Having worked in finance for almost 20 years, Nichole Alexander isn’t averse to running her eyes over a spreadsheet populated with numbers. But there’s one figure the Sydney-based mum of three has studiously avoided for seven years: exactly how much she and her husband, a builder, have spent on childcare for their daughters. “At our peak when all three girls were in long daycare we were spending more than $1300 a week.” Alexander says. “We’ve spent more than $300,000 after tax on childcare.”
They tried many combinations – long daycare, family daycare and a nanny – at different times, but no matter the solution, two factors remained: the juggle was immense and the cost was eye-watering.
“I’m in an absolute minority as a 38-year-old woman, working full-time in banking with three kids, and I know that’s because it’s too hard and too expensive,” Alexander explains. “I’m ahead in my career because I’ve continued to work, but from a financial perspective, whether I had worked or not, there’s barely any difference.”
If it hadn’t been for a timely piece of advice from an older female boss, Alexander admits she may have resigned. “One of my mentors said: ‘You might not be making anything right now, you might even be in the red, but think about your super,’” she recalls. “That was persuasive … but if you don’t love your job or it doesn’t pay well, why would you persevere with the juggle? Because it effectively means you are paying to work.”
This story is from the November 2020 edition of Marie Claire Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 2020 edition of Marie Claire Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Annie LENNOX
She's been called the voice of her generation - not just for her singing career, but also for her staunch activism. In honour of the Eurythmics' frontwoman's 70th birthday in December, we pay tribute to a living legend.
Garden SECRETS
Richard Christiansen's Flamingo Estate has given Los Angeles a new appreciation of farm-inspired bath, body and pantry produce. Now the Australian is giving gardening advice that's actually about harvesting more joy from life.
JASMINE Chilcott
Solution-based supplement brand FixBIOME prides itself having an education-first platform and a natural approach to gut health
BIG LOVE
One photographer seeks to dispel vulva stigma with a book that busts open the very real issue of body shame and turns it into self love.
Time out
Skincare that focuses on inner peace is changing attitudes to ageing
LOVE YOUR LIPS
There's never a wrong time to wear a statement lipstick. marie claire puts the most-wanted lip colours under the spotlight to prove their pulling power, whatever the climate
JULIA
Hollywood's quiet achiever Julia Garner is making a career of defying genre
Club wellness
People are swapping happy hour for hyperbaric chambers and picking up potential partners in the sauna. Private wellness clubs, writes Kathryn Madden, are the new third places- if you're lucky enough to get in the door
LIFE in COLOUR
The world's most successful living artist, Yayoi Kusama, will have eight decades of art on display in a blockbuster Australian exhibition.
So you want to be a stay-at-home mum?
As the fourth wave of feminism rolls over social media’s tradwives’, can you still admit you might want to leave your career to raise a family? Adrienne Tam reports on the latest motherhood taboo