Mayhem Babies! May 2011 mummies and babies

[heyyady]

meow that sounds really good hun

mummy, yup, over £100 a month worse off by working but needs must!

And just how is you being $100 worse off "needs must" ? Seems like that NEED is $ and you MUST stay home

 

[mummy3]

Heyy, wages are lower in the UK but expenses are also lower, no healthcare costs for eg and there's a lot of goverenment assistance. Like you can live on 15k in the UK easier than say 50k in the states

 

[Wudluvanuva1]

Happy New Year
Hey your friends little girl is beautiful so sad about your friend I think i remember u saying when it happened how is the mum coping??

New yes work is looming upon us both although for me it's much easier as it's nights & if i didn't go back we wouldn't get any help so i will be about £800 a month better off than if i didn't work & we couldn't manage without me working so i know it's something i have to do rather than a choice so i guess it makes it easier for me?
Although our problems are i finish at 7am & dh sometimes has to leave alot earlier & no family have offered to help? Who would want to at that time in the morning?

Had lovely raost lamb dinner with all the trimmings round sils today whilst our cousins took the 2 eldest & theur cousins to the pantomime so we had a peaceful afternoon with just livi
Although my little boy hated the pantomime & sat outside the whole time oooops such a funny little lad x

 

[meow951]

hey- God's knows how we do it but we do All our household bills come to about £1200 a month and we hardly have any left over, £100 if we're very very lucky! We just don't spend money on things like going out etc which is a bit rubbish sometimes but money isn't everything.

There was a lady on the forum the other day who earns £100,000 a year! If only!

 

[Wudluvanuva1]

I don't understand tax credits or working tax credits?
I've worked full time since i was 16 & have never been entitled to them?
Child tax credit i used to get £8 a week for Ashten & Jacson then when Livi was born they gave me £60 a week for a few weeks then dropped it to £30 a week which will no doubt go back down to the £8 when she's one yet other people in similar situations seem to get loads just don't get it?

We try & save child benefit it goes into a seperate account & is saved for MOT christmas kids birthdays etc & we buy everything the kids need out of our wages it's our way of saving x

 

[mummy3]

Happy new year wud Your roast dinner sounds yummy, glad you're having a good time, lol at him sitting outside the pantomine, cute Hope work goes ok for you too hun.

Meow I bet she was taxed through the nose on that!

 

[mummy3]

Maybe ring up and double check wud, would be a nice surprise if you get more

 

[meow951]

wud- it depends how much you earn really. The limit for working tax credits is quite low. I think it's about £16,000 because while only DH is working we get it but if i work we don't. Child tax credit is getting put down this year too. Currently the cut off limit is about £40,000 but will be brought down to about £25,000 in april

 

[Inge]

we get £15,000 before tax then the tax credits and child benefit. Not entitled to help with any rent or council tax. OH gets about £1,100 per month plus wtc and I get ctc and cb so about £1,650 combined? Outgoings of around £1050? OH buys work food usually from Co-op on way to work or tesco and their sandwiches and salads are pricey! I should have around £150 a month left at the end of each month which im trying to save. Iv got £35 til next ctc goes in had to fork out to help OH buy a new car OH is saving more now whereas before we got our house he didnt care bout budgeting and neither did I. Having to look after ourselves and house has made us alot more aware of our spending.

 

[Wiggler]

mummy - tax credits are a type of benefit for those on low wages. I could quite happily cope with 3 babies with what I get now, but if I had another I would get a hell of a lot more and I feel uncomfortable with that. Ideally OH would be supporting us with no help, as it is with Dylans nursery costs and travel to and from OH is applying for HB which we are entitled to (£54 a week! ) to help cos travel plus his lunches hit nearly £50 a week and I hate it. I wanna live benfit free. I hate feeling like a scrounger even though OH has a job, but if the life idea goes to plan I will do college, uni, get a decent job and I will pay back in tax what we get in help now...

 

[new_to_ttc]

I live on about £13K a year, about half that is rent too lol

and i think working and having an extra £100 bill is going to be better for us all in the long run. i personally think nursery is good for a LO and work is good for me too.

 

[heyyady]

We don't spend much on going out, either- the only reason we've gotten to go to the movies in the last year is MIL buys us gift cards LOVE HER
Hubby is really terrible with money, but I am beyond goo at making a dollar stretch, so it works- I just have to keep a very tight rein on him! for example, today we found a $10 bill that we forgot about in a pants pocket, so he put it in his wallet when I wasn't looking. He was to go straight to work, then straight home, and I GUARANTEE he won't have it when he gets in

we have a child tax credit you can claim once a year, but only if you income qualify- low income, but you have to have worked a certain amount. Luckily we qualify so we get a nice return- unfortunately this years is already spent and we don't even have it yet! (Damn transmission on the van )

 

[Wiggler]

Oooh OH gets £930 a month, then I get £170ish a week in child benefit, child tax credits and working tax credits,

 

[mummy3]

Budgeting is the way to go, a spreadsheet to see exactly what goes where

In the UK you pay way more tax though? So your wtc is quite a lot of your money back? You're definately not a scrounger!!!

 

[Inge]

we dont really go out but thats cos of OHs shifts. If he works 6:30pm-6:30am he sleeps all day. He got in at 7am this morning and slept til 4pm and left at 6pm so we dont have time. Then days he does the same time but reverse. He'll get in 7pm and Leos settled or sleeping so we cant go out. Then on his days off he usually has his son so wer usually indoors. Birthdays and anniversaries are the usual times for going out. Valentines day will probably be the next date down the Hungry Horse pub to stuff ourselves

 

[meow951]

wiggler - tbh i don't see you as a scrounger, you're OH is working so he's contributing to society. I do agree on not popping kid after kid out and claiming loads of money but there's nothing wrong with having a couple of kids and getting a bit of money to help along the way. Especially if people intend to get back into work when kids are at nursery/school. It's the people who have loads of children and neither work etc and never intend to that are the scroungers. If everyone had to pay for their own children without a reform of the tax/job system then only rich consultant type people could have children.

 

[new_to_ttc]

my wage is less than 6K a year, the rest is made up with wtc and ctc lol but I cant afford to work full time, childcare would be a nightmare

 

[mummy3]

I agree with you meow, its horrible hearing about the people who play the system who never want to work but if you want to work when your kids are older and/or your OH is contributing then thats what the money is there for

Heyy, sorry your return already spoken for Lol at your hubby and the $10!

 

[Inge]

cant wait til I can work Childcare is so expensive so we want to do the shifts around each other so we can avoid that cost.
Mummy - I love writing up my spending budgets!

 

[new_to_ttc]

Does someone want to try and budget my money??? lol I think id scare myself at what goes where and how little is left