How long did it take you to get back to your normal income after kids?

[Chocstrawberry1]

As a household, after having kids and one of the parents income dropping, how long did it take you to build it back up again?
As a lot of mums I know go back part time to try to balance everything and inevitably that takes a hit on the household income.

Did it take you a while to go back to how much you used to earn together or did you choose to go back full time straight away and equalise what you were on prior to your child?

I am currently on 2 days a week (I used to be on 4 days) but I am still feeling the hit financially. It’s the dilemma of spending time with your kids whilst they’re young (mine are under 3) and earning well.

Im not sure i understand the question. Do you mean build your wage up? Surely that is as soon as you go back full time. Or savings if you are using those too? We didnt as made sure our wages covered our outgoings. Or pension contribution?

No sorry I meant go back to full time essentially (if you did). So whatever the household income was before getting pregnant how long it took to go back to that as I was wondering do people wait until their kids are in school to go back FT or earlier.

surely as soon as you go back full time

I suppose if you don’t have any childcare costs maybe but they still cost in clothes and food and entertainment.

So … never!

I went back full time and got a promotion soon after returning, so was very lucky.

Also went back FT and was promoted whilst on second mat leave. Was advised by several mum friends at the time to go PT or drop a day as it would be too much to juggle 2 kids and work. It was (and continues to be) a lot but several of my friends who went PT have struggled to regain their career and financial footing so on balance think I made the right decision…

I’ll probably never go back full time though @Chocstrawberry1 and I also accepted a post with less responsibility so I’ve taken a substantial pay cut. But I know others who got back more or less to normal after maternity leave, although with childcare fees of course.

Never, been ten years and always been part time since having children.

I was a high earner when DS was born and for the short period I went back to work. (He is 30 now and very fit and healthy). However, as a baby DS was very poorly and I gave up work when he was 14 months (in those days mat leave was 6 months and I returned when he was 4 months because that was the deal if I wanted p/t).

Once I became a SAHM, we had a tight year, but DH's career was taking off and by the time DS was 3, he was earning more than our previous combined income.

In relation to my earnings, they were high in the mid 90s when DS was born. I returned to work p/t in the early noughties and retrained. It was local and a different sector (public). The full time equivalent salary was about one fifth of my previous income. I caught up with my previous income 15 years later! It was absolutely the best thing for our family life.

I am in banking, had two kids, went back part time for years then full time but flexible 9-5 and wfh. No travel, no late nights, no weekends.

Honestly I am back where I was, if you see what I mean, but I should think I am paid 300% less than if I had been a man and stayed on the same path. I am happy with my choice, but seeing your kids and working in banking AND being paid a proper amount doesn’t really happen. Something has to give.

Wife currently 4 days a week, one day off with the kids, which she wanted.

When they're in school she will go to work 5 days a week but 8.00am to 2pm so we will need the breakfast club but not after school care. There will be a tricky period when DS is in school and DD is still in nursery but we'll manage.

So in short, we'll probably never get back up to a FTE for my wife. We'll be golden when our nursery fees are over, meantime we are lucky my salary is more than enough to manage all our bills, even when it seems everything is going up all the time.

I love the idea of my wife reducing her days when our kids are teens but it will be her choice what she does. Her career is very competitive but not well paying. I'd rather she had time to herself to go walks or to the gym or whatever she wants than knocking her pan in for £15 an hour or whatever.

My salary went above what it was before my first maternity leave when my youngest was 4 (and only after a change in jobs/promotion), after 6.5yrs of it being quite low. I didn’t change to full time til around the 10 year mark though when my youngest was 8. My income is now c2.5 times what it was (and 4/5x the lowest point when returning from first mat leave) because of 3 promotions and huge increase in experience over that time, despite being part time. This was the right thing for me but I wouldn’t have known that 4/5 years ago!

Similar to this. We found 2 X FT with 2 DCs too much. We were both FT again when DC was 10 DC2 was 8. Now earn more than double what I did when DC1 was born even accounting for inflation .

I went back full time after both maternity leave. But children costs money. Teens are very expensive. I will never be as rich money wise as without children.

I didn’t find working FT with 2 too much. It is actually much easier when they were young and they can be at nursery and then at the childminder. It becomes much harder when they are older and wanted to be at extra curricular after school. I suspect if I earn a lot more and they go to private school and do all music and sports at school, this becomes much easier again.

I went back full time as soon as I finished maternity leave.

14 years and one career change.

I went back full time 3 months after giving birth, as that was how long maternity leave was. So my income didn't drop, to need to recover.

After dc2 was born, I went PT, but my income still rose pro rata, and I continued with my career, including promotions and new jobs, just with my salary pro rata'd

I went back to work full time when DT’s were six months old (normal maternity leave then). One of the reasons for going back was to ensure I didn’t slip back on the career path. I had a significant promotion two years after returning from maternity leave.

I went part time when first one was born, 2 days initially then 3 days per week. I think I continue 3 days until second one went to school, then back two days, then 3, then 4 in pandemic as I could work from home,

I went back full time when second one was in Year 6 in a full demanding corporate job. We wouldn’t have coped with 2 demanding jobs and young kids as no family in the UK.

I am glad I had time to spend with them when they were children, in the holidays, etc. Now they are teens they just want to do their own thing.

So 14 years in total

I went back full time straight away. DH stayed home for a while. It took him good 10 years to get back to his pre-kids salary.

My career took a hit though and I would probably be earning double if I would have gone full time in a larger company at the time; but realistically I wouldn’t have coped physically and mentally andI treasure the time I spent with theme kids.

I am in a good job now but is a bit late for me to climb the career ladder. I earn the same as much younger colleagues.You can’t have everything. I don’t regret my choices.

I left teaching when earning 32k, went back to teaching on about 40k about 6 years later. Left teaching and retrained in a new career, took a hit to 25-28k while retraining and now on 50k

DH and I have both gone back part time. I don’t intend to go back full time even once the kids are both in school. We currently have different days off for child care efficiency and we might consider changing to have the same day off once the childcare bills go down just to spend time together and do general life things. I’m lucky that I now earn more in 4 days than I used to in 5 because of promotions. That took a few years.

The expenditure never stops. My daughter is 21 years old and currently home from uni for Easter.

I have spent £500 on her head alone in the past week; £232 optician (two pairs of glasses and an eye test), £132 in contact lenses (two months supply) and £125 for a haircut and highlights.

Now she needs trainers and a new phone because hers keeps freezing. It’s not a case of going back to your old salary, it’s about 21 years of having to support then, potentially. There are (nearly) four adults in our house being supported by the salary of two.