I have been having minor freak outs about the fact that I will be going 8 weeks without a paycheck when on maternity leave. I have had a paycheck since I was 14 years old, so this will be a huge adjustment for me. We have been trying our best to save up so it's not as hard of a hit, but we are struggling. Any tips anyone with unpaid maternity leave used? We have some savings, but right now it is not as strong as I like as this summer we have had a couple huge unexpected expenses (another cause for freak outs.) I know I just need to breathe and it all works out, but any advice would be wonderful!
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@jessiejo17: I am in exactly your shoes. Well, that's not really true... I went through the first time in my life without a paycheck when I was laid off and couldn't get another job, before we conceived Wagon Jr. But I got amazing unemployment checks every week! When those ran out after 2 years (Thanks Obama!) I ended up with 3 part time jobs and was a SAHM.
This time around I will be taking 6-8 weeks unpaid since I'm a contractor at my job. We've been trying to put money aside for the time I'll be unpaid, but it's so hard. It's coming up so fast and I feel like we're still living paycheck to paycheck. There are two things that will help though: 1) we can pull Wagon Jr. out of daycare while I'm not being paid, since it's the summer and we only pay for the weeks he goes during the summer. So that's one big expense gone. and 2) my parents will be here, so my mom will do a lot of home cooking, which will really cut down on our grocery bills and eating out.
All I can say is hang in there, try to put aside every penny possible now, and don't stress out too much about money-- there is SO much other stuff that's more important while you're a new mom. If you find that you run out before you start getting your paychecks again, this is what credit cards are for-- emergencies! I would much rather build up a little debt (only if you have a SET plan to pay it off within a reasonable amount of time) than stress about money as a new mom.
Also, have you sold stuff? I brought a bunch of stuff to a consignment store and made over $500!!
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I agree it is all a bit frightening!
Does you state not have Short Term Disability?
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Awww, does your state offer any short term disability benefits?
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@regberadaisy: @autumnlove: Nope and neither does my employer. It's kind of a cruddy deal, my work gives me a free week of vacation as a gift, otherwise I have to use my PTO. I'm not allowed to carry PTO over from a previous year, so I will have 3 weeks from July 31 2012 - July 30 2013.
I will use it all up as maternity leave and have no PTO to use when returning back to work...it will be a long January - July that is for sure!@mrs. wagon: I actually have been getting together stuff to sell, I have a ton of clothes and shoes that no longer fit that I could get rid of. And just anything causing clutter I want to elminate from our house! I know it will all work, we can lean back on CC cards, but I really want to avoid this option as we have worked out butts off to get them paid off in the last year(I had a bit of a shopping problem in college that has now followed me into adulthood.) I would hate to fall back into old habits.
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@jessiejo17: Good for you... we are a bit behind you in that process (aggressively paying off debt this and next year, hoping to be debt-free other than mortgage and my school loans). But know that IF, in the event of an emergency and you just can't scrape by, you need to use them, at least you know you will pay them off ASAP instead of letting balances linger again!! And obviously having the goal of not using them at all will be great. We haven't used ours in more than a year and it's been so liberating.
Oh-- this helps for us-- every week we take out a certain amount of cash (right now it's $100) and that's our money for the week. Right now we don't count gas money or date night money, but everything else (groceries, random trips to the drugstore, eating out) comes out of that cash. Whenever we run out of cash, we're out of cash, and we don't spend any more money that week (peanut butter sandwiches, pasta, cereal!) until we can take our next week's money out. We take it out on Fridays because it's easier to scrape by on a few bucks towards the end of the work week.
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@jessiejo17: also, have you looked into couponing? I used to be pretty extreme but I've cut back now that I have a good stockpile of stuff... basically we won't have to buy toothpaste, toothbrushes, body wash, shampoo/conditioner, razors, etc. for years now. I bought everything for less than $1. I try to stockpile food as well but that's a little tougher... so now I just wait to buy until I can combine a store sale and a coupon.
Also, I purchase almost everything at Costco!
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@mrs. wagon: I like the idea about a set amount of cash. I am a debit card swiper! I never carry cash so the card is always whipped out when I buy anything. Doesn't have reality set in like having the bills in hand. I havecut out most eating out besides date night or girl's dinner, but DH still does lunch several times a week. I know we have areas we could cut, we just have to do it and stick with it.
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@jessiejo17: oh wow. I totally thought all states have STD.
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Do you track your planned and actual spend every month? It could give you some ideas where you can cut back or show you it won't be so bad after all.
