How can I reduce my expenses? Childcare £460, transport £350 (rent £0)

Question

Could I have some help with this. I have a three year old and I live in Birmingham. Before, I was working evenings, and would stay with her during the day. Now, I have have a good job offer in Milton Keynes.

I share a house with my mother and sister and at the moment was not paying rent but contributing towards bills.

I started this week and my mother is off but from next week it will be as follows. My mother works a four day week, so on one of the days she will look after her. For the rest of the week I will drop her off at nursery at 8am, they will take her to her school which is next door, then I pick her up at 6 pm.

I am commuting from Birmingham to Milton keynes in the morning.

If I were to hire a bedsit is would be about £500 per month and the childcare expenses are the same so in the end commuting is actually cheaper for me.

I do not know many people with kids in the area to ask them to help out with babysitting. I have a distant relative who has kids in primary school but the couple of times I have needed her to be picked up from school and I asked them it was just Drama. I have another relative but she is disabled and cant move around and would not cope with a 3 year old running around.

Thank you for suggestions. I am getting a headache thinking that I could end up working for transport and childcare :-(

Answer 1

Before I answer I want a word with mrs B:

How do you get so much child tax credit ? I only £45 a month and only earn a little more than you and can't afford holidays?!!

Back to your question:

How come I get tax credit then as I am a foreign national (my daughter was born here though) and you can't.You need to check again but anyway it wouldn't help you much because they don't give enough money anyway.

You can't complain about the nursery fees because here in london I pay £750/month + my mortgage £800 and all the bills....I don't pay transport though.but we are struggling  

Answer 2

According to the lady above it appears that the general consensus is that other people should pay for her child care (i.e. tax payers) and she bugge*rs off on two foreign holidays a year. Marvellous that is.

Anyway you asked this in the commuting section but you have not told us how you are actually going to get Milton Keynes every day. If you told people that then maybe they could help you with suggestions to that end as opposed to advising you how to get others to take on your responsibilities.

Edit - I notice that you say nothing about yourself in your profile which is interesting, however I stand exactly by the holier than thou statement - I am not the one saying that I am wonderful, have paid in and now feel because I have that I will take it back. I too am 45 years old, have paid in all my working life and I can almost gurantee pay in a whole lot more than you do but I do not feel that because of that I should thus get it back again. I have a son and he is my responsibility, I take that on and no one else should have to pay for him. You come accross as snot nosed and holier than thou by saying - up your you lot, I take your tax money to look after my kid and then head off to the sun twice a year. By the way when you dropped the sprog, didn't the tax payer cover all the medical costs? You can dress it up all you like but society had created the perfect atmosphere for spongers and some people will do all they can to live off others. Child benefit should be scrapped, tax credits should be scrapped for all except the really deserving. If you can't afford to have a kid then don't have one.

Answer 3

try takin insurance or a loan maybe , now that can help. or get salary raise.

Answer 4

you need to apply for working tax credit,who help cover the cost of childcare their num is 0845 300 3900

Answer 5

You can get childcare expenses paid by government, but it must be a proper nursery school and you still pay during holidays. Check child tax credit website.

Answer 6

You need to get your tax credits sorted out. Working tax credit pays towards the childcare. In my case (single mother) I work 37.5 hours a week and use a full time nursery at a cost of £782 per month. I am able to claim £6500 total tax credit (child and working) on a (declared) salary of £24000. On top of that you can save yourself some money by having your employer pay the childcare provider directly. They can deduct £243 per month from your gross salary which they then pay (by cheque if they want) directly to your childcare provider. THis saves your employer money as they don't have to pay the employer NI and saves you both Income tax and NI contributions of this amount.

This deduction does not show on your P60 so when you apply for Working Tax Credit you will show earnings of £2916 less that you actually earned - this is a good thing as the less you earn the higher the percentage of your childcare costs they pay.

On my salary £27000 in total I manage to pay the mortgage, childcare and general day to day costs for me and my daughter and take 2 foreign holidays each year, so it can be done. If you need to know more let me know.

Dear Shuggie M- I have paid a very high rate of tax since the day I left school. I am now 45 years old, having never taken a single state hand out I feel it is high time that society paid me something back. If that means contributing towards my childcare costs so be it. School nurseries are now available to all 3 year olds and above free of charge, so one way or another we all pay for each other. Oh and by the way I still pay tax. What would you prefer? That I sign on and take a council house or work and pay my way.  And as for the foreign holidays; I'll spend my hard earned money any way I see fit.

Your profile states that you dislike "holier than thou sceptics who make judgements on people they don't know". REALLY?

LOL: I just checked by tax credit form for last year so I can give you real info - this year's is in my office. I declared an income of £23750. Working Tax Credit £4633 plus Child Tax Credit £2310. Nursery fees claimed for £163 per week. This year will be a bit less as I now get 12.5 hours a week paid for by the local council. If you are not getting a similar amount I would check with the tax office. I have given them honest figures, no cheating at all and for the past 3 years this is the level I have been granted. Perhaps because I am a lone parent. My mortgage is v small compared to most people as I am getting on a bit and have owned my home since 1990, it's only £230 a month which makes a huge difference.