Am I losing perspective on these jobs offers? I don’t know what to do and running out of time!

The first one, definitely

The first one! £15 a day to avoid stress and travel costs is nothing. You won't notice the extra £250 a month the way you'll notice the extra hassle in your life.

What’s the value of the health insurance - that is a taxable benefit and could easily wipe out the additional base pay, though prob not the bonus.

Hrft but add in your commute time the income would probably be about the same at a guess.
If its 1k different I might consider job2 but the benefits of wfh would outweigh at the moment.

Job one. 💯

working from home is worth the lower pay

who has health insurance anyway?

Honestly the pay isn’t very different between them and the flexibility/stress level with job no 1 makes it a clear winner.

When you take childcare costs into account there doesn't seem to be much in it, so it comes down to the wfh vrs commuting and the nature of the job itself in my opinion.

Job 1, you cannot put a price on freedom. You are already anxious typing about the demands of Job 2. Don’t take job 2. Your baby and you will be better for it. Career and money means nothing if you’re too tired and stressed from 3-4days commute. Your child and well being is more important. £250 is nothing. You step outside your door, you’ve spent £250. Don’t bother

I would definitely go for the first one OP! i wfh full time currently and it’s so much easier while my dd is at nursery. Even small stuff like getting ready in the morning, I can just throw something on, drop her off then come back and shower/get ready and log in for 8.
I think if the pay difference was 2000, it would be different but it’s only a couple of hundred.
I think it would also be good to look at other differences of the jobs - is one more what you want to do? Is one more secure?

Take the smaller salary and save the commute. The flexibility will be life saving.

Losing a commute is worth several thousand a year in quality of life!

But there are other factors. Job security? Prospects?

The first one for sure, even with taking all the expected costs just imagine it for example your child was sick for a week or two. The extra in time needed off and stress is not worth the flexibility of working from home.

Depends how you are defining bettering yourself!

Not sure why anyone asks this question on MN.

The default answer here is always going to be do as little as possible for as little money as possible and for as few future prospects as possible.

You’re never going to an answer which implores you to think about bettering yourself, long term planning and maximising your potential.

The bar is quite low.

If you're looking to further your career, I'd actually take job 2 now whilst DC is in nursery, and build up some goodwill for when she goes to school. Nursery hours are longer than afterschool care, easier to manage pick ups and drop offs. After a year or two in the job you'll find it easier to negotiate compressed hours or leaving work early.

That being said, I well remember the stress of juggling FT work in the office and small kids, it was awful.

Could you use the second offer to negotiate with the first one? Don’t forget you can negotiate on things such as employer pension contributions or other benefits, not just salary.
But either way I would probably go with the first one.
Well done on getting 2 offers! 👏🏻 Hope it works out for you!

I don't see why travelling home-nursery to pick up the child is less stressful than going office-nursery as OP has said the journey is basically the same.

Most people seem to be saying one due to the flexibility of working from home and no commuting.

But I think OP is saying the commute is basically the same either way? And if you have to pick your child up from nursery at a fixed time, it doesn't matter whether you have to leave your office or your own house to do so - it's the getting there at a specific time that's stressful.
So I don't see these as the deciding factor.

OP - which job do you like best (as a job)? You need to compare this with both money (more in job 2) and flexibility (how much is job 1 really better)?

250 a month less to not be charging around stressed? No brainer.

The health insurance may not be worth losing flexibility. The stress of getting to nursery, then in later years trying to juggle inset days, school events etc. may be more detrimental to your health and have more impact. You may not see a health benefit from having insurance. You should consider the career potential of each role, but my experience has been that after a few slow years whilst my children were small, my career has recovered now they are older. You current choice does not have to be forever.

It's not much of a difference so I would go with job 1 for the flexibility and lack of commute.

OP @Linset Ask for the WFH conditions to be written into your contract/part of your offer. Just so it's more difficult for them to change it later.

The flexibility of job one outweighs job 2 - assuming you can live on that figure.

Definitely the first one while your child is little. You can’t buy flexibility and as a single parent working from home makes life a lot easier for you and is better for your child. You’re still young and have decade to climb the greasy pole.

Job 1 is a no brainer. As your child gets older there will be longer holidays, inset days, parents evenings. Being in the office all the time will be really hard.