If you needed extra money

[Whatwillitbenext]

....an extra £100 per week

You both work full time

Can't cut anything back at all (fine tooth comb through the budget has already been done)

Not eligible for any benefits even with low wages and high childcare costs.

What would you do? I've had 2nd jobs before, but now we have 2 kids under 6 and not much support.

You can't claim TFC if on UC.

Oh, that's a bit wank! Worth working out which scheme saves you the most money then I guess.

Good luck OP 👍

Work a night shift or a Saturday/Sunday in a care home. It will be a 12 hour shift but dare I say, it will be more quiet than a day shift. and it could ease having to pay childcare to cover you if you work a night

Bank shifts at the local hospital as a HCA or clerk.

Overtime, bank work, seeking a better paid job. Exploring reducing child care costs, such as by family doing one day a week. Good luck!

Do you like/can you accommodate pet sitting? You could register with an agency like ‘Rover’ whereby you can look after dogs in your home whilst owners are working or go on holiday. I’ve just paid someone £40 per night to care for my dog for three days, and she’s been great, so we will use her again. She has regular customers and can just accommodate when it’s convenient for her.

drug dealing?

Although illegal I actually think the is the best suggestion so far that would actually make £100 a week😂😂

So to answer some questions this would be for around 1 year until my son turns 3 and we get 30 free hours

We have no car finance

We can't change hours, I already work compressed and so does my husband so we have a weekday off each for childcare.

I'm up for a 2nd job, it's heartening to think I could maybe just work 1 evening a week and take home £100 a week - is that really right? Someone mentioned up thread about it. I could do caring, i did that once before.

I got made redundant from my highish paying job (£55k) had mental health issues, got diagnosed with ADHD and I'm now on £30k with some debt to repay. We paid the redundancy money off our large mortgage to bring that down but failed to think properly about having a little fund put by since childcare costs and food costs are so high. Childcare was £1100 per month for 4 days then we reduced to 3 days which was £800 per month and has now gone down to £550 thanks to some free hours - in a year it'll go down to £180 per month.

The £100 a week is so we can live but also have some money for a few treats and fun. I'm happy to work doubly hard for that.

We earn £60k between us with a large mortgage still, debt repayments which have been consolidated as best as possible (thanks Martin lewis) but only have around £50 a month left when everything is paid which is just not enough.

Thank you for all the suggestions so far.

I'm not that moral really, if I could find a way into casual dealing I probably would 🤣

I cleaned holiday cottages- it meant Saturday was gone but could make £100 a day.

This is the worst time financially OP and I still remember thinking it would never end. You feel like every bit you earn is already allocated to something. I did some baby sitting in the evening when mine were small which got me on average £50 for a few hours work and that was over a decade ago.

I have a friend that did matched betting and said it was lucrative especially when you first join and get welcome bonuses. She said it was time consuming when you start but gets easier.

I've heard this mentioned a lot before on mumsnet I have even googled and I still can't work out what it is/how it works! Would love to know more if its lucrative.

I've heard things get way more expensive once they're teenagers but I think having this huge set bill every month is worse. At least one they're teenagers it's just a few times a year on birthdays etc I need to shell out big money.

My teenager costs me a fortune 😂.

Babysitters charge £12 an hour here OP. I’d do that above most other things I think.

The main cost of teenagers isn't birthdays. It's the cost of food, clothes, shoes, for another adult sized person. If you choose to help them learn to drive, then lessons, learners insurance, the cost of tests and a cancellation app to get a test, petrol to practice. Bus to college if they choose to go to one further away. All the day to day things are expensive. Make the most of age 4 to 13!

If you can pass an enhanced DBS and DH can cover childcare then I would recommend night shifts in care home/childrens care homes... could hopefully get a regular 1 waking night a week as bank staff but they usually offer chance for more (eg if you had couple of days annual leave from normal job you could pick up few extras here and there...) depends how well you function on little sleep occasionally?!

I used to earn £160 a shift (pre tax) for a waking night from 10pm-8am

Absolutely not worse when they are teenagers as they don't require childcare all the time or even in the holidays as they do before and throughout primary.
Also they are perfectly capable from 14 or 15 in earning their own money which is something I strongly encouraged as it taught my DC the value of every pound. You are in the trenches financially now and it will get better.

Could you do cleaning/housekeeping/ironing or even dog walking? I pay my cleaner £15 per hour for 4 hours. But if you could find 6 hours worth of work a week and fit that in then it would be close to £100. Or caregiving? Your OH would have to watch the kids but maybe you could do 2 evenings for 3 hours each or something like that

Teens aren't more expensive than nursery years, but the in between years, age 4 to 13 (maybe 5 to 13 as reception year at some schools makes life difficult for parents, half days etc) are definitely the cheapest. Once they are teens it doesn't get better until they are independent. Mine works the summer but not otherwise with 4 A levels and a long bus ride to college.

Matched betting is nowhere near what it used to be, I earned way more than my day job 10 years ago. But it's still very flexible free money however you need a few hundred spare to start.

Take the free trial on Odds Monkey to see what it is. It is very much not gambling but is still exposure to a gambling environment so avoid like the plague if you have any gambling tendancies.

Change bank account. Then after minimum period swap again or if you have 2 bank accounts swap them both. Some banks offering £200 to switch. Santander do an account where you get a percentage back for each bill paid up to a certain amount, can't remember what but also more money back for food shopping. If you switch two accounts that's almost £400.

Could you temporarily extend the length of your mortgage?

You mention you used to earn 55K. Is there a reason you can't look for a higher paid role again?

I do a second job.

ADHD burnout basically. I'd happily do a 2nd job that doesn't require too much thought.