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!?!?

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.

You work in accounts so surely you can forecast or pro rata the £500 tax free top up? You can either work out your nursery fee per quarter minus the £500 and then divide that by 3 so you have an equal amount to pay each month. Or you can move the top up around to get the benefit when you most need it for example, pay the full amount in oct and Nov and then use the top up in December to help with Christmas.

If you want to view childcare as your expense and that it’s worth it to just work a term time job, then you need to view your lost pensions contributions as your husband’s responsibility and he will need to make those up. Too many women go very part time and reduce their pension contributions because they are already on a lower income than their male partners, then the relationship breaks down the man can retire early and the woman is left working into her late sixties or beyond.

But childcare costs are split proportionally to income surely? I have no idea why the full amount comes out of your salary because the cost should also be met by your husband. Even if it’s semantics and actually you pool your incomes and then pay all expenses including topping up your pension because you’re temporarily part time.

We actually have a joint account and all our income and bills comes in and out of this.

I guess a PP is right, I need to get out of that mindset that my wages are paying the childcare!

Yep. This was me. I dropped to 25 hours and have stayed there. I'll worry about my pension impact another time. I was 4 days and went down to 3 as I was only pocketing about £20 and wanted the time with my children.

Will your job be happy for you to drop your hours to term time only? Who will do your work during school holidays ? I never realised term time only jobs were so easy to come by

But your whole post is irrelevant because you have a husband who is bringing in £3200? So your £800 to childcare could just as easily be from his salary, so he's only getting £2400 from his salary?

Your salaries are combined, working in a career job rather than a non-career job (like dinner lady? I dunno, whatever you're thinking that pays £900 in termtime!) won't serve you as well when your children are out of school and you're not at retirement age.

In my previous career I dropped hours because there was no progression anyway, not unless I moved into a different part of the country. It does depend what you do.
I then went term time as there is almost no holiday provision where I live anyway, it’s all odd short days. If you don’t have grandparents doing childcare it’s really hard.
The barriers to actually working in this country are ridiculous.

These nursery fee years feel long, but it's a drop in the ocean.

I stayed working in similar circs because it was a flexible, manageable job that I mostly enjoyed. Yes, it did mean treading water a bit financially for 2/3 years but that's well behind me and I retained that flexible, happy p/t role when my kids started primary.

Also, if you work term time only, from what I can see you're either working or parenting & you miss all the assemblies & awards etc.
I'm probably in the minority but working in a school just doesn't seem the holy grail it's cracked up to be.

My friend did this 30 years ago, term time only job as a dinner lady and then a TA. Now she doesn’t have enough money to retire and her pension is negligible, just enough to ensure she won’t qualify for pension credit.

For a lot of parents around here it's more about status. No one wants to introduce themselves as a TA or school admin officer. So don't just think about the financial side, it's about your role and identity outside of the family.

You have to decide what your priorities are. I stayed part time in a low progression role while kids were in primary. I don’t regret it as I really enjoyed that time with the children when they were little. I could not have coped with a full time demanding role at that stage.

I am now in a full time job, large company, opportunity for progression; however not sure how achievable when I am competing with people 10 to 20 years younger than me who started their career there early and are ambitious.

Absolutely this.

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.

The issue here was that this was an election promise.
As with most election promises it was never costed, and ever since it started the Government hasn't funded it properly.
You wouldn't expect your local pub / cafe / boutique / corner shop / hairdressers / mechanics to allow themselves to lose money every month because some politician decided to say "we will provide free beer / food / clothes / milk / haircuts / car maintenance for you so you are all sorted for going to work" would you? So I am not sure why it comes as a surprise that Nursery staff don't want to work for free and Nursery owners don't want to provide their services for free either.

But, as a pp said - it is really difficult for so many new parents to balance the books for the time they are paying out for Nursery BUT, it is a drop in the ocean in a lifetime of work, and sometimes you have to take the hit short term to see the benefits long term.

I was born in 1959. I have 2 children, had a successful full time career still work PT and have a decent private pension, I took 1 year off for DC1 and 3 months for DC 2. Both my DD are parents working full time and we have an excellent relationship.
most of my peers from school are in similar situations.

