stay at home Mum

Mojisola

maggieann2luke wrote: »

Our daughter is getting child tax credit but it will not pay childcare in our area. Also the nearest nursery and employment prospects are 5 miles away, she doesn't drive and there's no suitable bus service.

jacques_chirac wrote: »

Sounds like she needs to get a bike

Mum and three children on a bike?

bloolagoon

maggieann2luke wrote: »

I am asking for suggestions for both of us. Our daughter's partner works 10am to 8pm. We all live in a small village, 1 shop and 80% holiday homes. He walks 5 miles to work or gets a lft if he's lucky.

We would love to be able to look after the kids at weekends but my husband is struggling to stay working following heart problems and now kidney issues. He can't really cope with his health plus 2boisterous boys and the baby. I have chronic spnal trouble and I'm waiting for surgery on my knee - basically damaged by my back and the way I walk.

I'm not looking for excuses or sympathy, we have to deal with our health as it affects us. The financial side of thngs is my biggest concern for us all.

Can she clean holiday homes and take children with her? Or Find another mum and swap childcare, so they look after each other's children.

vassa

Don't find more work, find ways to live for less. Grow your own food where possible, buy less of what you don't need, portion food better so you throw less away, make everything yourself from scratch (much cheaper than buying ready made stuff), freeze leftovers, shop in the marked down section (can save a small fortune on meat/fish) and I take it none of you smoke?

For instance, if she's paying for jarred baby food then she can cut out an expense there.

If you have debts, write to them informing of a circumstance change and only pay what you can afford. If you're paying a TV Licence, you should get rid of your TV because that will save you £11 a month.

Go to Ovivo and get a £20 sim which gives you free call and text time and requires no additional top ups.

Go on uSwitch and get onto the very best electric and gas deals. As well as this, turn off everything you're not using. In my house, the only things that are switched on when we're at home is the computer, the router and the fridge. Everything else is turned off when it's not being used.

Only when you've cut out every unnecessary expense will you figure out how much you really need to live on. Peanuts basically.

jacques_chirac

Mojisola wrote: »

Mum and three children on a bike?

Partner and father drive, or is it only women that help with childcare?

Mojisola

jacques_chirac wrote: »

Partner and father drive, or is it only women that help with childcare?

If partner or father are able to the children to the nursery, there wouldn't be any point in the mother riding a bike - she could get a lift as well.

bloolagoon

Mojisola wrote: »

Mum and three children on a bike?

The 4 year old could be left with grandma and bike trailers for 2 are common place. Mine had a baby section. It wouldn't take long to cycle 5 miles.

pmlindyloo

maggieann2luke wrote: »

Our daughter has 3 children under 4 years old, the youngest is 7 months old. Because I am on esa from IB she obviously can't expect me to look after our grandchildren while she works. Both her partner and my husband work full time in low paid jobs, we help them out as best we can. In Jan 2014 I will move to income related esa when I will have no income so then we will be struggling. I am currently appealing the esa to get into the support group but not getting very far. I don't want sarcastic comments about only having children when you can afford them, I just would like some constructive advice as to what to do next, please.

So, have I got this right.

You - on ESA contribution based WRAG group (appealing for Support group)
Your husband - working full time on low wage

Your benefits = Working tax credits? Housing Benefit? Council Tax Support? (how old are you? rented house?)

Your daughter = stay at home mum with 3 children under 5 wanting to work, partner works full time on low wage.

Your daughter's benefits = working and child tax credits, housing benefit, council tax support and child benefit

Possible extra benefits for you. Have you checked whether you are entitled to Personal Independence Payment? Not means tested. Google for the eligibility criteria. if you claimed this you might get extra premiums on any means tested benefits (like HB, ESA)

Your daughter.
If she is receiving all the benefits mentioned then there is nothing else that I can think of.

As regards her working with 3 children under 5 yrs it will be difficult if you live out in the sticks. Also they would lose some of their benefits so with travelling expenses and all the stress (and I rarely say this) she is probably no better off than as she is now particularly if she can't find someone who is registered so that she can claim child care costs from tax credits.


