Discussions

Hello all,  
 
I am hoping to get information from parents about financials when you have a child.  
 
I am currently 5 months pregnant with my first. I teach full time, and my husband works full time. Together at the moment, we bring in just enough to make ends meet and put some money aside. We do not have a large savings amount. Things are going better now but we are still tight. Between student loan payments, mortgage, insurance, car payments, and monthly bills, we are left with a couple hundred that we put into our savings (have been diong this for 2 months).  
 
I will be working part-time this summer to help bring up our savings, but we will not be able to set aside enough to even cover the difference for one month of me being on mat. leave.  
 
My question to you is this. What happens when the maximum weekly benefit (543$) plus my husbands income is WAY less than what we need to just make ends meet? We do not qualify for the Family Supplement as our combined income is above 25900. The EI website does not give a lot of information. What are our options?  
 
Thanks in advance.

You'll have to save what you can, consider you going back to work early or cutting things out. Make a budget and stick to it. You just have  
to make it through.. You'll have child tax benefits starting when baby arrives as well.

Are you a term teacher or full time permanent. If you are the latter contact MTS as soon as possible.

I should add that we do have a budget and we do stick to it. There is not a lot of wiggle room. I do get 17 weeks where I will get topped up to 90% of my salary which we will be fine. We will start that in October when Baby is due to make it's apperance. What I am trying to figure out is for the month before this and the 7 months after the 17 weeks of top up.  
 
Also I should add, we live in a mobile home, my husband bikes to work when it's nice out, and we do not have payments on his vehicle as it's paid off.  
 
Thanks.

Permanent and I have contacted my division already. Thanks for the advice. I will call them Monday.

If you're teaching full time, do they not offer a top-up? I would check with your employer. My husband's employer offers a top-up so that he gets 90 or 95% of his income (EI + the top up together) while he's off. We actually come out a bit ahead because when he's home we don't have the work expenses like fuel. He has to return to work for an equivalent amount of time to pay it back (so if he's off for 4 months, he needs to work for 4 months).  
 
And like Ladybug says, you'll have your CTB coming in. You can estimate your amount using the online calculator: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/benefits-calculator/  
 
Sometimes you can trim things. Change your car insurance to leisure instead of all-purpose once you're home and not going to work. You'll have less work expenses (gas, etc). Cut back on things. It can be challenging but it can be done.  
 
Good luck!

Does your employer have a maternity leave top up plan? Check with your union. I got a top up plan through my work place and it helped a lot! Ei really is the shits if you have a well paying job.

You can also contact your student loan provider and explain your situation. For me, they lowered my payment a bit until I was back to work.

When you are on your leave, I think you are allowed to work a certain amount.

Thank you all for your information. I have compiled a list of organizations to contact and will hopefully find a realistic solution! I apparently do my best reading later in the evening and have found much more information than I had.  
 
We(my husband and I) really appreciate your input.  
 
Thank you  
 
Edited by MmeTinkerbell, 2017-06-10 23:43:05

child tax will help

Yes use the CCB calculator and see how much you'll be getting on the 20th of each month. We made $160k net approx in 2016 and will get $125/month. Assuming you make less than that you'll get a lot more

Even though the max is $543 you won't receive that, they tax it. I'm receiving $920 every 2 weeks which is $460 per week ($83 of tax per week).  
You can also ask your husbands employer to reduce his income tax at the source. Assuming he is the lower income earner, it will be beneficial to have him revise his TD1-MB and TD1-Fed with his employer and have less income tax taken off. It will reduce your refund at the end of the year but will help you month to month.  
 
Also as someone else said you can work a little and EI will claw back a portion, I think it's $50/week and they won't take anything, then after that they'll take 50 cents of every dollar earned or something. Not positive but I know there's definitely a way to have a small amount of income.  
 
Also their clawback only applies to income that's insurable meaning if you sold Avon or something they wouldn't touch that income at all. They'll only take employment income. Something else to look into if you want to sell products or something on the side.  
 
Congrats and good luck

Private message me mmetinkerbell

Just an FYI. They actually withhold very little income tax from EI cheques. Be prepared to pay some tax when filing your next years tax returns!

Can be expensive, I know this won't help you earn more but I'll share a few tips from experience that saved us some money while on mat leave.  
 
- Breastfeed (save on formula as it can be $20-35 a can/week)  
- Use cloth diapers (this would save a lot... I didn't use these but rather started buying boxes in different sizes before baby came)  
- make your own baby food (it's better for your baby too! We had a baby bullet and it was great)  
- have a baby shower!  
- buy second hand items (either off ebrandon or at thrift stores) babies grow out of clothes and toys so fast and it's not worth it to buy things at regular price. I get it though, some things you wouldn't want second hand.  
- start a little home based business selling something, if that interests you

As hard as it may be, go back to work sooner than taking your full mat leave. It was hard, but that's what I did. My son was 2 months old when I went back. Good Luck!

