Is there a point in me going back to work?

[Calluna]

I'm not sure if anyones actually going to be able to answer this question for me, but thought I'd give it a shot. Hopefully it makes sense. LOL

DF is currently earning about $750 p/w gross. If I was to go back to work I would only make a max of $600 p/w if I worked full time. I would also have to do my cert 3 in childrens services (possibly privately due to previous traineeships).
We have no assets or any other income - apart from c'link, from which we get about $150 p/w (parenting payment + FTB-A, we get FTB-B but not until tax time), because of DFs income.

So, is there a point in me getting a job or will it be a big stress for very little/ no gain? I'm not keen on putting DS into childcare, especially if it's not going to make a difference to our current living conditions.

I have no idea about CCR or CCB, but would assume we would be eligible given our low income?

How much would we need to pay in fees?

If you have any other info/ advice that you think may be helpful please share.

[Doing my best]

Do you have to go back to the profession mentioned?

I found when working f/t when DH was on that wage last year for training, it was a huge benefit to the weekly income. The childcare benefit is a percentage that the govt pays towards the childcare. This percentage varies depending on the household income, and depending on the individual daycare fees, will depend how much you are out of pocket. The CCR is currently a quarterly rebate that pays back some of your gap payment (I am sorry but I don't know exact figures, so will leave that out).

After paying childcare, I was still having $200 extra that we wouldn't have had if I wasn't working. I also chose to do casual conditions (or you can do temp contracts), but you don't get paid sick or holiday leave. The extra hourly rate was more beneficial to us.

But only you can decide what to do. But I would be (in your position), finding a childcare you like and can get your DS into and getting the costs. Then start applying for jobs. You can use online calculators to get an idea, then ring centrelink for confirmation before you accept a job, just to make sure you will be better off.

[mummy of 3 boys]

how do you get a parenting payment??

the cut off for that so i've been told is if your partner earns more then $1500 a fortnight, sorry if this sunds rude, im in abit of a muddle whether gross is before or after tax


On anther hand if you go back to work and get a rebate you get almost 50% back so i have heard, dont hold me accountable as i havent worked yet but going off of what my friend that works tells me, she reckons its more of a benifit for her to work then it is for her to stay at home with the kids

maybe ring centrelink and talk to them about it and honestly its going to depend on what you want to do yourself

[Calluna]

Thanks for your replies

I dont have to do childcare, it's just that that's all I've ever done. I dont have any quals and didn't finish year 11. So I think that is going to be my biggest hurdle when trying to get a job. I have no idea how much I could be paid in other proffessions, or how hard it is going to be to get into them.

This thread is kind of the first step I guess in me looking into getting back to work. I dont really know where to start

Mizqtie - Gross pay is before tax, net pay is after tax
Some weeks we get parenting payment, others we dont, DF is on casual still for his probabtion and there has been a few weeks where he's not had much work. Once (if it ever happens ) he's on fulltime I expect we'll get very little. 'cause you know 650 p/w net is more than enough to pay rent, bills, clothes and eat :/ Most weeks thouhg we dont get that much, we've been "living" on around 400 a week for about a month now.

Doesn't sound rude, sounds like a genuine question, I dont know how it works exactly but we have been 100% honest with our reporting so hopefully it's right....

[mummy of 3 boys]

ok so gross pay my DF earns $820 p/w, we get $694 after tax p/w hence why i questioned the parenting payment as im not eligible for it, but i can understand why you are eligible for it

On another hand for your FTB A & B i would be questioning centrelink why you only get so little, i was getting about $250 a fortnight from then with my DF earning $650 after tax a week so like i mentioned i would be ringing and questioning them WHY they are not paying you your full entitlements

$400 a week isnt enough to live off of for a family, so i think your making a fantastic step in moving forward for your family to survive, living in brisbane though and only having done childcare, have you ever thought about working and studying at the same time?? i did this in QLD just over 3yrs ago, i was fulltime hours (only casual but guranteed work) and studied to be an assistant, this is an idea so you can still get a certificate and work to earn that 'income', now im not 100% sure what it would be like now but also maybe ask centrelink IF they can provide you with help towards your certificate so your grossing all your income but getting assistance from them for your course, im once again not positive if they can do this while you work, BUT now also within saying to work and study (i know it'll be hard) but if you put your DS into the daycare centre you work at, im pretty sure (once again from my experience) you will get a discount for working their and then should also be entilted to your CCR

I know ABC centre's if you work there and have your child there you get a discount so maybe look into doing this if you are quite interested in going back to work even if its part-time its still something to contribute and then you can still have days at home with your DS kwim?

