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?

My entire salary is going on childcare for 2. I have about 40 quid left over each week. Woo Hoo!

But it's temporary and we live in a cheap area and have minimal outgoings, no credit card, no holidays.

We can have holidays when childcare is over. There may still always be breakfast club/afterschool club but that'll be a tiny fraction of what it is now.

Is it with the same provider meglet or a different one? When I was using holiday childcare for DC I used the same one for each holiday, different to our usual provider. I had to work out how much I paid in total, over all of the holidays, and then divide that by 52wks to give an averaged amount. Once it was processed and the money started coming through I put that extra into a seperate account each week so I had it ready for in the holidays.

If it's the same provider year round but with increased costs in the holidays due to extra hours being used then they should take this into account too. You would need to add up your total costs, holidays and term time, then divide it by 52. That amount is the amount you'd give to tax credits.

Recently I had to use some short term childcare for DC, two days a week for five weeks, and they took the actual amount I was paying each week plus the start/end dates and paid me an extra amount for those five weeks to cover it.

It could be worth calling them to ask?

It is expensive. We don't have any family locally so don't have free childcare from grandparents, and I do feel envious of peopke I know who don't have to pay for childcare!

We're lucky as DH's work has a nursery on site, and he gets a staff discount, so it costs £35 per day instead of £48 per day (in Yorkshire). I dropped to 4 days and DH does compressed hours so has one day at home per fortnight, so DD does three days one week and four the next. Our joint income is £45k, and we've been living frugally since my maternity leave ended! DD is eligible for the funded hours now, so things are easier.

We couldn't afford to have two children in nursery at once (and need both our incomes to pay all the bills, so couldn't have a SAHP), so would have to leave a large gap if we were having a second child.

My childcare costs are £1100 a month for 1, looking forward to him turning 3 and getting the 30 hours free.

In our case it was a mix of waiting until we’d both been in our careers for several years, and then playing the long game by accepting that when childcare was at its peak, we wouldn’t be any better off in the here and now with the two of us working. That’s tough- I won’t deny it- doing a days work and realising you’re no better off financially than if you’d been at home! This was in the days before any free hours too so it was full fees until they started school. BUT totally worth it in the grand scheme of things because I suspect if one of us had given up work then we might never have got back to the position we were in career wise, and our pensions would certainly have suffered massively

Salary is just over £2k per month
Nursery will be £850ish per month when he starts
We have a low mortgage
DH also has a good salary

I get 70% contribution from tax credits as I’m a single parent. Means I can stay in full time employment and pay more in tax than the TC contribution. I also have help from friends and family.

I don't. DS is at school and I work school hours only. I didn't go back to work until he started school. I have help from family and friends in the school holidays.

For the first two months of DTs being in nursery, we had 1 lot of childcare vouchers and 5 days a week which was about £1500 per month. I went part time, nothing to do with childcare costs but it we were still paying around £800 per month for 3 days/week even after 2 lots of £243 childcare vouchers and 10% sibling discount. Nursery was also all year round. When we got the 15hrs free per week each we were still paying around £400 as the fees went up.
Just before they left, DH got a new job and I got a promotion so that coupled with leaving made us feel very well off!
We still have afterschool care and holiday clubs though as we have no family anywhere close

Childcare for our youngest was a bit of a shock. We already had teenagers and were used to having 2x FT incomes. I went back to work for 3 full days for the first 4 or 5 months after Mat Leave, then back up to FT. The first nursery wasn't too bad at £600 a month.

Then we had to move and the new nursery was £54 a day. The max childcare vouchers of £243 a month helped, and the 30 hours brought our bill down to £800. We had to live on credit cards and are still suffering for it now DD is 11.

When she started school I had to go PT so that I could do the school drop off and pick ups. I lost less than £800 a month though so there was a net gain. I still have childcare vouchers which I save up and they pay for the holiday clubs.

We are lucky that we've both been in our jobs for decades so we both get 7 weeks holiday a year. We take 2 together then I cover some school holidays, he covers others and we pay for about 3 weeks by vouchers.

We now have a new grandchild and I've already told DS and DDIL that I cannot do daytime childcare. DD has just started secondary school and I can finally go back FT again. I don't know what they will do and I've said I'm happy to help evenings and weekends but I need to work FT. They will have to sort it out between them.

with having dc 1 only, i worked full time and net profit was £1000 per month for doing 5 days per week.

for several years, i went to work full for a net loss in a lower paid job and DH picked up the costs of fuel and car mot/services/tyres etc.

now both at school, i work 3 days per week for just quid above nmw and pay for wrap around care and have £400 profit - someone has to do childcare over school holidays

we dont get child benefit and didn't qualify for 30 free hours as dh earns over £100k.

we funded childcare ourselves and didnt do holidays that cost more than £1.5 for several years, driving cars that are 9 and14 years old and mine has been dented for years.

