Not paying for childcare this autumn as bills go up

[Essenceandvibes]

I've just had an epiphany.....I absolutely won't be paying a penny for childcare this autumn as bills increase and I won't be made to feel guilty about it either. I can work from home and watch my baby and pick up my 10 year old from school without the assistance of anyone else and if my employer has an issue with it, he can pay an extra £2000 per month post tax to cover the cost of full time help.

Our bills are going to be about £800 a month just electricity and gas alone for our detached 4 bed house, this isn't even thinking about the increase of petrol or groceries.

The mortgage has also gone up a few hundred quid too....childcare and commuting is now a luxury not necessity and I really hope every parent joins me in asking for employers like it or lump it

Shameful the government have let everything get this far, the knock on effects will be huge

Heads of SEO on six figures can't get away with two hours of work a day.

That was @Miffee who said she worked 2 hours a day not OP

Are you trying to deliberately conflate the argument to misrepresent what OP has said about her situation previously?

Because if you are that's bullying

My energy bill + water bill will be about £600 a month in total for a three bed semi so I can believe OP is paying that much.

Also £600 a month in groceries isn't buying caviar in this day and age either. I shop in Aldi for myself, my husband and my two toddlers and I spend £90 a week so I can believe someone with older children would spend more than that.

You seem very out of touch. Life really is THAT expensive now that I'm shocked anyone would deliberately be this obtuse in the comments section.

I've spent the past few months crying my eyes out dreading the autumn, comments like yours are so bloody unnecessary and callous

@Cookiesareworthit

I really cannot see how @PEDRO12 has been obtuse? She has simply just expressed an opinion how some people (not all) would have been living beyond their means and they do have options in order to take responsibility. She definitely doesn’t sound out of touch that’s for sure.

It's not living outside of your means if everything you have budgeted for has shot up in price because of an inept government and now you're struggling to find extra thousands a year out of nowhere if your boss won't give you a proper pay rise

This thread is making my blood boil I swear, so many people's lives are about to be ruined and you all have no empathy, just enabling it

You need to live within your means op.

You chose to have a second child and knew the costs would be astronomical for the first four years.

My first two kids are disabled-I couldn't find holiday childcare at all so dh and I had to use all our annual leave separately for years.

The childminder who would take ds2 during term time charged more for him because he's bloody hard work.

We grit our teeth and worked through it.

I got bullied out when my most disabled child was 12 because my new manager (who had the most flexible working arrangements I've ever know) said they couldn't offer me the flexibility I needed.

We fell into debt in one wage and are moving into rent next week.

You have a baby and childcare is expensive. Cut your cloth, make do, take ownership.

@Cookiesareworthit

But that’s the thing isn’t it? Some people didn’t budget sensibly or have the awareness to factor in economic downturns whilst living it up on credit. I live on a council estate. I’ll save my empathy for my neighbours who’ve struggled along for years (whilst working) not certain squeezed middles who are throwing dummies out the their prams because they may have to start taking some responsibility.

How are people on this thread enabling the cost of living crisis?

Sorry but unless you've been put onto a fixed rate trying to shove a 17-18p kwh gas at you then even 600 is alot of money to be spending at the moment and suggests there is some waste you can cut somewhere No point in getting upset about it, its coming our way like it or not, you've got to take the best action possible. As you say the autumn is going to suck, and so thats even more incentive to try and find whatever you can to cut back on now.

As for food, it may not be easy but I bet even 90 can be cut back somewhat. Buy more basics food, bulk cook, look for cheap sales etc. There are always ways to cut back.

My main problem was they are SAVING 600, which means they are blasting through a heck of alot more than that in normal times, which even for a family of 4 is pretty obsence waste of money, just adding to the picture that they have alot of waste they can cut but would rather cry me a river and boohoo defeatist attitude it instead.

Again I resent my taxes being used on people who have been super wasteful with money. I don't think you have by the way, but the OP is spending considerable amounts, living in what is by any standards a large house and moaning because reality is biting her on the backside.

Your attitude is vile, you say this like anyone who bought a house at the ridiculous prices they've been recently deserves this.

Renting isn't a better option at all. My landlord put up my rent at the start of the year and he's saying he'll have to do it again soon too and if I don't like it I can look elsewhere.....trouble is everywhere else has literally gone up an insane amount since the last time I was searching, I don't think we can afford the prices they've risen to now and I'm hearing scary stories from my friends about how landlords are asking for 12 month's rent up front in some cases.

And as for council housing....the waiting list is 10 years long in my borough. Believe me, I tried. You don't know how lucky you are to be paying council house rent right now.

You need to look in the mirror because your attitude reeks. No one knew this would happen, raising interest rates when we're facing inflation driven by profits is the dumbest thing the bank of England could do.

I never said I was paying that at the moment, I said October multiple times.

You seem unaware that people are planning for the future, just like OP stated in her original post

She also said she'd be saving £600 on food is she fed her kids ants.....learn to read. That means it's her entire food budget, not her champagne and caviar allowance

HEARTLESS

@Cookiesareworthit

I disagree. I know people who have bought properties over the last few years and whilst they may be cutting back on things they’re not shitting themselves as they still bought within their means. Not everyone requires a 4 bedroomed detached house believe it or not.

As for those currently residing in private rental properties, well yes they absolutely do have my sympathy and that whole sector is a shit show, but that is not the OPs situation is it?

Well, I got the joke and I enjoyed it very much!

Who else is counting the OP’s aliases? You can tell from her writing style.

I joined the thread late but I've counted five. What's your count?

600 pounds is excessive. You could certainly cut back on that food bill. We are a family of 5 and we don’t spend 600 quid a month. Having said that I don’t want to come across as a competetive cost saver on mumsnet. We are a normal family so of course this will hit us with bills etc but some of the entitlement from certain people (such as the OP) really is quite astonishing

Sigh. No way to respond to an accusation of bullying after getting confused by a dishonest, sockpuppeting OP? I guess deleting those posts isn't fascism, then.

Ah well. Cookies' other posts are doing a grand job of showing how reliable the accusation is.

They're probably not shitting it yet because they're on a fix, wait until that comes up. Then I hope you'll show your friends more sympathy than you've shown OP.

So what if she lives in a four bed detached? Do you know the area she lives in? Do you know how many people are in her house?

You're passing a lot of judgement without even the tiniest bit of context.

@Iamthewombat hmm 🤔

You are indeed right, I apologise if my comments came across insensitive.

However sadly the point still stands, we need to cut/or earn more to live within your means. Is there any way you can earn more money? Maybe a 2nd job will be required to bring in extra money temporarily just to see you through a sticky patch?

£90 food a week is still a significant amount, I'm sure you could cut that by 25% at least by moving onto the most basic of food ranges or doing more bulk cooking to allow you to benefit from cheaper prices from bulk buying. If things get REALLY tight there are food banks/charities that might be able to help.

Do you have subscription services, etc?

As for renting, yeah thats difficult, no easy answer there if you are determined to stay there.

Maybe temporarily downsize to a 2 bedroom place. Again I'm sure its not what you want to do but it would save significant chunk of money (enough to counteract the energy increases due to smaller rent + smaller bills due to smaller place) and the kids are small so a shared room will be perfectly acceptable for a long while yet.

Of course there is the nuclear option of telling the council your about to be totally homeless with two young toddlers. I doubt they will ignore you in that situation given you have two very young children and approaching winter.

Sorry these probably aren't the answers your looking for, maybe you won't like them at all. But they are all possible ideas that may need to be thought about. There may well be other ideas that aren't quite so negative as well.

In all fairness they said they spend 90 a week. I still think even on that there is some savings as I said on my previous post but its not outrageously high or anything like that.

I lost count a while ago but do we have a live one?