How many hours do you work each day? Could you increase your working day by one hour? Thus reducing by a day per week but only losing 4 hours pay per week - not 7 hours, as an example and dh do nursery pick up

Do you use the 20% of your tax? If not why not?

can you increase your pension contributions to decrease your tax bill - roughly for every £100 you increase your pension you see, not a 3100 decrease in net pay but a decrease of £70

The answer to your "Why" question in your OP is that you are being really short-sighted. In 5 years time the woman who stays in the bigger job has significantly more earning potential than the one who traded down to the term-time-only job. She gets bigger more interesting projects and can launch herself towards promotion opportunities. With a few rare exceptions the term-time-only jobs tend to trap you into low pay with few opportunities.

Honestly? I did it because you can't ever 100% rely on men. I knew if I took extensive time out of the workplace it would hurt my pension and my earning potential in my own right. And I'd be vulnerable if something went wrong with our marriage or DH wasn't able to earn due to illness/disability.

I didn't want to do a "mum job" either. I'd have gone mad minding other people's kids or cleaning, those seem to be the go to suggestions on here. Great if those things work for others, but I'd have been miserable. My job has always been my special interest, I do feel lucky in that regard. But I also saw plenty of dysfunctional families. There's enough threads on here about women whose DH/DPs have affairs or decide to leave suddenly out of the blue and contribute as little as possible to the kids they helped create to illustrate why relying on a man in the 2020s is a risky business for women who are able to have their own careers and be financially self sufficient.

I have a different vuew to most of the advice on here. I switched to term time only working 4 days and take home around £26k. I did this because I wanted to spend time with the dc. I would say that no one wishes they worked more on their deathbed and career wise you can increase your hours when the kids are older!

Let me guess - you were either a teacher or a nurse (or at least started your career in one of those two)

OR you had a private/grammar school education.

If i am wrong on all counts then you are far too clever to be on Mumsnet and have done exceptionally well for a 50s born girl!

But then you won’t earn at all over the summer etc?!! I couldn’t do that…i would want my own money in the summer

That’s a bit snarky.
I did the same and I have never been a nurse or teacher.
My home life would have been far more stressful if I hadn’t gone back to work full time. I was so bored during maternity leave (why bother to do anything when I could do it tomorrow?).
Working gave me intellectual stimulation, financial independence, a good pension and an excellent work life balance.
I spent plenty of time with my children who are now happy well adjusted adults in stable relationships

So you're on £26k and earn £1770 a month. If childcare is £1k a month then you're only spending £500 as you and your partner should be going halves. You actually have £1270 left a month.

Yes. This is the way society has gone now - you're right, you just cannot rely on modern men. At one time men were very proud to support their families, but not any more. I think i snapped up the last good man!

And - yes, totally get that lots of women are bored rigid by their own kids ( my own mum was one such and she trained first as nurse, then as teacher, then as health visitor.)

But - I do meet many women through my work who look stressed and harassed, trying to do it all, convinced that their kids NEED to be in formal education by 2 or 3 and they are not good enough.
Older kids seem to be in after school scheduled activities (gym class, swim class, music class, sports class etc etc)

And life just seems to be a never ending merry go round of working to pay anyone else to take the kids off the parent's hands.

Whereas - for my generation where many girl spent early years practising for Motherhood in the Wendy house (weren't they re named 'house' for PC reasons?!) we grew up planning our families from a young age.

There must be some girls that still want that Motherhood experience, but (i think sadly) the current economic climate make it impossible. And even those that can afford it, and want it, have been conditioned to think it is too low status.

It's because you're taking a very short term view. Going part time to same money now can have a significant impact long term - on your chances of promotion, your pension, and your future earning ability. Your kids will both be in school in a few years and your bills will reduce significantly.

but isn't it interesting how you calculate the childcare costs as only applying to YOUR salary, not DH

when really, it's both of you, as you are both parents

I used to work in accounts also, and if I could go back in time and give myself free advice it would be to not give up the job and give up financial independence

Wasn't meant to be snarky. I apologise for that. Are you a 50s child?

Genuinely, there were not many opportunities other than nursing and teaching open for 50s born girls.

I was 60s born and i did have pals that went into nursing but (comprehensive school) I was one of the very few to go to Uni. Most girls didn't from 50s/60s generation.