My nursery fees are crippling me!

Teenie_D

Yeah I found the same with my DD, when I went back to work my mum and dad looked after her but then my dad took not well so had to find a nursery place and it was a huge shock to the system!! We just had to keep cutting back and I eventually had to take on a second part time job one day at the weekends. It does get easier when they are in their funded sessions (not much mind you but every little bit does help).

skyvicky123

Hi Building with Lego, I missed your post before.

Both me and OH will both claim. We have joint bank account anyway, so we do split everything down the middle. It's just when you do the calcs based on my salary against the nursery fees it does hardly seem worth it (and I think I get a good wage - more than average)

minnie123

How much are your nursery fees? I pay a childminder approx £350 monthly for 3 days childcare. So I am still left with a good salary after it's been paid for.

skyvicky123

Hi Minnie - nursery is £43 per day. Plus I pay £10 extra for early drop off pick up as leave hosue 7.30, home 6.30. This would cost around £630.00 per month for 4 week month. Maybe I should consider childminder again. I had heard rates of £4.00 per hour, plus costs for food etc (which is not unreasonable, just more than I had initally expected)

pinkpig08

building with lego - I think the reason it seems that nursery fees come solely out of the mothers wages is because, in most cases, it is the mother wondering whether or not they can afford to return to work. They will receive the husbands/partners wages no matter what, so all expenses are worked out against the mothers wages. That's what we did here anyway. We worked out that if I returned to work, we would have £18 per week more than if I didn't return. Hence why I haven't gone back!

pinkpig08

skyvicky123 wrote: »

Hi Minnie - nursery is £43 per day. Plus I pay £10 extra for early drop off pick up as leave hosue 7.30, home 6.30. This would cost around £630.00 per month for 4 week month. Maybe I should consider childminder again. I had heard rates of £4.00 per hour, plus costs for food etc (which is not unreasonable, just more than I had initally expected)

The childminder I used to have charges £3.00 per hour, but a fixed daily rate (can't remember how much), so it may not actually cost you 12 hours, the childminder may cap it at less. It's worth phoning around and asking

minnie123

Childminders are def cheaper than nurseries but I will be moving my little boy to nursery in Sep as that is when he gets the free hours - however it doesn't actually work out that much cheaper as I have only just realised you only get the free hours during term time so I think it will still be approx £300 a month.

£630 is very expensive but I guess she is settled their now. Maybe you could look at her continuing at the nursery 1 day a week and attending a childminders the other 2 days? (my childminder charges £3.10 per hr + meals)

Are their any other options available to you - such as your partner either dropping or picking her up later/earlier?

Would it be worth requesting to change your starting time at work as the early drop off costs so much?

Obviously I don't know what you do or your situation just trying to think of ideas.

mwa

No ideas to help I'm afraid just sympathy, we're in a bit of a similar situation and have definitely decided that we're waiting until youngest DS is school aged before we can extend our family as having 2 pre-schoolers is killer!! Didn't really think of the implications when we 'planned' a 3 year gap between them and even though my DD had her 15 hours when DS started nursery I am still paying for the extra sessions she has to do to accommodate my working hours plus DS fees. Its been an interesting few months since my return from maternity leave financially!!

celebrate

i paid 600 -700 pounds per month for several years (3 children) -like a second mortgage

would do it all again just to go to work and get a rest from the little bu**ers!

dangers

skyvicky - whereabouts are you based? That seems an awful lot per day. I don't know how much nurseries charge where I am, but I do know that c/minders go between £3.50 and £3.70 per hour. Some will also do these 'unsociable' hours - normal hours are 8-6 roughly.

minnie123 - ask your c/minder if she is accredited. That way, she can claim the 15 hours nursery funding - saving you money and it means that you will not have to uproot your child.