Question

So my husband and I are having a baby in June. My goal has been to save for maternity leave, I have 2 weeks paid off but am hoping to take 6 weeks off. We have also been trying paying off debt I feel like doing both at the same time isn't getting us anywhere and I'm stuck as to whether to dump extra money into saving or bills. which would you do? I just feel like we are not making the progress we need to for me to take the time off were hoping for. but not eliminating any payments means we have to save that much more.  

Answer 1

Savings. 100% savings. Paying off debt right now doesn’t do you any good if you’re just going to turn around and reuse credit cards when you’re on maternity leave because you didn’t have enough saved. I would try to save for more than 6 weeks too because sometimes things happen and maybe you have to go on bed rest a little early or maybe you decide you want to stay home an extra week or two. Anything you end up not using can always be put toward debt when you go back to work.  

Answer 2

Savings. I’m also having a baby in June so we are in “stork mode” where our debt snowball is put on hold and every extra dollar goes into savings until me and the baby come home safe and healthy from the hospital. That way any unexpected medical costs or other baby related costs can be covered with cash vs having to use the emergency fund or turn to credit. Once me and baby are home safe and sound and all related bills have been paid, whatever extra we have saved up will be an extra payment towards debt.  

Answer 3

Save for the baby is what I would do. For both my daughters I had enough diapers bought to get to training pants (potty training). My Morgan I had 1800 diapers by the time I had her. She was almost three yes old. Courtney was 14 months. Debt is debt. Just continue paying but not gazelle.  

Answer 4

I’d save for baby as long as u can pay debt later. Mat leave is precious

Answer 5

I literally just came off maternity leave and I would save as much money as u could. It's a lot of stress when your constantly thinking and worrying about Bill's. I went back to work at 5 weeks cause I had to, and i wish I could have stayed home longer

Answer 6

Savings! Take this time woth your new baby and enjoy it. It is so worthwhile to have any extra time at home with them if you can ♥️

Answer 7

I came back to work in September after a 14 week maternity leave. I would save the money to get as much maternity leave as possible!  

Answer 8

Save. You’ll want more than 6 weeks off.  

Answer 9

Do you have short term disability as a benefit through work? If you do and it’s in place BEFORE you were pregnant, you can recover a portion of your salary for any unpaid time you take

Comments

Totally get it. When I was pregnant with my first, I actually got offered a new job before I knew, found out I was pregnant before I took it (and told them, even though legally I didn't have to). I was still able to get short term disability for maternity leave, but it was at a much reduced rate since I hadn't been there a full year

Answer 10

Thank you for asking this! I’m in the same boat! I’m due in June and I get 12 weeks but we are also moving cross country at the beginning of August. We’ve been throwing every extra penny at savings so we aren’t caught in a tough position in the summer and use a credit card. Once we are moved and settled with baby in the new place anything over $1750 (I’m not comfortable with just $1k of emergency with a newborn) in our savings is going straight to debt and we start our debt journey again.  

Answer 11

Time with your new baby and recovering is worth so much more than a little less debt. Save as much as you need for the time off you want to take (I would do 8 weeks as a bare minimum just in case you have a c-section). Once you have that all saved up then aggressively go towards debt until baby is born!  

Answer 12

I would save for the baby!  

Answer 13

I’m having my baby in July and starting a new Job this month, I already I will most likely not qualify for short term or FMLA and my leave is going to be unpaid. So I know I already have to save for my leave, which is what we have been doing. It’s ok to have things change and pause your pay off journey, you can resume when you go back to work.  

Answer 14

Save for maternity leave! Figure out a safe estimate for how much you need to have set aside to take those extra four weeks unpaid. (Map out your expenses and subtract your husband's income to see how much is left to cover. ) If there's enough that you can save that amount and still put a little towards debt then that's great but put your savings first. You need that time to recover and to spend with your little one!  

Comments

And if you can possibly manage to take more than six weeks, do it! Some women find that they're ready to go back to work at six weeks (and if that's you, you can totally go back early if you plan for an eight or more week leave) but I know most aren't ready to go back so soon. I took twelve weeks with my first and it was nowhere near enough. I'm planning for sixteen weeks leave followed by a month of three day work weeks with my second and I don't think that will be enough either!  

