To put DC3 in nursery 1 extra day to clean/save money ?

[specialk9]

DC3 (almost 3) is about to receive his 30 hours funding after Easter. This will save us £845 a month. He goes 3 days a week whilst we work. This money will go in to savings.

We pay a cleaner £60 a week / 3 hours. It takes 4 hours to clean our house.

On the 2 days I look after DC3 we go to a club, see family/friends and I do whatever cleaner doesn't finish, change the 4x beds and any other 'family' admin etc

Due to the funding we have the opportunity to put him in another day. We could cancel the cleaner and save approx £260 a month. I would then spend day 4 doing all the cleaning/changing beds etc. This money would go in to family pot for days out/treats etc.

We don't have the time / nor do we want to clean at the weekends. Saturdays are spent doing something together or with friends/family. Sundays DC1 (15) and DC2 (7) have sporting commitments.

Positives
All cleaning/beds done in one day
Save an extra £260 per month
I think I actually clean better 😆

Negatives
Lose 1 day a week with DC3 before he starts school (Sept 2025)

WWYD? Just feels a bit bad to put him in nursery another day to essentially clean !

@TeaKitten i mean, it really really sounds like you care 😄 so odd.

That’s quite an odd response in itself. I’ve hardly sounded upset by the thread. My opinion is the keep the cleaner and enjoy the day with the toddler, not exactly controversial. OPs seeking validation when it’s totally fine to do whichever option she wants, as I said none of the options are bad for the toddler, she’s sounds already decided really

Have you checked those figures with the nursery? I don’t know any nursery that works it out by the hour…

Personally I wouldn’t. I’ve used the 30 free hours to drop a day at work so I can spend more time with mine. We do clean on a Saturday or Sunday morning, I think it’s important for children to see that maintaining a home is a part of life.

Yeah totally not what I was saying. Nice effort at misunderstanding my post though.

Also is he 3? You keep saying toddler making me think of a very young child, whilst, although 3 is young, they’re capable of playing by themselves for short periods.

I assume you work part time? Do you go on holiday a lot ( as you Say when you’re in the country?) so does your house need as much cleaning as you think?

How badly do you actually need the money? You’re already saving a good chunk of nursery fees with the free hours, so personally I’d rather pay the cleaner and have a nice non-cleaning day with my toddler. Is the cleaning something you actually want to do, or something you feel like you SHOULD do?

Why can't your husband/partner change the beds and do the life admin?

If it only takes you 4 hours a week to clean your 5 bed 3 bathroom house and change the bedding I'd pay to watch that, because the council pays a cleaner for 7 hours a week for my 2 bed one bathroom house, and I self fund 3 hours a week because it wasn't enough!

I wouldn't. He's going to be in school for the rest of his childhood next year, you can't get this time back. Especially not to clean. You're already saving a lot of money but if you wanted to ditch the cleaner you don't need to clean all in a day. You could do 2 hrs am, 2 hrs pm. An hour every morning or evening during the week. Get the older kids and dh to help...

I wouldn't give up my cleaner for anything, ste is amazing!

This is insane.

I don't understand the posters saying its good preparation for school. When he starts school he will get used to it like every other kid does. Saying to send him age two or three is just an excuse that some parents use to justify their decision.

When I worked full-time, I sometimes did things after work before going home. I didn't feel guilt. I needed to do it for my own sanity and I recognised this.

Now I work part-time and school hours are the only times I don't spend with my kids. There are weeks that I literally have to go away for the weekend because I can't spend another minute listening to their arguments and being at their beck and call.

With all due respect unless you keep farm animals inside your house, I think you need a need a new cleaner!

Are you sure you will save £845 on nursery? Have they told you that? When my kids were eligible for funded hours I didn't save anywhere near as much as I thought as the nursery had to charge extras for meals and other stuff.

I like cleaning my own house so don't have a cleaner, so yes I would agree doing it yourself is a fine idea.

Completely agree, they start way too young as it is

I’d do it too. I’m long past this DC stage but why not. I’d also keep the cleaner and just do the other stuff you want to do.

If your teen is doing a good job with keeping their room tidy I’d just carry on with getting the cleaner to clean it or clean it with the rest of the house. Seems odd to get the whole house cleaned bar one room to me.

I’m still stuck at £20 an hour for cleaning. That seems really high, especially if you say you clean better than your cleaner.

people can use their funding however they see fit, not just around their jobs. my 3 year old gets 30 hours, I don't even have a job and I still use the full funding - absolutely nothing wrong with that. some kids absolutely thrive in nursery.

Working parents are allowed to claim 30 free hours as long as they earn a minimum amount over 3 months.

Non-working parents are only able to claim 15 hours.

Listen OP, don’t feel guilty. Regardless of what you want to get done, no harm in putting your DC in nursery for an extra day. My son is in nursery 5 days a week and absolutely loves it, and it has been fantastic for his development. My son finishes at 4.15 and we also still manage to do things together afterwards, and so will you. Before going on mat leave for my second child, i worked 4 days, so had a ‘day off’ and it was such an improvement to my mental health and a help to our family for me to just get general things done.

I would you get 3-bed time with him plus three full days.

As someone who doesn’t qualify for the 30 hours funding due to my income, I think it is ethically wrong for the free hours to be used for anything other than to allow you to go to work.

If they are used for any other purpose you are essentially demanding that people like me must work and give you some of the money we have earned to allow you not to have to work. That is wrong and is not what the system was designed for.

That is morally wrong. Why should I work hard, pay eye watering amounts of tax to fund such a benefit for you, who has no work based need, when I don’t even get it myself?

I am in effect going to work, not receiving pay for part of my time there and giving it to you because you think it’s nice for your DC to go to nursery. That feels very wrong to me.

Benefits should be used to address needs not desires.

@Charlie2121 why is it morally wrong when you don't even know my situation? My partner works full time and I am in receipt of carer's allowance for my 3 year old son who went through a highly traumatic leg amputation. I am entitled to 30 hours childcare funding, so we use that for 3 days a week and my son absolutely loves it there, living with a disability is tough even for a young child and interacting + playing with other child has helped him on leaps and bounds - he even took his first steps on his prosthetic leg at nursery because he was desperate to run around with his friends. Not to mention I'm completing my university degree, which I did alongside my child having his leg amputated, so I am able to get a good job when I graduate. Don't be so small minded.

If anything it is worse than I thought as you are now saying it is OK for you to force me to fund your degree.