A mum has shared tips on how she avoided falling into £3,500 worth of debt during her maternity leave.
Phe Edwards, 27, a project manager from Lancashire, has always been an avid saver, but when she discovered she was pregnant in April 2021, she vowed to do even better. Cutting down her household expenses, the mum-to-be saved an extra £5,000 before maternity leave.
By October 2022 however, Phe had spiralled into an expensive shopping habit and realised it was time to start saving again. Boosting her income by completing online surveys and selling old clothes on Vinted, Phe managed to avoid falling into crippling debt during her 12-month maternity leave. “By saving I managed to fund my maternity leave,” said Phe.
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“But I also avoided £3,500 worth of debt", she continued. "I returned to work in December and now I put away £1,000 a month for my wants and needs and the rest goes in savings.”
A savvy saver from a young age, Phe left university with little debt. “My mum, nan and grandad taught me that if I want something I have to save,” she added. “I bought a car at 18 and I paid off my car loan from my parents in 12 months.”
“As a student I only did what I could afford. I had student and maintenance loans but I left university with no other debt.”
So when Phe discovered she was pregnant in April 2021 she vowed to pocket the pennies, saving £5,000, before giving birth in December 2021. Her maternity leave started earlier that month and ended in December 2022.
“It was during Covid, so I was on salary reduction at the time,” Phe explained. “I’d just moved into a three-bedroom semi-detached house with my partner. Statutory maternity leave was only £120 a week, so it wasn’t going to pay the bills.
“I started doing zero-based budgeting, which is budgeting by justifying and approving all expenses, rather than basing it on your past spending. So I’d have my figure and allocate everything like the bills to fit. I had a £1,000 budget.
“I managed to double my savings to £800 per month and went on maternity leave with £5,000 in my savings account. But I still had to budget throughout my maternity leave to make ends meet.”
Having her son in the midst of a global pandemic, Phe found it hard to curb her spending habits and in October 2022 was forced to renew her budgeting. “I was struggling with my mental health and had postnatal depression,” said Phe.
“I was just buying, buying, buying, trying to make myself feel better. I was originally going back to work in September but I pushed it back to December. I was going to be living on savings at that point, but it didn’t feel right.
“I cleared out my emails and unsubscribed so I wasn’t tempted. That helped me make massive savings. I started making budgeting sheets and goals, and I followed a few different personal finance social media accounts.”
Purchasing a dehumidifier in September 2022, Phe slashed her energy bills by up to £65 per month.
“We have high ceilings so it takes our washing three or four days to dry,” she explained. “It made the house cold and meant we had the heating on an extra three hours a day.
“The dehumidifier cost about £120. It’s really efficient, our washing dries within a day and we don’t need the heating on extra. We save between £50 and £65 a month. So it adds up to a pretty big saving on our energy prices.”
Alongside slashing her household expenses, Phe also sold her son’s old clothes on Vinted.
“I was giving bags and bags of my son’s clothes to charity shops,” Phe continued. “I still send some stuff to charity shops, but if I have a nice piece I put them on Vinted. In five weeks I made £200.”
The mum says that cashback apps can be the key to everyday savings. “It’s a no-brainer. Really well-known brands and companies use top cashback,” she remarked.
“You can get eight per cent at Tesco, so a £100 voucher would actually only cost you £92. I also got £35 cashback on my car insurance, the savings seem small but they start to add up. I’m waiting for over £200 in cashback to clear right now.
“My bank also rounds up every spend to the nearest pound and puts the extra in my savings account. It’s very small amounts, but over the year I saved £87 which then paid for the Christmas shop.”
But the real side-hustle for the mum was survey sites, earning up to £500 a month. “I started in October,” she said.
“It takes a while to get going, I only made £85 in October as I was on holiday, then I made £250 in November. By December I made £500 – it was amazing. They take 10 or 15 minutes to complete. I can do them while my son is napping.”
A recent survey in June 2022 commissioned by Credit Karma found that one in four women go into debt during maternity leave - averaging £2,800 - but thanks to her thrifty know-how, Phe has avoided the parent trap. “Between October and returning to work in December I would say I had an extra £1,000 in savings I wouldn’t have had,” she said. “But really I’ve avoided debt. Taking into account my bills and income I would have been in £3,500 worth of debt.”
Now, as Phe returns to work she is even able to save for her son’s future. She said: "I’ve got a junior ISA which was set up by my dad for him.
“He can’t access it until he’s 18. I also have a savings account for him, it currently has £500. So at the moment I put away one pound a day. By the end of the year you save £365. It’s got to be doable otherwise you can’t continue with it and then it demotivates you.”
To find out more, visit Phe’s Instagram at @refillingmybank.
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