Hi Everyone,

I hope this is the right thread to use. I did a search and read back through the previous posts on this thread, and I couldn't see anything. I think I already know what the answer is, but I thought I'd see if anybody could bring any more info to what I already know.

So, basically, I have just found out that I am pregnant. My husband has a chronic mental illness and doesn't work, but he doesn't receive AVS because, well, it's hard to explain, but applying for it is hard as it triggers some aspects of his illness. So we live fine on one salary of 90,000.

I know maternity is paid at 80% of up to 88,200 CHF, but I did not realise that taxes etc. were still deducted. We have quite a lot of debts (for various reasons) so our outgoings are a lot each month, and I am really, really, really worried about money now. I honestly don't understand how we will pay the bills AND manage to buy everything a baby needs during my maternity leave. I don't want to leave my husband alone with the baby during this time, as he is fragile. It is a really difficult situation, and I am just looking for ways to make this easier. Please, please, don't judge me. This is the situation, and it has been difficult for us over the last few years. We have to find a way to manage it.

Does anybody have any advice? What do single parents do, for example? Or parents on a lower wage than this? Or single mothers who earn more than the 196 francs per day threshold - how do they pay their mortgages or rents once their pay drops during maternity leave? I appreciate that people mostly plan for babies and save up, but, you know, conception isn't always like that. Sometimes things happen, even with contraception!

Other than moving to a cheaper area (which we can't even do as we have just missed our annual deadline) or defaulting on our debts, I'm just not sure how all of the bills are needed. Even with buying second-hand and trying to reorganise the debt payments (which I guess may or may not happen). I guess my question is this: apart from maternity pay and family allowance, is there anything else to support new families whose outgoings exceed their incomings?