Childcare is bloody expensive!

beedeedee

What about a "au pair"? Probably cheaper (if they still exist)?

Mupette

Ditto the childcare vouchers both of you can have them if your employers are in the scheme. £486 tax free a month, saving about £1866 in tax and NI, a year can help.

pinkshoes

We pay £4 for breakfast club from 7.30am (including breakfast) and £5 for afterschool club until 4.30pm including snack.

I would perhaps look into a nanny, or even sharing a nanny with someone else.

Also, if your OH has had a change in circumstances and taken a much liwer paid job, could he consider getting an evening job instead then helping with childcare?

I'm a teacher and earn about £45/week after childcare and petrol!! I only work part time (as I would lose money if I increased my hours!) and just accept we have a limited budget until the term after the kids turn 3 to get the free childcare!

PasturesNew

You are lucky and cannot see the choices that modern benefits are affording you.

In previous years you'd simply accept that you couldn't go back to work and would get a part-time evening job, or weekend job, in a local shop for the extra money you needed.

Indeed, if you did that now you'd be "better off" than continuing your current job and paying for childcare. It's still an option.

You have choices available, decisions to make - 20 years ago there'd have been no "moaning" about this... you'd have just accepted that "this is what you do".

My friend gave up work and her husband got an extra evening job in a factory and he took up over-time offers at his job, so she didn't have to go and find a local job herself (she was a lazy mare who didn't drive, so it suited her to sit on her bum while he did all the work/extra work/2nd job as he could drive).

People did what they had to, what they could, with no "help" back then and without feeling "hard done by".

Spendless

PeppaCoin wrote: »

I'm currently on maternity leave and pondering on the sums for when I return to work. I earn £28k and husband £19k. I need to return to work full time as I can't afford a cut in salary and it wouldn't be possible with the work I do. We have 2 children - a 5 year old in school and a newborn.

Newborn childcare - using a childminder at £45 per day x 5 days a week, for 47 weeks a year. £10,575 per year or £881 per month

Son - before school club for 5 mornings a week at £6.50 per session and after school club at £11.50 per session for 4 afternoons. Total per week is £78.50. This will be for 39 weeks of school term, ie £3062 per year. He will also have to attend summer club for another 8 weeks of the year 5 days a week at £25 per day (£1000). Total £4062 per year or £338.50 per month

So we're looking at spending £1220 a month on childcare alone. The thought is making me so nervous.We don't have family or friends who can help with childcare and even with the help of childcare vouchers or taxfree childcare I can't quite get my head around being able to afford it. Our salaries are £47k in total so I know plenty of couples earn less, but I have no idea how they cope.

Looking at it another way, my day rate is £107. I probably take home £72 per day net, yet it costs £63 per day during term time and £70 per day in the summer to put the children in childcare. How depressing to be working for a few pounds per day.

Am I missing something really obvious, or is this just the case until the 30 hours kicks in for us in 2020?

I've been back to your opening post and bolded some parts. I've put your husband's 19K salary into this website.

https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php

This shows me he would get a net take home pay of pennies under £1350 per month. If we deduct the childcare bill that you've put of £1220 from his salary, which is the sum often done to decide whether it is worth the lower earner working, he will be working all month for £130 less any work related expenses, such as cost of travelling to and from work.

You've put that you can't afford to take a cut in salary, but your household is going to get one anyway due to childcare costs.

I'm not overly familiar with what childcare help is available now as mine are teenagers but what used to happen is if you weren't eligible to claim childcare help via tax credits, you could claim childcare vouchers. Have you looked into these?

Something else that struck me is that your older one is in breakfast club 5 days a week and after school club 4 days a week. I'm guessing this is because one of you has an early finish one day a week? Would it be possible for either of you to re-adjust your working hours even if they can't be lowered, so that either of you could do the school morning run this would reduce your childcare bill by upto £32.50 a week in term time.

ThinkPink

You should definitely look at the calculations to work out how much you would save with either childcare vouchers or tax free childcare- I imagine as you have two children to pay childcare for tax-free would work out better. You get 20p back for every 80p you pay into the account (up to a certain amount per child)

I worked out we were just as well off for me to work three days a weeks as what we would have been if I had gone back full time (although we are lucky that we only have to pay for two of the three days as he goes to Nana one day).

haras_nosirrah

I agree with seeing about getting a nanny or oper. They can look after baby, do the school run and also help out with the housework. would probably cost the same as you are paying but you get some additional help with housework as well.

It is hard - I work 42 hours a week and have a 4 yr old and an 18mth old. Trying to work as if you don't have kids and parent as if you don't work is exhausting. If your job is one with career progression or one where taking time out would mean you can't get back in again then I would stay but maybe see if you and hubby can flexi time so you work later but start later meaning you can drop off for school and hubby starts earlier and finishes earlier so can pick up after school - is that a possibility?

clairec79

To start with we both worked part time (30 hours each) and worked opposite shifts (handed over kids at lunchtime)

When his hours were changed so that didn't work we realised that financially it made more sense for him (the lower earner) to stay home and me to increase my hours to full time than pay for child care for 3 under school age.

It worked for us

sulphate

I feel for you OP. I obsessively worried about the costs of having a child before we had our son. We did so many calculations. I still worry about it and recalculate things all the time. Just because you chose to have a child, doesn't stop you worrying, asking for opinions, moaning about it occasionally or looking at options and I'm not sure why some people have to take a self-righteous view on this kind of thread.

Here are some suggestions (most of which have already been covered I realise):
1. Look at one of you dropping your hours. Even just one of you working 4 days a week instead of 5 will reduce your childcare costs. And/or look into reduced hours on some days to reduce the amount of before/after school clubs required.
2. Make sure you and your husband stretch your holiday as much as you can over the school holidays and this way you will minimise the costs of holiday clubs a little.
3. Does your 5 year old have any friends with parents who might need the childcare help over school holidays? I have a work colleague who has her little girl's son sometimes in the holidays when his parents are working and vice versa. It saves quite a bit of ££ and her annual leave.
4. This website is helpful to see if vouchers or tax free childcare would be better for you: https://www.gov.uk/childcare-calculator We only have one child at present so vouchers are better for us but if you decide you want to go down that route you'll need to sign up before April 2018 as after that the scheme will close to new entrants. I chose to receive the maximum I could a month and it saves just over £100 a month which is nothing to be sniffed at.
5. Make sure you find out your childminder's planned holidays in advance as you will need to take the time off work for these days.

Please bear in mind that the 30 hours "free" childcare isn't all it says on the tin sometimes - for example the nursery we use can't afford to offer 30 hours so we will get the standard 15 when our son qualifies.

Bhawen

Hi, would it be possible for you and your husband to work from home 2-3 days a week taking care of your new born hence reducing the cost if the childminder, olus noe the 30+free hours is in so that would help.