How can it be possible that we would be so skint!

[BasinHaircut]

Just doing some sums to basically work out whether we can ‘afford’ to have another child. We can, but I’ve just worked out that even though DH and I bring home £4500 per month net, PLUS childcare vouchers of £385 per month, once paying another set of childcare fees 4 days per week, after everything was paid out each month we would have £750 left over for food, petrol and other spends. There would be 4 of us to feed so let’s say £300 a month, plus £100 petrol. £350 for all of us for anything else.

How is it possible that we would have so little? I know it would be short term (until free 15 hours kick in and then better again once they started school) but what the fuck???

Going through our expenses it’s only things such as amazon prime and Apple Music that we could feasibly claw back each month. Nothing that would make a dent.

We are lucky I suppose that we own our house, have renovated it already so not expecting any big expenses in the medium term. But still, even Xmas would be a real struggle!

This is not a stealth boast I promise, I genuinely cannot understand how we can have so much coming in and still not even have enormous go to justify a takeaway if we have another child.

When you say you own your own home are you saying you don't have a mortgage?

If so, and you still manage to burn through £4K a month then you need to go onto the Frugaleers thread and learn how to budget better.

OP, what would come out of the 350? Is it things like car insurance, house insurance, repairs? Or is it 350 once everything else has been accounted for?

OP, yes it's not the place to post as you've discovered but I actually understand your point.
Everything's relative. I'm sure you're aware you're very well off compared to most but when you're used to a nice lifestyle it's a shock to suddenly change.

For my final couple of months on maternity leave I wasn't getting paid and it meant we basically broke even each month, maybe a hundred quid or so either way. Normally we aim to save £3k. I appreciate that is considerably better than most and we were never had to worry but we did have to tweak our lifestyle to adjust. It obviously wasn't hard but it's still an adjustment.

So as long as you appreciate your privilege which it sounds like you do, I get where you're coming from.

OP, there are threads on here weekly by parents of families that can barely make ends meet, have next to nothing to feed their children with, live in terrible rented accommodation. You’re doing OK, you really are. £350 disposable income after all likely bills are covered is plenty. You just need to put longhaul travel plans and push handbags on the back burner for now. You’ll really appreciate your income when the 15 hrs kicks in, and when your dc start school.

You just need to put longhaul travel plans and push handbags on the back burner for now

You're being ridiculous in your assumption.

I live around London so understand the high costs, DP and I had a similar salary until recently, but having £350 left after everything you need to buy including food does seem enough to me and I certainly wouldn’t call that skint. You won’t have much to save for unexpected costs like tyres or boiler going, it’s worth factoring in that. But it’ll only be a few years until the children are older and you need to pay less for childcare.

Haha " it's all relative I think " cheers op I needed a good laugh. Jesus Christ.

Try this Op, it gives a breakdown of outgoings.

www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

I don't understand the nastiness, some parents actually plan their financial situation before having a child. Surely it is much better than the ones who complain they are broke because they decided to pop kids they can't afford?

So people who have money aren’t allowed to post? That’s ridiculous.
I’ve been a skint single mum, doing a degree with 6p in my bank account and 20p left on the emergency electric.
Now I’m in the position where I would feel skint with 350 a month left over. Of course it’s relative.

Would a big mortgage and childcare account for a good chunk, eg £3k+ out of the £4.5k?

Then you've got utility, insurance bills etc and food etc. Depending on whether the £350 is truely disposable (ie you've accounted for annual spends like Christmas and unexpected/irregulars like white goods/car repairs) it's not so bad and things will get better once they go to nursery/school and the childcare bills drop.

Do you both earn more than the childcare cost and is there any benefit/possibility of one/both of you going part time or doing compressed hours and working on different days to reduce the amount of childcare you would need?

When will the loan end? Are you paying for cars and could you sell/return these and drive very cheap cars for a couple of years that are owned outright.

iikeepaforkinmypurse

I'm not one to pick arguments on here but you are really "othering" people who are struggling in poverty by labelling them haters and generalising that they are all on benefits.

The OPs household income is way above average if their take-home taxed is £4.5K and it isn't being a hater to point it out and saying being skint is relative - esp if they don't have a mortgage which is normally the biggest monthly outgoing (assuming in the UK).

I would class that as being skint OP so YANBU. I couldn't rest knowing I only had £350 in the bank to last the month. Ignore the haters.

daisy no we are paying a mortgage.

The £350 would be left over after everything we HAVE to pay but would have to cover clothes and birthdays etc

I do know that we are extremely fortunate, please don’t think that I don’t, but it’s just madness that with the amount we have coming in (the cc vouchers are ON TOP of the net salary we get them already), we would still not have much free cash or any cushion.

We don’t really have any savings right now due to an expensive 2017 with unforeseen stuff such as new boiler and new car needed.

I would say that you can definitely afford another child if you have that much left over after all bills.

I suppose in terms of very rich people like celebrities, it isnt alot. But in the real world where everyone else lives, that is certainly a healthy amount to have left over.

Well, y'know bauble the poor at so good at being poor, it's harder for people who are financially comfortable to have less money lounging around, doing nothing, at the end of the month. Relative. Apparently

So people who have money aren’t allowed to post? That’s ridiculous

Not about how poor they are, no.

(but unlimited free time to spend on the forum!)

I think you will often find you are either cash rich or time rich - you're bloody fortunate if you're both and extremely unfortunate if you're neither which a lot of people are.

You have a whole heap more than most people OP - why do you need more than £350 disposable income? I'm just curious.

Also, what the hell are you spending your money on? DH and I bring in significantly less than you and I still consider us to be inordinately well off compared to a lot of people and we still have disposable income left at the end of the month.

It’s good you are considering the financial implications before having another child. However, what are you spending £4.5k net income plus £385 childcare vouchers per month? Do you have a very large mortgage or other debts?

There are so many people a lot worse off than you, some people would feel so ‘rich’ having £350 left over each month for ‘fun’. If you want a second child you may well go without it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it for another baby.

I don't think that having 300 pounds between two adults and one or two kids is a decent disposable income. In terms of savings, let alone luxuries like clothes, it isn't a lot. I also don't deny that there are loads of people who would consider this a fortune.

Shouting at each other isn't the solution. Umpteen years of Tories has led to this and will only get worse.

We have a much smaller net income each month and have a bit more disposable money than that... but a lot of factors effect that beyond wages.
Do yo have a mortgage? Is it quite a lot of money per month? Do you have cars ect on finance? Credit and loan repayments each month? Expensive commutes? All of those things can make a massive difference between different families disposable income even if they are on similar money.

Does the £350 cover any holidays, money for items that break, eg new washing machine or other big outlay, emergency stuff needing doing to the house OP?

That doesn't seem right, you are saying the childcare vouchers as if both of you are higher rate taxpayers - but the money you say you bring home doesn'y add up to two higher rate taxpayers...

So one of you could probably bring home more childcare vouchers too...

I hear what you are saying OP.

My DC are now older, and what I used to spend in child care is now spent on travel to school/music lessons/residential school trips. - All things probably seen as luxury by half of posters on MN. What I'm trying to say though, is that it's not just fir a few years, it's forever! Kids are really expensive.