[TheOnlyPink]

How would you fare financially if you went back to work?

would you be worse off because you have to pay for childcare, would you lose benefits (WIC, medicaid etc), would your tax increase?
or would you be better off and be able to afford extra vacations, pay off debits, have a looser budget?

[ComfortablyMum]

Honestly, if I went back to work we would 99% be worse off. Childcare is so expensive!!

[*Kiliki*]

we would actually be fine if it were anytime after august LOL cause then we wouldn't have to worry about childcare cause helena would be in school at that point....and i have thought about getting a part time job during the week while they are all at school anyways just to keep myself busy...

[feythful]

We'd be better off financially, but only slightly and personally, I would be worse off. I made about 32,000 a year which is about 20,000 after taxes. Childcare for the 2 girls would be about 14 a year. So basically, I'd be working 50-60 hours a week for 6,000 dollars. Add to that all the stress of dealing with parents, a few kids with attitudes, all the paperwork, ridiculous expectations and testing...no thanks. Best decision I made was to walk away from it when I did, because I'd be going back to work after this week if I were still working. It's not even like we could save money during the summers and breaks because in order to save our spot on the base daycare (which is hard to get into to begin with...), we'd have to pay during the breaks.

[LoveMySonshine]

Oh I would be SO much better off. Even working full time (because I can only find service industry jobs ever), I was considered 'working poor' because I was still legally under the poverty line. So I was eligible for a daycare benefit, where based on income the government helps pay some of the cost of daycare. I only payed about $50 a month (regularly almost $600 if I didn't have the benefit). If it weren't for that benefit, it wouldn't be worth it. Right now I am barely able to make my bills every month, let alone ever take my kid out anywhere. Working, I wasn't well off by any means, but I usually had a bit left over after bills to play with. I've never been so stressed in my life as I am right now with no job. I am pretty financially screwed.

[Lady Lotus]

We would be worse off because if I made over a certain monthly amount then we'd lose some of my husbands disability and with the boys going to daycare even part time my paycheck would mostly go for that.

[TheOnlyPink]

We would be significantly worse off. I wouldnt make enough to cover childcare, which would be €1200 a month for both boys, so we would have to take some from dh salary to cover the shortfall.
We would also lose our free healthcare.

[stresswife]

We would be worse, my paycheck would cover daycare and nothing else, plus when I did work it put us in a higher tax bracket and I still owe the IRS 900$...

We would be worse. Childcare is insane AND I dont want to ever put Drake in it. I would basically work for daycare expenses so it makes more sense to stay home.

[acupofjoe]

depending on what type of work id be doing..the only thing we would lose is money since three kids in daycare is a lot here. the cheapest daycare i found was 900 a month per child.

[youngwoman]

We would be a bit better off and have some extra money in the budget. When I was working, we still had money left over after childcare expenses. Leah is also nearing school age... but I am much happier knowing I'll be here to homeschool her!

[Buggymom]

We would be worse off since the cost of childcare is so high. Not to mention I have no real "career" so I'd be working at Target or something that doesn't pay well.

[lnj5duke]

Originally Posted by feythful

We'd be better off financially, but only slightly and personally, I would be worse off. I made about 32,000 a year which is about 20,000 after taxes. Childcare for the 2 girls would be about 14 a year. So basically, I'd be working 50-60 hours a week for 6,000 dollars. Add to that all the stress of dealing with parents, a few kids with attitudes, all the paperwork, ridiculous expectations and testing...no thanks.

This exactly!! I dropped to part-time before DD1 was born, and I was bringing home a few hundred dollars each month after daycare + taxes. Once we have DD2, I'd have to be full-time in order to make ANY money, and I'd constantly feel like I was short-changing either my students or my family. No thanks!!!!!

[Conners Mommie +2]

We would be better off, and I could honestly work if I wanted to, and I actually probably will in a couple months or so. Josh works 3rd shift from home so that leaves a lot of time that I could work while he's home. Only thing is him getting sleep, so I could only work a couple days a week