[Calluna]

On another hand for your FTB A & B i would be questioning centrelink why you only get so little, i was getting about $250 a fortnight from then with my DF earning $650 after tax a week so like i mentioned i would be ringing and questioning them WHY they are not paying you your full entitlements

I have probably over estimated my FTB. DF has also had a few jobs so need to make sure we dont go under our estimate. Can't afford to be paying anything back right now (!) lol

$400 a week isnt enough to live off of for a family,

Your telling me! LOL! We're lucky to be living with MIL, but it's still impossible, we borrow money off her almost every week. and it's not looking like DF will be on FT work anytime soon as his new work place is going through the quietest patch they've "ever had" according to his boss

living in brisbane though and only having done childcare, have you ever thought about working and studying at the same time?? i did this in QLD just over 3yrs ago, i was fulltime hours (only casual but guranteed work) and studied to be an assistant, this is an idea so you can still get a certificate and work to earn that 'income', now im not 100% sure what it would be like now but also maybe ask centrelink IF they can provide you with help towards your certificate so your grossing all your income but getting assistance from them for your course

Yea I've done traineeships before, but I moved a couple of workplaces because of thier practices (dont even get me started on that ) So now "they" - the last training agency I was with - have said that because I've had 2 traineeships I wont be eligible because the g'ment wont want to spend the money on someone who drops out (never mind WHY I left in the first place ).

not sure how I'd go studying, working and Mum-ing. DF is fairly useless when it comes to "looking after" DS on his own. asking me stupid questions every 2 mins. Like where are his socks? (in the draw??) or Why is he crying? oh well I cant fix it I'll just leave Him to scream his little heart out (HTH should I know, YOUR meant to be looking after him! I wasn't even in the room )...

err, got a little off track there lol!
Maybe I should look into retail jobs... Not liking my chances of them chosing a 24 year old over a 17 year old though...

I know ABC centre's if you work there and have your child there you get a discount so maybe look into doing this if you are quite interested in going back to work even if its part-time its still something to contribute and then you can still have days at home with your DS kwim?

I thought it was illegal to work at the same centre as your child attends... Maybe that is just a popular policy, everywhere I've worked it's been a no-no.

[Calluna]

[mummy of 3 boys]

sorry i never knew u replied to this, my bad

I never knew it was illegal to work at the same centre your basically just not allowed in the same room i think..

I totally understand your point in studying, working and playing mummy i would like to try and finish studying most likely would be better before this 3rd bub comes along

do you have a HCC?? if you do and you really want to study, maybe look at putting DS into daycare a couple days a week so u have time to study alone and he gets the interaction at daycare you will be surprised with a HCC and being low income earners you shouldnt pay very much at all for daycare, might be an idea to check it out
to give an idea, my DF earns $42,000 a yr and for 2 days a week in daycare i pay $15 a week pretty cheap as far as im concerned, but i totally understand in your circumstances as you mentioned before it might be abit tuff

sorry if i havent really helped much

[Calluna]

that's ok. I might give c.link on monday. Just didn't really want to wait on the phone for an hour lol.
You HAVE been helpful. thank you! I bumped it because I know there are people on here that work for c.link and I was hoping they might be able/ willing to help out.

[briggsy's girl]

ultimately only you can work that out

it may be more viable next financial year as you can get your CCR paid direct to centre so you're not havin to wait three months for it - means more cash in hand each week

[Starlite]

DP and I talked about me going back to work. For us, it wasn't financially worth it at this time.
Unfortunately you really do have to talk to CL in order to have your individual situation assessed, to know whether it's worth it.

[mummy of 3 boys]

i guess i know how you feel, ive been in the same situation tossing up whether to go back to work or not myself i was actually waiting for DS2 to hit 6 months and then i planned on going back to work but nope i am now preg with number 3 with stuffs that idea for now lol so i guess i just have a little longer to figure out what i want to do

Im 24 and still kinda in that mess of what do i want to do for pretty much the rest of my life work wise and i honestly still dont know i swap and change my mind and it makes it very frustrating i need to hurry up though as whatever i want to study i would like to do it now before i go baxck to work also

i just know like i mentioned before i have 2 friends who work and they both say its more better being financially with them working then not working, so that makes me want to go back to work plus i miss all the socialisation

[fromscratch]

I didn't go back to work till ds went to school.
I worked 9.30am till 2.30 mon to fri. so I guess thats part time.
You have to figure into your sums and IMO you need to do sums

Approx after tax income and FTB part A (mothers share of FTB)

Then you have to subtract
Cost of child care.
Cost of bag for child care
cost of hat for child care
Cost of uniform for child care(some places have a uniform for children)
approx cost of lost clothing(include socks, drink bottles, a couple of jumpers and perhaps a pair of trousers.)
Cost of extra fuel for the car each week,
Cost of wear and tear on the car(tyres, more frequent servicing, etc)
Cost of lunch/coffee for you each week,
cost of work clothing and shoes break this down to an approx weekly cost,
Car parking each week/public transport costs,
Dinner each working day if you think you would end up buying it more regularly than you do now.