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@mrs. wagon: Never been much of a couponer but maybe I should look into it, I like a bargin! We dont' have a Costco here, but I do have a Sam's club membership (although I don't think you can use coupons there if I remember right.) I plan on buying a lot of food in bulk and making and freezing meals this summer so our food bill will be tiny once the baby gets here since I will have a stockpile of food frozen away for meals! I should look for more coupons though.
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@jessiejo17: oh then you will LOVE the cash thing. Once you realize how quickly it goes, you REALLY start watching the prices of things. I now only order fancy things when we eat out (I can make bacon and eggs for so much cheaper!) and totally watch my prices ($1.25 for a bottle of soda in the work cafeteria?? uhh, I can get a whole 2 liter for $0.99 at the grocery store!!!)
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@regberadaisy: Not that I'm aware of, or that any of my coworkers have used. We were gong to do Aflac but got pregnant quicker than we expected so we missed the "pre existing condition" date.
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@looch: Definitely could be better at this. We have never had to worry about money, but we also aren't eh greatest savers. We need to rethink the way we go about money on a daily basis. We both know this, we just need to put our plans into action. We are too used to just "having money in the account" instead of actually budgeting correctly.
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@jessiejo17: couponing definitely changed my life!! I can't think of a single thing that I regularly purchase that doesn't come from either Costco or the grocery store sale + coupon combo. The best coupons are in sunday papers, so if you have a neighbor who gets it, ask them for their coupon inserts. Or you can subscribe to a paper (which we do), or you can buy a paper each sunday. Or you can be like the sheisty people at my local drugstore and steal the coupon inserts out of the newspapers.
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@mrs. wagon: THANK YOU!!! I'm going to try your tips and get the Sunday paper. I do usually buy sale items at the store and we have a frequent shopper card at our local grocery store, which helps cut cost + gives us cents off gas so that really help (just filled up for $2.88 because I had a 60 cents off gas due to my grocery purchases!)
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@jessiejo17: yessss that is the best, when you can save on gas!! That reminds me, I really need to shop at Stop and Shop more often (they do the gas thing, is that where you shop??). The shaw's is right around the corner from us but we use a lot of gas because we drive to work, so it would be so helpful to save on gas too!!
Sounds like you will really enjoy couponing. I should write a blog post about it someday! It's time consuming, but so worth it, and pretty fun, to apply organizational skills and creativity to saving money
Oh also, if you find a coupon + store sale price for something you could really stock up on (like pasta, or cereal, or for me Crystal Light) if you act fast (before your store's sale ends) you can order from coupon clipping services (I find mine on ebay) for like 20 or 40 of the same coupon and totally stock up!!! I've only done this twice-- once for pasta, once for crystal light. You have to act quick though since store sales are usually only a week long, and coupons have expiration dates so you can't really wait til the next sale comes up.
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@mrs. wagon: We shop at Russ's Market, I have never heard of Stop and Shop, I wonder if they have them around my area! We also drive to work, my DH commutes 30 minutes every day so gas is abig spender for us! He drives a truck and I have an SUV so of course neither get the greatest gas mileage but we both need 4-wheel drive for the bad winter we have here.
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Do you have cable? When it was looking like I was going to be unemployed for a little bit, that was the first thing we were going to get rid of. It would have saved us about $100/month!
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I feel ya! We have been paying hospital bills from an SCH at 9 weeks and it has cost nearly 3000 out of pocket...and my deductible starts OVER at the end of this month! Worst timing ever! We are already broke before the baby even got here.
I just know I have had to really cut back on a lot of spending. Not easy when you are a teacher on summer break with not a lot to do! I will get 6 weeks paid for sure, can take up to 8 paid but I will have to use ALL of my personal leave up. If I take 6 weeks paid and 2 more unpaid (not even sure if I can do that), they dock your pay whatever your daily rate is.
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@daniellemybelle: We have satellite but DH won't let that go. It only cost us 40 a month through locked in for 2 years. I would rather give up internet at home than cable!
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Looks like you're already getting tons of great advice so I just wanted to offer my support and *hugs*! You'll get through this!!
Oh also, if you find a coupon + store sale price for something you could really stock up on (like pasta, or cereal, or for me Crystal Light) if you act fast (before your store's sale ends) you can order from coupon clipping services (I find mine on ebay) for like 20 or 40 of the same coupon and totally stock up!!! I've only done this twice-- once for pasta, once for crystal light. You have to act quick though since store sales are usually only a week long, and coupons have expiration dates so you can't really wait til the next sale comes up.
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