Childcare Question...kind of a WWYD.

ashleyrsotomayor · May 2011

I will be out on maternity leave until the beginning of November, and MIL is going to come out and watch LO after Christmas until about early February. One of my church friends offered to watch LO November/December, and then again February-May (when school gets out) if she and DH don't move to another state. I asked about the rates this week just to get an idea of what she expected. She told me her rate where she used to live was $10 an hour, but she will take whatever we can afford/are comfortable with. The average daycare cost around here per week ranges anywhere from 180/week to waaaaaay expensive. I was looking at several in home babysitters (not really "daycares", just SAHM willing to take on an extra kid like my friend for some extra cash) and it seems most of them charge around $125 a week. Does this seem reasonable? Honestly, if it were any more than that it would be half my salary which would be pointless for me to stay full time. I am just a teacher...not rolling in dough and DH doesn't make too much more. But I worry about it not being "enough" to pay her. My MIL babysitts one little boy several days a week and charges $12 an hour.

So...what do you all think? Also, if you are using an in home childcare provider, what are the charging? TIA!

mommy411 · May 2011

I have a nanny 2 days a week and wouldn't have it any other way. I pay her 12 hr and she cleans also. I didn't want anyone else with kids because I didn't want DD being sick all the time. Plus I wanted all the attention on my kid.

I'd go with someone in your home

VeilSdeGTO · May 2011

Where I live, the average is $25/hr for nannies. Daycare is roughly 2k/mo. I think $10 an hour is reasonable considering what others in your area are getting paid.

itsmegin · May 2011

I don't know, I guess it's different all over but $10 an hour sounds so cheap to me. I made that much when I was babysitting in 1999. But if she asked for $10, and you know someone else making $12, seems like $10-12 is reasonable in your area.

kbel424 · May 2011

VeilSdeGTO:
Where I live, the average is $25/hr for nannies. Daycare is roughly 2k/mo. I think $10 an hour is reasonable considering what others in your area are getting paid.

Same here... so expensive!

iluvmylab · May 2011

I just what to chime in and say that I would KILL to have prices for daycare like that! It's quite expensive in our area.

cherylanddoug · May 2011

I am going to end up paying $775/month for day care. If you divide it up by the number of days and then by the number of hours available, it actually turns out to be a little less than $5 per hour. As the baby gets older, the rates actually get lower for us.

PrincessDi80 · May 2011

$10 per hour sounds so cheap!

ashleyrsotomayor · May 2011

Maybe my post wasn't totally clear. She said she used to make $10 an hour where she used to live. That's really pricey here for a home babysitter. She would not be coming to my house, she would be watching my LO in her apartment with her LO. $10 an hour would be like $400 a week since it would be full time...which would basically be my entire teacher's salary. Keep in mind since cost of living is lower here than where some of you live, our salaries are much lower too. $125 a week is average here for a home babysitter, and that's what I want to pay her. I actually just talked to her and she said that was fine. Her and DH are very tight on money right now because he is a full time student and she doesn't work. She said she would be happy with any extra income.

I cannot believe how much some of you have to pay for child care. It's outrageous!

vflipo · May 2011

We'll be doing part time at Tutor Time. 3 part time days a week (5 hours/day) is $124. If it's 5 full time days for $125 I would totally go for it.

It was really nice when my sister was free for a whole 3 weeks before she decided DD was too much work Stick out tongue

vflipo · May 2011

Oh, also, there's an in home place we're on a waiting list for. One of DH's coworkers uses her and has nothing but good things to say. It's $100 for full time and $5/hr for part time. Hopefully in August we can switch to her.

ashleyrsotomayor · May 2011

vflipo:
Oh, also, there's an in home place we're on a waiting list for. One of DH's coworkers uses her and has nothing but good things to say. It's $100 for full time and $5/hr for part time. Hopefully in August we can switch to her.

That's a pretty sweet deal. Wish I lived over by you guys. We have to have full time care...DH and I basically work the same hours.

nbbride06 · May 2011

VeilSdeGTO:
Where I live, the average is $25/hr for nannies. Daycare is roughly 2k/mo. I think $10 an hour is reasonable considering what others in your area are getting paid.

This. And it takes WAY more than half my salary to pay for it. However, I am hoping that keeping my foot in the door for the next couple of years will pay off in the long run and make the lack of pretty much any income after childcare worthwhile. $10 sounds very reasonable to me. You know your own area better than the rest of us, but I think your offer sounds pretty low.

stellahav · May 2011

I have the same issue. $10/hr for me at 12 hour days just doesn't work with my salary. Even a really good daycare around here is probably $1000/mo. My sister works at a nannying place -- she said for full-time care for one child, the going rate is $550/week (Columbus, OH).

I found a SAHM on Craigstlist (yeah, yeah), and she charges $50/day. At her house, it's just her 2 girls and DD, so I feel very comfortable with it. Of course your have to go through a LOT of potential sitters before you find the right one. And their rates are all SO different. But for us, it worked better than daycare. There are a lot of days we don't need care, and our sitter doesn't charge for those days, unlike daycare.

Good luck...I'm still trying to figure out what to do when baby arrives!

rguinn75 · May 2011

We live in a very small community. Our friends take their children to an in home daycare here which is not licesned. My DH works less than 6 miles from the daycare and my IL's are just about the same distance. I considered taking our LO to the town where I work 40 min away and going to one of the major daycares there. For the in home daycare its 90.00/week. for the one where I work it was 273.00/week. I am totally going for the in home. We can't pass it up and our friends kids go there. She is highly recommended. Also when the kids start school she will feed them breakfast and put them on the bus! We live on a farm and know our LO will be exposed to germs etc. But I am looking forward to a long healthy immune system at some point...plus I think its fantastic for social learning. There will be things behaviorally we have to correct for. But I am really stoked to find something that will work for our budget and be good for our LO

hwsgigles8 · May 2011

Daycare is crazy to think about! I have a few friends who send their children to an in-home babysitter. She has anywhere from 5-7 kids a day (which seems like a lot, but ages range). She charges $120/week. My LO will be going full time as DH and I both have the same schedule. It's actually kind of funny, I just found out that my mom's cousin sent her children to this woman as well.

I can relate with working on a teacher's salary and not wanting to spend your whole paycheck on daycare! It def defeats the purpose!

I hope that you are able to find someone at a reasonable price! GL!

Want a personalized experience?

Childcare Question...kind of a WWYD.

Re: Childcare Question...kind of a WWYD.

Choose Another Board

Search Boards