[guru]

I feel for you, especially being in the same sector as I was an IT admin / manager. I earned a lot more then the average for this area and wifey works too which meant our household income was pretty good however even with that having 2 children in full time childcare meant that we were skint pretty much every month! We've made a few massive changes which have helped, firstly I quit my job!!!! I didn't leave to scrounge off the state but actually set up my own business as an I.T. Consultant which has grown considerably over the last 2 years and now brings in more then my previous full time job, plus I have the added benefit of being able to see the kids for more then 10 mins a day! As part of that change we also 'shopped around' for the childcare and by changing from a big nursery that was part of a national chain to a childminder in the village we've halved our childcare costs. That's one change I wish we'd made a lot earlier, the kids seem far happier now and she also does the school runs which is a massive help. Shopping for childcare is not something we'd have considered but in hindsight it's just a service like any other.
I also had a major look at all of our finances and chopped them to the core, insurances, entertainment, cars, mortgage.....you name it I looked at it and just by doing that managed to slash the household budget, OK we don't have Sky now but I can't say I miss it that much!

Unless you're earning an obscene amount you should also be getting a lot more then £100 in child tax credits so it might be worth talking to the tax credit people again. If you haven't already then also look at the childcare vouchers scheme as these are tax free and save you about 20% on the amount you can put into them, well worthwhile.

If your interested and want to send me over details of your expertise / experience then I can also keep you in mind if any work comes up through my company. We're pretty small at the moment but growing at a fair rate and we also have contacts in the south west so may start to target that area soon.