cost effective childcare

flipper_72

Sorry, I didn't realise Scotland had different amounts of time for preschool funding.
The nursery ds is at is private, just on school grounds (there is also a LA nursery on site which is 8.45-11.45 or 12.15-3-15 no option for extra hours) the problem you will have is getting kids to 2 different places I guess. Our nursery only charges for the extras rather than deducts the funding and it is only applied in school term time, again I think if you can find one that does this it ends up cheaper as sometimes it is possible to organise other things in hols (I have my dd friend 1 day per week and her friends mum has dd 1 day to cut the costs for both of us).
It definitely sounds like a student would be the way to go, try the local college or uni.

claire16c

If you pay a student on a regular basis then you're effectively employing them as a nanny so you'll need to pay their tax & national insurance and at least the minimum wage. But probably still cheaper than a child minder if you have two kids.

If its just a couple of ad-hoc hours a week you could probably get away with it as being baby sitting.

Savvy_Sue

I would not use grandparents as childminders unless they were a) VERY keen b) very fit and c) very local.

In the situation described, I think I'd keep them for emergencies, which will inevitably crop up ...

TDMum

To whomever said to chec out tax credits, THANK YOU! I assumed that we would earn too much to be eligible but bizarrely if you add in child care costs the enitlement goes up. Anyway I could put the little guy in a nursery for 3 days a week, MIL could watch him one day a week and it wouldn't cost an arm and a leg Would also be good for him to socialise with little ones the same age as him!

londonsurrey

Find someone to jobshare with? You take turns at minding the children and doing your jobs?

notanewuser

flipper_72 wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't realise Scotland had different amounts of time for preschool funding.
.

Wales does as well. We only get 10 hours and nothing for the autumn term.

Savvy_Sue

TDMum wrote: »

MIL could watch him one day a week and it wouldn't cost an arm and a leg

But please, in your budget, allow for paying MIL, or for upping nursery if that doesn't work out, or something crops up.

Sometimes it just doesn't work out with grandparents minding their grandchildren, for all sorts of reasons. In fact, I remember MIL saying that she felt she had to give up work when DH turned 2 or so, because his grandma couldn't let him off his reins when they went to the park once he could outrun her! :rotfl: