How much money do you have saved up for mat leave?

Question

I’m genuinely curious. I’m taking 5 months off and have at least three months worth of pay saved. We’ve never lived off of one income so I’m curious how it will work and how we will manage with a new babe around. 
Note: don’t put a number or don’t reply to this if you don’t want to!

Answer

I am in Canada so am very fortunate in that I get full wage for four months then approximately half my wage for the remaining eight months of my maternity leave. However I have extreme money anxiety as I earn a higher income than my partner and am in general better with money ... so I am a psycho and will have approximately 12 grand saved for when I go down to my half wage. I just want to make sure we keep living our normal life, are prepared for any emergency, and don’t incur any debt. If we have money leftover in that pot when I return to work, all the better.

Answer

Right now I personally have $5,000 saved up hoping to have $6,000 by maternity leave. I’ll be taking 6 weeks short term disability so pay will be 60%, then 4 weeks of family Medicaid leave which I think is 50%. Then I’ll go back for 4 days a weeks and the 5th day take off with family medical leave. So I’m hoping I won’t have to break into my saving at all but prepared to if we have to. My husband has his own savings but we typically keep that for his business because he’s self employed and his trucks and stuff always need money put into them in the spring.

Answer

About $10k. I’m planning on taking off 12 or 13 weeks. That’s all I could handle with the last baby before I felt like I was gonna go out of my mind!!  My husband will still be working but I make a bit more than he does, and get bored if I am not working for a while. I’m sure we won’t need that much but we started putting a little bit aside when I found out I was pregnant unexpectedly and that’s what we have saved in the 6 months since.

Answer

Not that anyone can now. But for future reference. 
My husband and I lived off one income before we started trying for our first. We both knew I wanted to be a sahm so my checks went right into the savings and we lived off his. We did this for about 6 months. So once I got pregnant I quit my job (awful job) and we didn't have to stress bc we knew we could make it work. My oldest is 2.5, haven't worked in over 3 years and we are welcoming baby #2 soon.

Answer

I will be taking 6 months without pay from my main gig while using the leave I have banked to cover my benefits in order to keep insurance while I’m off.  I plan to save at least 6k before I go on leave and then I will work my second job to supplement when/if needed.  Plus my husband’s income but I’d rather not have to use that to cover the bills I usually cover for us.

Answer

About 3k saved up. Plus I have short term disability for 6 weeks of my leave and that covers my half of rent plus groceries. It’ll be tight, but it’ll be enough.

Answer

A question to all beautiful ladies from the US: what do you do with the baby after 12 weeks or your planned mat leave? Who babysits the baby?
Just to clarify my curiosity: I live in Finland and we have 8 months of mat leave which is paid ok, it drops drastically after 8 months and usually everyone still struggles for several months and after the baby is one, that’s the time when you can take your baby to the daycare and return to work.

Answer

I’m taking 3 months off and get 70% of my base pay through short term disability because I “bought up” during our last open enrollment period. I also have about $3000 in the bank I’ve been setting aside because I found a chart on Pinterest. Luckily, my husband has a great job, so I can stay out a few months without too much worry.

Answer

Luckily I work for an amazing company that will pay for 6 weeks maternity leave and I can also use my short term disability/FMLA which also pays, so I’ll get an additional 10 weeks. ♥️♥️♥️

Answer

I had a little savings built up in the beginning, but then I found out I had a low lying placenta and had to cut my shifts down so I haven't been able to save anything. But we have a decent savings account already, my husband will be working, and I plan to return to work ASAP so I am not worried.

How much money do you have saved up for mat leave?

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