Need advice from BTDT Moms (re maternity leave)

How did you afford to go on maternity leave? My company gives us the 12 weeks FMLA leave, but it is all unpaid unless we use our vacation time. I will only have 2 weeks vacation time and 1 week of sick time if I don't use any of it. I was working on getting an AFLAC plan, but it's through DHs job and won't protect my income. NYS disability is barely anything. We've been saving as much as we can. DH and I are ready to TTC, but I keep pushing it off because I'm scared of what will happen to us financially. How did you do it?

Re: Need advice from BTDT Moms (re maternity leave)

My maternity leave will be 15 months long when I return to work. We planned for a while for this and saved a huge chunk of cash for it. I'm mindful of our spending but always have been.

Re: Need advice from BTDT Moms (re maternity leave)

My situation was the same as yours, no income except NYS disability. We saved some money before hand and we also adjusted our lifestyle to live more frugally. We have always been pretty frugal and live below our means but now I have added things like coupon and sale shopping, I am more apt to make do with what we have then to go buy something new. We go out less, but with a newborn at home that isn't a big deal. I have also found some freelance work so it has worked out that I didn't go back to work after the FMLA was up.

I think it's one of those things that you just make it work, there will be sacrifices but to me they were minimal when compared to being home with my son. Good Luck!

Re: Need advice from BTDT Moms (re maternity leave)

Ya, I believe NYS disability is about $170/week.. which is not much. Does your company offer AFLAC?

Re: Need advice from BTDT Moms (re maternity leave)

My company is the same way...12 week FMLA, but no pay. Just NYS disability, which after taxes (yes, taxes!) is nothing.

It was hard, but we did it. I could have went back to work and used the money for a new bathroom or a vacation, but I crunched those damn numbers and enjoyed my 12 weeks at home.

Good luck...I know it's overwhelming to think about. But everything WILL work out.

Re: Need advice from BTDT Moms (re maternity leave)

Posted by SpiceGirl

My company is the same way...12 week FMLA, but no pay. Just NYS disability, which after taxes (yes, taxes!) is nothing.

It was hard, but we did it. I could have went back to work and used the money for a new bathroom or a vacation, but I crunched those damn numbers and enjoyed my 12 weeks at home.

Good luck...I know it's overwhelming to think about. But everything WILL work out.

Re: Need advice from BTDT Moms (re maternity leave)

My company was the same. I saved up all of my sick time and most of my vacation time and had accumulated 6 weeks of paid time off and only had to face 6 weeks unpaid instead of 12.

From the day I found out I was pregnant the only time I took off was a vacation I had already scheduled and one sick day. I worked up until the very last minute even though it was killing me. It was well worth it - we didn't even feel the pinch until 2 weeks before I went back to work.

I wanted to do the same thing again before we TTC #2 but whenever DD gets sick I have to take off so I haven't been able to save any of my days.

Re: Need advice from BTDT Moms (re maternity leave)

my job offers awesome maternity benefits. I get full pay for 8 weeks and 80% pay for 4 weeks

then I take 2 weeks unpaid

Re: Need advice from BTDT Moms (re maternity leave)

Thanks everyone. I guess there's nothing more I can really do. Hearing from all of you who managed under similar circumstances is really encouraging.

Re: Need advice from BTDT Moms (re maternity leave)

I took a total of 16 weeks, 9 were paid. To cover us, I put aside money from each paycheck during my pregnancy, and we banked our tax return (which luckily came a month after DS was born).

I also think it worked out because I spent sooo much less during my time off from work. Gas was expensive then, and I had a 40 mile commute each day. I also was not going out to lunch each day, and we ate more meals at home as opposed to take-out, since I was home to cook.

Good luck! I hope it works out for you.