Yesterday I sat down with my manager at work, discussed and finalised my plans for going on maternity leave. Sitting there looking through the calendar and working out dates of when I can use up my remaining annual leave before starting maternity leave suddenly made the reality of finishing work for nine months very real.
I came home last night and realised that I need to get myself organised for Piglet’s arrival. With my baby shopping going well (can a baby really have too many things? just don’t tell Mr Boo) I’m not concerned that I won’t have the essentials ready for her. My main focus at the moment is regarding our finances, I don’t think that any family is truly ready for taking a reduction in their household income but I do think that you can prepare for it and budget accordingly.
So I’ve woken up this morning with a plan of action, the things I want and need to check regarding my finances and thought I’d share it with you to see if you think there is anything I am missing…
Maternity pay
I’m quite lucky in that I have worked for my employer for almost 15 years and that they offer a good maternity pay scheme. With my maternity leave start date agreed with my manager I need to make sure that all the relevant paperwork has been completed. Alongside my statutory maternity pay I will also receive a top-up from my employers which will make my earnings slightly less than I currently earn working part-time but at least it isn’t as big as a drop than it was when I worked full-time.
Child Trust Fund
When Roo and Tigger were born they both qualified for the Government Trust Fund scheme, Roo received £500 with it being cut it half to £250 by the time that Tigger was born. Now that scheme no longer exists but I don’t want Piglet to miss out on the opportunity that her siblings had so I need to look into Child Trust Funds and see how I go about setting one up for Piglet.
Credit report check
Checking my credit report is one of those things that I know I should do regularly but never seem to get round to it. So I’ve added a visit to the Experian website to my list of things to do just to double-check that my credit report is accurate and to see if there is anything I need to do to improve it – especially as we are looking to move home to have more space available for three children and hopefully a garden.
Life insurance
When we took out our life insurance policy we calculated it on the amount of our mortgage, funeral costs and then a lump sum for each of the children. With another baby soon to join the family I need to see how I increase the policy cover to include a lump sum for Piglet should anything happen to me or Mr Boo.
Can you think of anything else I should be doing to check my finances before I start maternity leave?
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