Belt tightening time
Shortly after my last post, I realised that I was soon going to have to start having a proper, grown-up look at how far my maternity pay was going to stretch, and when I would have to return to work.
Before little'un came along, I'd never been any good at being anything other than full-time employed in a busy and challenging job with lots going on, constant challenges and opportunities to learn and develop my working skills. I honestly thought, before and during my pregnancy, that I'd be fine with returning to work after little'un was born, that I'd be looking forward to getting back to my daily routine, but sitting with him asleep on my lap after a feed the thought of leaving him with a childminder, or in a nursery, had me in floods of tears.
I could return to my job in London, commuting every day, dropping little'un off with a relative stranger around 7am and not seeing him again until around 7pm every weekday and paying upwards of £250 a week for the privilege of knowing my baby could hardly remember what his mum looked like.
Or I could try and go back full time, somehow fitting a full time job into a part time week, earning less but paying for a season ticket I wasn't using properly and still paying for childcare on the days I was at work.
Either way, my take-home pay would all go on childcare, and I'd be leaving him for longer than I could bear to.
I sat down with the husbeast and we took a good look at our outgoings. We did the maths of what I earn, what he earns, what benefits we might be entitled to if I worked full time, or part time, or not at all. We looked at where we can cut back, and we came to a conclusion.
We're not the kind of people who place a high value on 'things'. We never have been. When we met and moved in together we counted every penny in, every penny out - we went shopping at the weekends with rucksacks on our backs and scoured charity shops, pound shops, the market at Lidl for what we needed. As our working hours and incomes have increased, we've become lazier, using delivery services to get the things we need dropped right on our doorstep with minimal time and effort needed. But we'll both be happier, and therefore we'll be happier as a family, with less money and more time together.
With that in mind, husbeast has gone to his HR Manager and asked if it would be possible for him to take the unpaid 3 months of my maternity leave instead of me while I return to work for the 3 months I'm contractually obliged to return for. He'll then return to his job and I'll leave mine. We should find out this week if they're okay with the idea. That will mean I'll be leaving little'un with his dad instead of a stranger, and I can get those three months out of the way sooner rather than later. By the time I finish, my employer will owe me around a month's pay in lieu of accrued holiday, and I'll be free from all my contractual obligations to them.
If we can, we'll try and manage on one income. It'll be tight, but we should just about be able to manage it. I'll supplement where I can by selling crafts, doing mystery shopping or freelance remote admin work, particularly once little'un starts nursery.
But in the meantime, we'll be back to counting every penny in, every penny out, and being cash-poor, but time-rich.
Before little'un came along, I'd never been any good at being anything other than full-time employed in a busy and challenging job with lots going on, constant challenges and opportunities to learn and develop my working skills. I honestly thought, before and during my pregnancy, that I'd be fine with returning to work after little'un was born, that I'd be looking forward to getting back to my daily routine, but sitting with him asleep on my lap after a feed the thought of leaving him with a childminder, or in a nursery, had me in floods of tears.
I could return to my job in London, commuting every day, dropping little'un off with a relative stranger around 7am and not seeing him again until around 7pm every weekday and paying upwards of £250 a week for the privilege of knowing my baby could hardly remember what his mum looked like.
Or I could try and go back full time, somehow fitting a full time job into a part time week, earning less but paying for a season ticket I wasn't using properly and still paying for childcare on the days I was at work.
Either way, my take-home pay would all go on childcare, and I'd be leaving him for longer than I could bear to.
I sat down with the husbeast and we took a good look at our outgoings. We did the maths of what I earn, what he earns, what benefits we might be entitled to if I worked full time, or part time, or not at all. We looked at where we can cut back, and we came to a conclusion.
We're not the kind of people who place a high value on 'things'. We never have been. When we met and moved in together we counted every penny in, every penny out - we went shopping at the weekends with rucksacks on our backs and scoured charity shops, pound shops, the market at Lidl for what we needed. As our working hours and incomes have increased, we've become lazier, using delivery services to get the things we need dropped right on our doorstep with minimal time and effort needed. But we'll both be happier, and therefore we'll be happier as a family, with less money and more time together.
With that in mind, husbeast has gone to his HR Manager and asked if it would be possible for him to take the unpaid 3 months of my maternity leave instead of me while I return to work for the 3 months I'm contractually obliged to return for. He'll then return to his job and I'll leave mine. We should find out this week if they're okay with the idea. That will mean I'll be leaving little'un with his dad instead of a stranger, and I can get those three months out of the way sooner rather than later. By the time I finish, my employer will owe me around a month's pay in lieu of accrued holiday, and I'll be free from all my contractual obligations to them.
If we can, we'll try and manage on one income. It'll be tight, but we should just about be able to manage it. I'll supplement where I can by selling crafts, doing mystery shopping or freelance remote admin work, particularly once little'un starts nursery.
But in the meantime, we'll be back to counting every penny in, every penny out, and being cash-poor, but time-rich.
Hi, thanks for looking at my blog, I've come over here to nosey at yours. Well done to the two of you for getting together and sorting things out regarding your work life and family. I hope all goes well for you. With a bit of planning I'm sure you'll manage to have a good life on a reduced income. Best of luck.
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