What would you do...

[LoopyLouize]

when we all get a lil bambino ( we all will sometime I'm sure ) what are your plans in relation to work??

I can't decide...

My works scheme is an absolute joke!!! I would be entitled to 6 weeks full pay maternity then after that I get £300 a month statutory pay. So I am undecided if I am going to just have 6 weeks off and go back or just try and live with the stupidly low pay that the government thinks is a fair amount to give us.

I would prefer to stay on maternity for 6 months then go back part time until my bambino would be atleast 3! My logical reason is because I would like to be the person my baby sees and learns most from - not a nursery nurse or child minder. ( no offence if there are any child Minders or nursery nurses here or even people who have children and do it this way ).

What would you all do and what are you planning to do??

 

[Nurse 26]

Hey louize, i am the same as you, want to be a stay at home mum.

I'm going to stay at home first couple of years before looking for part-time work. I'm not working at the moment as we moved for OH job and moving again soon. I guess we are lucky to be able to do that though. If something went wrong with hubbys work then i would just find something quick.

6 weeks pay sounds rubbish though, If you can amanage of teh rubbish maternity pay i would do that, then at least you get longer at home

 

[Samsgirl]

i am going to take 12 months off and then hope to go back 3 days a week.....we get 12 weeks full pay then statuatory maternity pay after that up to 9 months....think it actually works out about £500 a month chick....it's about £128 a week i think xx

 

[LouiseB]

I'm family employed so it's not really an issue for me, I'm assuming that they'll keep on paying me like normal.

I'll be staying at home until the fourth sprog goes to school.

I totally understand your concerns though, is there no way you could live off the £300 if hubby picks up some extra hours?

 

[Samsgirl]

i really wish i could afford not to go back at all..but no chance

xx

 

[mustard]

Ideally I'd love to stop working for a year and then maybe work one or two days a week but as my employer only gives statatory pay and our mortgage is MASSIVE (its a tiny house but that's surrey for you) I'll have no choice but to go back to work at least part time fairly soon. I'll try to live off maternity pay for 6/12 if I can.

 

[Princess81]

I would love to stay off work, but no chance with a mortgage this size

I think we get 3 months full pay then 3 months half pay. bummer

 

[Samsgirl]

thats not bad princess....at least if i get used to the 9 months on smp.....when i go back part time i will feel loaded...ha ha xx

 

[Princess81]

I wonder if I would get statutory maternity pay on that 3 months half pay? I would so love to be a stay at home mummy *sigh*

 

[Samsgirl]

hmmm i dont know actually......smp starts from day 1 for me but my employer makes it up to full pay....so possibly your lot do the same, if that makes sense? xx

 

[NinjaKitty]

I want the first year off and then go back part-time or flexi-time. My problem is that I can't realistically stay at the place I'm at if I have a kid. Both DH and I have bad commutes so there is no contigency if we need to get back in an emergency. And we both get stuck in traffic regularly on the way home (like for hours) so we'd need to be more consistant than that.

 

[Princess81]

possibly. I dunno, will have to face that if and when the time comes x

 

[JTB]

I would love to be a stay at home Mum for a couple of years! Think I would go back part time, trub with my job is if I take too much time out I wouldnt be able to get back in.

Thing is that by the time I have paid child care, wont be many pennies left so doesnt feel worth it! We dont have any family near to help us.

 

[LoopyLouize]

Samsgirl - I had a little Nosey at the new company policy today and it said £300 a month! I nearly fainted! A girl I work with came back full time after 6 months maternity and now has to pay £500 a month in childcare!! Its ridiculous that there isn't a better scheme or help out there! I mean come on!! Don't they want us to bloody breed and keep humanity from going endangered lol! (I kno I kno - I'm a drama queen!)

Louiseb - OH is like you - family business. He has a fab job.. But ... Works away during the week on most occasions so doing extra hours would be a problem for me .. We have 3 cars - my own - his company car and his stupidly expensive Porsche ... I am constantly fighting with him over this Porsche because it's costing £700 a month!!!!!!!! I could quit my bloody job and be a full time mummy if he got rid of it !!!!! He doesn't want to because it's his hobby and his little toy .... My argument is that it isn't fair on him to expect me to work full time and bring up a baby whilst he works away 5 days a week... When if he sold it - it would free up cash Sooooo much!
Oh I'm getting angry again! Am I being a meanie and spoilsport for expecting this? Men! Phfffttt!

 

[LouiseB]

I am constantly fighting with him over this Porsche because it's costing £700 a month!!!!!!!! I could quit my bloody job and be a full time mummy if he got rid of it !!!!!

No way

My hubby is just the same, it's actually his family that we are both employed by, and he has no concept of money at all and is so materialistic.

My tactic tends to be to threaten to deprive hubby of something that is unreasonable to the point where he is about to give in and then i trade it back to him for the thing i really wanted him to stop

So maybe pretend that you are going to stop working anyway, but to do that AND keep the car hubby will need to use own brand products, second hand clothes, no nights out, all the luxuries he takes for granted are gone. Then when he starts to panic about losing them - trade them back to him for his car

Or i bombard him with so much exaggerated information that he gets so overwhelmed that it is easier for him to let me take control rather than put the effort into processing it himself lol

So tell him how much a basic day carer costs (but give him the most expensive quotes) and how he'll need to change his hours to accommodate the baby because you won't be able to as your hours aren't flexible where his could be and then how you think you'll sell your car so he'll have to take you to work, etc etc etc and hopefully he'll go "OMG - how about we just sell my sports car?"

 

[Mrs N]

Hey ladies!!
I wana be a stay at home mummy for as long as I can. Currently a housewife but do mobile beauty a little bit. I will prob just continue to do that as I just do frineds and family and I can still have baby or mum can have them as she lives round the corner. Hubbie has a very stressfull job that involves lots of hours and it wouldnt be fair if he had to try to juggle childcare with that!!
xxxxxxxxx

 

[dita_parlo]

I've always wanted to be a stay at home mum, but I've just landed the job of my dreams which I never thought I'd get so I'd definitely want to go back to work after about a year I think.

 

[ScotchEgg]

we've been saving for about 6 years now for me to be a stay at home mum.

when we got serious, and talked about the 'dealbreakers' in relationships, both of us had our child being brought up by a stay at home mum as one of the most important. It's going to be tough, but ever since that conversation we've worked towards it.

Added to which I HATE my current job so won't miss it in the slightest...

 

[Spinneygirl]

I would love to be a stay at home mum and so would OH. I defo wont be coming back to this job because i cant stand my boss so actually its a good excuse to leave. We will have to see how the pennies go whether i get a part time job or not.

 

[Doodles]

I have no idea, with Connor I whent on maternity full pay for 6months, 1/2 pay for another 6 months and decided I still wasn't ready to go back (though looking back it was more because I'd devolped such bad post-natal depression and was TERRIFIED) hubby has a pretty good paying job as a store manager but because of debts things where a bit of a struggle, so despite not wanting to go to work until Connor was in school, I had to get work, though unfortunatley between bad health and the recsession I lost both jobs, but am interviewing for another one today.

Anyway, back to the question lol, I'll probably take what time off is available to me in order to bond with baby and be there for Connor while he gets used to his little brother or sister and go back when I need to unless we cant afford to stay on 1/2 maternity x x

ETA I'll also be in college which I'll prob have to go straight back to x