate their mortgages?
  On another note though I have now got the account details to be able to make overpayments on my existing mortgage when I want so thats good.
  Oh and I had another PPI letter come back for Ј651 which has gone straight into the savings account, and then another which they said they weren't upholding my complaint so I need to do the letter to the ombudsman.
  And I'm hoping to get a Ј30 chargeback on my current account for a sportive that I entered a while ago, which then got cancelled due to the weather and the organisers wouldn't give me my money back or even reply to my emails.
  On ebay I've given up for a while, have decided to give all the items that haven't sold to my inlaws for the carboot sales they go to every weekend.
  Good news is that I finish work this Thursday for my maternity leave, whoop!! So at the end of the week I think that I am going to update my thread and close it down and start a new one in the mortgage free wannabe forum :0)
• Remember to put a link in your last post so I can find your new thread easily.
  Sorry, I'm not with YBS so can't help you. Maybe check they have your correct figures.
  Well done on the PPI.
• Hi peonie, yep unfortunately I phoned them today to clarify why they said it was unaffordable and rechecked all the figures but still no joy, I find it really strange, so going to try a financial advisor as I could save up to Ј150 which would make a nice overpayment, and / or give me a bit of a buffer when on maternity leave.
  Good news though the cycle sportive company have agreed to give me the Ј30 back for the event that got cancelled :0)
  Yep I'll definatly post the link to my new thread on here, I've been following yours as well peonie :0)