How to Survive Maternity Pay While Living Sustainably.
Going off on Maternity leave is one of the most exciting (if not scary) things. I remember walking out of work on that last day thinking I had an endless amount of time with the baby I was yet to meet. I couldn’t wait. But there was one thing on my mind and one thing that had, at that point, made me think I would only take 9 months off. That was, “how on earth were we going to survive on Maternity Leave pay.” Luckily I devised a plan that not only helped us survive it but enabled me to extended my leave to the full year, with the last three months of NO PAY. Something I never thought we would be able to afford to do. How I did it involved a lot of sustainability too.
Sustainable Ways to save money and Survive Maternity Leave Pay.
Make a Budget.
Use your Holiday Pay.
Use your KIT Days and Pause your Pension
Make Everything Reusable.
Switch to a Greener Cheaper Energy Company.
Shop Second Hand.
Give up Fast Fashion.
Don’t Fork Out for Expensive Baby Groups.
Cook and Freeze Baby Food.
Remember your Baby Does Not Need Much.
Pin me for later…..
How much will I actually receive on Maternity Pay?
That’s the big question I had.
Most employers (in the UK) will pay Statutory Maternity Pay for 39 weeks (9 months). This means you will get 90% for your average earnings before tax for the first 6 weeks. For the next 33 weeks you will receive £151.20 a week or 90% or your wage if it is lower than that figure. Some employers will pay you slightly more. I received 90% for the first 6 weeks, then 50% of my average wage for the next 3 months plus the £151.20 weekly statutory wage. Followed by just the statutory pay up until the 9 month make.
However my worry was how the £151.20 (roughly £600 a month) would look after tax, national insurance, my pension and student loan came out. Would I actually have anything left?
The answer was yes. Because I had dipped below in the threshold for tax at this point my student loan came down dramatically, as did tax and national insurance. However this will vary depending on what time of year you go off, (I went off early in the tax year, meaning I hadn’t yet earned much) and how much your average income is. It’s worth talking to a finance specialist if your worried about this or other employees at work who have had maternity leave. It was talking to other colleagues about this that made me realise it would be worth it for me to pause my pension.
Decide the max amount of maternity leave you will take so you can work out a budget.
You do not have to decide before you baby arrives how long you actually want to take off on maternity leave. My employers asked me what I thought I would like but told me I didn’t not have to confirm my return date until 3 weeks before. Check with your employers when they would need to know. I of course gave them much more time than this once I had changed my mind out of courtesy but remember it is your prerogative to change your mind. Remember having a baby will change you. I was sure I would be looking forward to go back to work, sure that nursery was the best place for my daughter to be a few days a week and sure I would go back full time. Also sure that 9 months was more than enough leave. Needless to say every bit of that changed the minute she was in my arms and I learnt a new way of life. This may not be the same for you but I think making a plan for the longest amount of time off, if that it something you are able to do, gives you the flexibility to be able to change your mind and not have the worry over it.
Can I use my holiday pay during Maternity Leave?
Yes, throughout your time off on maternity leave you will still have you holiday days to take. It’s worth using some or all depending on where in the year your mat leave falls as it can be hard to start taking holiday days once you return to work.
Before I went on mat leave I had 3 weeks to use up. I took these 3 weeks before the baby was born so I asked for my mat leave to start on my due date. At the end of mat leave I officially returned to work 1 month before my year was up, then asking to take 1 months worth of holiday to take me up to my return date. This meant that although I took the full year, with the last 3 months being unpaid I actually only had to survive two months of no wages.
Things to prepare before baby arrives to survive on a smaller budget.
There were a few things I wanted to prepare before my baby arrived to help keep costs down and to avoid shopping while on maternity leave. These practices then saw me well into the sustainable life I began to lead shortly after my daughter was born.
Buy what you can reusable.
From cloth nappies, reusable maternity pads, and cloth breast pads to a simple reusable water bottle the things I thought I was buying to save a little bit from landfill changed the way I lived and parented for the better.
