Getting it together...one £ at a time!

teafor2

Blimey, that's a lot of money but you're definitely coming out the other side now It's a fine balance with work and childcare isn't it, especially if you have 2 that need to be catered for. On the positive side I'd be offsetting the (astronomical) cost against the fact you've managed to continue to establish yourself in a good job, are well on your way up the career ladder from the sounds of it and that you're not having to start again with the job hunting palaver - something that's never easy after a childcare break. As hard as that £63k figure is to swallow I'm absolutely sure you did the right thing. xx

ohdearhowdidthathappen

You probably know this, but have you applied for tax free childcare? For every £8 you put in, the government pays in £2, so effectively you get 20% off your bill.  Can be used for any OFSTED registered care; breakfast club, after school clubs, holiday clubs. 
Saves me a fortune, I've got 5 children (2 are old enough not to need childcare anymore thankfully), but for 3 days before and after school, the fee is £600.  Ouch.  Tax free childcare pays £120 of it, so a not insignificant contribution.

Homegrown0

Thanks Ohshit, yes we use the tax free childcare scheme! Although it came into effect in our area after #1 went to school so we didn't get full benefits of it when our childcare was at its highest but it's still a nice contribution. We use it for #2's nursery and #1's after school club and holiday club in the summer. Much better than the childcare vouchers we used to use. 

Wow - 5 kids. I can only imagine the childcare costs over the years! 

Homegrown0

Morning all! Thursday already - it's been a crazy week juggling half term and work and all that goes with it. Almost at the weekend  

I struggled to sleep last night with all the things going around in my brain - numbers, figures, are we doing the right thing, should we compromise on our plans, how can we make it work... all the things. Need to spend some time later going through the options and seeing if it's doable. 

My brain is pickled! 

Bank account still on track - motivation is high to see how this month ends up (and if we can use any leftover spending money for a credit card overpayment or to put into savings. 

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Haha, yes.  I've deliberately never worked it out as I'm sure the amount would be horrific.  My eldest is 15, so that's a lot of years of childcare!  The worst time was when my youngest was 1 and I went back after mat leave...  the childcare for 1 baby, 1 preschooler and 3 before/after school was eye watering. 
I've only ever worked 2-3 days a week since having children, but I regularly questioned the logic.  Professional pride and 'what ifs' kept me at it. It's paying off now, so I guess it was worth it.... not entirely sure though!! 

kindofagilr

Eek at the childcare costs, makes me realise how lucky I have been having the grandparents looking after them,, we are having to use breakfast and after school club a lot more recently as in laws are in theit 70's and they are getting too old to have the kids after school, I don't know what the tax free childcnare is? xx

Homegrown0

This is tax free childcare kindofagilr. It's a Government scheme where they set up an account and instead of paying your childcare provider directly, you pay it into your own Govt account, they add 20% onto it and you pay your provider from there. 

It's basically a 20% saving on your childcare bill. I can use it for #2's nursery and #1's after school club and holiday club. It's excellent and saves us a decent amount of money now! You can get info on it here: https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

Both mine and husband's parents still work full time, so we've never had childcare support from them (beyond morning school drop off help when I'm away with work and the odd overnight for us to go on a night out). It would've saved us a TON of money, but we decided to have kids in our mid-20s so that's up to us. By the time my folks retire, the eldest will be half way through high school and the youngest almost finished primary school so they're off the hook  

Homegrown0

Morning all! Monday morning again - how did that happen?

We had a reasonable weekend - nothing exciting but kept busy. The rain stayed off for a couple of hours yesterday so we took a muddy walk through a local nature trail which was good. Nice to get some fresh air! 

Money is balancing nicely - husband got paid for his overtime at the weekend so that's been squirreled into savings. Savings are going well - currently at £2,200 and hoping to be at £3,400 by the end of the month. All spare money is going to savings at the moment for renovation contingency and holiday spending money. Hoping to have saved £7k by the end of June (although it might not total 7k if we have to dip into it for extras for the build etc). It's definitely do-able, we just need to focus. 

I've been pretty productive this morning - did meter readings for the energy company, written a list for a work trip that I'm going on, looked out my suitcase, written a note to son's teacher that needs to go tomorrow, bagged up all the stuff for charity shop and for the dump (will take that later today) and done a bit of work that needed done. Got some more work to get through then i'll get a few more bits ticked off my list. 

Days until pay day: 10

Homegrown0

On a nice note, I just noticed Martin's blog about expiring T3sco Clubcard vouchers. I haven't looked at mine for SO long - turns out I had a few that have been lingering for a while so i just cashed them out against a voucher for a local Italian restaurant. We now have £22.50 to spend there  

We don't use T3sco a lot, just the little Express for bits and bobs, so this is a nice little bonus. I'll keep that tucked away for a cheap lunch out. The restaurant is next to the local ice skating and #1 has a voucher for there from his birthday so that'll be a nice family day out sometime soon. 

I've also realised that I already have £24 in nectar points (only redeemed them at Christmas so no idea how they're so high already but I'll likely just keep squirelling these away until Christmas as we're hosting two Christmas dinners this year...eek! I'm sure that'll at least help to keep the food bill down a little. 

Homegrown0

Son #2's bed frame snapped tonight. Husband propped it up with books to get him through the night (and possibly the week) but it means that his bed situation has skipped a few steps in the priority list. It's due to be replaced anyway but it's rather inconvenient timing. 

40 minutes on hold to speak to the bank so far... I wonder if they just can't be bothered talking to me since they close in 29 minutes!

Wasn't as productive an afternoon as I'd have liked but not a lot I can do about that now. Early to bed tonight as I'm up at the crack of dawn for a flight. 

Ho hum...