Killing yourself for comp

shupertj09 · October 2015

Any other momma' s out there working their booty off to build up enough time at work to cover you entire maternity leave? I will have enough sick and annual time to cover 8 weeks of my leave but will have to earn another 4 weeks in comp time (maybe a week or two more so I have some time on the books when I get back).

I'm going to have to kill my self the next few months (because I really don't want to be working comp in late January or at all in Febuary).

Anyone else? I feel exhausted all the time.

sarahunderthesea · October 2015

I feel your pain. I just started a new job 3 weeks ago. The higher pay plus improved job atmosphere and room for growth were too much to pass up. So come February I will only have 1 week paid vacation and 1 week paid sick leave saved.

Thankfully they are allowing me to catch up on the position's workload for comp time; both for when baby arrives and so I don't have to lose time on Drs appointments. 8 hr days plus 2-3hrs after that is exhausting!

I put my vacation payout into savings but lost all of the sick time and my STD coverage when I left.

Hang in there and know you are not alone. It will be worth it when we can enjoy our time with our LO instead of worrying about $$$.

blueberrymomma · October 2015

i understand working extra to save money because we do it every summer. DHs family owns a blueberry farm. DH runs the processing line and I test/quality control so during busy season June-September I work 12-14 hour days and DH works 80-90 hour weeks. We put all our overtime pay into savings for winter when we work less. I coach and he only works 35 hours then. It was especially stressful this year since DS is due when our income is the lowest.

shupertj09 · October 2015

Money is always a concern but my employer also doesn't cover their portion of insurance if you don't have at least 80 hrs for the month (so two weeks).

Not getting paid and then also having to come up with money to pay insurance would be horrible.

malaki1418 · October 2015

I've been doing both banking comp time and saving more $$$ than usual to cover our butts during my leave. It is stressful at times, but I'm reminded why I'm doing it every time those little kicks roll around in my belly. It will be amazing to have those 3 months to share with our LO. My SO farms as well, so we're also working with it being a non-opportune time of year for income, but it is a great time of year for us both for being able to spend quality time together -- so that's a plus! ...right there with you, keep on keeping on we got this!

thisusername · October 2015

I have 3 jobs right now and I still won't have enough for Maternity leave. We are buying everything and since I don't know anyone out here i would trust with used stuff a lot of it is new and expensive! I work 14+ hour days right now (and it involves a LOT of walking) and I'm starting to think I can't keep it up until popping. You know what else is annoying?! My husband gets 10 days paternity leave. TEN DAYS. how cruel is that? Oh you had a kid? Well here's a week where you won't really get to see them cause they will be here and when they aren't they will be sleeping. Ugh. I plan on going back to work as soon as I can walk again though. (I love my jobs)

VitaLuna · October 2015

No such thing as comp time at my work. I will get short term disability for 4-6wks (depending on vag or c/s), then it's up to me to cover anything else with PTO.. Which goes to insurance premiums first, then in a paycheck if there's anything left over.

I'm trying really hard not to take any PTO, even when I can hardly walk, so that I'll have it for mat leave. I will still end up with about 10 weeks unpaid

kateryna72 · October 2015

I'm a stay at home mom, but my husband has been working crazy overtime to cover us once the babies arrive. He has zero paternity leave, and he's also going to have to use 2 weeks of vacation to going to a training class. I'm having a c section, so he's going to need a minimum of 5 days in comp time just to watch our older son while I'm in the hospital. We're having twins, so we also need to save as much money as possible before the babies are born. We barely see him these days, because he's just working all the time. So I guess conversely I'm working overtime too, because he's not around to help at home. The only person who's well rested in this house is our toddler, lol!

shupertj09 · October 2015

In so glad, I'm not alone. I know it will be worth it in the end, but it sucks right now. I've been working 2 hours extra a day and all day Saturday's...I miss my family!

Achae · October 2015

thisusername said:

I have 3 jobs right now and I still won't have enough for Maternity leave. We are buying everything and since I don't know anyone out here i would trust with used stuff a lot of it is new and expensive! I work 14+ hour days right now (and it involves a LOT of walking) and I'm starting to think I can't keep it up until popping. You know what else is annoying?! My husband gets 10 days paternity leave. TEN DAYS. how cruel is that? Oh you had a kid? Well here's a week where you won't really get to see them cause they will be here and when they aren't they will be sleeping. Ugh. I plan on going back to work as soon as I can walk again though. (I love my jobs)

Most employers don't offer paternity leave so 10 days is pretty awesome if you ask me

ashcody2 · October 2015

I don't have STD and will be using as much PTO as I have saved up - with my son that only ended up being about 2 full weeks (and I didn't ever take time off, besides for pre-natal appts.) and I still had to pay back my insurance once I came back and will need to do the same for this one.

I'm probably not coming back after leave though to be honest, I don't make enough $$ to cover two in daycare FT unless we can get my hrs. switched quite a bit to include working from home PT and I get a raise or the lady I was originally supposed to replace retires, it's not looking good for me to continue working. I'd make enough to cover daycare I suppose but my monthly income would be pointless if you ask me. Also, it's true most men don't get maternity leave and my husband will be taking maybe a week off, like he did with my son.

edit: spelling error

funkypineapple · October 2015

Achae said:

thisusername said:

I have 3 jobs right now and I still won't have enough for Maternity leave. We are buying everything and since I don't know anyone out here i would trust with used stuff a lot of it is new and expensive! I work 14+ hour days right now (and it involves a LOT of walking) and I'm starting to think I can't keep it up until popping. You know what else is annoying?! My husband gets 10 days paternity leave. TEN DAYS. how cruel is that? Oh you had a kid? Well here's a week where you won't really get to see them cause they will be here and when they aren't they will be sleeping. Ugh. I plan on going back to work as soon as I can walk again though. (I love my jobs)

Most employers don't offer paternity leave so 10 days is pretty awesome if you ask me

It would be nice for my H to get paternity leave but that is so uncommon IMO. Any time he wants to take has to come straight from his PTO.

Comp time? What's that? We get 6 or 8 weeks depending on type of birth and anything after that is either PTO or unpaid leave. Our first week out is the same.

We only just found out we can roll over up to 80 hours PTO otherwise we earn a few hours a week. Which blows

cbou · October 2015

I'm also working to get comp time, but it is hard to get motivated when all I want to do is read up on baby stuff!

@thisusername - I don't know many people up here either, but I bought most of my used stuff off of Facebook kid/baby buy/sell/trade sites and I'm headed to a consignment sale tomorrow. Have you looked at those options?

dem068a · October 2015

I get no paid time off, but the said they will hold my job, but I may or may not go back. We already adjusted out budget to try and save/live off of one income for the next few months to see if it is possible (not easy in NYC). Really hard to have stress about time off and $ when we are all trying to focus on growing little humans!

BabySeaTurtles · October 2015

I will be out for 9 weeks because that's all the time I will have accumulated. I love this little February baby but man a due date so soon after the holidays is going to kill my paid leave and consequently my maternity leave. We are required to use paid leave on company holidays to bring our hours to 40.
FMLA (I know this doesn't cover everyone) applies to dads too. Companies who fall under FMLA are required to allow up to 12 weeks for men after the birth of a child. Of course the catch is the time off does not have to be paid. My H will be taking off a week under FMLA but it comes out of his sick time. Then he's taking off like 2-3 weeks out of his annual leave because he has a ton of that.

natoshak11 · October 2015

My friend is living & working in Moscow where she says it's common for women to get up to a YEAR off for maternity, fully paid.

Then the next few years gradual time back at work.

(They also get a LOT more normal federal pd time off that we do in the U.S.)

Life is Exciting · October 2015

My work doesn't allow comp time and I'm transitioning to a new company that is taking over my position.

I am saving every penny that I get paid out from the old company from unused personal leave and will have just a few days of leave saved up with the new company by the time the baby arrives (unless she comes early).

Luckily, I will qualify for short term disability which pays 60% of my pay for 6-8 weeks depending on delivery type.

I am petitioning my new employer to allow me to do some work from home after the short term disability period is over. It is my hope that I can use some work from home to supplement some of the leave without pay that I'm going to need to take.

I'm also saving every penny I can out of my paychecks into a separate bank account that I have on the side for bills, etc. while I'm on maternity leave and not making much or any money. It is my ultimate goal to stay home with the baby for 12 weeks, even if half of that is spent partially working from home.

Kimbarbour08 · October 2015

I'm saving up my sick, personal, and vacation time. I'm eligible for 12 weeks of FMLA, but that's not paid so I'm racking up that paid time! I think I'll have something like 6 full weeks off (taking 4 days of pay a week to make it last longer) then I'll start gradually coming back to work; 2 days a week for 3 weeks, 3 days a week for 2 more weeks, then back to full time

I miss my baby already!

kateryna72 · October 2015

@dem068a we're in the ny metro area too! We had been in Brooklyn, but moved to Long Island before the birth of my 1st son. I'm a stay at home mom for now, because my husband works off hours (nights & weekends) and the cost of childcare is so insane in ny. Between childcare & commuting costs, we would barely break even and we'd never have any family time. So instead we bought a house that has an attached accessory apartment, and the rent helps with our monthly budget so that I can stay home.

dem068a · October 2015

@kateryna72 I know, the cost of child care is insane in NYC. It is pretty depressing to know that 80% of my salary will likely go to daycare if I decide to go back to work. We are going to move to Long Island sometime next year, so my parents can help a bit with child care. The whole idea of figuring out childcare/working/ work life balance is so stressful!

4N6s · October 2015

Do you have the option for short term disability?

thisusername · October 2015

cbou said:
I'm also working to get comp time, but it is hard to get motivated when all I want to do is read up on baby stuff!

@thisusername - I don't know many people up here either, but I bought most of my used stuff off of Facebook kid/baby buy/sell/trade sites and I'm headed to a consignment sale tomorrow. Have you looked at those options?

I have, but even that is kind of a stretch still. We pay 2,000 a month for our one bedroom apartment plus at payments and it's insane. This is the cheap area too. I get kinda nervous about buying used stuff since one of my cats has no immune system and easily contracts diseases, so while we are cleaning it for baby he could get sick. I did just get a swing for $24 dollars, which made my day!

Also for everyone saying most people don't get paternity leave: I had NO idea!! I don't know much about the father side but I thought they did too. Now I fee pretty bad about complaining.

He just told me he won't even be here on his paternity leave though, he's using that plus leave days to go back to California for a bit . I hope my mom flies in before then!

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