There are opportunities for meet-ups that don't cause a financial impact It wasn't so long ago that I thought women were paid in full for the duration of maternity leave. Oh, how that makes me laugh — given that I now realise managing your finances while taking time off to be with your baby is just as much of a juggle as childcare. As I'm now about to embark on my second round of maternity leave, I've learned some lessons along the way and while I wouldn't describe my previous financial decisions as mistakes, there are certainly some things I would do differently.
For example, this time I wouldn't blow the majority of our maternity savings on new furniture for the house we'd recently moved into..