Answer 15

In the Dave Ramsey baby steps, in situations like this, you would be going into storm mode, so preparing for the baby is your best move. Secure your 4 walls, ensure essential bills, stop the snowball. This doesn't mean you stop paying debt -- you don't stop. Rather, you only pay the minimums and stay current. Everything else goes to savings for the baby.  

Answer 16

I have 3 boys and as soon as I find out I am pregnant my income starts going directly to pay off debt, so getting rid of payments. That way when I am on maternity leave we can live off my husband's income also saving how much you'd make in the time your going to be off is a good idea.  

Answer 17

I know the struggle! I'm due in @primogeniture with my second kid and when I first found out I was like "ok I need to save but I also want to pay off debt" and it was a huge struggle for me in the beginning to stop my extra debt payments and save as much as possible. Then I saw video Dave Ramsey did about why you pause debt and save, and it's because once you are through maternity leave, anything you have leftover can go back to your debt. So if you save $10, 000 (I'm being generous lol) but only use $3, 000 of it for hospital stuff, maternity leave stuff, etc. Then you can put that other $7, 000 towards debt. Once I heard that and realized how much that made sense, I stopped my debt snowball and started saving even more. So definitely save as much as possible and pause any extra debt payments (pay the minimum payments and that's it)! :)

Answer 18

Save! I had a surprise c section due to my babies position and had to be off for minimum of 8 weeks. You never know what could happen. Pause the debt repayment and focus on saving for being home for a little while.  

Answer 19

Save for the baby/ maternity leave and pay the minimums on debt. That’s more of a priority because if you don’t, you could go further into debt.  

Answer 20

We are in the same boat. I’m due in @primogeniture. My husband and I decided together to focus now on building a savings for when the baby is here.  

Answer 21

We are in the same boat. We are aggressively saving. No extra is going towards debt so that we are not drowning and worrying after Baby arrives.  

Answer 22

Save for maternity leave. Spending time with ur little one is something you will cherish and appreciate. Paying off debt can wait till u get back to work!  

Answer 23

Save for maternity leave/income replacement! I’ve done that for all 3 of my babies. I am the breadwinner in our house though so it was essential I can pay myself as if I’m still working during maternity leave

Answer 24

I saved anything I could for my maternity leave! I sold all kinds of stuff as well and had a bunch squirreled away by the time came! I would pay Minimums and save save save! :) It will help with the stress!  

Answer 25

Savings! Idk how much money I spent after I had my daughter because there were a lot of stuff I realized that i actually needed. But congrats! I'm due in June too!  

Answer 26

We are in the same boat and I am saving for maternity leave first and foremost so that we don’t go into debt during that time. We are throwing a little at debt with whatever we have left. I view this as a temporary thing and will get right back on track in debt payoff when baby comes.  

Answer 27

At this point I’d stop aggressively attacking debt and start saving for your time off.  

Answer 28

I would pay all my bills (minimums) and I would save everything else left for maternity leave.  

Answer 29

You should be able to do short term disability once you run out of time as well. My coworker did that as she had less time than me when we had our LOs.  

Answer 30

Same boat! Due June 11th and I’m self employed. so funding my own maternity leave. We are saving for that first, then continue to fully fund our emergency fund and other fun savings buckets. We follow Dave Ramsey’s baby steps too  

Answer 31

Maternity leave. I took 12 weeks off and I will cherish those moments forever

Answer 32

Definitely maternity leave. They are only itty bitty for a little while. I was lucky enough to have 15 weeks off with my son and it was really helpful because my son had some health problems to the point where he had to be hospitalized for a 9 days when he was 9 weeks old. I couldn’t imagine having to worry about him and my job at the same time.  

Answer 33

Idk if you follow DR. But he does stork mode. Don’t worry about debt, save, SAVE! Nothing on credit.  

Answer 34

I’m due July and aside from an IRS debt and a credit card we’re gonna pay off in the next month, we’re gonna shoot to save $10k for maternity leave. Extra debt payments can wait!  

Answer 35

Pay the minimums