Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6

Original poster

To think childcare is completely unaffordable?

131 replies

Sweetpea5 · 01/09/2011 13:24

i have 2 little ones and was hoping to send them to a childminder when I go back to work. I have been to see several childminders in my not very glamorous part of London and its going to cost between £50 and£60 a day which will be around £550 a week. So basically my entire salary will go on childcare. One of the childminders will also have one other child and 2 afterschool kids, the other will have one other childand one aftercschool.

How can it cost so much? How do people afford this?

OP posts:

Laquitar · 01/09/2011 15:58

They either:

Earn more

Doing nannyshare

Doing shift work or weekends etc.

You could save a bit with nannyshare but you don't seem to consider it.

chandellina · 01/09/2011 15:59

Cogito - thanks for putting in perspective. I am truly thankful for DH's salary that allows me to work basically and keep my career on track for later.

donthateme · 01/09/2011 16:15

I would imagine on a reasonable salary which yours is, you get a decent pension and career progression etc. Therefore the main benefit for you remaining in work right now is the long term gains. Give up work and you could be kicking yourself in a few years time.

And it's worth remembering that with the long maternity leave nowadays combined with the 15 hours free care at age 3, the number of years where you are paying full time care is really very small compared to parents a few years back.

Most people I know who worked while their kids were small did it for virtually no immediate gain but for the long term

CogitoErgoSometimes · 01/09/2011 16:19

The OP said she's bringing home £2400/month which grosses up to around £50k p.a. If the DH is bringing home something similar or higher, she's struggling by on £100k-ish... I get a little fed up tbh with threads that sound like I'm wealthy and can hardly make ends meet... how on earth do poor people manage?? All that money and presumably a good job and yet don't have the brains to realise babies are an expensive hobby...

BeattieBow · 01/09/2011 16:30

it is expensive, but imo you have to take a longer term view. once they are at school it won't be that much, and in the meantime (and afterwards) you will be maintaining your career and a pension. I think the view to take is that you won't be making much money now, but you will in 3 years, and that time will go very quickly.

LittlePickleHead · 01/09/2011 16:41

Actually Cogito it's more like £38/£39k which is still really good, but depends how much your mortgage is, plus the cost of living in London.

DH and I are in a similar position - yes I know we are lucky, but we don't have any extra money for luxuries and are not rolling around in money - and that's just with 1! I am holding off on number 2 for that very reason.

FunnysInTheGarden · 01/09/2011 16:50

Cogito I don't think it's that at all. I am in a similar position ie gross joint salary of £90k and feel the same as the OP. I think the difference is that I expect to have a similar lifestyle post DC as we had pre DC, or as near to as possible. I think it comes as a bit of a shock how little you can afford compared to your pre DC life, but your expectations remain the same.

SiamoFottuti · 01/09/2011 16:59

2400 a month isn't even close to 50k.

but seriously, you feel like you can't afford childcare on 90k a year? What are you looking for, gold plated nannies?

coccyx · 01/09/2011 17:06

Some people want it all

FunnysInTheGarden · 01/09/2011 17:14

I can afford childcare, but didn't want to have to pay for 2 DC in childcare at the same time. I didn't want both DH and I to work fulltime and still feel like I had no money.

Incidentally, it's the same old argument. Your salary usually reflects the cost of living for your area, and so while £90k is a very good salary, we have a very ordinary standard of living.

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 01/09/2011 17:15

I'm with BeattieBow on this one.

I wouldn't give up work for 5+ years - it'd be madness.

Solo · 01/09/2011 17:15

Taking home £2400 pcm is a £50k salary, however before taxes etc is about a £30k salary.

Was just marking my place as I am in a similar position re childcare costs and returning to work, but as a LP.

PassTheTwiglets · 01/09/2011 17:20

I always find it odd when some of the people I know say "I can't afford not to work" - I couldn't afford to work! I could never earn enough to pay for childcare (luckily I don't want to :) )

mich54321 · 01/09/2011 17:20

Tigresswoods - £50 per child (so x 2) = £100 x 5 days = £500 per week
I had 18 months where I worked for nothing after paying childcare costs/travel. You just have to suck it and wait for them starting school. If I would have left my job, there was no way I would have got back on my grade/salary 18 months or more down the line. Not good I know, but it does get easier when they start school.