Here are a few ideas, it's really tough:  
-Elspeth Reid Family Resource Centre has the best thrift shop for really, super cheap awesome baby clothes. I bought almost everything used and resold it as she grew.  
-I paid extra taxes while I was working so the mat leave tax worked out.  
-I returned to work early as soon as I had daycare. I managed to get a liscenced spot which was cheaper than most private. You have to work really hard to get a spot.  
-I made a super strict budget. No nights out, no extras.  
-Have you considered a room mate or moving to cheaper housing? Hard to do in Brandon.  
-I was surprised what I spent money on when I wrote everything down. The double, double in the am adds up!  
-There is lots of free things to do with baby like Healthy Baby and the library.  
-I was sad I bought some baby items that had short term or little use. The Bumbo, the baby bullet, the wipe warmer, and a lot of the frilly cute outfits were a waste of money.  
Best wishes for baby!

We really looked at our expenses on mat leave.  
 
Do you both have cell phones? And house phone? Drop one if you can. (you should keep yours for safety but my husband dropped his contract and I just phoned him at work if needed). Do you have data plans? Drop them. I just did a cheap text and phone plan or pay as you go.  
 
Internet...drop it or reduce your plan if you can.  
Cable, same thing.  
 
Do you have room for a garden to save on food expenses?  
 
Really watch your "little" spending like coffee, eating out etc as it does add up to savings  
 
If you have friends with babies borrow things if they offer. Buy used items, and really think if you need them, so many things you use for such a short period of time for baby that you can do without.  
 
Congrats on your pregnancy!

Cut out an expense.. We stopped using cable a few years ago and it has saved us almost $200 a month. Maybe if it's possible go down to one car instead of two? Saves on gas and insurance.

I thought and know a few from MTS who are teachers in Brandon,,, the union topped them up for so many months (must be nice to be on a union) when my husband and I had our kids.. we obviously had to adjust to the little income I received from EI and his income.. need to adjust to the income.. we had to put a hold on our savings till have the mat leave was up and cut back on spending.. went down to driving one car until we were on two full incomes again.. may need to adjust to the income.

As a mom that did not have top ups or a high household income to get max mat benefits, i can tell you its hard but doable. As others have said smart shopping is essential. Youll find that alot of clothes can be bought a size or 2 larger as theres barely any difference in them especially up to size 6x.off season or end of season sales are great for fabulous savings in places like giant tire and walmart too. as for the rest of what life tosses at us for utilities and rent/mortgage sadly that wont change much. We downsized our extras to just wifi and netflix, once a month had a treat day. Your insurance on your vehicle can be changed to reflect not travelling to work anymore to leaisure, and the savings in gas from 5 days a week will quickly add up too. the best advice.....dont worry about things you cant control, pick your battles wisely, and enjoy..enjoy everyday with your little one as it goes by so very fast.

MTB said "Hello all,     I am hoping to get information from parents about financials when you have a child.     I am currently 5 months pregnant with my first. I teach full time, and my husband works full time. Together at the moment, we bring in just enough to make ends meet and put some money aside. We do not have a large savings amount. Things are going better now but we are still tight. Between student loan payments, mortgage, insurance, car payments, and monthly bills, we are left with a couple hundred that we put into our savings (have been diong this for 2 months).     I will be working part-time this summer to help bring up our savings, but we will not be able to set aside enough to even cover the difference for one month of me being on mat. leave.     My question to you is this. What happens when the maximum weekly benefit (543$) plus my husbands income is WAY less than what we need to just make ends meet? We do not qualify for the Family Supplement as our combined income is above 25900. The EI website does not give a lot of information. What are our options?     Thanks in advance. "

Perhaps talk to the bank (or whomever holds your payments). See if you can consolidate, or temporarily reduce payments on some of your debts. Plus the suggestions of others in cutting back, and the child tax (make sure you apply as soon as available). You may also find you don't go out as much, which will save you some funds. Not going to work could also mean saving of daily habits (daily Timmies?). Congratulations!

I would recommend instead of working part-time this summer to work full-time. Most of us only get 3 weeks of holidays per year instead of the 13 weeks that teachers get. None of us would get ahead taking every summer off.

As a teacher, I believe that you will get a total of 27 weeks of top up at 90%. This is 17 weeks of Mat Leave top up and you should also get 10 weeks of Pat Leave top up. Check with your division but that is the standard for most of the division now.  
 
The student loan idea is also good. I was able to have my amount reduced for 1 year due to personal reasons. Now it does take you longer to pay it off but if it helps, talk with Student loans.