Honestly, how do you afford 2 daycare payments?
I cannot figure out how people do this. I am so lame that I googled "affording two daycare payments" last night!
DH and I do not plan on TTC until next fall, so DS will be 2 1/2 at that time. There is not 4 year old kindergarten where we live, yet..but could be in the future. Then again, we would have to discuss whether or not we wanted to put DS in kindergarten at 4 anyways.
So...last night DH says we should just wait until DS is 4 or 5 to TTC again. I don't know that I am up for that and think that is way more far apart than I wanted our children to be. I won't get into the details of our budget, but I think we live our lifes as many "middle-class" americans. We own a home, have two vehicles, and some student loans. We don't have any major debts other than the items mentioned above. We have some money leftover every month, but not enought to pay for two kids in daycare.
How do you do it? Any suggestions?
Re: Honestly, how do you afford 2 daycare payments?
I only have one child right now too, but I'll try to answer your question. I don't mean to be flippant, but the logical answer is that you either increase your income or you adjust your expenses in order to find room in the budget for it. (For example, you could pay off one or both of your cars or your student loans, thus freeing up the money you spent on those payments to go towards daycare each month).
I frequent the MM board on the nest. There are a lot of really helpful ladies there who are great at suggestions AND at giving critiques of budgets. You could post your budget there and get great suggestions for how to cut back.
yeah. . . I dont' get it either. I see parents at our DC w/ 3 kids and I'm blown away.
And we make good money, debt free, paid almost 40% of our house in cash, but we live in a ridiculously hcol area.
We paid off a car and a student loan before DS was born. That money goes to his tuition fund. And DD got cheaper as she moved up a room, plus we will get a discount on her now that DS will be attending the same place starting next week.
It's very very tight though.
This exactly. Personally we waited to TTC #2 until DH got a new job that covered the cost of a 2nd child (in daycare & other expenses).
We use a home daycare that is much cheaper than a center. We pay $145/week for DD and will pay $285 for having two there. That is what some people pay for just ONE kid.
When I found out I was pg, hubby got a raise. I immediately diverted that raise to savings so we never got used to it. So that will pay for half of #2's daycare. I will get a raise in Sept. and then we will have to take a little bit from our normal savings to pay the rest. We also pared down our budget and every time I saved money I would divert it to savings so we woudl not get used to it. For instance, we combined cable/phone/internet and saved like $20 and we canceldd our gym membership so that was $50...all these little amounts add up. We also changed our deductions to 2 instead of 1 so that we get more in our paychecks and diverted that to. Not only will it help us pay for the second daycare without feeling teh hit (too much) but it has helped us to build a little cushion for my maternity leave too.
Good luck, it is hard and it sucks when finances stand in the way of how you want your family to be shaped. I refused to let that happen, so I got creative!
I don't know, and we're in the same boat you are. We're postponing TTC #2 (even though we want another child very much) because we just don't see how we would afford daycare for two without making concessions that we aren't comfortable making.
Our monthly tuition for one is nearly the same as our mortgage payment. We could go with a cheaper daycare, but we feel safe with our current daycare and don't want to risk our child's well-being for the sake of saving money. We already don't eat out much. Getting rid of our "luxuries" won't save us enough to make that second daycare payment.
It sucks. Like you, we don't want to wait until our son is in school before we have another. Our only option is to make more money, so that's what our focus is on.
I like this. Thanks! And thanks for all the advice and suggestions. It is interesting to hear how other people do this. We are already at an in-home day care and only pay $175 a week. We would get a 10% discount with the 2nd. Still....it all adds up so quickly.
I like this. Thanks! And thanks for all the advice and suggestions. It is interesting to hear how other people do this. We are already at an in-home day care and only pay $175 a week. We would get a 10% discount with the 2nd. Still....it all adds up so quickly.
II like this. Thanks! And thanks for all the advice and suggestions. It is interesting to hear how other people do this. We are already at an in-home day care and only pay $175 a week. We would get a 10% discount with the 2nd. Still....it all adds up so quickly.
Sorry...computer went nuts there! I was going to say that I like the suggestion someone had of just adding more into savings now. If we can save a little bit here and there we could have enough to get by for some time, especially if we are waiting another 1 1/2 years to TTC.
