Parents face financial juggling act during school holidays

The school holidays are almost here and for many working parents there’s a difficult juggling act to warm up for.

The challenges of childcare, annual leave allowance and boundaries while working from home have to be balanced with the desire to have time with the family, being out and about doing things, going places and making memories - especially after the restrictions of the last couple of years.

The EDP's Your Money Matters campaign aims to offer help during the cost of living crisis (Image: PA Wire)

Juggling the household budgets at this time, with increased costs of activities, childcare and holiday clubs is hard enough, but if you’re also crippled by “Working Mum Guilt” too - yes, I know working dads can suffer from this as well, but society sadly still expects many mums to work only when their children are at school - then the guilt when trying to juggle is real.

We know we shouldn’t feel guilty for going to work. We know we shouldn’t feel guilty for placing our children in out-of-school clubs or relying on childcare, either formal or informal via grandparents and so on.

We know that times have changed and that women have full-time jobs, in careers that need focus, and we know that the standard annual leave allowance is never going to be enough to cover all the school holidays, not to mention sickness and occasional random school closures.

So why do we still beat ourselves up over it and what does this have to do with money?

Well, a classic way that we try and offset that mum guilt is to shower our offspring with additional gifts, trips out when we’re not working, or spending money for them to use when they’re at granny’s.

We’re also more likely to spend on “treat food”, whether that’s an extra trip to the drive through, a meal out at the weekend, or extra sweets and biscuits thrown into the trolley at the supermarket.

On top of the already expensive childcare or holiday clubs, this additional spending can eat into your take home salary or business earnings quite considerably, meaning that the household budget that’s already being squeezed is under even more pressure.

Norfolk-based money coach Kim Uzzell of mymoneymovement.co.uk (Image: @Valentinestudio)

So, although you may still have additional costs to pay over the next couple of months, don’t add to your financial stresses by trying to make up for being a working parent.

Instead, remember that time spent with the family doesn’t have to involve expensive days out, or fancy food. Get creative, involve the family in coming up with ideas for low cost treats and activities and make memories that don’t cost so much.

The best things in life really can be free!

For more from Norfolk-based financial expert Kim Uzzell head to mymoneymovement.co.uk or follow her on Instagram @kimuzzellmoneycoach.

The EDP has launched the Your Money Matters campaign (Image: Archant)

YOUR MONEY MATTERS

Each week the EDP brings you tips and advice to help combat the cost of living crisis...

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See norfolkwarmhomes.org.uk for full details.

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