Child Care

[RosiePose]

I know it's early to be looking... but I've been doing some research into costs of childcare so I can work out maternity leave times etc...

£1200 PER MONTH for a nursery!!!!!
£800 PER MONTH for a childminder!!!

Unfortunately, because we are sitting just over the household income ceiling for government help, we get nothing towards it.
My husband is self employed and working very hard to get his relatively new business off the ground so I'm currently the main breadwinner. How on earth do people do it?????? We're starting to consider options such as OH working from home once a week but it's going to be tight.

I really, really, really don't want to rely on grandparents for help in this particular dept as they are extremely religious on both sides ... but different religions... and I'm keen to keep my kid as religion free for as long as possible. Having said that, I'm not sure we'll have a choice.

How on earth do people pay £1200 per month????

And how do people afford 2 kids less than 4 years apart!?!?

 

[Toria111]

It's really really hard. I didn't realise the cost of childcare before I fell pregnant either. Then had the issue of waiting lists too! We lived in Wimbledon where nursery 5 days a week was £2000.we at one point had 2 kids in for 9 months before I had to bite the bullet and give up work. You are right to be looking now though, best to have your options sorted out.

 

[Jojo84]

Me and my OH have figured out that if I work and finish at 3 I can web home in time for him going to work and therefore would need none at all. If he got a full time job then I'm thinking of putting them on childcare although I really don't want my kids looked after by strangers if I can help it. My dd is plannif on partial rwturemr when the baby is born but I'm thinking about putting LO ino nursery once a week so they can get used to being away from family a little. Not sure

Could you manage part time? What about friends? And although you don't want them with grandparents, I was cared for by both sets and managed to have a wonderful r/s with both sets because of it ... Maybe just one day a week would cut down the costs.

 

[Jojo84]

Me and my OH have figured out that if I work and finish at 3 I can web home in time for him going to work and therefore would need none at all. If he got a full time job then I'm thinking of putting them on childcare although I really don't want my kids looked after by strangers if I can help it. My dd is plannif on partial rwturemr when the baby is born but I'm thinking about putting LO ino nursery once a week so they can get used to being away from family a little. Not sure

Could you manage part time? What about friends? And although you don't want them with grandparents, I was cared for by both sets and managed to have a wonderful r/s with both sets because of it ... Maybe just one day a week would cut down the costs.

 

[ceriannbrown]

I know it's early to be looking... but I've been doing some research into costs of childcare so I can work out maternity leave times etc...

£1200 PER MONTH for a nursery!!!!!
£800 PER MONTH for a childminder!!!

Unfortunately, because we are sitting just over the household income ceiling for government help, we get nothing towards it.
My husband is self employed and working very hard to get his relatively new business off the ground so I'm currently the main breadwinner. How on earth do people do it?????? We're starting to consider options such as OH working from home once a week but it's going to be tight.

I really, really, really don't want to rely on grandparents for help in this particular dept as they are extremely religious on both sides ... but different religions... and I'm keen to keep my kid as religion free for as long as possible. Having said that, I'm not sure we'll have a choice.

How on earth do people pay £1200 per month????

And how do people afford 2 kids less than 4 years apart!?!?

This afternoon one of my friends said "why do inmates get their food free but kids at school dont?"

there are so many views i have like that. i find that if you both work full time and try hard there is less in your favour. i totally understand helping vulnerable people but money is such a struggle.

on the same level my bf's mum does child care and she doesn't get paid well for it. she said "people are trusting their number 1 most important thing in life with us, and we get paid minimum wage"
gahh!
guess we all have lots of saving to do. everyone else manages somehow i guess we will!! xx

 

[Mummy2toddler]

I have a son who is just over 2 and a half. We cant get help with nursery costs as i dont work but my OH does I mean I dont need a nursery to look after him but he has delayed speech so thats why i wanted him around other children. If we both worked we would get some help but then we would probably earn too much. And if I was on benefits we would get the 2 year funding. Its absolutely ridiculous! At the moment its not worth me working as we would be worse off with childcare.

 

[Iwant3]

I am a childminder myself - and when I do everyone's monthly invoices I am shocked at what it costs them - and I only charge £3.20 per hour with all meals and snacks included!

If I wasn't able to care for my own children alongside the minded chidren I wouldn't be in a position to have another baby - as childcare for 3 (2 pre-school and one before/after school) would be crazy!

