When you’re expecting a child, we talk about preparing for birth, nappies, sleep schedules and weaning. But the financial shock? That’s brushed off as part of the deal. One minute, I was a secondary school teacher with a steady salary, and the next, I was on maternity leave with a newborn in my arms and a payslip that looked like a typo.
It’s not just the obvious things like nappies, formula and clothes that your little one outgrows in weeks. The baby classes, soft play sessions and the trips out just to break up the day and keep your sanity intact also play a huge role.
Statutory maternity pay drops to under £800 a month after 6 weeks of being off, so we had to survive on a household income of around £3200. We were in debt which was taking a chunk of that up, and renting, which was really expensive. I went back to doing a few days of supply teaching after six months of being off, even though I really didn’t want to, but had no choice.
At home, the financial strain and pressures don’t just sit in your bank account, they impact your relationship too. It hits differently when you’re both already exhausted, adjusting to a completely new dynamic, and responsible for keeping a tiny human safe and fed. As a first-time parent, my partner and I find ourselves having conversations we’d never had before about budgeting and making small sacrifices that somehow felt big. I got everything off the Facebook Marketplace, and my friends gave me hand-me-downs. We had to be picky with having the heating on, and using the machine dryer was only an absolute necessity.
