Maternity leave is such a magical time! You have just had your lovely little baby and are getting to spend precious time at home with them, while everyone else is working- whoop! But there is one thing that can make maternity leave stressful (apart from the sleepless nights obvs) and that is the matter of money. It’s a fact- Statutory Maternity pay is DISMAL, so lots of people start to struggle with money once they are on maternity leave. FEAR NOT, mama, I am going to show you how to save money on maternity leave, so you can make the money that you do have go further. Feel free to add your own tips in the comments below!
How to Save Money on Maternity Leave
Make sure you aren’t paying any Interest
Make sure you aren’t paying any interest on credit cards you already have. I saved about £80 a month in interest by doing a balance transfer on my credit cards. You can find balance transfer cards with no transfer fee, and no interest to pay for up to 36 months. You still need to make a monthly payment, but this would go towards your balance instead of throwing money away on interest. You can find lots of great deals on Money Supermarket.
Make sure you sign up for your Child Benefit
Everyone is entitled to child benefit, which is around £20.70 per week for your first child. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it goes a long way to to help cover the cost of nappies, baby clothes and other baby related things. Go to https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit to find out what you will get and sign up!
Save Money on The Essentials
You can save heaps of money on things like nappies, wipes and creams, by buying the supermarkets own brands. With nappies especially, I have found that I much prefer Sainsbury’s own brand nappies to pampers, as they seem to fit better and are half the price! They are just as good as pampers and have wider leg holes for my chunky little monkey, so they are a winner for me! If you want to only use pampers, then wait until they are on sale and then buy them in bulk. Check out my top 10 budget essentials for a newborn baby!
Save Money by Meal Planning and Shopping Online
Planning your meals for the week and writing a list before you do your weekly shop can save lots of money, especially if you are in a rush trying to shop with your little one. Writing a list before shopping has helped me loads! I have also started using a nectar card so I get money off vouchers and points for my shopping which I can use towards more shopping! Shopping online can also help you stick you your list and not be tempted by things you don’t need in the store.
Buy Second Hand Baby Clothes
This is one of my favourite tips on how to save money on maternity leave, especially as babies only fit their clothes for about 10 seconds! Check your local buying and selling pages on Facebook, as well as eBay for bundles of clothes for babies, you will save SO much money, and it makes you feel better knowing you didn’t pay full price when you have to throw so many poo stained baby clothes away…
I hope you found my tips on how to save money on maternity leave useful, let me know in the comments below!
I’m linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five Frugal things I’ve done this week’ linky!
