Nursery fees!!! Wish we didn’t have to

[Hiitsmee]

My DS has to go to nursery 4 days. Me cutting a day down or DS cutting a day down would drop our pay by more than what the extra day would cost!

we’re lucky it’s only 4 days I know and to have the help on a Monday. But when I see people who only send them in 2 or 3 days I wish I could drop a day

i love the experience he has he’s so happy there and enjoying being around the other kids! And really is developing so fast :)

it’s just hard when it cost so much and it’s increasing for us soon :(

oh well , 2 years until free hours !

Sorry for this post it is literally just a space to moan !

Hang on til those funded hours! Is there a chance you or DH could compress your hours to reduce nursery whilst keeping the income the same.

Try having twins in full childcare 😩💴

@sneezingpandamum Oh my bloody word and here I am moaning!!! :( goodness that must be so hard

@tealandteal we’ve discussed this! His work said no :( as he’s a manager and they want him in 5 days a week
My work said they’ll look into it :/ so that’s a ‘maybe’ and hopefully that’ll help just don’t want to get my hopes up that my boss will agree to it

@Hiitsmee

Yup £2k a month and then primary age child also has before/after school childcare which is £400 - single parent - so even when twins start school the before/after school costs for the 3 still going to be over £1k a month - more than the mortgage 😭

We have just accepted that we will be skint/get into a bit of debt before the free hours - our fees will halve and we will repay debts within a few months.

Have you made sure you’re claiming tax free childcare to reduce the bill a little if you’re eligible

I'm joining the club, my baby is currently doing settling in sessions as i return to work after mat leave on Monday.

She will only be in nursery 2 days as I'm working 3 days compressed so 2 days with me and 1 day with my parents but it is still a painful expense. I can only emphasise at your 4 day costs and misery.

I would have liked my husband to do a compressed week too but alas his workplace is like the stone age when it comes to anything beyond the norm

^ this.
As long as you or your partner don't earn over £100k (each, not combined) and are both working you can get up to £2k a year towards childcare.

I'm on mat leave but trying to see if I can do compressed hours, if they decline 5 days in 4 I'm going to see of they'd consider 5 days in 4.5. If DH can do the same, then on Fridays we'd work a half day each and cover childcare that way. If we have to pay for 5 days I'm just not sure how we'll manage as everything has gone up so much.

I wouldn’t rely on the free hours to reduce your bill hugely. It’s term time only and our nursery charge £10 a day as food isn’t covered