Expecting first baby - childcare costs don't add up

penguin83

Giger - congratulations on you and OH pregnancy.

Just to say I completely sympathise with you. There are 2 years between my kids and they were both in full time nursery at the same time which was £1109.40 a month (see I can still remember the amount its etched in my memory!) and we fell in to the bracket of no help at all with tax credits but not earning a massive amount but you will manage - just make sure you have a good gap before the next one! x x x

Elle00

Hi Giger, most of what I would have said has already been said really well by loads of other posters. Regarding the rant (by a few people) about those who get 80% of their childcare paid, you wouldn't want to try to live on the kind of income that qualifies for that level of help. There is a sliding scale in place and no it isn't perfect but the system does ensure none of us starve to death even if isn't very fair at certain thresholds. Even if you have to cut back on some luxuries, I'm quite sure you won't go hungry.

If you're concerned about your wife not having family in the area then maybe you should ask your Midwife, GP or Health Visitor if there's a local Home Start in your area. They support families with under 5's irrespective of income or marital status etc. It's very important to think ahead for your wife as loneliness or isolation can be a trigger for PND.

Something worth considering is the difference to finances it makes having someone at home. When I'm working, I have to buy work clothes, pay for transport, spend money on convenience foods etc. I also tend to purchase things like groceries and clothes in a quick and convenient way. When I'm not working, I have the time to shop around and bargain hunt. I can get different things from different stores to get the most competitive prices because I've got plenty of time to do so. I can cook all our meals from scratch rather than relying on jars of sauces etc that working people often reach for in a hurry. There's also time to look out for things on ebay and freecycle etc to make your overall budget stretch further.

I'm not saying your wife should give up work, just that it might not be the terrible financial burden you're presently anticipating it to be; something to think about maybe.

flea72

just one thing to note

putting your details on entitled to gives you figures for the whole year.

if you enter your details on the tax credit application website, it gives figures for the remainder of the tax year

also when putting in your income details, you have to take into account that once your partner has the baby, their income will drop, and for any SMP she gets you discount £100 per week of this, when calculating her income. so you have to try and work out what her income will be between April 2008 and when she starts mat leave, then count up how many weeks of her SMP she will be getting between starting mat leave, and the 31st March 2009 total, that and reduce by £100 per week taken - does that make sense. i know its confusing, but unless you do that you wont get the correct figures.

i know tax credits asks for your income details from the previous tax year, but that wont take into account she is now bringing in less, so wont give you the right figures - if you base it on your current working income totals, then you will be owed lots of money come April, but when having kids, a windfall 5m after the birth, isnt as handy as having the correct amount from the day they are born

hth Flea

giger

Thanks again all. Just for clarification, as well as using the website (because I thought "that can't be right!") I called up and went over a quote on the phone so they calculated things like maternity payments etc for me and projected incomes at the time.

I do however feel slightly better after all of your help so thanks very much for that. I think I am maybe worrying/planning a bit too much for now, the message seems to be it will become clearer and we'll find a way to manage when we have to. No harm in a bit of self eduction though.

I'll give this thread a bump when the time comes to let you know how it all paned out - it might help some other folk too

mrcow

No- let us know when you have your first scan (if you haven't already lol) I'm FAR too nosey to wait until December for news...........

giger

lol, just let me know where to post the updates and i'll keep everyone posted. We've had the 12 week scan and all was well. Even looked like baby was smiling - it was very good quality! next scan is in 5 weeks, then we have our 4D scan 2 or 3 weeks after that.

Spendless

I got an evening and w/end job when my firstborn was 7 months old. It actually wasn't too bad, as with just one child you weren't obliged to get up in the morning for the school run, and you could sleep when baby slept during the day. I started at either 4pm or 6pm till 11pm, and then worked on a Sunday morning 8am till 1pm. I did this for 6 months then changed to a job which was mon-fri 5pm-8pm.

Floxxie

Hi Giger,

Congratulations on the news!

I went back to work after my second child and came out, after nursery fees (£42 per day) with the grand total of £10! I did it for my sanity and also because I had taken the full year off after he was born and figured that it would be only 2 years before subsidised childcare would kick in and before I knew, he would be at school. That didn't quite work out as I fell pregnant with the third baby and can now definitely not afford to go back.

Anyway, don't forget that your wife will be entitled to maternity pay (39 weeks of either 90% of her salary for 6 weeks and the remainder of approx. £117.18 p.w. or £117.18 p.w. if she has not been in the job long enough). Child benefit will be payable - £18.80 p.w. and Child tax Credit which is higher for the first year - £20.74 p.w. That's quite a bit of money to be helping towards the budget when your wife is not working and to put towards any future plans to working.

I'm actually better off being on maternity leave!

Floxxie

Js_Other_Half

Congratulations

Our nursery (in West Yorks) is £36 per day, a friend in St Albans pays £60 per day...!

otb666

congrats

the only way i managed to go back to work was to rely on my parents-and in laws-i had organised a nursury but when it came to the crunch could not leave them with strangers- only did minium 12 hrs a week though just to keep my hand in- i know people who parents come down once a week to look after grandchidren and thereby you could work 2 days- nect thing ive got to budget for is university which is looking to cost me 25000 times 2