02-05-2013, 05:06 AM
(01-05-2013, 10:16 AM)C.A.R. Wrote:(01-05-2013, 09:15 AM)puglove Wrote: does seem odd to me that your struggling on 25k .
you say you got £500 left but food/shopping ect . i dont see how you manage to use all that. me and the mrs use £250 a month. that includes food, shower stuff, house cleaning stuff , keeping 2 cats , a reptile, and any other small misc things like light bulbs etc so how are you blowing £500?
also like to add as this does get to me. your choice to have a child. so dont moan that what the goverment gives you to keep that child. be thankful you get anything atall!
It gets to you? Why?
Yep - our choice to have a child. Yes I'm peeved about losing money from the government which I used to support our daughter. The margins work in such a way that once you get your head just slightly above the water the benefit drops off a cliff and you get chickenfeed. Meanwhile there are people out there who don't work, have never worked and have no intention of working and are comfortably living in a council-paid house, with bills paid for. This is who you should be annoyed at. I've been in full time employment since I was 17 when I left college, mmmmmmkay?
There are people who are on twice, 3 times the household income who get child benefit buddy!
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No, Mrs doesn't bring anything in. But she does look after our daughter full-time. This is the other conundrum...
She would need to earn X amount before it would cover the childcare fees to pay someone to look after Florence during the hours she is at work. Until she earns over this threshold, the money is just being pissed away. When it comes down to it, I'd rather my mrs be a mother to our daughter than go out to earn money to give to someone else to look after her, geddit?
I need to look into it for sure, since you are entitled to more tax breaks if you pay for childcare, but there's still some sums to be done to work out whether or not it would actually make a difference or if it would simply make no difference at all....
This makes my blood boil.
I know exactly where you're coming from Chris, our son has just turned three and although our joint income is a little more than yours we struggle too. We're fortunate the Liam's just started 2 days a week at our local school's nursery and that he now qualifies for 15hrs a week free childcare. Heidi, my wife, had no choice but to go back to work after her maternity leave, all be it part time, two days with a 12hr shift on each.
Things are better now than they were a few months ago because we're not paying out for childcare but things are still very tight. Granted, our rent is cheaper here in Herefordshire but our other bills and outgoings are similar and having to run two vehicles isn't cheap at all. I'm also self employed which means my monthly income can vary widely and that can cause major issues if I've had a bad month.
All I would say is that until you're in this position and have a baby/child of your own you'll find that there simply isn't ANY spare money. When there's 3 mouths to support on one income it makes life incredibly difficult, especially in this climate when the cost of living seems to be constantly rising almost week by week.