Returning to work (sorry the PAID kind!)
If I rented then I could stay off work and claim housing benefit that would cover my rent in full, plus council tax benefits, income support and child tax credits.
But no, I tried to do the right thing (that’s how I was brought up unlike a lot of my generation), so I worked my butt off by working during Uni so I could fund my own degree, after trying to save every penny I could since I was 16 years old for a deposit (I was on £3.31 per hour in my first job!) before getting a ridiculously high mortgage on a ridiculously small flat. Still it is my flat that I worked bloody hard for, without any help from a bloke- WOMEN RULE!
And what thanks do us adults who do the right thing get from the government? Well, we have to stay in work and not get to look after our children, because the benefits you get to help with mortgages only covers the measly interest part of the repayments!
I wanted to spend as much time with my boy as I could for the first 3 years of his life, but now I can’t. What’s worse is there aren’t even any benefits or extra help for us single parents who receive nothing, or pittance, from the so-called fathers, which makes it even harder to live off the wage. I’ve reduced my hours, because childcare is SO EXPENSIVE, and because I want to parent my child (that’s why I decided to have a baby in the first place lol), but at the same time, I’m lowering wages that already were tight when it came to bills so this will be fun!
But hey ho, I may be struggling, but at least my boy will grow up watching his only parent work her butt off, so he aspires to work hard rather than sit around all day, skanking off all us taxpayers.
My main worry is how the hell I am going to divide work mode with parent mode during each week, and attempt to get this ever-decreasing memory back on track!
Any tips of juggling worklife with your children would be much appreciated lol.
Even now I should be preparing his lunch and bag for tomorrow as well as my own, plus lay out our outfits, wash up and make sure I set an alarm (oh I haven’t missed bloody alarm clocks- my boy is the earliest alarm clock I’ve ever had!) and I’ve got to hope and pray he sleeps through so I might actually be less of a zombie on my first day back.
Wish me luck…