to think it is not worth working for £10 per day??!

[1percentawake]

I've just been offered a new job - wahey as I've been trying to get a job for ages!!

Until I sat down and worked out the childcare costs - OMG I would be paying out £50 per day as the local childminder charges over £4 per hour and extra after 5pm. Also charges for meals and pick up from preschool sessions.

On top of that I don't get mileage expenses and the job is 30 miles from home..

So I would be working for the grand total of £10 per day after tax!!

AIBU or is there no incentive to leave my child all day with someone else and go to work???

The big question is what effect the extra year(s) out of the job market will have on your future cv/employability.
There is an incentive (a lot of people are broker enough to go a long way to earn an extra 50 quid a week net) but only you know whether it's enough to be worth it for you.

I had the courage to say no and look after my young child instead for a few years. I know a lot of women worry about jumping off the career ladder but giving my chidren the best start was the most important thing.

£200 a month would be quite a lot to some people, depends on your circumstnaces and on how much you want to stay in the loop workwise.

Well it's a lot easer to negotiate a new salary for a new job when you already have a job IMO and if you give up now you will be negotiating from zero.

Giving our children the best start is the most important thing for all of us... thankfully there is more than one way to do that!

giving my chidren the best start was the most important thing

There are plenty of working mums and dads also giving their children the best start they can in life, by going out and earning money/keeping their feet in the world of working outside of home (not least because of NI contributions, pension, ability to retain an employer rather than look for a totally new one after years ago).

Just like your partner (husband/DP/whatever) is giving your child the best start in life by working outside the home.

Always irks me to see flippant comments insinuating that unless a woman is a SAHM they are not giving their child the best start in life. Utter tosh, and not a word said about the male of the child in question.

Hmm... worked for £3 a day for about 6 years. Paid off once the DC went to school though.

In fact, SkyBluePearl, your post irks me now that I've re-read it in case I was being too harsh. "had the courage"? are you implying that working women are too weak/institutionalist to say no to the capitalist machine? Does the father of your kids work - and if he does, do you level this same attitude of him? Because he can't possibly be giving your kids the best start in life by working, can he?

Reminds me of this talk which DP sent me a link to just this week. Worth a read.

Well said frgr

Round of applause for frgr

The difference between my being on benefits and working is about £50 a week. to me, it's a lot of money. It depends how much you need £50 a week - it's my food shopping.

Applauds frgr

Depends on the job. When I had my first child i had a crappy job in a shop. It was fine when i actually got money for it but after costs of childcare and travel then it would have added very little to our income i would have been working for a few pounds a day.
My husband also worked and we would only have qualified for a small amount if help with childcare. It wasn't a question of him paying half, me paying half because we have a joint account all the money went into it was just what i added to that account by working would have been a tiny amount.

I went back for three months before my husband and I decided that it wasn't worth hassle and i quit the main reason even more than money was that I was so miserable about leaving my daughter plus I have not so great hearing and struggled in a noisy shop ( got in trouble many times!) i was in tears many days
Now I have four children We would have to pay much more each month than I earned in childcare..

I didn't have a job where a break of 5,10 years or more will really matter, perhaps if i had stayed on then I would have reached the dizzying heights of section supervisor - maybe not.

I had a shitty job then and in 10 years I an sure I can find an equally shitty job to replace it.

Oh just to give you an idea of the job i wasn't allowed on the till because of my hearing so i once spent a full 8 hour day coating sheets of wrapping paper in a box where the number of sheets was clearly labelled.

Fun times.

Counting not coating

Take the job as it's easier to find a job if you are already working for some strange reason and an extra £50 a week I would kill for right now.

but it won't always be like that - children will start school, you'll get payrises and progession (hopefully), maybe tax credits, be a role model for your dc, contribute tax and NI and have the opportunity to set up a pension. £10 a day is £50 per week and £200 per month - to many people that is a reasonable holiday fund.

I went through the same a few years ago and so glad that I did.

It kept my job open which I loved, and would be unlikely to get back after a few years break because the vacancies in that position came up very rarely, my NI contributions were paid. I still got holiday and Bank Holiday pay ,sick pay, pension contributions, relelvant training that has come in useful and kept me current as statutory legislation changed.

It's up to you what you do but for us it was a good thing and you know it doesn't last for ever.

My salary pretty much covers the childcare and that's it so when I've spent out for petrol etc. I would probably be better of as a SAHM.....but I would go nuts !

have you accounted for your lunches, extra work clothes and other bits?? Also what about costs of childcare in school holidays? Personally if i could afford to stay at home I would. I would wait till shes at school fulltime and then you only pay the after school care.
Or is it possible to get a job working round DH times? then no childcare cost?

That's £50 a week you wouldn't otherwise have, and if the job doesn't cost you too much mentally (ie it's not a horrible place to go to, and preferably you will enjoy going), then it is doubly worth it. Also you will probably get a pay rise soonish which will make it even more worthwhile. Have to say, I'd take it, with the gift of hindsight.

When DS was 18 months old I was earning £10 a week after childcare costs!

YABU - it is absolutely worth going back to work for relatively small financial benefit (although I don't think £10 a day is that small) if it means keeping a hand in.

If you're not bothered about the job and not worried about the possibility of finding it difficult to find work in a couple of years, if you won't miss the £120 pm and aren't concerned about furthering your career for now, then YANBU.

The fact is there is a cost applied to having children, whether that cost is financial (childcare) or the cost of sidelining your career and future earning potential.

I am always quite surprised that people complain about the lack of money left over by childcare, like it is a great shock? Did you expect there to be a minimal cost to parenthood or something? HOW can anyone be so surprised?

Until DD went to school I worked to pay childcare and rent. I had very little disposable income. And yes those years were bloody hard. However working those 5 years paid off dividends - I studied whislt I was working (paid for by employer) and by the time dd went to school I had a far better paid job, and minimal after school childcare jobs. If I had stayed at home with her I would have probably only ended up with a minimum wage job when she started school. I certainly would never in a month of sundays would have been able to get a job back in the industry I work in after a 5 year gap.

So of course it is worth working for £10 a day, or £5, or £0. In the long term it is a far better financial bet.

And fwiw, working mothers equally want to give their children a'good start'.