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 said bills not rent! But its not the case that everyone lives in a 1 bed flat pre kids.

We bought a 4bed before we had ds! So our bills didnt really change at all. Same for a lot of people.

OP i'd def have another look at whether you're entitled to tax credits - working and family, and if you rent HB although the bar is pretty high for that. Also check later on in mat leave when your income drops.

Is the £450 what he has to pay re court or csa or is it what he wants to pay above the expected level?

Are you claiming childcare vouchers? Can you pull your eldest out whislt you're on leave? When do they turn 3 and get free hours?

JoanMavisIcecreamGirl We too had our house before DS was born, again - if we split we couldn't just sell up and each move to a 1 bed place as we probably would have done before having him, we would both have to consider arrangements to include a child - so extra costs incurred. This month alone only 1 DS has cost us £500 in nursery fees, £40 in new trousers because he's outgrown a load, £30 on 2 pairs of new shoes in the Clarks sale. Our food bill increased by over £15 a week to accommodate for him. £6.50 for a nightlight as he's now scared of the dark and whatever electricity that'll cost to keep on all night. Extra fuel as I drop him off and pick him up from nursery on the way to work. £200 a month for one child in basic costs is easily spent.

"We bought a 4bed before we had ds! So our bills didnt really change at all. Same for a lot of people."

Good for you, but you can't honestly think "a lot of people" buy four-beds pre-dc. And to be nitpicking between rent and bills, compounds the sense that you're being wilfully obtuse.

Get on the earn £10 a day thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/3626333-6-months-in-and-still-going-strong-it-s-the-july-earn-10-a-day-thread

Lots of good ideas on how to earn money from home

Im not being wilfully obtuse at all. None of our friends lived in 1 bed flats or specifically moved house to have children.

Tbh i think everyone parents differently at everyones kids cost different amounts.

Of course people parent differently. Some are even on different planets apparently.

Your options are:
Move house to pay cheaper rent
Stop sending the 2yo to nursery whilst on mat leave but you’ll then have the issue of paying 2x childcare when you return to work so...
Quit your job and claim UC so you’ll no longer have to worry about childcare
Find a full time job

Those are solid ways to save or receive more money. He is paying too much maintenance according to the CMS calculator.

Don't know why you bothered posting this when you're not answering basic questions.

Can you take your 2 year old out of nursery?

If my ex says he needed to reduce my childrens (paltry) maintenance because he’d had another two I’d be beyond furious.

Your DPs salary is low for someone who has four children to support. Think you’ll need to look at ways to increase household income.

pink no we just dont live in london and spend £££ on rent and everything else

forensic all well and good being furious but you wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Pity the DP didn't think how he was going to pay for 4 children before he did the deed. I think it's time he he booked himself in for a vasectomy.
4 children is more than enough for someone who cannot afford to support them.

I’d like to know what the correlation is in the U.K. between a fathers level of education and income, and rhe # of children they father. I expect it’s inversely correlated.

I’d like to know what the correlation is in the U.K. between a fathers level of education and income, and rhe # of children they father. I expect it’s inversely correlated.

Not sure about education but just going on my acquaintances/ experiences I’d expect a sort of inverted bell curve. So lots of babies for very low and very high income men.

You might be better off not actually working if you pay out more for childcare than you earn, or getting jobs that work round each other. My husband and I have done this for years. He works nights and I work days, with how this is split it just about works.

I am pregnant with my eight baby, my dh has a masters.

I am pregnant with my eight baby, my dh has a masters

Case closed then.

If my ex says he needed to reduce my childrens (paltry) maintenance because he’d had another two I’d be beyond furious.

And you’d have every right to be furious, because it’s a decision you had no control over. But if the maintenance had to be reduced because the same salary now has to support 2 more DC then it would have to. You’d hope the father would earn more, but again that’s not in your control. Sucks all round.

Eighth baby?

Sort out some birth control.

What bansheezus said 😱

All planned thanks.

I wasn't assuming they were unplanned but take up a hobby other than unprotected sex.

You kind of need to have unprotected sex if you want to get pregnant.
As for the hobby , you do realise people with several children don’t have sex any more frequently than those who don’t right?
Thus having the same spare time for hobbies.