As well as crunching the numbers to see if your part-time pay is worth the taxes and child care costs that you pay, remember that you will also be earning superannuation and setting up your retirement.

For us, emotionally and socially it’s been great for me and the kids but financially, we aren’t ahead.

For me personally it has, and it has helped me mentally as well. I find I love the “me” time .. even if it is non-stop work in front of a computer. Also, it has helped me keep my foot in the door and up-to-date with programs and products, so that I can keep working .. or even go back full-time .. when they get older.

I went back to work full time and I was basically working to put my daughter into care, it was ridiculous. I’m returning to work part time next week and I hope it will be a different story, my daughter will be going to day care only 3 days a week and I can pick my son up from school so don’t have to pay for after school care

If you could avoid childcare costs I don’t think there is any doubt it would. Going back to keep your hand in a long-term position might also help in the long run, if not immediately. One cost no one factors in is the fact that you can’t use cloth nappies in childcare! And I think that is a real tangible immediate saving; several thousand dollars a year can be saved if you can avoid buying nappies.. so maybe add that into the equation!

I would love to get back to work PT – for your sanity in the long term, yes, it’s worth it. Not everything in life is about money.

Every child care charges different amounts, every person is entitled to different centrelink benefits and each person earns different salaries so you really need to calculate it based on your circumstances. I went back to work full time after bub 1 (with bub in child care 4 days and my Mum watching him on the 5th day). I would have earnt more money only working 4 days. With 2 kids now I can 2-3 days before I end up losing money. Note that the government benefit for child care will be changing under the new system that will be implemented in 2017.

For me personally No. For many of the reasons stated below. But Im a senior lvl hair stylist – I seriously only earn around 40K in a FULL TIME position. But staying in the workforce is important in some industries or re entry is so much harder after a period of non working

Not only do you have to pay for childcare especially if you have more than one child, transport (even if you use public transport), you also have to take into amount of tax that is going to be deducted from your wages. You may find you are left with the equivalent of about $1.25 an hour as was discussed on a TV program. You need to be earning good wages for it to be worthwhile your effort. With low wages you may not gain any money at all.

Crunch your numbers. See what your take home amount will be after you deduct childcare fees and see if it is really worth it or not.

Hubby and I had the conversation a few nights ago and he was right in that i would be loosing money going back to work as opposed to making a financial gain. I would have to pay approx $190 in childcare fees for my two stay at home kids and with my daughter at kinder only two days a week and my eldest at school i could only work for two days and during school hours so its really not worth it. I cat wait until all of our kids are at school and then i could hopefully get full time school hour friendly employment. Good luck!!!

Personally for myself it wasn’t worth it, with cost of petrol and childcare I ended up with $100 a fortnight left in my pocket, this was working 3 day a week/ 6 days a fortnight. Travelling 1 hour each way to work and back. Now that I have had my 4th child I am not going back to work and going to be a stay at home mum and if I need an income will find something I can do close by and work either at home or when hubby is home to look after the kids.

Thanks so much ladies! You gave really given me somethings to consider!! x

I am in the same situation. I really would like to go back to work but them I think if is worth financially because I can imagine it won’t be easy work the whole day, get the kids from Childcare, cook, bath and bed. I have a stressful imagine in my head when I think going back to work

Don’t make going to work only to satisfy financially as it wont motivate you . Go back because you also like the balance between home and work. I did both f/t and p/t only because I was able to and I didn’t regret any of it at all. It gave me a balance in being at home as well as talking with people . Working 2 days sounds great and one day if you ever need to do more for financial reasons , at least you might be able to.

Depends on circumstances, with Childcare rebates it might be worth it. Also if you fancy some adult conversation and keeping up to date with changes in the workplace it may also be worth it. Everyone is different but I recommend using the online calculator to find out your best option.

Depends on what you earn and if you’re entitled to the childcare rebate. You may come out ahead but it also depends on whether you are going back for finical reasons or for yourself. If its not for the money then it may be worth it.

It may be worth it for other reasons too – not just the monetary reasons.

It depends on the wages for work and the cost of child care.

Getting back into the work force is wonderful,yet you have to work out whether you can benefit from it finacially!