To wonder how people afford childcare costs.

[Orangeblossom1976]

Childcare costs seem so high, how do people afford it? What kind of jobs are there which pay so much as to be able to afford thousands in costs per month?

Firstly we looked at it as a joint cost. It’s all too easy to say ‘there is no point in going back to work after maternity leave because I won’t earn anything after childcare.’

Secondly, we looked at the long term benefits of us both continuing to work FT. Childcare is really expensive for pre-school children, but the cost does come down as they get older.

By paying for childcare and staying in the workplace I built up pension (don’t underestimate the importance of this - especially during your 20s and 30s) and my career progressed at the same rate as DH’s.

My DC are now 12 and 14. I have worked FT throughout their childhoods. During this time I’ve been promoted 4 times and now earn around 4 times the salary that I earned when my eldest DC was born.

We didn’t really have any spare money when they were small, but paying for childcare has ultimately meant that we are better off.

Can’t really afford it, it’s crippling and I’ve had very little money to spend for the last 9 years. But last DC just started school- hurrah! Now time to chip at the overdraft...
Should I both me and DH earn decent salary too.

This is why so many grandparents do childcare these days - go to a playground (in Greater London at least) during the week and it’s full of grandparents looking after their grandkids

Not just grandkids, I help out DB/SIL with childcare for my niece and nephew. They go to before/after childminder term time then in the holidays they come to me 8am to 5pm, DB and SIL work their leave around the school holidays and colleagues holidays but usually between them can manage to take off two non-consecutive weeks during the six week holidays, Christmas/New Year, and one of the half terms. If they had to pay full time childcare in the holidays it would tip them over the edge financially.

People either work around each other ( like we have for 15 years), they claim most of it back through tax credits or Universal credit, and there are now 30 free term time hours for 3 and 4 years olds which is much much better than any help available when my children were young. People can also reduce their childcare bills by both claiming childcare vouchers through salary sacrifice although I think these are being phased out now. It seems to be those whose income is too high for any benefit help that have huge costs.

Thanks goos! Also, thanks for giving me the opportunity to say “thanks goos”. Makes me feel like Maverick in Top Gun .

I saw it as early practice for college costs...

We both earn mid to good salaries, I’m the higher earner and now run own business so have always worked at least 3 days per week since eldest DC was born.

Our DC are 3.5 yrs apart, so thankfully never had to be in preschool care / nursery at the same time. But for a couple of years we were paying more on childcare than our mortgage.

We’ve had the benefit of employers salary sacrifice (where money for childcare is paid at source to provider before tax taken off) and now use tax free childcare as well as have the free government 30 hours, so for the first time in 7 years childcare costs are now much lower than they have been.

We pay nursery for one DC and after school club for the other.

We both currently work 4 days each so effectively only need 3 days of paid childcare.

We’ve never had regular grandparental or family help (as they all live too far from us to make this realistic) and have never been eligible for any other benefits such as tax credits etc.

You get used to budgeting, but the reality is that you do need to have a fairly high salary base to make it work.
We both work in arts / media sectors in London (Just to help deflate the myth that only people working in finance / law etc can achieve decent salaries)

Calculated I have already spent somewhere in the order of 20k over the last 2 years.
We are very lucky and comfortably off and can afford fees but it still makes me want to weep.

We have two under two, so have very very high childcare costs.

I am working full time hours over 4 days. We’re then alternating taking a day of annual leave per week to cover childcare. Despite this, my salary covers the childcare bill pound for pound each month . It also means we don’t have the annual leave available to take a proper break from work .

BUT once we start getting free childcare hours in about 16 months, or there are much lower childcare costs as the kids are at school, we’ll be much better off for sticking at our careers and staying on the ladder. It is really really really tough now though.

By never having any money to be honest

I earn a reasonable amount and am the higher earner in the house but make no mistake it's hard going ...currently between two DC (one is at school but needs after school care) I pay around 1100 a month .

