Really dont know what to do for the best....

karenr84

Hi i really hope someone can offer some advice or insight to our situation as i really dont know what to do!

Im gong to go into quite a bit of detail here to try and make things as clear as i can as its the only way i can try to get my head around it all! Please keep reading!


We have 2 daughters 1&2. I have recently started working after taking voluntary redundancy whilst being on maternity leave. Im working 25 hours a week and our daughters are at nursery for this time as we have no family who can help.

• My husband works 37 hours a week.
• Our childcare costs are £864 per month.
• I earn £817 per month after tax.
• We recieve £759.00 in tax credits a month which includes the childcare element. However our award says this is going to reduce to £514 in April.
• My husband earns £1572 a month.

We own our house but are now in negative equity by around £10,000. We're currently paying interest only but really want to start repaying soon as im sure interest rates are due to rise this year. And owe about £8000 on a 0% credit card too.

We have a very thorough budget and with all of this taken into account we currently have around £250 spare at the end of the month thats without any savings and just bare minimum on luxuries and food etc. Obviously this is going to go down in April when our tax credits do and we've worked out we will have the grand total of £12 after everything at the end of the month!!!! The reason why its going down is that my husband changed his job in August 2010 and went from being self employed to employed and is now earning a bit more money than previously.

The reason for my post is im trying to work out if its actually worth me working after all of this! I feel very guilty as it is having our 2 little girls are in nursery practically full time. Im sure other parents will know how im feeling but ive always worked and i hate the burdon being solely on my husband. However i know my children will only be little once so should enjoy them. Im considering re training or finding work where i wont have the childcare costs ie evening or weekend work.

Does anyone know or have any guidance on how i can work out if we could be in reciept of any tax credits if i didnt work? I know we wouldnt be entitled to the childcare element. Ive been on the HMRC calculator and entitled 2 but they both give completely conflicting information. plus they use previous years financial information which isnt relevet now as our finances have changed. Ive also looked at a couple of links on other posts about income thresholds and % withdrawal rates but it really confuses me. I dont want to pack my job in that i really enjoy only to find out we would be worse off which i know on paper without any tax credits we would.

Sorry for going on im just at a loss of what to and feel completely trapped by our situation. We are very hardworking and in a difficult financial situation and like many others bought our house at the peak of the market and are now stuck with no help around!!!! Moving just isnt an option as we would lose our £30k deposit we originally put down and have no where to go, renting would cost more than our mortgage at present.

Thanks for getting this far! Any advice is greatly appreciated

Karen

montymud

hiya hun, check this calculator as reccomended by Martin, try doing it a couple of times with the different variables ie if you worked then if you didn't work http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

karenr84

Thank you but ive already done that one but it uses last years financial information which wouldnt be relevent now as i was on maternity leave and hubby on a lower income. Thank you for taking the time to reply though!

montymud

thats ok, if there is a big change in income then *I THINK* you van ask tax credits to use this years income but research that 1st! lol

nannytone_2

when is your eldest daugter 3?
once she is 3 you will get 15 hours free nursery.

karenr84

I will try calling them on monday they never seem to give me any figures over the phone i just have to wait til a notice comes through. I will try again though.

My eldest is 3 in August so i believe the funding will start in sept just not sure we can survive in our current situation til then! somethings gotta give!

madras79

we have 2 children we both worked full time. now my husband just works,we are better off .but i am looking for work as i dont want a big gap of nothing on my cv

pompeyrich

madras79 wrote: »

we have 2 children we both worked full time. now my husband just works,we are better off .but i am looking for work as i dont want a big gap of nothing on my cv

It really annoys me that, as a society, we consider staying home and raising young children as "nothing".

montymud

I agree with that last comment - there are so many other countries that see staying at home with your children as invaluable to their childhood. Of course people are all different and I wouldn't judge those that prefer to work.

karenr84

Does anyone know or can tell me how i can interpret theincome thresholds and % withdrawal rate please?
Id rather stay at home if i can and bring my children up if we can financially afford it but if i have to work to survive then i will just have to make the best of the situation!

DaisyFlower

I'd try and hold out, 25 hours is only part time. In a couple of years your children will be in school and if you leave work now you may find it hard to get a part time job again as its an employers market out there.

Plus you'll have worked for the co for a few years so they may be open to you have flexible hours to allow you to tweak your hours a little.

What did you plan to do financial wise before having the two children so close together (knowing the costs of childcare etc) - surely as your husbands wages have actually gone up then your budget should be over not under than planned.