What do you pay for daycare?

lifeonthehill · March 2014

When I was younger I worked at a daycare for YEARS in southern ME where the prices were $130 full time infant and $75 part time.
The daycare here on campus would charge us $140 for 15 hours a week. I almost gagged. I thought when it came down to it we would just barely break even on my paychecks each week after daycare but paying for 52 weeks of daycare and only working 35 weeks a year is going to screw us. The next closest daycare is 45 minutes round trip and would force us up to full time at $160. I know we are still nine months away from TTC but I am so glad I am a planner because that would have been a tough pill to swallow if we were already pregnant.

Does this seem high to anyone else? What do you pay for daycare?

Jags8 · March 2014

I don't have any kiddos yet but I just looked up a few places in my area last week. I'm looking at between $215-230/week for an infant.

lifeonthehill · March 2014

Jags8 said:

I don't have any kiddos yet but I just looked up a few places in my area last week. I'm looking at between $215-230/week for an infant.

That's about what we would be looking at for full time.

Mysterious_wife · March 2014

In ATL $220 was the rate for a 4 yr old. We get free after school care, because I work for the school. Summer care is $115 with my school discount. She is 6.5 now.

smg2302 · March 2014

We pay $170/week for a licensed, in-home daycare. Centers are easily twice that.

Kristinmo · March 2014

We've done both a center and in-home. I'm in Minnesota

For the in-home it was $185 per week for an infant.

At the center it was $369 per week for an infant.

We currently have a toddler and a preschooler at a center at pay $558 per week. As soon as they are in school I will be rolling in money (ok not really but I want to throw up when I think how much I spend on daycare).

jnnfrrose6 · April 2014

I'm in Atlanta and we admittedly send DS to a higher priced school, but we really love it. Infant is $1303/month and goes down from there as they get older. Once #2 gets here basically my entire take home pay will go towards child care, but once you factor in my other benefits that go out before that (401k, insurance, etc), we're still coming out ahead.

wildbutterfli2001 · April 2014

In STL the cheapest I could find was 275/week

MNgirl326 · April 2014

I am in MN and LO goes to a daycare center/preschool.

When he was an infant is was around 330 a week, it has gradually decreased and now is down to 250 a week.

LucilleAustero · April 2014

In home, full time is around $1200/ month. Centers are around $1500/month.

Wine&Cupcakes · April 2014

Our close friends are having a baby at the end of the month. Their son will start daycare, full-time, in August at $1650/month. Not only did that boggle my mind, but the fact that they got the last available spot when they were 13 weeks pregnant was nuts (well, to me.) It's like you need to know where you want to send your kid and who you want to deliver it before you are even pregnant. That was news to me!

lifeonthehill · April 2014

Wine&Cupcakes said:

Our close friends are having a baby at the end of the month. Their son will start daycare, full-time, in August at $1650/month. Not only did that boggle my mind, but the fact that they got the last available spot when they were 13 weeks pregnant was nuts (well, to me.) It's like you need to know where you want to send your kid and who you want to deliver it before you are even pregnant. That was news to me!

That is how it is here! This is the only daycare in 15 miles of back roads where we all work on the campus. You are supposed to talk to them when you start TTC and to tell them the day you find out so they can make sure a spot will be open. It is crazy.

Katelobster · April 2014

The one my daughter went to was $15,000/year. Two years later it's up to $17,000. The cheapest we could find in our area was $12,000 and it wasn't that great. We're in Missouri.

I ended up going PT at work and she goes to gma's.

ALHickok1 · April 2014

Holy cow, the prices of day care in other areas are crazy high compared to my area. DS is starting day care at the end of this month, he's two, we'll be paying $130/week for a full time spot. This is a pretty average rate in my area for a center.

FemShep · April 2014

Bwahahaha. Full time infant daycare in Cambridge MA ran us $2800/month. The toddler program costs $2300. In Cambridge or Boston proper, you're looking at $2k minimum for infant care at a center. The suburbs are somewhat less expensive, but depending on where you live, you're probably still looking at $1500/month minimum.

Weezy56 · April 2014

We are using an in-home liscensed daycare which is $205 per week/$888 per month. I thought that was so expensive until I did more research and realized how expensive it can get. We are in central-ish NC.

mamabisme · April 2014

I'm in N. Florida and it's approx. $200/wk for an infant, here (in center). I occasionally babysit for an acquaintance (one 10 month old) and she pays me $20/day. I'm supah cheap!! I'm also a SAHM and her kid is sort of awesome so it's really not much trouble.

mrssl3813 · April 2014

In my area it's about $30/day in home and $250-300/week at a center. There is no true full time (Mon-Fri 8-5 type thing) center in town. All are Mon-Fri 9-12, so part time is 3 days a week full time is 5.

