Working Moms
Stephanie2167
member
Moms of 2+ kids, talk me off the ledge.
Stephanie2167
member
in Working Moms
I've been working for the same company for 8 years. I make pretty good money so I never thought about quitting to staying home once I had my daughter (OK maybe I did when it was almost time to go back and she was 3 months old).
Well suprisingly we found out when we got pregnant that we are expecting twins. One baby planned, the other a surprise. 
Well I just dropped DD off at her new daycare (we just moved) and all of a sudden I started panicking about how we're going to pay for 3 kids in daycare. I mean, we're looking at about $2000 a month.
It can be done right? I know we need to cut back on lots of things (like eating out, frivolous spending, etc). Any tips to help ease the pain of writing that check?
TIA!
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Re: Moms of 2+ kids, talk me off the ledge.
Does the DC give you a break for having multiple children enrolled?
We pay about $1400 for one child in DC right now. It can be done but you will definitely have to think about where you'll get the money from. We made double payments on one of our cars after I got pregnant so we'd only have one car payment once DD was born. You've got time to plan.
And wow, CONGRATS! A baby is exciting news but twins, double exciting!
Thank you!
Our new daycare is planning to give us some sort of sibling discount, and we're hoping the military will help with a little subsidy (they wont right now for one child). Both of our cars are paid off but when we found out we were having twins we realized we were going to need to trade one in for some sort of van. We are thrilled to have the babies but its also terrifying on how the heck we're going to do it.
A lot of DCs do have a multi child discount. Also, would you consider a nanny? Depending where you live, it may be cheaper than having 3 in daycare.
Regardless I would start setting aside that money now so you don't miss it when you actually have to start spending it. Either save it or reduce debts.
Congrats though! I would LOVE twins but my hubby would flip!
We are paying $2k a month for one kid between nanny and a few hours of preschool so I fell your pain.
First off its not forever, that is what I tell myself at least 5x a year.
Next up, do you have the $5k a year taken out pre-tax for dependent care?
We realized our DirecTV bill was getting high because of HBO and Showtime and decided we didn't watch those channels enough to justify the cost. Also saved money when upgrading phones to an all you can eat unlimited plan so we saved by not being billed for going over data and text allotments. We also eat out less and take fewer adult/luxury vacations which helps cut costs.
All these little things help add up. And we also now LIVE for bonus and tax refund time to make things more bearable
DD just turned 3 in June. So she'll be right around 3 1/2 when the LOs get here. I drive a Honda Accord EX-L and DH drives a Nissan Xterra Off Road. We were planning on trading in his Xterra for a used Honda Odyssey for me and he'd drive my Honda Accord (I don't want to get rid of my Accord, I love that thing).
DD is in a Britax Roundabout. The one carseat we have is a Graco Sungride 32 and we'll need to get another one. I just don't see how we'd fit all three in the back of the Accord.
No, I haven't done this yet. I'll look into it.
Congrats!
DC is expensive. Remember each year the tuition is reduced and when DD1 is 5 it will be reduced drastically.
I have 3 in FT DC during the summer months. It's challenging but its not forever - we really watch where our expenses go. I have had good luck using mint.com for tracking expenses. I drive a Honda Accord and fit 3 across - I can only do it with the Diono Radian seats. 1 rear facing and 2 forward facing. Congrats!
New carseats are cheaper than new cars. The Britax seats are huge. Check out the Radian.
Congratulations! I would be thrilled with surprise twins but DH would probably pass out cold!
Try using mint.com for the next few months. It takes some time and effort to set up and assign your spending to categories for the first few months, but eventually you will get a great picture of your actual cash flow. I love this program and it really helped us see where we could trim spending and how much we could actually put to different expenses each month.
If you are military, look into one of the programs through Child Care Aware (https://www.naccrra.org) which make civilian care more in-line with on-post costs. The caveat is that your center or in-home must be qualified. For our program, our center had to be NAEYC accredited and any in-home provider needed to have a degree related to childhood education.
edited because iPad sucks!
First...CONGRATS!! That is just such a blessing!! Have you considered a nanny or live in ?
When my DD was younger, it was cheaper to hire a nanny that literally cooked, cleaned and cared for my DD 8-5:30 everyday. She was WONDERFUL! Only reason i lost her was her daughter had a baby. (but that was in california)
I now live in Fl and have yet to find that arrangement. I know that prices in Daycare go down depending on potty training.
Wish you the best! It can be done!!