It really is bad. If you have more then one it doesn't pay a lot of the time. To put our 2 into child care for a full time job it would cost 18k. An average job round here doesn't pay that, with my other half working full time we wouldn't get anything towards child care and child care stops at 6pm locally so it makes you more picky as you have to leave time to get to pick your kids up and lots of places have longer opening hours and then there is the thought of when they are school age, going to get a job but then what happens during the holidays. You can't take ever holiday off and if you divide them between both of you, you never get time off together as a family. It really is hard, then you stop work but your other half works so you don't get any government help still but people then say your a lazy sod cos you don't do anything. We can't win, I've decided. I'm not going back to work as we are lucky and managing but I have just set up my own online business so I can manage a small amount of work with flexible hours to fit around the kids.
Tell me about it! It's a nightmare! I'm 5 months pregnant and I have a 2 year old. My hubby works full time and I currently work part time and we're fotunate that at the moment my parents can look after our daughter when we're both working. My hubby is on a reasonably good wage (for the area we live in anyway) so he pays the mortgage, the utility bills, council tax, house maintenance and car running costs whereas I earn approx £6K pa and pay for all the food and anything our daughter needs and at the moment we do a lot of scrimping and scraping but on the whole we're not exactly badly off. However I don't know which way to turn when the baby's born. We have worked out that the monthly cost for just the bare essentials, not counting any luxuries, equates to almost my hubby's entire monthly salary so I am now left with the dilemma of do I return to work after the baby's born or not. I really love my job and would be devastated if I had to give it up. Not only that but it gives me a little independance, a break away from the house and money so I can pay my own way (which I am a strong believer in). I've never not worked before so the thought of not having any money coming in quite frankly scares me. Also with the current situation regarding jobs, particularly in the area we live I know that if I give this job up I will never ever get another job remotely like it, that's if I ever manage to get another job at all. On the other hand I can't reasonably expect my parents to look after two children under the age of 4 especially as they're now both in their 70's and I don't have anyone else I can turn to. I've got this horrible feeling that childcare/nursery costs especially for 2 children are going to be more than I actually earn which means it won't be cost effective for me to return to work. The harsh reality is that I can't afford not to work but I won't be able to afford to return to work. And another thing I'm worried about is that if I do give up my job to look after the children full time my hubby will have to pay for everything and not having any money left over, six months down the line will end up resenting me. It's a no-win situation.
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It really is bad. If you have more then one it doesn't pay a lot of the time. To put our 2 into child care for a full time job it would cost 18k. An average job round here doesn't pay that, with my other half working full time we wouldn't get anything towards child care and child care stops at 6pm locally so it makes you more picky as you have to leave time to get to pick your kids up and lots of places have longer opening hours and then there is the thought of when they are school age, going to get a job but then what happens during the holidays. You can't take ever holiday off and if you divide them between both of you, you never get time off together as a family. It really is hard, then you stop work but your other half works so you don't get any government help still but people then say your a lazy sod cos you don't do anything. We can't win, I've decided. I'm not going back to work as we are lucky and managing but I have just set up my own online business so I can manage a small amount of work with flexible hours to fit around the kids.