 

[Rachel80]

Tri hopping here, it's early days yet but my plan is to go back to work for 3 days per week, get my mother in law to have him for 2 days, nursery for 1 day & then I'll have him the other 2. I can still earn £35k working 3 days so its not too bad. I don't have to go back to work but I would hate not to have my own money. Part of my would like to go back full time when he is a bit older & we maybe have a second child but i wouldn't want a stranger looking after my kids full time. I think one day a week is good for socialisation but much more than that would feel a bit uncomfortable for me x

 

[glowing]

My OH works 5-6:30 pm til 220-midnight and the occasional 11-6 shift so when I am working 8:30 til 6pm he can look after lo and take to my sister or his mother to have tea (if we overlap) they can bath put in PJ's and I pick up when I finish and might fall asleep ready for bed. Will be going back 3 days a week (normally do 4). That is the plan.

 

[Mummybexee]

35k for 3 days a week! Where do I sign

 

[Maud]

This is one of the main reasons we've waited so long to start a family. It's going to be hard enough when our first arrives but I'll have to give up work if we have a second child as we can't afford two at nursery. I'm really torn as I put a lot of time, money and effort into my career and it seems a waste to walk away but we really want two kids.

 

[Beauandhamish]

I am hopefully just going to go back to work 3/4 afternoons a week. Oh's mum is hopefully going to be able to care for the baby when I'm at work, I'm not in a highly paid job anyway so it wouldn't be worth me going back full time and as I sometimes have to work until 10 at night and oh works night shifts we would really struggle with child care on the evenings. If we can afford to it would be nice for me not to have to go back to work for a bit but as oh earns just over the threshold we wouldn't get any help. X

 

[Sophie_P]

I will be returning to work part time after 6 months with the baby, from there my oh will look after it at home as she has been permanently signed off work for a lung condition. We are very lucky x

 

[hayes]

I will also have to go back to my job part time, i work as a nursery nurse and we dont get fab pay but i do love my job. Hopefuly my mum and hubbys dad will do the main care and i wil try to put him/her in nursery with me one morning and then increasing to one day as they get older. It will cost a bit but it is so worth it they do benefit frm it a great deal.

Michelle. x

 

[hayes]

Oh and lok into whether your employers pay childcare vouchers because they are worth having if you have to pay for nursery.

Michelle. x

 

[Dotty_woman]

I agree with Hayes. Definitely look into childcare vouchers. You don't get taxed on them and the money comes out of your wage before you get paid. I'm hoping to get these again this time but think I might just be entitled to the lower amount as I think my wage has gone over the threshold. xxx

 

[Ella1979]

I can still earn £35k working 3 days so its not too bad

Tri hopping as well... OMG!!! £35k for 3 days is more than not too bad, it's incredible! I'd give anything for my job to pay as much. I used to earn £27k full time and now earn just under £12k working 2 days a week (which I thought was actually rather good). If I'd had to put my LO into childcare for these 2 days I would have earned barely anything, but my mum looks after her.

Now with another on the way it's looking even worse because there's no way I'm going to ask mum to look after 2 children under the age of 3. My OH is going to try to negotiate working Saturdays from home instead of Fridays so he can look after them 1 day a week. Then we'd just have to find childcare on the other day I work - probably just for our older one and the younger would go to my mum's.

I really don't want to give up my job, so for a few years I'll be working part time and not really earning anything - but I do have the benefit of keeping my job and then going back to full time once they're both at school.

 

[JoanneG79]

We haven't looked into childcare too much at the moment, but we live about 100 miles away from our parents so that isn't really an option for us. I will probably go part time as OH has a good enough job that he could support both of us. I really don't like the idea of not having my own money though. Sure it will work out somehow..

 

[JoanneG79]

So just had a quick peek online at a local childminder finder page thing. Seems that most of them are priced at around £3.50 an hour. Is this normal/good/bad? My Mum used to be a childminder when me and my brother and sisters were small, and she now works in a nursery so will definitely be asking her advice!

 

[RosiePose]

My OH's parents asked us yesterday whether we'd let them look after the LO for one day a week and were so excited about it I think we've agreed. It'll be harmless enough whilst s/he is tiny anyway and extremely helpful on the old pocket.

This is probably going to be controv but...
I find it really strange that the government will shell out 70% of childcare costs for people on benefits. Surely someone who isn't working is less likely (not in all cases, I know) to need to send their kid to daycare than someone with a full time job? Wouldn't it encourage women back into work if it were the other way round? I'm by no means saying that the nurseries shouldn't receive their income (I'd rather the job attracted high-end pros) but the aid is coming from completely the wrong end of the spectrum!