How many hours??

[creambunnie]

Hi folks, (my first post - hope it works ok) just wonder if anyone can advise on how to work out how many hours I should work taking into consideration chilminding costs. First baby and did work full-time previously. Such a wrench but yep bills need to be paid!! Thanks

tbh creambunnie it all depends on

you^yourR previous salary/anticipated earnings
your individual circumstances
cost of mortgage/rent
nursery costs
your life style
your expectations
do u have a partner to share costs
can friends/family help out

basically in summary actually no one except you can genuinely answer this question, it needs to be done pen, paper, in/out columns, logistics of your situation...the only person that can genuinely know the answer to your query is you, you may get answers but hey we are a bunch of anonymous strangers...not real life ...not there when you have financial decisions to make..or bills arrive

Yep I realise all that and thanks for the pointers - I guess I'm thinking along the lines of is it worth paying over a third of my salary for someone else to look after my child against how much I need to bring home to pay bills!

I need to investigate working tax credits/child tax credits, etc ...

the trade off is the long tern gains for u going back will it be tough in short term but eventually benefit your career progression etc

investigate your options - then decide

good luck

agree with cat64

only you can decide this - its a specific individual issue depending on your circumstances..really no one else can work this out except you

What do you do, jobswise? Does your company do childcare vouchers? You can save lots on tax.
And can you work at the weekends, maybe one day? There would be no childcare costs and dh/dp would have a day alone with your bubs.

Some parents pay well over a third of their earnings on childcare, some indeed may end up spending most of their take-home salary on childcare. Is it worth it... only you can decide, as others have said there are lots of factors to consider, including how you feel about leaving your baby in someone else's care.

Depending on your circumstances, it can be worth investigating what benefits you get if say you don't work at all, if you work less than 16 hours a week, if you work more than 16 hours per week. Try playing with figures on entitledto.

Thanks everyone!
I do need to return to work - financially and yes its good to keep a "finger in the pie". I do admin work in an office.

Hours wise its difficult as my dh works shifts and no 2 weeks are the same - so re childminding - I may have to pay for set days (even though my dh may be home on certain weeks)if they aren't flexible.

I have requested to work 17 hrs flexible and await their reply.