How to afford a baby?!

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

I'm gobsmacked that people think 66 gas and electricity combined can be cut! I was paying that 10 years ago, and now pay £85-90 with no way I could cut it.... And I'm tight!! Reasonably large house but in a 1700 house id say it's phenomenally cheap.

We have a burner on top but that only heats the lounge and is mostly aesthetic. Can't have the kids upstairs freezing whilst I'm toasty in the lounge ;-)

onlyroz

penguingirl wrote: »

We're not parents, but reached the stage where we are thinking about it. The other day we were discussing that for us one of the biggest challenges would be how to manage school holidays- we don't have family locally and both have good jobs and careers that we don't intend (or could afford) to give up. I could probably go to 3 days a week, but unfortunately my partner works in a very male-led industry in a senior role and would not be permitted to go part-time. We worked out that to manage 13 weeks school holiday (plus inset days, half days etc) we would have to use up just about all of our annual leave! Which makes you wonder how people manage to do things as a family as we would need to be on opposite patterns. What do other people do? Is it as ridiculously hard to manage as it looks from the outside? It just seems odd to me that we have a system that pretty much requires both parents to work, but if you are not a stay at home parent it is a logistical nightmare! Sorry to hijack the thread, but it just seemed like a related issue.

We pay £23 a day (so £46 total for two kids) for the holiday club, and my parents will usually take them for a few days in the school hols as well.

The problem I have to face soon is my son, who starts secondary school in September. There appears to be no after school provision at all, and I'm not sure he's old enough to be left alone for 3 hours a day.

duchy

At eleven most kids are fine for a few hours and often relish the fact they are considered old enough todo so. Does depend on the child though

SG27

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain wrote: »

I'm gobsmacked that people think 66 gas and electricity combined can be cut! I was paying that 10 years ago, and now pay £85-90 with no way I could cut it.... And I'm tight!! Reasonably large house but in a 1700 house id say it's phenomenally cheap.

We have a burner on top but that only heats the lounge and is mostly aesthetic. Can't have the kids upstairs freezing whilst I'm toasty in the lounge ;-)

I thought it was quite good too! Still I have knocked about £8 per month off by switching today. Not much really but better than nothing! Just hope the service of the new provider is ok. Currently with British gas and pretty happy with the service.

enthusiasticsaver

duchy wrote: »

At eleven most kids are fine for a few hours and often relish the fact they are considered old enough todo so. Does depend on the child though

I would agree but I think legally you are not supposed to leave them alone until they are 12 and they are not supposed to oversee a younger child until the age of 14. I left mine from the age of 10 or 11 just to pop down the shops but never when I was working so just used to get them to go to friends and I would either pay the mum or reciprocate on a day I wasn't working. There is a sea of red tape for that though. One friend of mine had to register as a childminder to look after my girls in order for me to pay her.

onlyroz

duchy wrote: »

At eleven most kids are fine for a few hours and often relish the fact they are considered old enough todo so. Does depend on the child though

I think he would be fine 99% of the time. It's the 1% I'm worried about - e.g. would he know what to do in an emergency, e.g. if there was a fire or an intruder, or if he got ill or had an accident.

onlyroz

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I would agree but I think legally you are not supposed to leave them alone until they are 12 and they are not supposed to oversee a younger child until the age of 14. I left mine from the age of 10 or 11 just to pop down the shops but never when I was working so just used to get them to go to friends and I would either pay the mum or reciprocate on a day I wasn't working. There is a sea of red tape for that though. One friend of mine had to register as a childminder to look after my girls in order for me to pay her.

I don't think there is a legal minimum - however, the recommended age is around 13, and you can be prosecuted for neglect if it is deemed that you left them in an unsafe situation.

bluelass

If you don't want your present lifestyle to change and money would be tight then DONT have one. I detest some people who go on they really want a child but go on about how they will have to fork out for child care etc. If in doubt leave it out is good advice.

SG27

I never said I didn't want my lifestyle to change but money will be tight yes. If we all went by your thinking the average couple would never have children. It would be the preserve of the rich.

Spendless

onlyroz wrote: »

I think he would be fine 99% of the time. It's the 1% I'm worried about - e.g. would he know what to do in an emergency, e.g. if there was a fire or an intruder, or if he got ill or had an accident.

Just run through some scenarios with him. You're not going to cover every eventuality, but basically who to phone and when and when to get the hell out of the house. There's no term-time care here for yr7+ and no holiday care once child reaches 12, with the exception of some dance/drama camps and not all cover f-time hours.