Cloth nappies have saved us a ton of money over the last 2 years and although there was of course an initial outlay it meant we didn’t have to budget nappies into our shop every week or ever worry about running out. Cloth wipes too have taken one extra thing out of our shopping trolley every week. (See “Cloth Nappies on a Budget”, if your interested in getting started but want to avoid too much cost.)
Reusable maternity pads may have cost more to buy than a few (or many) packs on Always Ultra but they made me much more comfortable and will course be used every month for the foreseeable future.
Cloth Breast Pads again will be much comfier for you. Depending of course on if you breast feed and how leaky your boobs are. FYI I had to wear breast pads for a full year… maybe even a little more so thank goodness I invested in these.
Reusable Water Bottle AND a Flask, are in my opinion a Mummy essential. A. because everything is more doable with coffee, and B. because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been caught out longer than I wanted to be or had to sit on a bench because baby wasn’t going to make it home without a feed. Ergo water and coffee always needed. You can thank me later.
Buy Secondhand.
Budgeting or not I always found the idea of spending hundreds to thousands of pounds on the staple baby products a sickening thought. A pram, a crib, a cot, a rocker, a car seat. It all adds up and will take a massive dent to your savings, savings that could be used for maternity leave. Everything bar a car seat I would recommend buying second hand. You would not believe the amount of beautiful prams in amazing condition there are out there. As well as cots and cribs. Obviously I’ve got you covered with “Baby Essentials you Should be Buying Secondhand,” and “How to Shop for a Secondhand Pram.”
Asses your outgoing bills.
It’s a boring, time consuming job but everything time we look at our bills or do a compare the market search when a year of insurance is up we ALWAYS find a better deal. The best one I can send you have a look at is your electricity and thinking about weather you can switch to Green energy. You think that’s going to be more right? Wrong. We recently switch to BULB who use 100% renewable energy and saved ourselves £40 a month. Sometimes I go a few years without looking into these things and find we are paying WAY more than we need to be.
Failing switching, give your current supplier a ring and see if your in credit. They often charge us more than we need to “incase” we use more energy or water than average. Last time we did this we were £150 in credit and asked for it back. £40 here, £10 there, even a little £150 bonus will all add up when you budgeting trust me.
It’s also worth having a look through your direct debits. I did this just before maternity leave to find I was donating to serval charities and paying too much for my phone bill. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t donate to charity every month but I had been doing it for a long time and realised I just couldn’t afford to do it over this period. I’ll sign up to another in the future.
Are you able to take a mortgage break?
If your in the position to have a mortgage check with your mortgage leader if your allowed a month break. Some companies, as our previous leader did, allow you to take a mortgage break every 9 months. We wouldn’t want to do this all the time but doing it over mat leave really helped us. Our mortgage is quiet high so we saved that month of not paying to pay for the cost of living for one month when I was not getting paid. In the grand scheme on things over a 20 year period we’re not going to notice that one month of not paying.
Can you pause your pension?
In the same stance 1 year of not paying your pension probably won’t be very noticeable once you retire either. It’s something you’ll want to weigh up yourself but I felt that when I was only getting £600 a month in statutory pay paying £100 a month towards my pension was just too much for that time. I asked if I could pause it, they then automatically re-enrolled me after 12 months so it took very little effort or worry on my part.
Declutter and Sell what you can.
Thanks to a little hormone most of us know as “nesting” in the later stages on pregnancy (or if your me the whole way through pregnancy) you will want to overhaul your entire house and everything you own. Instead of this being a problem use it to you advantage and take the time to do a little audit of your house. You’ll want a little extra room for baby so while decluttering the normal boring bits and bobs have a think about anything bigger or more valuable you might like to sell. Then stay strict with yourself, do not blow it on cute baby grows and cuddle toys they’ll never touch, put it into that maternity leave fund. Again you’ll thank me later.
Give up Fast Fashion. Starting with a Wardrobe Edit.
If you’ve read anything on this blog before your probably aware that I have very strong feelings on fast fashion and the way we consume in this country. If there is ever a time to decide to stop the shopping and committed to a slower more sustainable wardrobe now is the time. Why, well because you’ve just had or are about to a have a baby. Your body is going to go through serval changes and then probably change back again or become something completely different. Your going to want to shop at every twist and turn along the way to try and help this transition. However, I urge you not to because new clothes will fix nothing. Apart from clutter up your wardrobe, then you’ll probably change shape again and never wear any of it.
