Minimum £72k salary required to allow me to take home same as my 19 year old nanny

Thank sunnyjim, lots of good advice.

happydaddy, it can work out the best option around illness etc to have a nanny. we ended up in this situation because DS was ill so often in his first 2 years we were paying about £200 a month for childcare we didn't use and losing wages into the bargain
(our childcare bill was more than that but thats based on us losing 1 1/2 weeks each month which was abotu average)

Also we found a nanny gave us more flexibilty in terms of hours. I was working odd hours and so I might be working 3-6pm one day. A nursery place had to be for a full day for under 2's so I was paying for 10 hrs and only needing 4hrs. Our nanny was hapy to do 35 hrs a week on a flexible basis. So if I had a short day she would work 2-6pm.
She could also stay past 6pm if neither me or DH was able to finish work on time.
She could take in parcels, pick up the odd bit of shopping (tea and milk etc) and used to handle DS laundry during the week.

Downsides; once DS got more healthy it was alot more expensive.
There were issues about job responsibilities to go over
tax etc
not having the house to yourselves (she wasn't live in but even so having another person in the house was a bit odd at times - I think this depends very much on you and the nanny in question however)
I needed to work/study at home occasionally and I found it very hard as she wasn't great at understanding that even if I was at home I wasn't around to help with DS - I also worked late nights and would try to catch up on sleep the following morning - that rarely worked with DS in the house.

On £300 a week you would be paying £6/hr for a standard 50 hr week (thats what an agency told me was normal for a nanny) or £7.50/hr if you only wanted 40 hrs. Now round here thats a bloody good wage, for £6 you'd get someone with 2-4 yrs experience and basic training, for £7.50 you'd get a full 3 yr diploma and 2-4 yrs experience. But I know its very different in other areas.
Tax is a biggie though, if you plan on registering with the IR than you need to budget about 20% extra for that.

Yes, it's legally and technically possible. I don't see why women have to have children inside them to have children if they don't want to. Not too different from adoption surely or what men do!!

It's how some gay men have children. If you're also buying eggs it's best to buy those from a clever good looking college girl and then implant them in someone not so bright but prepared to be pregnant for 9 months.

In this case she wasn't a friend, just someone I read about. Yes, she raised the children but worked. I think she's a film star and I remember reading they built an annex on the house and they had a full time nanny and the father spent a lot of time with them too so she did have her own genetic children but was as little put out with it physically over the 9 months than a man is. Seems perfectly fair to me.

dd she raise the children?

'host mother' rofl

xenia that is totally ridiculous

she didnt want to be pg with her dh so another woman carried her babies? for gods sake. i bet her dh was delighted (not) that his dw didnt want to carry his babies

only in america

We had a nanny last year who took home just over £900 a month, this cost us about £1200 a month, before extras like paying for music groups, soft play etc...on £25k you would take home around £1500 I think? That depends on pensions etc obviously - you wouldn't have much left!

I know one US lady who didn't want children with her new husband (already had them etc) but was prepared to let her eggs be harvested. They found a host mother who carried the babies (it was twins) after IVF and her new husband got the children he wanted without her having the pregnancy she didn't want.

Xenia, I have proposed that course of action. Frosty response so far!

We had 3 under 4 and then it's hugely cheaper to have a nanny. So you could have a good few more babies quickly to justify the cost may be? Even if most of your salary went on the nanny it could mean things are set up so that baby number 2 slots in without any increased cost whereas no 2 at a nursery would suddenly double the costs.

Girl who will be nanny already minds dd for us after nursery. That's how discussion came up in first place! . To be frank, if it was anyone other than her we wouldn't even consider it.

omg Fio your cm was heaven sent too

i was going to say cm too HD

they are about £3-4 an hr

oh sorry HD i was on the wrong dreel completely

No. I'm already at work. My main problem is that if i don't work, I don't get paid. So when dd is ill, I'm at home with her and I'm still paying for her nursery place, even when she's off with chickenpox like this week. She's ill quite a lot, so it's become a major issue. I wouldn't be restricted on looking at work within 40 min commute so there's be more choice and possibly better money.

With nanny, I wouldn't have to worry about that. Also, as nanny knows dd already and how nursery schedule their education, dd would lose nothing by being at home. She's also be able to go on day trips, swimming, etc that the nursery aren't allowed to do.

Lots of pros, money is the only con.

oops bit of a tangent there

thats what i thought Fio

or is the point, that you are bored at home with dd (NOTHING wrong with that) and want to go out to work (for various reasons not just money)

i am going back to work soon (yipee) and i will be spending approx £150 on childcare per week

its not the money its for adult company and to stop my brain imploding

and i DO get bored at home with dds all day

im not frightened to admit it

Sorry to bump this but I have a question. DW's salary pays all mortgage / bills except my car insurance and shopping.

If I'm earning £25k am i mental in thinking I can afford a nanny on £300 per week? I haven't done sums fully so am just wondering if I'm being realistic or not.

You can put on school contact forms who is called first. When I worked in the City and my ex worked near home/their schools he was the one who did all the call outs.

sunnyjim can't you specify for DH to be called? When I get called I always call DH in case he is closer at hand than I am - I work 23 miles from home. One time when nursery called an ambulance for DS, DH was two hours away so I raced up the M1 and arrived at the same time as the ambulance. Another time when DS had massively swollen eyes from hayfever, DH was working at home (2 mins walk from school) so was able to wonder round with some eye drops, then back home to work.

thank god DH recognises that in order for EITHER of us to work childcare has to be paid for as the answer isn't for the other one to be a f/t SAHM parent.

Neither one of us is cut out for that and we knew that when we met, and its one of the reasons we got married.

What I resent is the fact that society as a whole hasn't woken up to the fact that there are two parents in this equation. IF DS is ill guess who gets called?

Ahhh, thanks for that.

Nannies and childminders = different thing. I pay my childminder £3/hour, but so do several other parents. So DS gets dropped at 8 along with 4 other children and she walks them all to school for 9, and has earned £15 gross.