How do you afford daycare

orange682

With a 3 year old in preschool and twins on the way, I'm wondering how I am going to afford daycare.  According to my research, I think the cost of putting all 3 in daycare/preschool is just about as much as my salary.  Dam daycare is expensive!!!  At this point we are just running the numbers over and over again and trying to figure out if I need to work simply for benefits (I work for the government and get cheap & good benefits).

 Anyone have any tips or suggestions? 

kimarino13

We have a nanny ($575/week), who is slightly cheaper than daycare would have been ($650/week).

AlishaMay

This is exactly why we decided that I will stay home.  When I left the corporate world to become a chef, it wasn't for the $$, so my salary would have only provided us with daycare.  The biggest thing we had in our favor was that we bought our house while I was in Culinary School, so we only took into account DH's salary when it came time to calculate the mortgage, taxes, and utilities.  We've trimmed down our budget to pretty much only include essentials and we acknowledge that this will only be temporary - even if temporary means 5 years.  The payoff for us is that I am raising our kids the way we want to on a day to day basis.  By the time they are in school I'll still likely have 30+ years left to work, so I'm looking at this like a sabbatical, and trying to make it a point to enjoy it every day.

SoldiersGreenBean

I work FT, and all 3 are in day care.

When you run the numbers, keep in mind what else comes out of your salary besides day care.  Benefits, retirement savings, etc. are all things to keep in mind aside from your salary at the end of the day.  Do you make more or less $ than your H?  Would it be an option for HIM to stay home?

2shihtzus

I work from home one day a week and stay home with my boys that day.  I'm not sure if you have the type of job where that would be an option for you.  My working from home that one day saves us a few hundred dollars a month.  I am not going to lie, it can be really hard and I don't have a toddler as well.  It is all about utilizing every minute you can, so if my boys are happy and playing independently, I am on the floor tapping away at my laptop.  I don't know if I will always be able to do it but it works for us right now.  If you think that might be an option for you, I would definitely look into it.  I set it up with my boss that it was on a trial basis and at any point, if either of us felt that it was no longer working, I would go back to 5 days a week in the office but so far it's working.

Young100904

We dont. I was paying more in daycare than I made for a few months after the boys were born and just said the heck with it. I loved my job, had amazing benefits but couldnt justify paying to work.

It was a rough transition. I never thought I would enjoy being an at home parent, but I love it now. Our budget is tight but we are ok. The kids and I get out to do things, my DD is in preschool 4 days a week and its nice that I can run errands, do grocery shopping etc during the week.

mrsmac08

Just wanted to mention that you may want to look into the Dependent Care Assistance Program (and the Health Care Spending Account) offered by your employer if you haven't already. I think most, if not all, government employers, as well as many private companies, offer these programs regulated by the IRS. You can set aside pre-tax dollars from your paycheck for childcare.  It may not add up to a ton, but every little bit helps! Good luck

floridakat

It made sense for my H to stay at home with the girls. We would have spent most of his salary on daycare. In addition to staying home, we do cloth diapering, H makes the girls' food, and we menu plan and he cooks to keep food costs down. Partly because of a small COL raise I got this year and the difference in our taxes thanks to our little deductions, we're actually doing better financially than we were on two salaries!

natb22

We are going to do a nanny too, much cheaper for us then daycare. I only have the twins (coming soon) no other kids but its still awfully expensive for daycare! Nanny was a few hundred cheaper and either way would still pay for me to work then it would to be a SAHM. Hopefully this works once we put it to the test here in a few months!

orange682

DH definitely makes more than me- especially with all the Furloughs the government has had over the past few years.  We can swing it if I stay home, but things will be very tight for a few years, we will have to stay in our townhome with the crappy school district,and the twins will need to share a room.  I'm not sure we can actually fit two beds in that room. 

DD just does so well in daycare, that I can't help but feel that the little ones would be missing out on someting just because they were born second.  I guess we do need to consider flexible spending accounts and things like that. 

Chickandtaco

I'm not currently working because I was laid off (teacher).  After the twins arrive I'm going to HAVE to go back to work doing something.  My plan is to work PT around my hubby's hours.  I don't care what I do at this point.  Working PT and crappy hours will probably earn me the same as a good job and 3 in childcare!  I'd rather keep our kids at home with either hubby or myself, so that's the plan for now....

Torri106

I work part time as a nurse 3-11 and my H works during the day. At first he was opposed to the opposite schdules but its only 2 days a weel (and e/o wkend). We onlt need a sitter from 2-5 on those days and we have been super lucky for family to be able to do it. (if not the daycare up the street would have been 50-75 wk).

When the twins come my DS will be in preschool 3 days a week from 9-1 and thats gonna run us about 350 a mo. We're doing a flexible spending account through my H's work so 50 bucks is taken out of his check a week..so we are only feeling 200 a mo. vs. the 350. My mom is out of work so she will watch the babies when i go back to work for those few hourse while my H is still working til 5.

GL...switching my schdule to evenings has saved us a TON of money!! 

mamam

I've ran the numbers for every scenario imaginable, partial nanny, FT nanny, etc.  No matter what I wanted my preschooler in preschool for some time during the week, not at home FT with the nanny who would be so busy with the twins, that my 3 yr old is running up the walls. 

In the end I found it be to cheaper and just easier to have them all together.  Having three in one place gave me a bargaining tool.  Daycares that have a wait list a mile long said they would find a way to get me in.  Anyway, I begged my current DCP (a corporate center) for a deeper discount than the standard 10% knowing they would say no.  But guess what, I was wrong and they are giving me 20% off each kid.  While we will still be bleeding money, it brought it into the ballpark. 

Temp159135562506975

my only income is my bonus and my benefits... my entire base salary goes to daycare.