Budget like crazy and plan it all out. We deliberately are having a larger age gap as we knew we couldn’t afford 2 in nursery at the same time. I want to stay in work for the long term benefits of more experience etc. Childcare vouchers (both me and DH) helps a lot, as does child benefit to sone extent which it’s easy to forget about. We do have to be frugal (and will have to for the next 3 1/2 years) but it is temporary. Luckily it’s quite easy with small children to do simple, free activities a lot. We don’t have a car, buy everything we can on eBay, and are saving up before arrival of dc2.

1. single parents are likely to get enough in the childcare element of working tax credit to afford it

2. some people get free hours at council nurseries

3. some use childminders who are cheaper

4. some saved for childcare costs pre birth

5. some get into debt

6. some wait until the lower income partner earns net more than the childcare costs

7. loads of women with pre school dcs Work part time

8. some / all free childcare by relatives

9. parents work at different times eg one 9-5 one night shifts/ weekends

10. age gaps between dcs so not having 2+ full day childcare to pay simultaneously

11. some live in areas with cheaper childcare

12. only have one dc

13. childcare vouchers through work

14. workplace nurseries

15. rich parents/ grandparents

We currently around £900 a month with ds 1 at afterschool club 3 times a week and breakfast club once a week and then Ds2 at nursery 4 days a week.

We have no family to help out but I work 4 days a week and dh does drop offs 3 days,

We had to plan a big age gap so DS2 arrived just as eldest went to school.

Don't want to wish his life away but I'm definitely looking forward to him turning three

I work PT. We are extremely fortunate that my parents provide 1 day of childcare per week. We sacrifice other things like takeaways, frivolous purchases and meals out. We're not overpaying on the mortgage atm. It'll be tight for another 2 years until our youngest starts school and then we'll save £350 a month (though will have to pay extra for holiday clubs!). Like a pp said, we're playing the long game in maintaining my earning potential and pension, plus I really like having a couple of days every week to spend with the DC.

I would be breaking even with my toddler in nursery so we made the decision for me to stay at home with him for a few years. Now expecting ds2 so 2 in nursery would be ridiculously expensive. I’m very happy to be a stay at home mum for a few years and luckily we can afford it.

I don't.

Childcare costs are the main reason I'm a SAHM. Childcare costs would have wiped my entire net monthly salary out - and that was a salary of £31,000 a year! It just wasn't worth it.

And that's for 1 child. If we had two? Impossible!

DH earns well. I am a nurse (pt). No regular grandparental help when ours were little so the equivalent of my salary (from the joint pot) was swallowed up by nursery fees for two DC until both at school. Luckily we can manage on DH wage only and I retained my skills, my pension and my sanity! Worth every penny.

Also we are not entitled to 30 free hours (only 15), no child tax credits, child care vouchers, or whatever else, so no point me working till DC is at school.

And I don't envy not having grandparents do the caring, we're now not beholden to anyone for anything.

Right the first way to keep costs down is to choose a childminder over a nurothey are about 30% cheaper

Also my daughter gets 30 hours free childcare by using a childminder she also allows me to use the left over hours on the holidays most nurseys will not allow this

I work 20 hours but use 25 hours a week so I can get to a from work

Also my middle child school breakfast club is only £1 in the morning and £2 if you collect buy 4

However saying all of that I may very well get the sack at Christmas dh is working and I am supposed to be working but I don’t have childcare and won’t be going in on Christmas Day

We have no other source of childcare barr my childminders assistant whom we pay to babysit from time to time

We saved quite a bit before we had our son so that helped.

When we both taught full time, we were paying about £780 a month. We used childcare vouchers through work although I'm not sure they actually saved that much. The rest we topped up ourselves. We are not entitled to any tax credits or anything.

DH ended up leaving teaching because of I'll health but DS was 3 by then and we weren't that happy with the preschool room at the nursery so we moved him to one which was smaller and a lot cheaper. With the 15 hours this reduced the bill to about £240 a month.

He had just started school and DH is now self employed so works around DS and my holidays so we pay no childcare.

I honestly don't know how people do it with more than one child.

I did resent it for a while but kept in mind that it we only temporary. It meant I kept my career going and my salary has increased quite considerably since then so I am now seeing the benefits. I was also thankful that I kept working when my husband had to give up - we'd have been screwed other wise!

No local help for us. We budgeted for number 2, had to have them close in age due to my age and not wanting to wait. Until 30 hours kicked in (annoyingly 3 months after eldest turned 3!) it was painful and more than I earnt but as with others we looked at it as total household costs. I kept my skills, and sanity (I would not fair well as a SAHM) and we have used a lot of our savings.

We are in the South East not quite London costs but youngest is £70+ a day. I went part time and took a step down so had a pay cut, we earn less than £70k as a household so ok but not in the mega money bracket compared to others nearby. We do get Child Benefit, 30 hours and Tax Free Childcare but no Tax Credit.

It's been tight, and can't wait for school and less childcare costs. I am a teacher so no need for holiday cover!

Having first at 35, waited until I had a promotion that would pay enough so we can afford it. Will have to wait for a second until the first is older and we get some free hours if we can afford it at all. Trying to share childcare with DH so we both do 4 days so only paying for 3 nursery. Childcare vouchers, we have no financial assistance or family close by, childcare will be higher than mortgage. Not easy!