Im trying to get my head around Maternity Pay etc. Ive just had my handbook out that I got from work and it says that my work will fulfil all the neccessary statutory obligations, so im guessing this will mean that I will only be paid SMP when im on Mat Leave. I can see we are going to be skint!

But like they say if everyone weighed up how much it costs to have a baby people would never have them hehe xx

siobhan i was the same, i panicked at the thought of smp but you really do cope, i dropped £750 a month and now I wonder what I used to spend my money on.

Yup we dropped about £800...no idea how we actually coped cos we always seem skint now!

Its amazing how it works out!

I am actually way better off now than I was before I had Aimee and our income dropped by £1k a month!

x

I know it will be tight and we will manage, but you know what its like when you look at your normal wage and then how little SMP is its like OMFG! xx

to be honest with tax credits and things i get more a month than when i was working full time (wtf?!) but not by much - i wont after my maternity is over though. babies don't cost much especially if you are sensible with buying clothes (haha like anyone is!) and if you breastfeed, for the first 6 months your costs are really low

I hadn't thought about it til you mentioned it - cos I have been stressing as Im earning less now I'm studying - and I just said to Dan that we coped on £123 a week from me and he seemed as shocked as me as to how we ever did it!

Just goes to show you cope when you have to!

I dont even know how I could save £800 a month now

I should have named this post my head is frazzled, but couldn't think of the word lmao!

Just worked it out and it doesn't seem that bad, I just need to stop spending money on rubbish hehe!

xx

I can't figure out now what I used to spend all my money on because now we're relying on my smp we're managing fine! You'll be absolutely fine don't worry, and you'll be so busy when lo arrives you won't even think about it! xxx

Aw we were exactly the same hun, I dropped £400 a month, but like the others have said you soon get used to having less money - it's hard at first but you'll manage!! xx

Siobhan, glad you posted this as this has always concerned me. I am already stressing about how we are going to manage all the bills, mortgage, loans etc, when I am on maternity leave and I'm not even pregnant yet. As my mum would say you cut your cloth to fit