This I feel is the perfect time to give your wardrobe what I like to call an “edit”. Or an audit if you will.
First of all I want you to pull everything out and see what you will probably never wear again.
Pack away things you love and want to keep but don’t fit right now or don’t make you feel good when you open your wardrobe and look at them everyday. If you find in a few months time, or even a year or two you miss them and want to back, unpack them. If not sell them on.
Find things that you enjoy wearing, fit and make you feel good. I bet there is more in there that you imagined. We are forever forgetting we have things hidden in the back.
Put these favorite things are the front, where they are easy to grab.
Make sure you have a few things that all go together to make getting dressed easy in the morning. Trust me with a baby this will be a godsend.
It’s at this point you’ll know weather you do need to buy anything. If so take your time looking. Buy just a few pieces that will see you through maternity leave. Perhaps a loose dress or jumpsuit that will accommodate a growing and shrinking bump. That’s breastfeeding friendly if necessary. That can suit a few seasons. It’s okay to treat yourself at this point, perhaps with a sustainable fashion brands or a few bits from eBay. It will after all stop you shopping through mat leave when you need to save your pennies.
Forget fast fashion for baby too.
In the first year babies grow out of clothes every 3 months. I know, just as you seem to have organised their draws perfectly nothing fits them and your doing it again. There’s a few things I did to make this easier, cheaper and of course stop me having to run to the fast fashion high street I try to avoid to heavily.
When people want to buy you gifts ask for bigger sized than just newborn. Because everyone will want to buy you cute newborn clothes, but this resulted me in having over 50 newborn baby grows. I KNOW!! When friends and family ask what they can buy, suggest clothes that they can grow into.
Let friends know you willing to except hand-me-downs. Some people don’t like to give hand-me-down, or too many of them because they don’t want to bombard you with stuff. But I’m cool with that. “Give me everything I say”, I can then sort through it and if I don’t want it all I can pass it on again, give it to charity or recycle it. FYI I usually use it all, which is why my daughter wears a different outfit every day. Second FYI your friends will be most grateful for taking it off their hands.
Get to know eBay and swap sites. If your don’t have friends with older children to get hand-me-downs from get to know the best places online for second hand clothes. eBay, Facebook Market Place, Mum’s swap sites. I go into more detail to help you with this in “How to Shop Secondhand for Kids. 7 Steps to Easy Ethical Shopping.”
You don’t need much, so don’t go overboard on baby stuff.
Obviously your going to need some stuff. A pram, a cot, probably a baby bouncer. But its also worth remembering that the baby products industry is worth £21 Million a year in the UK. They are there to sell you stuff, stuff that you’ll need for such a short amount of time, which will then undo all the lovely decluttering you just did. Keep in minimal, you can always buy stuff later if you find you need it, or buy it second hand.
Believe me that all singing, all dancing baby bouncer will not only drive you insane, it won’t keep them entertained for more than two minutes.
A rough guide on what we spent to prepare for baby.
Secondhand pram £100.
Cot and crib, free as handed down. (Always ask friend what they have sitting in their loft. Our crib has now gone through 4 babies.)
We did buy a new mattress for our cot. £100.
Highchair, free as handed down.
Baby bouncer, £10 market place.
Baby monitor, £7 market place.
Baby blankets and muslins, gifted from family who asked what they could buy us.
Cloth nappies, Roughly £400, some money gifted from my Mum to help, the rest brought over time.
Cloth Wipes. £30 on 2 sets of 25 wipes.
Breast Pads. £10 for a set of 5. Second set gifted from my Mum as another pressie.
Maternity pads and Period Pads. £50 brought over time and already had a bit of a stash from period use.
Baby clothes, all gifts. (Seriously you’ll be given so much, don’t be tempted to buy loads.)
Car seat. Handed down though I normally recommend buying new and have since brought the next size up new but this was from a close friend so we knew it’s history.
Breastfeeding Bras. £20.
