What would you do?

I chose the first It amazing how well you can adjust to a new budget. My kids are close in age, and the idea was that we get them out of the way and then move onto me going back to work, bigger house, etc etc etc. Lol instead I'm going back to work next year, DH is going to finish his other degree, and then we'll go back to kid making for the next too but it was good in theory!

I guess it depends on how close you guys want your kids to be in age, and how tight the budget would really be.

If it were me Id work for a bit aswell and get more financially stable. Then you can stay off work for longer with bubs, rather than stressing about paying the bills.

Sabrina, i would go with having another baby. DP doesnt earn much but if i get UTD we are going to make it work, even though im going to have work a couple of days a fortnight.

I have thought about working longer before TTC but both DP and i are in the same place and know that we really want a baby

Edit- its helen BTW

Edited by __H__

I don't think you get much money doing it either.

I guess job hunt and DC hunt... If you don't find anything in x months maybe try for a baby?

eta for spelling

Edited by Lil_Nic9

Sabrina, my advice to you as a mum who has been in your situation is this:

A - Put your wee one on a few daycare waiting list - state that you want to have full time (as if you only work parttime you won't get called first over a full timer but they will offer you a place if you say you are full time and then when they call say you have changed your mind to part time).

B - Apply for jobs that you are really interested in.

I know that you want another baby but you are still young and 3 yrs is not that long really (it will fly past believe me). But I would go back to work to help the situation and so you can be more financially stable when you come to TTC.

I would say option 2 thinking with my head and not my heart, and of course option 1 if I thought with my heart.

The one thing I think is financial pressures and babies can be very straining on a relationship and if you were a little further ahead financially even if it was just by another year or 2 then that would take a lot of the strain off, also if you are working you will qualify for the PPL that you don't get if you are not working, when you have no.2

We are thinking about TTC for number 2 and I am working (2 days a week) and will make sure I am up until as close as possible to when we have number 2 so that I can qualify for PPL and also save a bit of extra money for when I am not working, I know that this way I will be able to offer more of myself as a parent when we don't have extra financial pressures, which in turn cause other pressures of their own.

And also when it comes to age gaps I believe that its more to do with your childrens different personalities as to whether they grow up close or not, not to do with the age gap itself. Not that you mentioned this but thought I would just add it in

Whatever you decide, best of luck.

Also when i say go back to work, it wouldnt be to earn alot of money, by the time i lost wwf etc & payed daycare & travel costs, i might only get $50-$100 each week, if that. So i would literally be working only to have a very small amount of extra income.

Thanks for all your help. I ahve an appointment set up with Porse, also applied for a few jobs this evening so i will see what comes of that

Hmm... I am in the baby camp. I was in that very position when Jae was a NB, and deciding whther to go back to work when my matenity leave ended or not. We worked out that after paying preschool, I wouldnt earn much more than if I stayed home and used the WFF money and accom supplement to help pay the bills. We get by each week, and DP still gets his sky tv, and we have broadband so I can do my computer course extramurally (We cut back on everything else and allow that one 'luxury' each). We decided that it worked out better for us to have baby now, and go back to work once s/he is old enough for daycare, rather than putting Jae in DC, then pulling her out when i go on PPL again, then putting her BACK in when I go back to work after THIS one. We cant afford DC without me working.

I also do some mystery shopping to allow myself a little extra spending money

Yeah I tend to agree with lilfatty, $100 a week is a lot of money, that is $5200 a year...imagine what you could do with that?
Which really has nothing to do with the baby part...but that is really hard because I know I would go for number 2 but I am not in your shoes and can't even imagine being in your postion (being way older...)

im biased but i say #1. we are skint as, live off veggies alot and i regularly skip lunch but i wouldnt trade it in for the world. me and DH werent willing to let things like money dictate what we do or we felt that we might get caught up in a whole bunch of things that would stop us getting on with life. its hard but we make it work and i actually really enjoy that we dont spend money on anything we dont need if that makes sense though it might just be that we are really odd. lol i think even if we had the money we would waste it and probably be in the same situation as we are in now. lmao! honestly though i would look at what is is you actually want to do in your heart and not what your situation dictates. just an opinion though, totally feel free to ignore :)