Now after doing all the sums will you be better off at work?
Thats something only you can decide.

For us it worked out we'd be better of by a whopping $50.00 and in exchange for all my hard earned work I didn't think for $50. it was worth it. So I left work. Should have done the sums in the first place.
Turned out to be the best thing for us me being at home in the end. I have a totally different lifestyle now.


I just wanted to add.
Are you recieving parenting payment partnered? If not you should apply. ASAP.
We were recieving it when dh was doing his apprenticship and it helped alot. Good luck honey
Also if you are studing as a Mummy with littlies and on a Centerlink payment I'm sure your able to get extra payment for studying. From memory I think it was an extra $60. a week but I could be wrong with the amount.

[Fleur]

Have only skimmed previous replies hun. For us, the answer is always yes - although our CL goes down the more we earn, it's not dollar for dollar. We are always better off.

But as for if it's worth it - like BG said, that's something only you can work out. I know for some people, $50 a week (for eg) isn't worth it, for others it makes or breaks them.

You can call CL, get an estimate of what your CCB% would be and then call a CC centre & get an estimate of fees. Actually I think CL have a fee calculator on their site as well. All the calculations will be rough, mine never come out exactly the same but it will give you a ball-park idea.

As for having your children at the same centre, it's definitely not illegal - our centre has / has had a couple of carers with children there, so has my boss's centre. Not sure about a discount though.

GL

[briggsy's girl]

Approx after tax income and FTB part A (mothers share of FTB

just to clarify

there is NO "mum's share" of FTB

FTBA is based on combined income of both parents
FTBB is based on the lower income earner and the age of the youngest child

in our case, and many others here on BB, FTBB (if payable) is paid based on the fathers income.

[nothing2lose]

Personally, I think there's something else you need to factor into the equation.

What would it add to your sense of esteem and accomplishment going back to work?

I realise everyone is an individual, but for many, this is what is "priceless" about working outside the home.

Something to ponder

Good luck with your decision.

[Mildez]

I've been asking myself this same question. DH is a low income earner ($27000) last financial year and this year is looking even worse. Whilst I was working before DD no 3 was born combined we were not eligable for much FTB and definately no health care card or other benefits. I can't go back to work at the moment as DH can't cope with the kids. Our youngest is 6weeks old. I'd like to return 1 or 2days a week at the end of the year but then anything we are now entitled to we know longer will be. So I will be working for no more money then I will get staying at home. DH will be more stressed and the kids will miss out. DH doesn't do swimming lessons, piano, athletcis etc that they do with me. We fight more.

The bad thing about me not returning to work is the loss of my skills. I work as a midwife or did up until 6weeks ago. For us to be financially better off then we currently are I need to return to work a minimum of 6days a fortnight and for DH to care for the kids so they don't go to daycare. Daycare for us means unhappy children, loss of work and income for either DH or I as the kids constantly have colds, gastro, even whooping cough in the past etc. For us its just not worth it. It was when we had 2 children but now with 3 thats another story.

[Astrid]

Personally, I think there's something else you need to factor into the equation.

What would it add to your sense of esteem and accomplishment going back to work?

I realise everyone is an individual, but for many, this is what is "priceless" about working outside the home.

Something to ponder

Good luck with your decision.

Very true. I know for me I was getting to that point where it was going to get too hard to get back in to a decent job, at a decent rate. My best jobs and associated referees were getting a bit "old" and knowledge out of date. I was risking about $7 per hour if I did not go back soon.

Also going back to work can save you money depending on your circumstance. I know above all the extra costs have been listed, but in my case I have found that I was not out of pocket. For example I drink tea, most work places provide that. When I work, I buy less tea for home. Childcare provides meals, so there is a home expense that is dropped, same with activities. I go through less paint, playdough etc the less the kids are at home. As for petrol, car maintenance etc well I am out of town, so have to drive in a lot anyway, so I just do what I can on the trips to and from work, or ask DH to get what he can on his way home, so petrol and wear & tear does not go up. The biggest saver I have found is with electricity, we save over $100 a quarter even with me only working part-time. In the past I have had a job where I had lunch provided, plus discounts on purchases, another saving there It is good to see both sides, not just the negative when making such a huge decision.

Best of luck!