Maternity clothes. £0. I adapted what I had in my wardrobe. Also lucky I was heavily pregnant in the summer months so wore floaty dresses I already had. Also maternity clothes are so boring and fumpy.. Just me?
Don’t be afraid to give your friends a list of want you want for your baby shower.
Admittedly I was a little over prepared, so when it came to my baby shower and my friends asked me want I wanted, I was like “Oh, don’t worry, I’ve got everything.” Don’t be like me. My friends of course wanted to buy me gifts anyway. Luckily they know we pretty well and did a good job with the gifts (thanks my loves). But it probably would have been better if I had said, “well some nice crib sheets would be good.” They of course would have brought much prettier ones than the plan white I brought myself. Or if I had asked for some cloth nappies or wipes. All the things I spent money on myself that I know they would have been delighted to buy. It’s okay to ask for what you’ll need and what will be useful because actually your loved ones will prefer that.
Make a budget plan For the Coming Year of maternity leave.
Make good habits now or when your baby is young. For me it was definitely harder the older she got. Those newborn days sat up feeding or stuck under a sleeping baby are great times to do that online food shop, make weekly meal plans and assess your finances.
One game charger for me has been within my online banking app. It has a section which organises what I have spent into categories. For example, Food Shops, Takeaways, (yes I got a little bit of a shock when I first saw what I spent every month in the local Thai restaurant,) leisure, coffee shops, and bills. This has really helped me access where spending could be better and where actually its not that bad at all. Like with our food shop. I try to buy organic and cook from scratch as much as possible. We shop at our local butchers and fishmongers which yes is more expensive and a privilege to do. I was scared to see how much I spent a month in these places, scared I’d have to think about not doing so anymore. But actually it was the opposite. I proved that practicing what I preached had paid off and our food bill is relatively low. It also geared me up to carry on, to be more strict with my meal planning, batch cooking and freezing food, while shopping as plastic free and organic as possible.
How to survive maternity pay once baby is here.
Don’t fork out for lots of expensive baby groups while on maternity leave pay.
Sing and sign, swimming lessons, sensory classes, baby yoga. All are fantastic, all are great places to socialize, meet new Mums and give you something to do on your maternity leave, because let face it if you don’t the days can be long with a baby. But all are SUPER expensive and you usually have to pay for a term at a time. I’m not saying don’t do them but there are other options out there too if you feel they are too expensive. Though you could consider asking a relative to buy a term of one of these things as a Christmas or birthday present for baby and then do the cheaper options on other days.
Local baby groups. Usually in a church hall, cost around 50p, have tons of toys and sensory things for baby. Plus they always have on tap coffee and biscuits. Although they don’t do oat milk lattes which I’m pretty pissed about…. Take a Mum friend with you and hide in the corner with your coffees if you don’t fancy mingling, or doing some kind of Mum speed dating when you first go.
Your local library. Look if they do a Rhyme Time, Story Time or other baby activities. Their always free and it’s good to support the local library so they keep getting their funding. Also take a Mum friend so you can go for a Latte afterwards.
Local Cafes. I’ve found a few local cafes that put on cheap classes on from Mums and babies. Mainly because they know all the Mum’s (or Dad’s might I add) will stay afterwards buying coffee and cake. But the £4 you spend in there is still cheaper than a normal class, and it’s more fun for you. One of my local coffee shops offered music class, art class and baby yoga for £1. Plus must buy cake afterwards.
Smaller swimming pools. Most pools will ask you to book baby classes and pay for a term but some will offer smaller baby classes (a class more than a lesson with nursery rhymes and what not) that are more friendly to babies under a year for just the price of entry to the pool. It also means you don’t have to book and can just go when you feel like it.
the importance of investing time in some Mummy friends.