RitaMorgan · 01/09/2011 17:23

My ds's part time nursery place costs £100 a week, I earn about £190. If it wasn't for tax credits I couldn't work.

IndigoBell · 01/09/2011 17:28

I don't get it.

You can def get a nanny for cheaper than £500 per week - even in London.

You should be able to find someone for £350 - £400 pw.

Nanny's with their own baby are also often a bit cheaper.

check out childcare.co.uk

bigkidsdidit · 01/09/2011 17:31

Absolutely Jenai - stopping work and losing my final salary pension ( now closed to new entrants) would be madness for me. Better to pay the outrageous fees here in SW London ( I was quoted £1300 for one nursery)! Climb up the ladder now and in ten years' time I'll be in a massively better position.

Atwaroverscrabble · 01/09/2011 17:34

I frequently cry about childcare costs... I'm at the end of my phd which is funded with approx £15k per year income and if i put dd(21 months) into full time nursery it would be £1200 a month and this isnt oxford and this is the average here... As it is wr pay £500 a month for one full day and two afternoons... We get no help from tax credits as i am not classed as working although i have to do a minimum of 37.5 hours a week and dh is a carer on £16k a year... Our rent is cheap for what we have but thats still £1000 a month!!

Childcare costs are shit but neceasary! And we have no family arpund to help either...

Popbiscuit · 01/09/2011 17:36

Same as twiglets. Want to work but can't afford to. DH earns a good salary; enough that we have a nice life and I have been lucky to be able to stay at home but if I went to work right now we'd be losing money. After 10 years of SAHM, I have had enough would really like to expand my worldview and contribute financially. Currently retraining and counting down the days until DS2 is in full-time school. Even then; we'll still be looking at years of before and after care which is really hard to find here AND extremely expensive (for three DCs). Am trying to be positive. There are pros to staying at home, after all. .

jellybeans208 · 01/09/2011 17:44

I think a lot a people afford it as most people dont pay for it as you get it through tax credits. I have worked in early years for a few years and its rare that I have seen a parent who isnt tax credit funded. Probably 3 I can think of in 5 years.

Also you are getting ripped off I am down South and all day is 32 pounds with 3 home cooked meals, nappies, sun cream, trips etc.

Vicky2011 · 01/09/2011 17:46

Am another one who stuck with one DC as 2 lots of childcare would have wiped out my salary. So YANB at all U to think childcare is astronomically expensive but YABU to have only just realised that! :)

mrsravelstein · 01/09/2011 18:25

childminders in the area of east london i lived until very recently were minimum £60 per day, and the CM friends i had were very oversubscribed, able to pick and choose which kids they wanted, and able to pretty much name their price

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 01/09/2011 18:29

To be fair on CMs and nurseries, it's not like they're ripping people off. They have a living to make. It would be nice if there was more help available, but quality childcare costs money.

I agree with Vicky though - YABU to have only just realised how dear it is!

IMO unless you can be pretty certain of being able to return to the kind of role you left years earlier and hit the ground running, and aren't worried about pension contributions and so on then it can easily be worth returning to work even if you're no better off financially doing so - especially if your job is one with promotion prospects.

Also the cost of childcare should be shared. It won't wipe out all of your salary - it'll wipe out half of yours and half of your partner's. If you're prepared to put your career on the backburner whilst allowing your DH to pursue his then by all means stay at home.

BTW Sweetpea have you looked into childcare vouchers/salary sacrifice schemes?

Northernlurkerr · 01/09/2011 18:36

So your whole salary goes on childcare - BUT when your dcs get older you will be earning more and have more seniority so you will be better off in the long term. Two in childcare is tough. It's a shame people don't do the sums before planning the babies though. I've seen so many people on here horrified at their pending costs - and yet it is all very predictable in advance. I have six years between dd2 and dd3 partly for this reason.

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 01/09/2011 18:41

Exactly, Northern. In the long term it can cost a lot more to not work - even if childcare costs eat up the equivalent of one parent's salary.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6