Weirdly since my marriage breakdown it's become easier because my stbxh pays very fair maintenance and dp helps with daily living costs but at one point about a year ago I was paying two full time nursery places and it was brutal...i think most months I paid 2500

It's hard because I am extremely fortunate which I am very very well aware of that I physically cam access money to pay that but it can be tough doing long hours at a demanding job then feel like you have little to show for it (and take some crap from others on occasions about using childcare in the first place)

However when my marriage ended because I had been lucky enough to retain my career at a certain level I was able to manouvere my DC through it at a reasonable level because I could pay so the childcare is hard but it kept me able to earn if that makes sense

I will throw a happy dance when ds2 goes to school in two years (whilst quietly sobbing that they are growing up) but I honestly don't think the cost is that unfair...it sucks to high heaven and God knows it puts some women in impossible situations but I do think given the job they do childcare providers do not charge unreasonably at all

The only thing that irks me is when others assume I have family help...i don't that has never been an option outside stbxh,myself and dp. No parents , grandparents or siblings etc to help out but I've come across a lot of people who cannot comprehend that concept and can oddly be breathtakingly rude about that

Earning a decent salary to start with helps. Ive compressed my hours into 4 days so that we save one day a week childcare. Tax free childcare saves 20%

The only thing that irks me is when others assume I have family help...i don't that has never been an option outside stbxh,myself and dp. No parents , grandparents or siblings etc to help out but I've come across a lot of people who cannot comprehend that concept and can oddly be breathtakingly rude about that

Nobody has ever been rude about it and I’m still married to dh (dcs’ father), but I also don’t think people appreciate that we have ZERO help. It’s assumed that granny will take the kids every so often, which just isn’t a possibility with us.

When my dc were younger my partner worked and I stayed at home then we found jobs that worked around each other. Now they’re are in school we both work full time but I work at the same school as my dc so I start when they start and finish when they do and I obviously get all the holidays off with them bar a couple of training days

High paying jobs, tax credits, compressed hours, tax free childcare, 30 hours funded care, grandparents help, working flexibly around each other. I think the 30 hours has been a game changer, if you have a decent maternity package you might get a year on mat leave, then the 30 hours kick in at 3 so really it's only a year you need to fund. I wasn't a high earner at all but could have paid for childcare and had a small amount left over (even with 2 under 2)had I not wanted to be a SAHM.

We were lucky enough to have grandparents to look after them once a week. Ours were in nursery two days a week and we each did a day at home (though that probably cost more than nursery). We got a bit of tax credits at one point and got tax relief by buying childcare vouchers. It is expensive, but it is for a relatively short amount of time and the cost is definitely less than one of us staying at home and taking the long term career hit.

Same as DoYouLikeHueyLewisandTheNews DD is in Nursery 3.5 days a week and that's still £800 a month ish. I just applied for jobs that paid more ( I know this isn't possible for all) and got promoted. Now we can afford it ok, but not having another until DD gets free hrs, if at all. DH has DD half a day a week and Mum helps one day.

Gettingand Sucks, same here and it was a factor in me being a SAHM. So many of my friends have grandparents willing to do free child care, just pick them up from school, drop everything because they're poorly etc. Some of them have had literally thousands of pounds worth and don't seem to really appreciate the value at all.

I work one day to keep my job going and pay for nursery. I dont make any money but when her three year funding comes in ive a job to go back into. Grandparents cover the other day when i make enough money to pay for food

I'm a low earning lone parent so 70% of my childcare costs are covered by tax credits.
Even then that 30% wasn't cheap.
School holidays are the worst as I can't claim tax credits for that so it's a £60 a day credit card hit.

We purposely didn't stretch ourselves when we bought our house (pre-kids) so our usual bills are lower. Hopefully once they are at school we can afford to move

Both have reasonably paid jobs but we’re not rich - less than £60k a year between us. Childminder for 4 days a week is £600 and odd a month. We live in NW so not paying crazy London prices. I work in a school so get hols off, and our childminder only charges for days LO is there - no retainer. We’ve just done the tax free thing which has reduced our costs about 20%.

@InDubiousBattle so 2 years to pay for, from child’s first birthday to 3rd.

I work 4 days including a Saturday so my mum has my DS 2 days a week (pay her £30 a day, she would do it for free but I wouldn't let her) nursery is £52 for the day he is there and then my other half is home saturdays so it's just short of £500 a month

Mary,obviously! Don't know where my brain went then!

Oh also, we have a 3 year age gap between kids which helps a lot.