theholmanherd · April 2014

My MIL runs an in-home and charges $580 a month or $30 a day.

stellasmommy412 · April 2014

$0. I'm a SAHM. I am home schooling her through preschool and will also be home schooling her through all the other grades. We are part of a co-op, so she gets a class day with other kids, plus we have a mommy and me exercise class and she will start Girl Scouts soon. So we pay for all that stuff, but not for daycare.

thefarmchick · April 2014

Wow, What I give up in easy trips to town and good restaurants I definitely make up for in cheap daycare!
I KNOW I have to good but I feel even better reading your responses!
My 3 kids (2, 3, 5) go to an in-home licensed daycare of a lady who goes to our church, lives 4 miles away, has been doing daycare for 30 years, and has the energy of a 20 year old.
She gets up and walks 5 miles then chases 4-7 kids around all day. She is my hero and my lifesaver!
We pay $3/hr. Total for all 3 kids. We don't have a set schedule, she just says bring them over if you need to I'm here anyway. She has even volunteered to keep them overnight before(which we haven't ever taken advantage of, yet) We provide diapers and formula(when we needed it) everything else is taken care of.
I will say it is not a structured center. It's like them being watched my grandma. There is not a whole lot of structure other than lunch and naptime. So they got to a preschool a few times a week in the morning and we focus on learning here at home.
I know that one of my SIL lives in Detroit and pays $1600/mo in daycare, another SIL pays $30/day in her small town.

DebateThis · April 2014

FemShep said:

Bwahahaha. Full time infant daycare in Cambridge MA ran us $2800/month. The toddler program costs $2300. In Cambridge or Boston proper, you're looking at $2k minimum for infant care at a center. The suburbs are somewhat less expensive, but depending on where you live, you're probably still looking at $1500/month minimum.

::Nods:: Chicago's the same way. We got "lucky" w/Henry landing a spot at a center here for ~$1200/month (four days per week; their five day rate is $1600ish). The rest of the centers in the area are $1900 and up and don't have anything but full week plans.

I guess we did have other options, though: the in-home daycare lady who had a freaking handgun violation on her DCFS inspection. Yeah, hell no.

Mysterious_wife · April 2014

DebateThis said:

FemShep said:

Bwahahaha.

Full time infant daycare in Cambridge MA ran us $2800/month. The toddler program costs $2300. In Cambridge or Boston proper, you're looking at $2k minimum for infant care at a center. The suburbs are somewhat less expensive, but depending on where you live, you're probably still looking at $1500/month minimum.

::Nods:: Chicago's the same way. We got "lucky" w/Henry landing a spot at a center here for ~$1200/month (four days per week; their five day rate is $1600ish). The rest of the centers in the area are $1900 and up and don't have anything but full week plans.

I guess we did have other options, though: the in-home daycare lady who had a freaking handgun violation on her DCFS inspection. Yeah, hell no.

WTF? She still had a licenses? I'm very pro gun. We have guns in the home. But that shit is crazy!

DebateThis · April 2014

Mysterious_wife said:

FemShep said:

Bwahahaha. Full time infant daycare in Cambridge MA ran us $2800/month. The toddler program costs $2300. In Cambridge or Boston proper, you're looking at $2k minimum for infant care at a center. The suburbs are somewhat less expensive, but depending on where you live, you're probably still looking at $1500/month minimum.

::Nods:: Chicago's the same way. We got "lucky" w/Henry landing a spot at a center here for ~$1200/month (four days per week; their five day rate is $1600ish). The rest of the centers in the area are $1900 and up and don't have anything but full week plans.

I guess we did have other options, though: the in-home daycare lady who had a freaking handgun violation on her DCFS inspection. Yeah, hell no.
WTF? She still had a licenses? I'm very pro gun. We have guns in the home. But that shit is crazy!

YEP! The report said they found a firearm in the home and there was a notation that the violation had been "corrected" which I assume means for DCFS standards that she got rid of said firearm. I don't for a second believe she actually got rid of it though - because if someone was stupid enough to own a gun as a licensed DCP (first mistake) and then leave their gun in a place where DCFS could find it (second mistake) I don't think they actually give a damn about child well-being enough to legitimately get rid of it.

SpaceGirlSpiff · April 2014

DS is 2.5.. for the past year he was in an in-home licensed DC (a really good one) for $175 per week (so $700 per month, $875 in months with a 5th monday.... fuck those months)

Anywho, she's closing down unfortunately, so we just signed him up for a new preschool which will be $190/week since he's not yet potty trained...down to $175 once he is.

Full time 8am-5pm, 5 days per week

Breakfast, lunch and snack included (both places).

ETA: An infant would be more... around here probably around 1000-1200 per month roughly. I was able to barely survive working full time from home the first 18 months (should have stopped sooner) so I avoided that.