Also, I should just be proud of DH and myself for what we do now. We do not live outside of our means and are not into having "new" things all of the time. DH needed a new car and bought his brother's old car for $750. We have been very concious lately of our energy usage and have been unplugging a lot of things and turning off lights. We are making all the small differences that we can! When the time comes I know we can make it work, it just seems like such a scary thought!
I dunno.. 2 in daycare takes 50% of my salary. But we both make decent money and have enough left over. We were in our 30's when we had kids and were well established in our careers. We're just not able to save much or go on big vacations, etc. when they are young.
I work nights. and it sucks. but 2 children 2 days a week was going to cost us $1000 a month. not worth it. it's why I work 12hr nights only twice a week. (I cannot handle full time nights right now, my house is a disaster when I'm away for just one evening)
save ahead and ask around about other in home sitters. could you go parttime if it was an option? like I said, I bring home more by working parttime , than if I worked fulltime and we paid full time daycare. we do have universal pre-k here.... but many recommend private school here (we moved here a year ago and are still feeling our way)... so who knows what we'll do in another year.
Ditto this. We started planning shortly after DD arrived. No CC debt, paid off one car and the other should be paid off shortly after DS's arrival. We refinanced and lowered our mortgage, invested in solar panels to reduce our electric bill and have been squirreling away money in case our estimates are off. Worst case scenario, I'd probably look to put DS in an in-home daycare where it would be cheaper but less flexible hours.
DD -- 5YO
DS -- 3YO
We're in the same situation as jenny.
It does help that we were living in a HCOL area for most of DD's first year. Daycare for two here in Texas will be about what we were paying just for DD when she was an infant in California. And our salaries are about the same, when you factor in the lack of state income tax here in Texas.
FWIW, we're starting DD in a new preschool on Monday and it is about 15% cheaper than the other two that we looked at closely. Cost didn't really factor into our decision, because we could easily afford any of them; we picked what we felt was the best school, and it happened to be cheapest. So it goes to show that you can find quality child care for less.
Good luck!
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)
We're going to have to switch to a nanny, which kills me because I LOVE DD's daycare and she is having such a great experience there. But we simply cannot afford $2600/month for 2 kids at a center. We save carefully and contribute to our various funds, and sure we like to have a little fun here and there. However, I don't want to stay home and I sure don't want to be spending nearly my entire salary on daycare.
I always thought nannies would be too expensive, but when I cost compared, it was a much more reasonable option. We used a home daycare in the past that worked well, but with 2 kids I don't think it would be cheaper than a nanny.
It is crazy expensive and it does suck, but like the PPer, we bring in a lot more money than our standard of living requires. The monthly cost for two is $2750 - more than the mortgage on our house, so it is a mind boggling figure when you look at it that way. But I want to work and luckily for me I make enough money that I am still able to continue my career and have a good amount to spare, including savings and 401K. And daycare doesn't last forever - I'll get that beach house someday.
I quickly read through the replies, so pardon if someone has said this. First, you and your husband are doing a great job with the diapers, formula, and toys/clothes. That is saving you a huge amount of money. Congrats on that!
My mortgage isn't that expensive. In fact, it's less than half of what I pay for day care per month. So that helps.
I participate in the dependent day care program at work where I have $5000 taken out of my pay over the course of the year and then I get reimbursed for day care expenses using pre-tax money.
Here is one thing to consider if you really don't want to wait to TTC. You can either save the money now and pay day care later, or you can have a child now and spend the money on day care. Either way, once the child reaches school-age, you won't have the huge cost of day care. So . . . save now or save later.
Believe me, we never thought we'd have three little ones in day care but it happened. We were paying $651 per week for all three at an in-home DC. We recently switched to a nanny more out of convenience than anything else.
I won't lie - things are tight. DH and I both make great salaries but we live in a high cost of living area (Metro DC) so it's relative. We don't eat out like we used to, bought a used mini van (when we finally admitted we needed one), don't really take vacations and we rarely buy new clothes or things for the house. We had a fair amount of disposable income before we had kids but those days are gone! It's expensive but we figured that it's not forever. Once everyone starts school we will have that money freed up again. Then it will go to after school care programs, sports, etc.
I don't want to say that it all just works out b/c that sounds flip and irresponsible. But, you will be surprised at your creativity if you find that you have to make something work.
My twins are 5! My baby is 3!
DS#2 - Allergic to Cashew, Pistachio, Kiwi
DS#3 - Allergic to Milk, Egg, Peanut, Tree Nuts and Sesame