costs of childcare

[Beansprout30]

Hello!

Hubby and I are planning to start a family this year hopefully, however one thing that worries me is the cost of childcare. I know it is way way off, but I just cannot see how we could afford childcare for (eventually) 2 children. We both work full time, dont have massive out goings, I just don't know how people can afford it! Do you mind sharing how much you spend on childcare per month and how do you all manage?!!

Thank you :)

Thanks, I realise it will be tough but unfortunately have no choice, hubby cannot give up his job. My parents are close by and im sure they will help but I dont want to rely on them, they are getting on a bit so wouldn't be fair to expect them to help too much. Others manage in more difficult circumstances than me im sure, I dont want to miss out on having a family :(

You do have a choice , you could stop working for a few years by the time you have factored in childcare, travel etc I doubt you would be much worse of.

Childminders (mostly) are very reliable. Being self employed means that you only take a sick day unless you really have to.

In almost 5 years I've not taken a single day off.

I have already given all my holiday to parents for 2014 so plenty of notice.

I love my job really don't want to give it up, I work five mins from home I dont think id find anything with so many positives. Plus with hubby away so much I know work will keep me sane!

Remember you can start accumulating the vouchers as soon as the baby's born (eg when you are on mat leave) - I managed to get a little nest egg of childcare vouchers happening saved up before returning to work (while I was on enhanced maternity pay and SMP ) it makes a difference....

Both you and your dh can claim childcare vouchers as long as you are both tax payers. When we did it just dh claimed as we were planning a second and if it came from salary then it would affect maternity pay for our second. it does rely on your employers being part of the scheme. The scheme is due to change in 2015 though - probably in your favour.

CM's aren't unreliable. I know it can seem like that, but a good CM really doesn't just have a random day off. We've had two emergency days to cover in 18 months and they were due to extreme family situations for the CM, and both of those times she arranged for another CM (who our DC knew from playgroups and school drop-offs etc) to have DC for the day. A lot of CM's have that back up. Yes, they take holidays but you will too, and they can easily coincide.

The other thing to bear in mind is that if you parents are nearby they may be able to help in emergencies. Mine are too far away to do regular childcare (and I don't think I'd like them too either) but as they are less than an hour's drive away, should we be desperately stuck they can help out for the day.

Just a few thoughts, really, in case a CM looked a lot cheaper than a nursery!

My CM has never taken a sick day sonce she started minding my DD (1.5yrd ago), and I know through the parent who recommended her that she hasnt taken a sick day in the five years they have been using her.

Your child will pick up bugs from other dcs so going to a CM means less kids to catch stuff from than nursery.

The cost of child care depends on various things like the type of child care, number of days you need child care, the number of children you sent to child care and whether you can avail Child Care Benefit or other child care payments. However, the typical cost of a full-time day nursery place is £177 a week for a child younger than two.

My CM is amazingly reliable and flexible - no late charges if my train is delayed, she'll do babysitting and when I was pregnant with DS2 she was on standby to look after DS1 when I was ill. BUT she doesn't offer the free childcare places from 3 years old (some CM do). So if we want to stay with her (which we do) then we have to continue paying her for the full day even if DS1 is at pre-school for 3 hours. Because she'll have to drop him off and pick him up she won't be able to take on another child in that time, so will have to charge us. This is fine, I'm not complaining, and the benefits she offers far outweigh this. But if money is really really tight and you're just going to be hanging on till the 15 hours kicks in at 3, then consider this carefully.

Might not apply to you but worth remembering that childcare vouchers for higher rate tax earners are half - only £124 (and less if you work part-time).

The decision whether to go back to work isn't just a financial one. Having a job and income of your own can be important for lots of other reasons, it's a big decision to become a SAHP.
It's early days though, see how you feel. You might decide you really want to stay home, I've known committed career women who really couldn't bear to go back to work in the end.

We have been looking at nursery for my dd. It would be £36 a day for 2 days (grandparents doing the rest between them.) We would not try for another child until dd got the free nursery place at 3 as we cannot afford two in childcare.

We have decided it would be better for me to go part time as we are only £150 better off a month with me full time and it will be a lot less stressful and I will get time with dd but still be able to have some adult conversation!

Thank you all, lots to think about!

Well bear in mind there may be factors beyond your control - in our case, twins!! Depending on how much maternity leave you plan to take, childminders (generally) are only allowed 1 baby under 12 months (although can apply for an exception).

We're in the NW - I went back to work 3 days per week and 2 x nursery places for 3 days was £1200 per month. We got some tax savings on that via vouchers but it was still more than our mortgage at the time!

Then we had Baby Number 3 - still iin the NW but about 20 miles from where we lived previously - different nursery. £63 per day, which equated to £830 a month for one 3 day place. On top of that, the older 2 were at school and went to after school club on the days I worked, that was £11 per session (needed 3 sessions each) so £66 per week, £260 a month whose idea was 3 children?

Couple of things to check - if you're looking to use vouchers to save at least some of the fees, not all childminders accept them (although I think most do now). Also not every employer offers them, and as someone said up thread, both you and your husband can claim if both employers do offer them.

You can have the second baby at 2 and a few months due to year mat leave then free place at 3.
I worked out I'd be 3000 a year better off working.

I get 90 a day before tax and ni the nursery was 52 but bus fare 4 it starts to not leave a lot
Most people I know are using grandparents and nurserys for 1 day at most due to cost.
I made more take home pay on mat leave:(
Tbh I would not worry about the cost etc and nursery have the baby and see what you want to do then, depending on circumstances and the child themselves.
I do agree with others I could not cope 5 days along with my baby. Even though due to bf I had her nearly all the time.

Just something else to bear in mind (you'll see from a number of threads of here) if you're doing your sums based on the 15 "free" hours when the child turns 3. Firstly it is only the term after they turn 3 so in my case where my twins were born 2 days into the Easter term, they didn't get any funding until the following September (at which point they were almost 3 years 5 months). It is also only payable during term time (37 or 38 weeks of the year).

Also, IME (and I appreciate that there are lots of others where this isn't the case) its not free at all. It may well be, if you can access the pre-school / state run nursery which offers the 15 free hours as 5 blocks of 9-12am each weekday morning or 12.30-3.30pm each weekday afternoon. But if you're one of those people who actually have normal working hours like the vast majority of working parents and use private nurseries, there are all sorts of add-ons, charges for additional hours, charges for food / drinks /activities that you still have to pay for even if you're using 15 "free" hours. So whilst your overall bill might go down, don't bank on it being "free".

Thank you all, lots to think about!

OP, many CM's have childminder colleagues who cover for them if they're ever off ill. ( though being SE you tend to find CM sick days are a very rare event!).
When I'm on holoiday, parents either take the same holiday time ( I let them know about 6 months in advance when I'm off); go to another childminder/ use a nursery which is always happy to have them for the odd days when they have space.

Ginnel has your CM said why she won't provide the 15 hours funding?
Even if the hourly rate is less than she'd normally charge she can then charge you the difference for lunch so she gets the same money and you still get a big drop in childcare cost