Basically there are two ways of managing money better - increasing income (including benefit entitlement) or cutting expenditure.

Perhaps a really good read of this website might help with the latter?

maggieann2luke

Thanks for all your comments, I'm still amused at the thought of our daughter and 3 kids on a bike, nice idea but not really safe on our country road!
We already grow our own veg, the boys eat them after they've dug them up or picked them. My freezer has a nice supply of veg for over the winter., I make most of our meals from scratch, the baby eats more or less the same as us. Our daughter and the boys eat here 5 days a week so neither of us waste much. What isn't eaten gets put in the freezer for the little one or used for soup along with the chicken carcass.

bloolagoon

maggieann2luke wrote: »

Thanks for all your comments, I'm still amused at the thought of our daughter and 3 kids on a bike, nice idea but not really safe on our country road!
We already grow our own veg, the boys eat them after they've dug them up or picked them. My freezer has a nice supply of veg for over the winter., I make most of our meals from scratch, the baby eats more or less the same as us. Our daughter and the boys eat here 5 days a week so neither of us waste much. What isn't eaten gets put in the freezer for the little one or used for soup along with the chicken carcass.

So what are they spending money on? benefits with 3 children are very generous.

vassa

Well then you need to look into the other most expensive areas of your lives - you're doing mostly everything you can saving-wise with the grub, so now you have to look at utility suppliers.

Make sure you're getting the cheapest of EVERYTHING - gas, electric, internet, phone etc and get rid of anything you don't need like TV, big phone contracts, 'treat' spending such as chocolate, beer, smoking, expensive shower gels, clothing spending, accessory spending, hair cuts etc.

Really see where you can trim all the fat out of the expenses and then see where you can add the odd thing back in when the finances allow based on priority/your preference.

It doesn't make for a fun life but then again a roof over your head and food in the fridge are the two most important things. You could even live without electric and gas if you really really HAD to.

I've recently moved and I've become extremely tight fisted. Some of the things i'm currently doing to save every extra penny:

Never spending outside of the home at all on food or drink. So for instance, if i'm out about town and am a bit thirsty, I don't buy a drink. I never buy food in town. I will go for what I went for then go home without any extras at all (some 'shopping guru' in some book I read says that if everybody only ever bought what they went in for, the economy would collapse within weeks.)

We grow all our own veg and herbs where we can. It's hard at the moment because we don't have prepared soil, but we're getting it prepared for sowing in April/May time.

'Sandwiches' for Uni/work have become cheaper options like pasta (really cheap) with home made sauce put in, home made hummus and veg, home made flapjacks (oats are cheap) and other stuff which is cheaper than buying sandwich fillers and bread.

My lights go off even if I leave a room for 30 seconds. Times that per room, per hour, per year and you've probably got the best part of a monthly outgoing.

I turn all the electric off except the fridge when we're in bed, and it's all off through the day when we're out.

The heating only goes on if it's bitterly cold, if otherwise we put an extra layer on. The hot water will go on for as long as it takes to heat, then off again, we keep our eye on it.

We uSwitched the utilities and broadband and got the cheapest deals we could find, and we also just bought the Ovivo sim.

I drive in the most mpg-friendly way I can, and we recycle as much as we can so we can personally reuse it, instead of giving it to the council to recycle and then make money out of.

No takeaways, no extras that we don't need, no 'treats' that we don't need, no TV, no fancy mobile, no anything of that sort really.

We're also constantly scanning the floor for money as a lot of people seem to love throwing coppers on the floor - we weighed £14.55 into the Asda machine a few months ago, all from 6 months of picking up off the floor - every little helps!

Not saying you should live like us, but it's a good example of the little things that people often overlook which can add up to huge savings.

EDIT; forgot to add, get rid of the birthday and Christmas presents, and also cards for anniversaries and 'special holidays' like easter and valentines day. This should save you loads. You can easily make toys for kids or get them real tiny gifts like books. As for cards, I find telling someone you love them to their face better than paying £2 to say it in card form.