There is a lot of advice about money on Minti. Have you tried looking at those?

Alternatively if you're talented in any thing like arts and crafts, you could sell those to earn additional income.

It all depends on how your money is committed, for eg over 1/2 of my income is alloated to my morgage, followed by a PL/ Credit cards and a monthly payment on my PC.

So first thing you need to look at is where does your money go? What do you have to pay, these are usually not negotiable, if you have a morgage and have been paying extra look at seeing what you bank can do if you only have the one income. Options like extending from 25 yrs to 30 reduces repayemnts because they have you on the hook longer.

Secondly things like cable TV, newspapers and magazine subscriptions can go. These are the luxury items that you dont want to live without but can.

Thirdly consider what you are eating, I dont know about you but every fortnight when I go shopping I feel like my bill is being hiked up yet again.. You may have to substitute items like Toilet paper, paper towels, for less expensive brands.

Consider what you eat and where you can compromise for eg steak goes except for special occassions mince and sausages substitute or better still meatless meals, when my 4 where little we had one income we were big meat eaters but I soon learned that protein came from a variety of sources so some meals contained meat others didnt.

I would also advise buying baby items like bottles, nappy liners,  etc when you shop one or two things a shop. You need to consdier that you may intend to breastfeed but for a varity of reason be unable to, you may plan on using disposable nappies and again be unable to....contingency plans are very important...stock up on non perishable items where possible.

When you are on one income consider shopping online if its available in your area, I actually do this to send gifts to my mother of grocery items and have noticed that I dont overspend because Im not in the shop buying "added extras".

If you are in your own place consider what you can grow yourself, vegies and fruits trees (although the trees will take a few years to fruit) and maybe chickens if your local council allows it.

The best advice I can give is to buy a freezer and cook double and freeze, this does same in energy and time. You can also buy seasonal items and freeze you will need a good freezer cookbook but I survived many a time on what was in my freezer when an unexpected bill popped up...yes I know a good budget resolves that issue but I was good at budgeting until recent years  so you are now getting hindsight advice.

I guess what Im saying is write everything down, clear what you can before the second income goes, stock up where you can, my daughter did with all sorts of things so she had essentials while she wasnt working and most lasted until she had to return to work.... and remember if you get into difficulty with bills approach the lender ASAP to resolve the situation, never ignore something important as you are morel likely to get assistance if you appear to want to reslove the issue.

Best wishes.

Speaking from personal experience, a family can live on very little providing some thought goes into it.  I am not saying it is easy, and I am also not saying it is very enjoyable.  The thing is this, you have to decide how important this is to you.  If you want to do it badly enough, you will find a way. Look on it as a challenge and see how best you can beat it.  As one comment said, take a good look at what you spend your money on, you may well be very surprised at what you can actually do without.  There is a big difference between "need" and "want" and for most of us, we have them totally muddled.  Get them sorted out and things shouldn't be too difficult. I am still not saying it will be a breeze, but decide how important it is to you.

I have to say, speaking from experience it's not easy.  We went thru all of our savings and lived paycheck to paycheck.  We used the credit card alot and it's was tough.  After 2 years things are certainly better, but for about 8m neither of us were making money, and we still managed to survive.  For us it was not a choice as I have health issues that do not allow me to work full time.  And now with 2 babies it's better for me to be home at the time being.  I think the only way to know for sure is when you are in the situation.  I don't know if you have maternity leave where you are at, but it's a good test drive since, unless you have vacation time for that whole period it will be like you are on 1 income.   Things you can do to save is try to BF, since you don't have to by formula, but if you do go with formula, check into programs that help with that.  Here in the US there is WIC where they provide coupons for milk, formula, cheese, juice, cereal, etc or the food itself.  Also, really look at not eating out, buying in bulk or items on sale, use alot of hand me downs, but you can also buy new close when they go on clearence for the next year.  I did that with my daughter and it helps me save alot!  Also, with diapers you can either go cloth, which is lot of laundry and work, or use cupons and buy when on sale in bulk.  Hope this gives you some ideas.  Good luck and Congrats!

It was quite a culture shock when we had our first bub, not being able to go out for meals and holidays were the biggest expense cutback.  If you are lucky enough to have family close by who are willing to help you could always go back to work part-time (I paid for nursery and childcare which did eat into what little income I was earning) I did a lot of shopping in second hand shops for baby clothes but it was worth it because they grow out of it so fast they are barely in them for long.  We also bought cots and prams etc from local papers from people who didn't need their baby stuff and were happy to sell for cheap (this was a very good income earner because I was able to sell these items on when I had finished with them, therefore making my money back).  You really need to work together on this one both of you need to see what income you have and what needs to be paid, I'm afraid little luxuries will have to be given up but not for long.  Good luck.

You need to really look at where your money is going each week, you might be surprised how much money you waste on things you really wouldn't miss.

I recently set up a buget for us and we've actually started saving money for real.

Another thing to think about is if you could move to save money on rent or morgage repayments (this would make the biggest difference).

As Libby said, it depends on where you live. If in Australia, ring Centrelink or go in and see them, and see how much approximately you will be getting, and what sort of benefits you would be entitled to. If it really is beyond your means then you may have to go back to work, but look into it. Also find out about the general costs of day care in your area.

It is doable, you sometimes have to go without some things. If you are a 2 car family, see if you can get away with one. If you like going out to dinner once a week, make it once a month. These are just some suggestions. We did it and survived, but now that the kids are getting older I have to look at getting some work now to help with costs of things.

it really depends on where you live. in Australia we get a family tax benifit for having kids nad that has been a saviour to me, also we can get a parenting allowance from the government if our partners work and get below a certian amount.

i would have your maternity leave and see how you go. day care is just as much as not working sometimes.