to not want to go back to work to basically pay the childcare?

[lill72]

Hi all,
love to hear your thoughts...

I have been a SAHM to my almost 3 year old, doing the very occasional freelance work. My DH was out of work for 9 months which pushed us to the limit. He is now back at work and earning a decent salary contracting. I started looking for jobs and am waiting to hear back about one which sounds promising...

When I looked at what I would be getting per day, it barely seems worth it. It is a decent salary, but depending on childcare costs, best case I would £45 per day, worst case is £15. I would need a nursery and someone to pick up (is nanny/childminder)

I think my DH would like me to do it to get us back on track, but this seems like a waste of time. I don't know if he wants some backup as he is contracting, but I don't think that is it.

He is currently doing a 2 hour commmute each way, so all childcare would be left to me.

I feel guilty not wanting to do the job. I really want to change careers, so would be doing it purely for the money, but then there is not much to be made taking childcare into account.

has anyone been in a similar situation?

[CairngormsClydesdale]

Why didn't you work when he was out of work for 9 months and your family's finances were pushed to the limit?

He's commuting 4 hours a day and you don't "fancy" doing more to help the family?

[redskyatnight]

WIth an almost 3 year old you are looking at getting early years funding from the term after she turns 3 and then childcare costs reducing again when she starts school. So things will get better quickly! Even £15 a day is a sizeable chunk over a month.

[FrenchRuby]

I'm fairly sure that most 3 year olds get 15 hours free nursery don't they? And then they're in school, so it would just be one year of it.

[HeathRobinson]

Do you still get free nursery hours for 3 yr olds? If so, why not use the nursery when he's 3 and do some freelance work then?

[Bonsoir]

I entirely sympathies, OP. To earn £45 per day while forfeiting time with your DC and to run your home in a low stress way is madness.

[FrenchRuby]

Sorry cross posted with redsky

[BrokenSunglasses]

If you are working then you will be paying tax and your pensions contributions. That is more than just childcare.

You have to look to the long term. I know it mist be disheartening to fell like you aren't actually earning anything, but your children won't need expensive childcare forever, and you will have to go back to work at some point. It's not easy to go straight back into earning what you did after a few years off, so you would be paying off the consequences of years at home far longer than you would be if you went back sooner.

[hazelnutlatte]

In the long term would it be better for you to work though - get your career back on track now to increase your earning power when your dc are at school, so even if its not worth it now, it's still worth it overall.
Also - will you get the 15 hrs free childcare, can this be used as part of the nursery provision to bring down the cost? Have you checked if your employer offers childcare vouchers?
If after that you are still earning very little (£45 a day sounds ok, £15 does not!) then maybe it's not worth it for now.

[hazelnutlatte]

X post with everyone making the same point!

[MadonnaKebab]

Think of what you would pay for insurance to make sur you could keep your family financially afloat if your DH was made redundant again, became too ill to work, left you , died etc
It would cost you quite a lot

Plus think of your own pension contributions, promotions in future etc

I think working for zero net income/ a small loss still leaves your family safer / eggs in more than one basket / better long term prospects

[HappyAsASandboy]

Sorry, I'm another one who thinks it is worth so much more than the £15 - £45 you'll actually earn.

A few other thoughts:

Don't write off your DH 'helping' with childcare. DH and I both commute 2 hours each way, and we sort of share it (unequally). He does the morning drop off at 7amand gets to work for 9am ish, I go in early so that I can leave at 4pm to collect from nursery by 6pm. It is a struggle for me to leave at 4pm, but IME most employers will be flexible as long as you work your hours (and I log in in the evening most nights, so could then pick up anything urgent).

2) Your pension may benefit from the extra years.

3) You can claim Childcare vouchers to reduce your tax liability.

4) You will be less vulnerable in the case of a relationship breakdown as you'll be in work.

5) Your family will be less vulnerable to breaks in employment.

