is this doable/should I return to work?

[munz]

because honestly I don't really want to go back to work if I can make this work with me not returning iycwim. mainly cos Joey's 6 months now and is just getting intresting, and I personally (not to say i'm right or wrong) am struggaling with the idea of passing him over to a childminder/nursery for 3/4 hours a day so as I can go back to work - yes i'd love the adult company, but if the p&t works out then I may rethink things as I say tbh i'd sooner stop at home and be there for him esp as DH goes away quite a lot (approx 2 weeks out of the month). anyhow here goes:

DH's income 1200 ish
CB/TC £140 (am assuming t/c to drop to £70 once i've informed them of DH's new salary when his payslip comes in for sept.)

so total income £1300. (we're used to £1600)

so theres:

food £200 (2 adults one baby all nappies cleaning and 2 dogs)
Debt reps £380
Car HP £120
Car ins £42
House ins £35
BT incl BB £40
Gas/Elec £75 (2 bed house just moved in so may increase)
sky £35
tv licence £10
Car tax £15
Washing machine ins £14
Screen select DVDs £15
Baccy for DH £30

Leaves us with a grand old total of £289 so do u think that's enough for us to live on or should I go back to work p/t? out of that i'd need to get b/day pressies/xmas club etc ooh and petrol of £50.

the debt repayments will reduce in march to £280 and the car will be paid up so will save that money as well. am I kidding myself?

avon..no initial outlay. it does cost £15 to join but that is taken out of you commission on your first 2 campaigns. Ironing ..I did leaflet dros locally, spoke to working friendsetc.
maybe the school run thig could be done from their house

must be more wanting this

right ok thanks for the tips, jsut gonna give Joey his bottle then brave the p&t group! lol. any more money saving tips/working from home ideas let me know!

(DH already goes around tescos with a calcuator on his phone if we go to teh shop and loks for bogofs/offers or we do tesco.com and grocers/butchers so not sure how to shave the food bill by much more/if anything??)

thanks mum jsut gonna lok into that one with the car ins- bloody cheek if u ask me we've gone from wales to dorset, (althou we're now living on a patrolled secure army camp and the bloody insurance has gone up instead of coming down even thou i've got an extra years no claims! damn cheek this car ins lark - althou u can't be without it.

off to start another thread then about recipes cheap etc i'm pretty much decided to stop at home and see how things go for a minute - I'm feeling all the time I can be at home I should be if that makes sence?

Collect you tesco points and use them for days out/holidays etc.

well the coffee morning was good, and found a few bits in the thrift shop so that was good. - DH now know's I don't want to go abck to work, so guess that's decided, how did u come up with a price structure for the ironing AM?

I asked on here what people paid!!
it varied from 5 to 11 so I decided £7 an hour. Some do it by weight or garment. I have 3 'clients' which suits me just now.

do you use washable nappies?
seems like a big outlay at first but saves loads IMO over time, and definitely if you have another child. there are bound to be plenty of threads on here debating the pros and cons and how to get started.
would your DH agree to drop the Sky when the year is up? what about getting a DVD by post deal, they seem good value (about £5 per month IIRC)
are there any free state nursery places round your way? just so you get a bit of a break, the hours are not usually compatible with working unless you do something from home.
overall it looks do-able.

hov - I started with the idea of doing them - however the nappies I had were totally wrong for Joey's bum so I sold them on without using them (managed to recop the money thou)

i've been to our AFF on camp who's told me about some free courses coming up incl one for childcare at the end of sept so was going to have a look into that - apparently there's a nursery in town lookinbg for people and train on site, which would be preerable if Joey could come with me as well as he'd get to socialise then, althou that said for the last week i've been going to a coffee morning - and I must admit they've been really good, both of us have totally enjoyed them.

got the avon lady coming over this morning to talk thru doing that so fingers crossed all round and I have some good orders etc - not after too much, just 30 p/w or something althou as I understand that's hard to attain. still worth a try.

anyhow it's decided now SAHM life for me and loving it! lol. also in march we should get a payrise from DH (hopefully as long as he gets on the right course for an extra £100 p/m) so if everything works out as said here we should have approx £500 after bills etc which is totally liveable for us - and fingers crossed we'll be able to put some money into joeys bank account.

(ooh and also talked him into stopping the dvd select thingy so that's £15 saved straight away)

Munz which camp are you in as we are near two and our dd is 7 months so might me good to meet up

were at blandford, in dorset.