There’s not an income level you “have” to reach before having kids, but it’ll depend on what you want your standard of living to be like and other factors such as whether you’ll have to rely on paid for childcare. We don’t have any family help so our only option is to use paid for childcare (nursery) and it’s extortionate! We will be around 1k a month for our baby to attend 3 days of nursery, obviously if you have more kids, the childcare costs rise, depending on age. Plus there’s the general cost of their food, clothes, activities etc
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Forgive me if I sound stupid here as I'm not completely educated on the subject. Obviously as a single mother it would be different, but I just can't understand why, as a woman still with her partner, I would bother working at all with those childcare costs. When I have kids I fully intend to be a SAHM because why would I pay most of my salary to spend all my time at work and not see them 
might as well have a little side hustle and make the extra few hundred quid out of that. Fine by me I hate working anyway.
might as well have a little side hustle and make the extra few hundred quid out of that. Fine by me I hate working anyway.£21.5k FTE - I work in recruitment admin, 21 hrs per week working from home with 2 days a month in the office. Any overtime gets paid.
Was made redundant a year ago from my office manager role- 30 hrs per week on £30k FTE. Was pretty stressful and had to rush from the office 25 minutes away with a 30 minute window to do the school pick up. constantly pulled between HR, finance and office related responsibilities! Can’t say I miss it (apart from the take home pay each month)
Was made redundant a year ago from my office manager role- 30 hrs per week on £30k FTE. Was pretty stressful and had to rush from the office 25 minutes away with a 30 minute window to do the school pick up. constantly pulled between HR, finance and office related responsibilities! Can’t say I miss it (apart from the take home pay each month)
I don't have kids but some of friends do, and their take-home salary is almost entirely taken up by the childcare cost. But they carry on working for the future benefits. E.g while working they're still paying into their pensions (and getting the employee payment into it as well) and keeping skills current or developing skills for future promotions.Forgive me if I sound stupid here as I'm not completely educated on the subject. Obviously as a single mother it would be different, but I just can't understand why, as a woman still with her partner, I would bother working at all with those childcare costs. When I have kids I fully intend to be a SAHM because why would I pay most of my salary to spend all my time at work and not see them
Some Mums are earth Mums...I was not.
You have no idea what being a Mum is, until you become one. I hadn't a clue.
I loved my children to bits, all the cooking with them, going to music classes, etc.
But other times, I found it mind crushingly boring...
You have no idea what being a Mum is, until you become one. I hadn't a clue.
I loved my children to bits, all the cooking with them, going to music classes, etc.
But other times, I found it mind crushingly boring...
I worked fullt when my eldest was a baby and most of my salary went on childcare ....but then was a sahm when I had my 2nd and 3rd child as childcare would have been prohibitively expensive and as it was , where we lived there wasn't any suitable to cover the shifts I'd have been expected to workForgive me if I sound stupid here as I'm not completely educated on the subject. Obviously as a single mother it would be different, but I just can't understand why, as a woman still with her partner, I would bother working at all with those childcare costs. When I have kids I fully intend to be a SAHM because why would I pay most of my salary to spend all my time at work and not see them
I stayed at home until youngest went to school.By that time I'd been out of employment market for 8 years and had to do a refresher course to allow me to work in a professional capacity again
. However I don't regret having spent that time at home when the kids were little , whatsoever
If I'd stayed working I'd probably have been promoted to a higher grade than I am currently, as well as would have been able to retire aged 55 , and take a decent pension 3 years ago ...as it is I'm working until I'm 60 and then cashing in my
Well loads of reasons; to have something for yourself, some personal income (just generally and in case things go wrong), to carry on with a career you enjoy, to not have childcare as your be all and end all, maybe your partner isn't a high earner. Everyone's different and everyone's situations are different. Hopefully, we all get to play it how we want and not have decisions made for us by circumstances and costs.Forgive me if I sound stupid here as I'm not completely educated on the subject. Obviously as a single mother it would be different, but I just can't understand why, as a woman still with her partner, I would bother working at all with those childcare costs. When I have kids I fully intend to be a SAHM because why would I pay most of my salary to spend all my time at work and not see them
£75k, work in IT for a bank.
Very low stress, work from home as much as I like and some decent additional benefits.
Very low stress, work from home as much as I like and some decent additional benefits.
Everything that’s wrong with wages/NHS. Our large doctors practice, 30,000 patients, is looking for a lead administrator with real responsibility for 4 other staff, liaising with patients, clinicians, other hospitals & departments, IT, telephony. It’s been vacant for months, leading to chronic issues for patients wanting to contact and access the practice. They’re paying £10.60 an hour for 37 hours. You can get more working at Lidl. Almost all the GPs are on a 4 day week and the admin staff pick up the slack. Our health pays.
