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Child Benefit

I got a request from the Child Benefit Section for information about my employer. So last week I had to go to my work to make them fill in the form, even though I wasn't feeling so well.
I heard something on tv about the new budget for Ireland. Apparently they want to cut child benefit by 20 %. Wow !
There's a lot of discussion about the need of child benefit.I think that there might be people that don't need it and don't even claim it but in these times of recession there are more people who really need it. Even if both parents would work, it helps with the costs for child care. And apart from that and buying necessities for the children and maybe paying their ballet lessons and so on, some people might even need it to help pay the rent, the gas bill etc.Because isn't it true that children need a roof above their heads and need to have those basic needs fulfilled as well ?

My preference would be to use child benefit to get things for the children.
Unfortunately, since I'm on maternity leave and with no other income from hubby's side we needed to use it for other things as well.
Even though, we'd still buy things for the kids when they needed something.
Hopefully this will all change in the near future, when both of us have an income.

Dd1 really needs a new wardrobe. Most of her clothes she has had for 2-3 years, but she's grown a little bit now and it's really time for a bigger size.
It's unbelievable how she stayed in size 86-92 for so long.
She 's around 95 -96 cm now and her arms are a little bit longer and she's just grown a bit bigger. I've finally put some clothes aside now for when the baby's bigger and little by little I'm trying to buy new clothes for her.

The baby needs a lot of stuff as well. I keep postponing buying things because I wonder if those items are really needed and not luxury products .For instance a baby monitor and a sling. Even though there have been times that the baby was crying and I didn't hear her because I was donwstairs and she doesn't really has a loud cry. And sometimes she just wants to be held while I've got a lot to do, so it would be easier to put her in a sling close to me. So to keep her happier those things would be necessities and since she doesn't need food yet, it could be paid with the child benefit money I get for her. Most of the time I just try to buy those necessities when I've got some extra money left from my maternity benefit payment after paying the bills etc.


But I'm curious to know: do you claim child benefit ? And if yes, how do you spend it nowadays ? I'd love to hear from you. Have a nice day !

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