Just some thoughts. What works for each family will be different, but try to stay open minded to something different to the status quo :)

[jojane]

£45 a day after child care is actually not that bad, if working 5 days a week that's about £900 a month. And once they are 3 the childcare costs reduce until they go to school

[dreamingbohemian]

Yes I was about to offer the same math as jojane. Even at £15/day that's still several hundred a month.

[burberryqueen]

actually I wouldn't bother - speaking from bitter experience.
These pre-school years are over so quickly.
could you not do some more of this freelance work you speak of?
or set up some online business where you can work at night for example?

[Beastofburden]

It's quite normal in the early years back to barely break even, if that, after childcare. But your DH probably needs to know psychologically that it isn't all going to rest on his poor old shoulders forever. He's had the 9 month scare and now he is enduring a crappy commute because that's what he could get. It's tough on DHs to be the sole provider with no end in sight.

If you start now, you will protect your future earning power and (possibly) your pension. If you don't, you might not find that it is easy to get a good job later. You can't expect to have a long career break and then leap into a job that magically pays more than your childcare at that later stage. For most people, it doesn't work like that.

[FetchezLaVache]

Also, if DH is contracting, is there not the risk that it could come to an end again?

[PollyLogos]

I thought as you did, I wish mn had been around then for people to say the above to me. It gets harder to get back to work, your pension suffers, and I think it makes you a good role model as a woman, mother and partner to be back at work. Try to look beyond the immediate earnings and look at the long term picture.

[nannynick]

For care of one child, nursery or childminder are your options. A nanny would not be viable in my view (I am a nanny).

What hours of childcare would you need? What cost would that be? What take home salary would you get from work?

[LtEveDallas]

I think it is worth it solely to get back into the workforce.

My friend had twins. She went back to work when they were 6 months simply because she was contracted to do so. Once she had paid out for childcare her actual 'earnings' were less than £100 per month, and that was working full time 40 hour week. But her husband was still working.

If it helps, look at it this way - your childcare bill isn't £XXX per month. It is half of that, because your DH pays the other half. So your earnings are twice what you thought they were.

[RedHelenB]

I see where you are coming from but YABu given that your dh is not in a stable job & you have lost income to make up. Particularly if you may want another child in the future. If you have a job & husband is out of work tax credits would cover the childcare costs till he was employed again. i think the key thing is your husband wants you to work as well, it 's a bit ubreasonable to put the onus on earning money soley on him.

[towicymru]

When I went back to work after DS2 I was working FT for £20 a week (after tax, childcare etc). Whilst it didn't seem worth it, it did mean I kept my pesnion going, NI contributions etc. Boys are now at school so childcare still costs (although much less).

It was hard & a bit demoralising but if DH had lost his job (possible around that time) we would have had a secure income still.

Bigger picture than net earnings in my opinion

[noisytoys]

It is worth it for your career. It would be hard to get back in with too long a break. In 5 or 10 years when your children are older you would have been out for so long your skills may be obsolete.

[HometownUnicorn]

I work for about £25/day when you factor in tax, pension deductions, childcare, petrol and parking. Even at 3.5 days per week, that's nearly £500 per month (plus pension). that's a good wedge to most people.

[Squitten]

Usually I would say that unless you wanted to work for your own satisfaction or development, or there was a pressing financial need for it, then no it's not worth working just to pay for someone else to look after your children if you want to do it yourself.

However, your husband has already lost work for a substantial amount of time. What would happen if that happened again? I can actually understand him wanting a bit of backup if he can't guarantee that he'll still have work to do in another year. In that scenario, I think it would make good sense to work so that you can pool that money either as savings or for when work is scarce.

[GingerDoodle]

If £15 - £45 clear profit was on offer a day for me to go back I would have. Sadly, going back full time for me means 12 hours childcare a day
which would mean earning less than i would bring home once tax/NI/travel has been deducted.

Whichever way you look at it - in my situation - if i went back our family income would decrease. I applied to go part time but they turned me down.

In your situation given the risks I would probably go back but its a personal decision only you can make.