Lots of people dont want to be stay at home parents. They want to stay connected to the working world. Can be quite difficult to get back into whatever field you have worked in previously if youve had a few years out. Pension contributions also.Forgive me if I sound stupid here as I'm not completely educated on the subject. Obviously as a single mother it would be different, but I just can't understand why, as a woman still with her partner, I would bother working at all with those childcare costs. When I have kids I fully intend to be a SAHM because why would I pay most of my salary to spend all my time at work and not see them
For me its just about having some £££ for myself aswell. Ive seen too many relationships fail and the SAHP is left up tit creek.
We can't get band 4 at all where i work. Asda pays more per hour and you get staff discount. Nhs pay framework is stupid now you stay on the bottom of the band for 3/4 years!
On the subject of children and benefits, I'm confused what you get when you are on maternity leave? Does it depend on the company or?
Also childcare benefits confuse me too, my parents tell me you get a certain amount when you have a child?
I'm not expecting but I'm one of those people who likes to plan ahead by like 5 years lol but it confuses me so much !
Also childcare benefits confuse me too, my parents tell me you get a certain amount when you have a child?
I'm not expecting but I'm one of those people who likes to plan ahead by like 5 years lol but it confuses me so much !
If youre an employed earner youl either be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Maternity Allowance. This isnt that much but is written into law.
Many employers will offer enhanced maternity pay. I got 6 months full pay and 3 months SMP and then took an extra 3 months unpaid.
Child Benefit is means tested now so if you or your partner individually earn 60k or more you wouldnt get child benefit. If you individually earn 50-60k its tapered. If you both individually earn under 50k youl get it. Its about £23 pw at the moment I think for first child.
Way more detail required in this reply
I ve ran out of steam.1. Because I worked hard to get where I am in my career and don't want to give that upForgive me if I sound stupid here as I'm not completely educated on the subject. Obviously as a single mother it would be different, but I just can't understand why, as a woman still with her partner, I would bother working at all with those childcare costs. When I have kids I fully intend to be a SAHM because why would I pay most of my salary to spend all my time at work and not see them
2. Because as much as I love my children, I don't want to be at home full-time with them
3. Because I have seen friends become SAHMs and then struggle to get back into employment after a few years
4. Because I don't want to be financially dependent on someone else
5. Because by doing something I want (going back to work) I believe I am setting a good example for my children
6. Because I earn more than double what my husband earns and we wouldn't be able to maintain our current lifestyle if I didn't work
7. Because I don't like to confirm to gender stereotypes
8. Because I genuinely don't know what I would do with my time if I was at home (maternity leave bored me to tears, quite literally)
9. Because I receive excellent benefits associated with my job that I didn't want to give up (health insurance, school fees, flight allowances etc)
10. Because I want to have a part of my life where I am recognised and respected for being something other than 'X's mum'
No judgement on SAHMs by the way. These are just my personal reasons.
I’m 32 on £34k without overtime in technology. Currently studying and planning to have a career change which will see me probs go back to £24k for a while until I am established but plan to have kids before I do that so I can do it part time and work my way up, I’m currently doing bits of work experience alongside my normal job to try and give me a head start. But really, who knows what life will throw at me, I constantly look around for opportunities and go with the flow tbh.
I’m 35 and earn £72k working for a bank. 35 days holiday plus bank holiday allowance and private healthcare. Work from home with travel expected about once a quarter to a meeting somewhere in UK (so often a 5am wake up and a 10pm home time)
its the best role I’ve ever had and when I’m having a tit day I remind myself how lucky I am to clock off at 5pm every night with v low stress and lots of flexibility.
its the best role I’ve ever had and when I’m having a tit day I remind myself how lucky I am to clock off at 5pm every night with v low stress and lots of flexibility.
Teacher £45000
So many replies to my comment and I've been unwell with a stomach bug so unable to reply sorry ! You all raise some good points. I personally can't see myself working full time with kids, being at home all day is probably the dream as I'm very introverted with a lot of hobbies. I couldn't see myself ever getting bored or wanting to work (despite currently having a very good job) but I guess you don't truly know until you are a mum! As people have rightly said, everyone is different and I particularly relate to wanting your own disposable income (so long as it's not instantly eaten by childcare costs. Maybe granny can have them on the ONE day a week I drag myself to work).
Love that we can have a chat about it and put different points of view without it turning into the Daily Mail comments sectionSo many replies to my comment and I've been unwell with a stomach bug so unable to reply sorry ! You all raise some good points. I personally can't see myself working full time with kids, being at home all day is probably the dream as I'm very introverted with a lot of hobbies. I couldn't see myself ever getting bored or wanting to work (despite currently having a very good job) but I guess you don't truly know until you are a mum! As people have rightly said, everyone is different and I particularly relate to wanting your own disposable income (so long as it's not instantly eaten by childcare costs. Maybe granny can have them on the ONE day a week I drag myself to work).
May I ask what your role is please?