Are we going to be able to survive on this money?

[username6050]

£2,100 between us a month.

Rent is £900.
DP has to pay £400 maintenance.
£450 nursery charges a month.
Will have a 2 year old and a newborn.

It's all seeming impossible!

I agree about the nursery fees. I still personally think its not ideal with the extra £450 added on, but it will certainly make life livable and you will be able to comfortably feed and clothe your children

Rent is extortionate too. I rented a 3 bed semi-detached house for £450 a month, almost half of what you are paying. Seriously think about relocating

Seriously think about relocating

Away from the DP’s children?

How much does your dp earn?

Also relocating is actually bloody expensive if this is going to be short term then it’s not a good idea!

optimisticpessimist01 Relocating isn't likely to be an option if the OPs DH has other children living locally.

Child maintenance at basic rate is 12% of weekly earnings for 1 child 16% for 2 and 19% for 3 or more so even if the entire £2100 income was his and he had 3 or more children that would be £399 per month.

You need to figure out his weekly income then work out what he should be paying. Obviously if you can afford and want to pay more than the basic rate then that’s great but clearly you can’t and there is a reason why single parents get more benefits in most cases.

You should also be entitled so universal credit. My husband is on a similar amount and I’m currently job hunting and we do get a small amount of universal credit and that’s without anyone paying any maintenance payments or receiving any etc. So it is worth applying even if they say no.

In comparison to the salary £400 seems quite high in maintenance, has his wage reduced a lot?

How many children does he have? £800 half from mum and half from dad is A LOT of money for one child. For comparison I receive £190 a month for two children.

Otherwise look into free nursery hours or take a year out of work and nursery. 3 year olds are entitled to 30 hours free childcare.

Put your figures into the Entitled To website, you're probably entitled to a contribution towards childcare fees. When I go back to work we'll be on about £2400 before after a month between us (one FT one PT) and the online calculators suggest we'll be able to reclaim around £350-£400 of our £550 a month nursery fees (I pray they're right!!)

he works FT, I work PT

What’s the breakdown of your salaries? What’s his CM calculated on?

Why will you be working/need nursery with a newborn?

@optimisticpessimist01 relocating isn’t very easy though because it could mean a totally different part f the country to get a 3 bed for £450 a month! I’m in the south and we have a 2 bed flat for our £800 a month. We might be able to get something slightly cheaper if we moved about 30 miles down the road but changing our kids schools would be a nightmare, we looked into it when my friend from up north brought a four bed house for £140k!

Apologies, I didn't think about DH other children when mentioning relocating

A lot of your problems would be solved by taking DC out of nursery

Also, I read on here the other day a woman checked to see how much money she was entitled to and it said 0, she went and applied anyway and she gets a couple hundred a month towards childcare etc.

DH could go PT, and you FT. That would reduce the maintenance payments.

"DH could go PT, and you FT. That would reduce the maintenance payments."

Or you know, he could get a second job. Put the effort into that instead of ways to pay less for the kids he had already.

WTF? Nice idea, to find ways on cutting down on first DC's. What a depressing thread.

OP I don't give a shit if you can survive on this money. You're partner already had children. Up to you and him really isn't it?

Shocking thread.

your

I'll just clarify that it's absolutely not an option to cut down on what he pays for his DC and wouldn't have crossed my mind.

£400 is high for his earnings unless there is 3+ children or he owe a significant amount of child support and they’re taking extra for the debt.

You can't afford a nursery as that money goes on maintenance, as it should.
Why do you need a nursery when the children have 2 parents, either work round each other or one sah.

£350 a month?

As a one-off belt-tightening month after an unexpected expense, doable.

As a regular thing, no way. You'll be miserable, stressed, and arguing with each other, and never have anything to look forward to.

Something has to give.

Yea that maintenance is too high, you need to get that assessed by csa I would have thought.

OP How long will your Mat Leave be? Will Nursery allow you to remove elder DC and return them when you return to work or does it have huge wait lists meaning that wouldn’t work?

God know.

I'd jack in my job, have you done care work before ?? Places near me are calling out for bank / casual staff. It suits a lot of people as they can choose their work and fit it around their partners hours so no childcare costs.

This will come across wrong but I have to agree - why is this question only being asked when it is 'too late?'

Where was the plan before the further children were conceived?

wouldn't have crossed my mind

yeah, right

Be straight? How many DC's does your partner already have?

A joke.