Worked out I could work less and take home the same amount with paying childcare!

[rosieandjay]

I'm on 32k in a 4 day a week job (so 4/5 of this pro rata).

I have 2 DC, one aged 1 who goes to nursery 10 hours a day on those 4 days, with 15 free hours, but bill is still £800 odd a month (after tax free deducted).

The other is aged 5 and goes to school, but in wraparound on those 4 days.

I take home about £1770 a month, and my childcare is around £1000 a month - so the net take home for me along is about £770.

I've worked out that I could work in a term time only, school hours, part time job, earning about £900 a month, paying a much less on childcare and take home maybe £600 a month.

I do have a DH who earns a decent amount, but seriously, why are we all working our arses off for maybe £200 more a month!?!?

Totally agree

How will it work out for you long term though, that's the bigger consideration for me.

I could have gone part time on a low pay, low progression role,

Instead I spent all my wages on childcare in the early days to stay full time in a high progression opportunity role and now DD is 10yo, just need holiday clubs no week time childcare and I'm being paid quadruple what I was on when she was 2yo and I have a fully WFH, very flexible role.

Agree that you need to consider career development etc - it’s not just about the take home pay. Also think about things like pension contributions - the higher your pay is the higher your pension contributions are and it’s really important to think about this.

Exactly this. Continuing to progress in your career will stand you in far better stead for the reasons InfoSec says, plus pension provision.

Yeah, I think the problem is that £32k is not a good salary so you’ve not got much left at the end. Are there paths to promotion? Will your wage increase? Unless your a on a career path it makes sense to find something g you can do around the kids to earn £7/800 a month. You could be a cleaner. Then when the kids are older look to do something else. Childcare is too expensive in this country.

Your take home salary seems low for £32k. I earn £25k part time and earn around the same each month in my actual pay

What happens to the 1 year old. When you are at the part time work?

1. Half of the cost of childcare is OH’s
2. pension contributions on £32k is substantially more than on less than 11k (3x as much). Overal women’s pension pots are substantially smaller than men’s. Do your best not to make this your future. The longer pension money is invested, the greater the pension pot becomes.
3. You’ll likely earn less in the future and have fewer opportunities for promotion- the main reason for the gender pay gap.

Can you get school hours only childcare for a 1yo?

What @InfoSecInTheCity and then others have said.

It often pays to look at the long term, not just the short.

Pension payments, and career progression are important.

Also, a term time only, school hours, part time job isn't around every corner, when you actually start to look for them.

Because long term its not good especially if you're paying into a pension

Go for it.

Sounds like a good plan.

I should add of course that jobs like this:
I've worked out that I could work in a term time only, school hours, part time job, earning about £900 a month

Are absolutely piss easy to find. Not at all difficult and very few applicants for knes that do pop up.

So quit Ur job today and get looking.

I was you, but now my DC are high school age I’m 2k a month up and my pension is probably 50k up as I kept my hand in. Those years working for very little are worth it.

I'm 32ishk but pro rata'd to 4/5 of that so actual pay is just under 26k.

I pay a student loan and put about £60 in my pension a month so not very much at all.

I could earn more and may well do in a year or so but it would only ever go as far as 40k I think. I work in accounts but I'm not a chartered accountant and don't plan on doing the qualifications.

The weird thing is, I don't feel this is a bad salary, if I wasn't paying childcare I'd have £1770 a month, my DH takes home £3200 a month so we're not uncomfortable.

What I'm moaning about is my childcare costs, and how the 15 free hours don't really take much off the bill, plus the £500 tax free part that you get every 3 months, I use most of that in the first 2 months so the 3rd month is more expensive.

Then DC1 is at wraparound and the tax free helps with his fees but only 20%.

I thought the govt help was supposed to really help women get working after babies but the nurseries have all just wacked up their prices so the 15 free hours don't have any affect.

So frustrating isn't it! When I went back to work after my dd2, I went £1200 per month and nursery fees for 2 DC's was.... £1200 per month! Totally worth it now as the job I had led to a much better paying job that doesn't come up very often and my work life balance is very good. Crushed me at the time though.

You would also need to consider the effect it would have on your pension contributions.

The big mistake that you and a lot of other women make is to categorise childcare costs as solely your expense. If your DH is the higher earner, presumably he pays a larger share of the bills. What percentage do you pay? Say, you pay 40% of the bills, your childcare bill is £400 a month, leaving you with £1,370 plus pension contributions and continued career progression.

Agree. Even once both your children are in school, you will save loads if you don't have to pay for holiday clubs. Also it will be nice to have the time together.

false economy/ You should work fulltime over 4 days, earn more, and get 1 day off a week. DH can do the same. And then you only need to pay for 3 days childcare a week. Pension contributions remain high, you get the same promotion opportunities, and as soon as DC is ready for school you have savings too.

DH and I were earning 70k each and wfh with a 3day weekend when DS was a baby. I’d never ruin my career by taking a term time contract.

Your mistake is in saying that you're paying for childcare. If you combine both your and DHs income then deduct childcare costs, whatever you have left is what you're working for.

This is why I work 24 hours. As PP it has ruined chances of promotion at the moment, but for me the time with my children is more important, also we're otherwise financially secure and I'm married so secure financially in that sense too.

This is just what works for me though, we all have different circumstances and opinions.

The problem really is that your share of a nursery carer plus admin costs is a lot per hour. The state doesn't pay much towards this, you're expected to find it yourself and for those few years you barely earn anything.

Personally I'd have gone mad at home that long with kids.

And pp are right, childcare is not only the woman's responsibility.

Yeah - i cannot understand why you all do it, tbh. Is it because Motherhood has been so successfully devalued that no one wants to do it any more?

Or is it because of this equality thing whereby you feel you need to work hard to build up a pension in your own names?

Very fortunately, i am of the generation above yours (60s child) so there was no expectation for women to go into the workplace once kids were born. There were nurseries and childminders but no financial help at all from government or employers to get women back into the workplace.

This didn't come along til late 90s when the Labour goverment decided women needed to be back in work and childcare provision was massively expanded, childcare vouchers came in, free nursery hours etc etc and the pushing of the message that kids needed to be in education from tiny tots.

What a lie. And what a mess we are in now!

I kicked my career in after my 2nd child was born as we could not afford childcare for two.

And re trained as a childminder. This was far more lucrative for me that continuing my career (not that i was too well paid as a speech and language therapist back in the 90s)

Only regret is that i should have paid more into a private pension. You'll never get that time back again with your kids. Your home life will be so much easier and less stressful.

Your kids won't thank you, but you will know you have given them the thing they most crave - your time and attention.

We actually got a joint account for the first time when DS started nursery and I went back to work, it was the only way to break that cycle in my head of 'I'm only working for X amount'.

Of course childcare costs are half DH's but it doesn't feel like that when you look at your personal salary income against the bill, so you need to get out of that headspace asap.

Childcare is expensive. Housing costs are high. There's no getting around that. What you have to do is think about how you'll feel in four years time when the youngest goes to school and you're in a job with no progression.

And then again in 40 years time when your pension pot is weeny.

Or at any time if something happens to DH and you become the main breadwinner on £600 pm.

The best advice I had when I had children was to stay in work and keep my foot on the ladder. It was a bit of a struggle while they were very young, but paid off as they got older, and I got promoted.