Realistically, when do the child care costs calm down?
Discussion
Sheepshanks said:
okgo said:
Nurseries in the U.K. are a joke, you could divide those numbers by ten in most major EU countries and it would be close.
A colleague in Sweden said they pay max (based on earnings) around £100/mth, and that's for the first child, it goes down as they have more kids in nursery. He was flabbergasted by what it costs in the UK.Caddyshack said:
£30k to buy and £1000 pm to feed, £200 pm to insure and the last vet bill (partially covered) was £8500!
I’m doing this wrong aren’t I?
I've always wondered how much horses cost, those numbers don't look horrific compared to nursery fees. We bought a whole new car for the baby stuff so even the initial capital costs isn't that bad.I’m doing this wrong aren’t I?
Do you own a plot large enough to have a paddock for the horse?
Been there with the nursery costs, 3 attending at the same time, it does pass, then gets cheaper for a while. But at that time you need to start putting some money away to help them later in life.
Having kids definitely isn’t cheap.
You also need to calculate whether childcare costs worthwhile you both working, certainly full time. My wife done the maternity leave twice went back reduced days for a bit, back to full time then was offered redundancy which she took. Had an extended leave from working while looking for something else. Got a job closer to home 3 days a week then built that up slowly to 4 days then full time once all the kids were settled in primary school. If one of you isn’t making the income that the child care costs and it’s not going to harm career aspirations then maybe that’s the answer if you’ll be better off financially without the second income and loose the child care cost complete.
Having kids definitely isn’t cheap.
You also need to calculate whether childcare costs worthwhile you both working, certainly full time. My wife done the maternity leave twice went back reduced days for a bit, back to full time then was offered redundancy which she took. Had an extended leave from working while looking for something else. Got a job closer to home 3 days a week then built that up slowly to 4 days then full time once all the kids were settled in primary school. If one of you isn’t making the income that the child care costs and it’s not going to harm career aspirations then maybe that’s the answer if you’ll be better off financially without the second income and loose the child care cost complete.
Edited by Edible Roadkill on Saturday 30th November 06:23
Neither of us have the jobs/skills/career path that could make up the difference on one salary that we lost by having two.
The system is essentially set up to force normal working class couples to both be in work.
Some careers allow the employee to vary the degree to which that happens, some don’t have the salary range.
FYI - we both work a 4 day week (I do F/T hours, she does pro-rata) and on our off days we have the kids.
As that saves us £150/day of child care.
The system is essentially set up to force normal working class couples to both be in work.
Some careers allow the employee to vary the degree to which that happens, some don’t have the salary range.
FYI - we both work a 4 day week (I do F/T hours, she does pro-rata) and on our off days we have the kids.
As that saves us £150/day of child care.
RUI488 said:
Neither of us have the jobs/skills/career path that could make up the difference on one salary that we lost by having two.
The system is essentially set up to force normal working class couples to both be in work.
Some careers allow the employee to vary the degree to which that happens, some don’t have the salary range.
FYI - we both work a 4 day week (I do F/T hours, she does pro-rata) and on our off days we have the kids.
As that saves us £150/day of child care.
That is true and difficult. The disparity in our wages meant it was an easy choice for my wife to stop work for a few years.....it was break even with the nursery fees.The system is essentially set up to force normal working class couples to both be in work.
Some careers allow the employee to vary the degree to which that happens, some don’t have the salary range.
FYI - we both work a 4 day week (I do F/T hours, she does pro-rata) and on our off days we have the kids.
As that saves us £150/day of child care.
As mentioned we started sharing childcare with another couple of families.....which is difficult, on your day off you are looking after four kids. But in our experience the kids played together and needed less attention than by themselves.....
Then I got hit with the child benefit self assessments which felt very unfair at the time.... When friends were both earning circa £45k and my wife did not work.
Without getting *too* political, that is set up that way on purpose.
Like i said, the system is designed so that for the normal folk, you are pretty much forced in to having two working parents or one parent on benefits.
