Would you mind sharing your incoming and outgoings?

QueenJess

In case it helps, the high mortgage and nursery costs are definitely things I recognise. I try to concentrate on things I can make a difference with - the highest variable for me is usually food shopping and keeping that under control.

I see nursery as temporary for a few years and can’t do anything about that one. The charge looks very similar to mine. Mortgage though I have been overpaying for years so that each time our fix ends, the monthly payment decreases as the term is the same. Gives me a bit of control and buys me wriggle room for the future. It’s made a big difference whilst we have nursery fees as otherwise my bills would have been quite scary.

My main thought process with budget is to reduce the “boring” things like bills to as little as I can (without making myself miserable) so I have more for the fun things like spending time with the kids. To clarify that is holidays and saving up to work less rather than incessantly buying them stuff!

But I agree with the other posters that the debt free wannabes are the experts!

QueenJess

Deleted_User said:

Exodi said:

I don't have kids yet (my partner and I are finally planning to in the next year or two), but this absolutely fills me with terror:

Nursery £1,343.33

How many children is this for? This would be everything a worker on minimum wage takes home after tax.

Surely savings can be made here?

This is for one child. I had two in at one point. In January, I will start paying about 3/5 of that as you get 30 hours free (from the term after they turn 3 years old) . You also get 20% tax free back, sometimes, each month. It's capped so so there are some months I don't get it.

That's actually the cheapest nursery in the area. £62 a day if I remember correctly. Previous one was £79!

Yep standard prices here as well. I think it’s has just gone up now. We pay about £1,400 a month 😬

Exodi

Catsacor said:

Exodi said:

I don't have kids yet (my partner and I are finally planning to in the next year or two), but this absolutely fills me with terror:

Nursery £1,343.33

How many children is this for? This would be everything a worker on minimum wage takes home after tax.

Surely savings can be made here?

Having children is something that has to be budgeted for, think about this and see whether having a family is something you can do comfortably now, or better leaving until you have more stability, financially.
With just 1 income for a while (maternity etc) this will be difficult for a lot of people.

Of course, my partner and I earn a bit over £90k between us and have been setting our timeline to have kids for a long time (we'll start trying about just over a year from now).

I didn't realise nursery was as expensive as this though. Currently we put about maybe £1k in savings or mortgage overpayments every month. It's sad to think all of our surplus income (and some) would go into a proverbial pit for a few years. The sacrifices you make I guess?

sheramber

What do you consider the cost should be for  someone to care for and protect your child?

Exodi

sheramber said:

What do you consider the cost should be for  someone to care for and protect your child?

I do not have kids currently, so this question intended to pull on peoples paternal heartstrings will not work on me!

While I'm sure some may exclaim "anything!", I would say less than the full take home pay of a minimum wage worker.

£1350-£1400 a month is insanity - no wonder most couples end up having one stay at home parent.

And here I was sweating over a £75 increase to my monthly energy bill...

sevenhills

I think there are more higher earners on this forum.
I earn around £1,200 per month. I don't keep tabs on what I spend it on.
Mortgage is £310 month, council tax around £1,200 year, energy £175 month

Savvy_Sue

Exodi said:

sheramber said:

What do you consider the cost should be for  someone to care for and protect your child?

While I'm sure some may exclaim "anything!", I would say less than the full take home pay of a minimum wage worker.

the problem is that you also need to pay those doing the care at least minimum wage, and you must have a certain ratio of carers to children (more carers for very young children), and then there are the overheads: either hire of premises or all the upkeep, insurance, utilities, equipment, staff training etc. 

I used to be involved in out of school childcare settings, the costs of doing so were frightening. At the time the government was giving grants to get these set up, but there was no ongoing support, which made the long term situation unviable. 

It's a similar issue to care of the elderly and disabled. 

shiny76

Exodi said:

sheramber said:

What do you consider the cost should be for  someone to care for and protect your child?

I do not have kids currently, so this question intended to pull on peoples paternal heartstrings will not work on me!

While I'm sure some may exclaim "anything!", I would say less than the full take home pay of a minimum wage worker.

£1350-£1400 a month is insanity - no wonder most couples end up having one stay at home parent.

And here I was sweating over a £75 increase to my monthly energy bill...

Just turn the thermostat down 

shiny76

Exodi said:

I didn't realise nursery was as expensive as this though. Currently we put about maybe £1k in savings or mortgage overpayments every month. It's sad to think all of our surplus income (and some) would go into a proverbial pit for a few years. The sacrifices you make I guess?

My colleague was weighing up whether to have a second child or not and asked me about nursery fees.  This is the charts I showed/scared them with:

Left is 1 child in nursery.  Right was 2 children in nursery.
Green is nursery fees.  Darker blue is take home pay.  I was more or less working to keep my job!

sheramber

Exodi said:

sheramber said:

What do you consider the cost should be for  someone to care for and protect your child?

I do not have kids currently, so this question intended to pull on peoples paternal heartstrings will not work on me!

While I'm sure some may exclaim "anything!", I would say less than the full take home pay of a minimum wage worker.

£1350-£1400 a month is insanity - no wonder most couples end up having one stay at home parent.

And here I was sweating over a £75 increase to my monthly energy bill...

But you also have to add on the cost of running the building, ( their utility bills will be going up more than £75) the buying of equipment, the upkeep of the building and replacing equipment as needed, insurances.

Someone to supervise and ensure all regulations are complied with , staff  f have adequate training. 

So your individual payment covers a lot more than just the nursery workers' wages.