Post
by Flossy1978 » Sun Jul 03, 2016 1:37 am
Shouldn't you be receiving more than 200 euros a month for two kids? I thought the second child gets 130 euros or more?
So you didn't write you get the student money, plus the child money, that's 500 euros more than you admitted, a month. Plus, your wife could get those very cheap student loans from the bank. They have something like a 1% pay back amount.
Anyway, it doesn't matter.
I knew friends at work who use to have cars and they didn't pay 600 euros a month. I actually found car insurance cheap there in Finland. It was great!
I use to have to pay the full price for day care for my child. Even as a single parent with less than average monthly salary. I paid more than you did. I believe I was paying 280 euros a month and that was more than 6 years ago. I think it was going up to 300 euros at the time my son stopped going fulltime. God knows how much it would cost now.
As for the travelling bonus from the Government. It can be quite a lot! I always got the maximum possible money back in taxes because of it. I can't remember how much it was (maybe over 3000 euros?), but it took a good chunk off my pre-tax income. So when you do your taxes, pay close attention to it. Write why you need a car, and usually, if you are living out in the sticks, you'll get the full amount.
Take all your bills and how your money is spent and info about your situation, to the Social Services office, or even to the church (they also have a social worker type of person there, who can help). If you show you are having a tough time, they can pay a bill or two for you, to give you some respite. They can even give you vouchers for food shopping etc. They can also give you help for paying for your children's activities. Don't be ashamed to go. The Government is there to help you. You can get some help with buying winter clothing for your kids, sports or any other things like this helped. You can't turn up every month asking for a handout, but if you are in a tough situation, they can and are usually willing to help. After all, they help drunks and druggies all the time.
There was this show on the telly years ago about families having babies, in Finland. There was this real loser couple (they really were. They refused to work, just kept popping out babies and basically blaming everyone else, except for their ability to keep their pants on). They use to get the Social Services to buy all kinds of stuff for them. They managed to arm strong the Government into buying them a huge brand new washing machine and they were proudly boasting about it in the show. So I don't think you should feel shame or anything about going and getting some help. It is why you pay taxes after all.
And if your wife studies, she has the right to apply for student housing for families, I believe. Maybe it is a two bedroom flat, but sure as hell it would be much cheaper than what you are paying now. And if your children are in day care, they are young enough to share a room. Lots of Finnish children of different sexes (if yours are) share bedrooms for a long time, compared to countries like America, England, Australia etc.
There are things you can do, other than wearing yourself out doing two jobs and never spending time with your family (your children are only young once). Lots of families have less income than you, with more kids and manage to survive, even with one or two cars. So there is no reason for you to work yourself to death (hugs).
Good luck!