IMO - if i choose to raise my children myself within the family unit until school age, i should be allowed to claim whatever a full time nursery place costs (per child) the tax payer in order to support us whilst doing so.
Again, that option isn’t available for a reason.
Like i said, the system is designed so that for the normal folk, you are pretty much forced in to having two working parents or one parent on benefits.
IMO - if i choose to raise my children myself within the family unit until school age, i should be allowed to claim whatever a full time nursery place costs (per child) the tax payer in order to support us whilst doing so.
Again, that option isn’t available for a reason.
mike9009 said:
That is true and difficult. The disparity in our wages meant it was an easy choice for my wife to stop work for a few years.....it was break even with the nursery fees.
As mentioned we started sharing childcare with another couple of families.....which is difficult, on your day off you are looking after four kids. But in our experience the kids played together and needed less attention than by themselves.....
Then I got hit with the child benefit self assessments which felt very unfair at the time.... When friends were both earning circa £45k and my wife did not work.
Plus the benefit of the mother being there not some trainee nursery worker who may or may not care. As mentioned we started sharing childcare with another couple of families.....which is difficult, on your day off you are looking after four kids. But in our experience the kids played together and needed less attention than by themselves.....
Then I got hit with the child benefit self assessments which felt very unfair at the time.... When friends were both earning circa £45k and my wife did not work.
At our sons nursery the manager and a member of staff were fired for fighting over a shared boyfriend whilst at work.
The nursery owner denied it happened.
gangzoom said:
Caddyshack said:
£30k to buy and £1000 pm to feed, £200 pm to insure and the last vet bill (partially covered) was £8500!
I’m doing this wrong aren’t I?
I've always wondered how much horses cost, those numbers don't look horrific compared to nursery fees. We bought a whole new car for the baby stuff so even the initial capital costs isn't that bad.I’m doing this wrong aren’t I?
Do you own a plot large enough to have a paddock for the horse?
Competition entry fees mount up, diesel in the lorry, stables rented when away.
The worst part was when the previous horse needed and upgrade and bought the replacement before this sold so we then had double everything costs and, of course, the old saddles don’t fit the much bigger horse!
Nursery is definitely a peak point - at the same time they are growing out of clothes every 5 minutes and probably still need nappies etc.
Afterschool clubs do cost, but the main issue is availability of places where we are - some parents only get allocated a single day!
Have you checked out childcare tax credits (or whatever it’s called? Parent friends of ours got a decent discount at the same nursery as they were able to do an element tax free.
Can one of you start early and the other later, so you cover off some of the breakfast/after school club timing?
It feels terribly unfair that many working parents struggle with something as seemingly simple as early years child care. How can it make more sense for people to not work than work? Madness.
Afterschool clubs do cost, but the main issue is availability of places where we are - some parents only get allocated a single day!
Have you checked out childcare tax credits (or whatever it’s called? Parent friends of ours got a decent discount at the same nursery as they were able to do an element tax free.
Can one of you start early and the other later, so you cover off some of the breakfast/after school club timing?
It feels terribly unfair that many working parents struggle with something as seemingly simple as early years child care. How can it make more sense for people to not work than work? Madness.
RUI488 said:
Yes, i’ll never be convinced that a loving family member with skin in the game won’t provide infinitely superior care than some 18 year old lassie earning minimum wage.
Horses for courses - the girls at our nursery utterly love the kids and have the patience of saints - they also have the ratios set so will have cover in the room. I’m not convinced a tired grandparent wouldn’t occasionally make a poor decision on their 4th day of childcare that week while the kids are screaming about the banana being too yellow. For me they've got more expensive as they got older. My wife didn't work for a few years so we didn't have the massive nursery fees, but as the got older things got harder for them. Both ended up in private online schools, both in private counselling, both with social lives that need money, both fussy eaters but big eaters, plus the cost of ferrying them about the place.
. IME there was a dwell time during primary school. But that was it.Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff