What % of your income from work do you spend because of work?

[verdantverdure]

AIBU to ask you what percentage of your income from working you spend because you are working?

A younger family member has asked me to cast an eye over her sums and it looks to me like she can't afford to go back to work after maternity leave.

Once you add up nursery and the commute, she's already running at a loss even before she buys new work clothes to fit her post pregnancy figure and current norms at her workplace.

Not including convenience foods such as pre chopped veg or a bought in lasagne etc so she can get dinner on the table soon after she gets home, or takeaways for the nights she's too shattered to do that.

A cleaner do her weekends can be family time not housework time?

Treats to cheer her up because life is a bit of a grind?

Stuff like hair, make up and nails so she looks "groomed" at work?

What about you?

What percentage of your income from working do you spend because you are working?

About 16%
Mostly commuting and office smart clothes. I don't count makeup etc as I wear that every day anyway.

While not working I had no work wardrobe so spent 1200 approx on new corporate wardrobe.

But if you'd only been a SAHM 5 years, surely you still had your old corporate clothes sitting at the back of the wardrobe? Corporate fashion doesn't change that quickly!

A classic navy suit dress from 2018 would still look fine now (in fact, the work dress I wore for a meeting today is easily a decade old and doesn't look out ot place).

I can envisage needing to buy a few new items, but £1.2k of new clothes?? That was surely a choice, not a necessity?

I work 4 days a week and have my grandson 2 days a week to enable her to go back to work after her maternity leave.
I travel 29 miles each way to work 58 miles per day x 4 days + travel to their house to have little one, this costs me a lot in petrol approx £50 per week. Plus wear and tear on car.
BUT my Gas central heatings not on, nothing is being used, so to me without costings its saving me a bit.
Agree with some previous posts, a lot of what you listed are not needed, a cleaner is a luxury, packed lunches made night before, nails ect can be done night before by self, set group of clothes e.g 2x pair of trousers different tops will last all year and still look smart if clean and ironed.

I can imagine needing new work wardrobe if weight changed eg gained weight after children.
I used to work in a role requiring suits and lost a lot of weight and needed a new suit and office clothes which weren’t cheap.

A minimal amount, just the electricity to run my laptop I suppose.

I guess so, that might explain it.

She might have two years where she doesn't make anything from working.

But childcare costs will then reduce and she will still have a career.

If she gives up work then she gives up her career

Most of those expenses aren't necessities at all - treats, pre-prepped food, takeaways etc aren't vital or anything like it - they're a choice and most people in that situation forego them and do batch cooking etc.

I do completely sympathise with nursery costs etc but think the general view is that going back to work is a long term investment even if it feels fruitless at the time.

I would be wary of giving this kind of advice. Very hard to factor in pension contributions, future employment potential and promotions.

Also, who gets manicures only for work?! You either do it for you or its not your thing. Unless of course she's working for a 1950s department store.

Look, if she doesn't want to go back, that's fine - just own it.

These posts feel incredibly disingenuous

This.

If you have the kind of job where you work 50-60 hours a week and need a wardrobe costing £1200, then I’d hope you earn FAR more than enough for it to make financial sense for you to work rather than stay at home.

If not, you should really look for a new role.

Also, I think the OP is the "young relative"

@chocolatepenny89 thankfully I do now but for first 2 years back in work I didn't - well certainly borderline - but needed to do that to get where I am now.

£5 diesel, £2 wear and tear on vehicle. I wear the same clothes for work as for own life, I would not count food as a work expense, dh cooks from scratch in any case. No childcare costs any more.
If you count cleaning then £30 a week.

So £37 - 5% of take home pay

I must be doing this wrong, I work 39 hours a week and still do my laundry, my cleaning and cooking (together with my husband before someone asks what my partner does 🤣) oh also need to do homework with the kids at night and take them to activities in the weekend...I think if we all paid for things like this we will be all running at a loss....

I work corporate.

Work dress codes have definitely shifted since the pandemic.

I always did my own nails and only got a cut and colour once every few months. Long enough hair to put it up in a clip

Make up I wear every day and I wear high street brand so it's not that much.

Childcare is a joint cost and she will absolutely fuck herself over if she and her partner/husband split up and she's given up her career.

I only got a cleaner recently because I'm disabled. If you are out all day the house stays cleaner

I do have a dishwasher.

And I was a single parent to 3.

0.03%
Train ticket into office once a week. (Wfh rest of week), Costa hot chocolate, snack and bottle of fizzy juice. Not counting lunch costs cause I bring from home and I’d be eating it if I was home.
Clothes are same ones I bought for work 4-6 years ago.
No need to do hair, makeup, nails, etc to look ‘professional’…it’s not the 50s.

I earn above average, but beyond the cost of actually getting into the office, it’s as expensive or cheap as you make it.

Also. When I first went to work in corporate my suits and work clothes came from Marks and Sparks and next. I'm still wearing some of them now. There's a beautiful marks blouse that gets remarked on every time I wear it.

She doesn't need to spend more than £200 tops on new clothes if she does a capsule wardrobe.

But as I said. Dress codes are less strict now than they used to be.

Probably about £15 a week (lunch + commute). Maybe £50 a year on clothes that are mostly for work.

WFH 1/2 the week - no commute.
Work from office, but usually get stuff when in town, so not a commute only expense.

Mostly casual clothing with a few dressier days.

In a carpool to share out school runs. Dh and I share the after school care (older kids) so very little childcare needed but we both can work.

I think she needs a new job with less commuting, a more casual office, and a dh who has a job that means he can do his share of drop offs etc.

I did the sums too when my kids were younger and there was no financial advantage of working FT as the extra money was gone on:

1. Tax
2. Childcare
3. Need to outsource more chores as time poor
4. Too exhausted to do it all so paying for convenience etc.

It did make a lot of sense to work part-time though.

Practically nothing. A few bus fares, petrol, sandwich from a shop, occasional new top or dress from sainsbury's. But on the days I work out if the house the heating isn't on so there's a saving. My employer pays a generous contribution to my pension. Kids aren't in childcare any longer.

I work in corporate and file my nails each week as I would if staying at home. I don't have a cleaner etc and eat a homemade sandwich for lunch as I would at home. My only cost is my train fare.

Very odd thread.

I do agree with some of your points but some things are a bit over the top. It is perfectly possible to work full time and keep your house in some sort of order without having to get a cleaner. Same as not having to buy expensive convenience food and takeaways. Just need to lower your standards a bit and cook quick easy meals taking turns each night. With young children in childcare they eat there and don't need a lot when they get home
Clean at weekends, both parents doing it
It's tiring but that's life when you have children
You can also look well groomed without spending an absolute fortune.

Monthly?
Trousers (1pair a year)
professional body fees
professional registration
fuel
resources for work (toys, playdough, etc)

We also pay around £70 per half term for after school clubs for y6 child, so they don't come home to an empty house every day.

About 14% of my income or 9% of household income for me to work. DH has fuel costs but nothing else.

No hair, nails, pre chopped plastic veg, lunches out, take away coffee etc. If we're too tired to cook we have left overs from the freezer. And, if one of us wasn't working we'd still encourage the after school clubs - keeps DS off tech!

We've had years, (espec with one dc needing wrap around care at primary and the other at nursery 8-6) when childcare was 110% of DHs income. But it was important to both of us that we both worked.