This made me cringe when I was pregnant. The midwife asking why I hadn’t signed up to baby classes or NCT, not to learn baby stuff but to make “Mum friends.” “But I have loads of pregnant friends,” I said, “why do I need to make small talk with people I don’t know?” I realise now how lucky I was to have close pregnant friends and that many of those friends made friends for life with the NCT classes. Even if it makes you cringe having Mummy friends is soooo important. Now my daughter is a toddler she keeps me busy all day long but when she was a newborn they don’t do all that much and sleep a fair bit too. Meeting friends with babies for walks, coffee, pop round each others house was one of the biggest joys of mat leave (apart from spending time with my baby of course) but honestly without it I think I would have felt lonely and not enjoyed mat leave as much as I did. Through the winter especially. Plus those awkward meet ups with new Mum’s I dreaded, turned into great friendships and entertained my daughter a lot, which is how I suggest it saves you money. Hosting coffee morning at each others houses, play dates and going for park walks with a flask is a much cheaper and fun way than paying for loads of classes to entertain you both. It also helps with going to those cheaper church hall playgroups I talked about before. Having friends to go with will encourage you there rather than paid classes.
Cook And Freeze Baby Food to save money and add extra nutrition.
I remember having a debate with my friend over which was cheaper. Cooking fresh weaning food or buying pouches. She said when she cook fresh food he wouldn’t eat it so she ended up wasting it, therefore pouches costing 80p each were cheaper than buying fresh fruit and veg. My argument was that I never really just made weaning food, I gave her mashed up (less seasoned) of whatever we ate. For example buying all the ingredients for a bolognese for the family cost be around £5. When cooked this I would take out a large portion for baby, before adding salt, red wine and extras to our portion. I would the put this into an ice cube tray and freeze, giving me around 12 dinners for my daughter. I would do this with anything I cooked ending up with nearly 100 dinners for her in the freezer, bit excessive though it made it easy to give variety. If my calculations are correct her portion of bolognese cost around £1 for 12 individual potions. Now tell me pouches are cheaper. Its all about the freezer.
Don’t go mad at Christmas while on maternity leave.
Remember that a. baby won’t remember this first Christmas or care about the gifts, its all about manking memories for you and the family. Now I’m not a complete humbug, I of course did buy her some gifts and did a stocking, but I brought things she needed (like some extra cloth nappies… does that make me a terrible parent), teething toys, some second hand books and that was about it. My Mum did the same. Also remember family will buy them tons of stuff. As long as there are people around to look at, Christmas lights to watch and paper to rip they will be happy.
Also have a chat with your partner. We did buy each presents and things we wanted/needed but we had the conversation that we wouldn’t go over board and save our money.
Decide what your treats will be and include this in your maternity leave budget.
Remember to not completely rid the fun out of everything and treat yourself too. When we work out a budget for anything we include treats. Maybe that’s a lunch out once a month, or a takeaways a month (coughs every week, opps), £5 a week to be spend on coffee and cake in a cafe. I realise that all my treats where based around food. We even made sure we cut corners in other areas so allow some of our savings to go towards a holiday to visit family. A budget doesn’t have to be boring and limiting and can be flexible too.
Why Use your KIT days before returning to work after Maternity leave.
These are your Keeping In Touch Days at work. You get 10 of them. This means you can pop into work whenever suits you (and your colleagues too of course) while get used baby settling into a day with Grandma. You get paid for these so if you want to take them it’s worth it. Perhaps even use them to make up a couple of short weeks before you return to work as a way to ease yourself into working life and being away from baby, rather than going straight back in full time, which is what I had to do, and was the hardest thing I’ve ever down. Easing back into would have been so much better.
Make sure you apply for Child Benefits to recieve extra money while on maternity leave.
Don’t forget to apply in time. Which is what I did. I still got my benefit and got it back dated but was too late to get it back dated from her date of birth (idiot) meaning I lost out on a couple of hundred pounds. It’s easy to do and means I now get £80 a month, which is a real help on mat leave.
I hope some of these tips have really helped you get your head around managing on a lower income for however long you want and are able to take off with your new baby. It really is a magical time so make the most of it, budget or not.
Hannah xx
Other articles on the first year with your baby.
Pack Your Baby Hospital Bag the Zero Waste Way.
How to Shop for a Secondhand Pram.
A Complete Guide to Cloth Baby Wipes and How to Use Them.
My Minimal Zero Waste Newborn Essentials Checklist.
11 Budget Friendly Zero Waste Tips for New Mums.
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