Daycare for 2, or nanny? What's more cost effective?

Re: Daycare for 2, or nanny? What's more cost effective?

• howleyshell member

  October 2012

  For us a nanny was WAY less expensive.

   I wanted them in their own beds and on their own schedule with much more individualized attention when they were babies but put them in school/daycare around 3 or 4 yrs old for the school experience.

  The great thing about a nanny is that my kids still had "mommy days" (meaning zoo, park, library, etc) it just wasn't with Mommy.  A good nanny can set a learning plan for them and more importantly encourage them to find a love of learning by having them relate things they are learning (shapes, letter sounds, colors, etc) in the real world around them.  We are really big on getting our kids outdoors a lot and they had SO much more of that with a great nanny than they ever could have in a day care at such a young age.  They have the rest of their lives to be in school .... I wanted them to get out, play and be kids when they were younger.  I even split them half time pre-school and half time nanny in the beginning of their "school" experience because I valued their chance to just be kids and get out side and play so much.

  The real deal clincher for me was that I REALLY wanted my kids to get as much time together as siblings as possible and the nature of daycare is that they are separated.  I think one of the reasons they are such great buds is because they did get to spend so much time together when they were younger. 

  Our IF journey: 1 m/c, 1 IVF with only 3 eggs retrieved yielding Dylan and a lost twin, 1 shocker unmedicated BFP resulting in Jace, 3 more unmedicated pregnancies ending in more losses.
  Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
  

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• winminpin08 member

  October 2012

  In my investigation the cost of a nanny vs daycare seemed comprobable.  However, I don't like the idea of just having my kids hang around the house and go to the park all day.  So when I started to add in the additional costs for gymboree and kinder musik and outings to the zoo, etc, the costs were much highter to have the nanny and all of the educational activities I wanted.  So we stayed with daycare.

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• lemon.sarie

  October 2012

  Our daycare is very expensive, a nanny would be cheaper with 2 (and definitely is for 3!).  However, I find our girls get such a great experience and socialization at daycare that they wouldn't necessarilly get with a nanny (not that they couldn't, but alot of the children we know with nannies don't seem to).  The toss up for me is that with a nanny our eldest can go to the neighbourhood school as it's walking distance, so that's likely the route we may go when I'm back to work next year (1 year mat leave in Canada).

  

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• Daisy22 member

  October 2012

  I live in Atlanta too. Daycare is expensive here in the city but so is a nanny. Plus you have to figure in preschool once they get to that age. We are looking into getting a nanny next year and sending the two oldest to a church preschool. Right now my two oldest go three days a week to daycare and ds3 will start in June. We love how much the boys have learned at school and our oldest is finally coming out of his shell. It's a hard choice. 

  BFP 12/23/07, M/C 1/25/08

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• MammaBear81 member

  October 2012

  We went with an au pair option, which is cheaper than 2 in DC, and we could still afford extras like Gymboree, swimming, gymnastics etc.  As you said, it really depends on your area, and au pair is $1,300 per month (all fees included) and DC for 1 child around here will run you $1,000-$1,500 per month.
  

  
  
    
  

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• mbgreenwalt member

  October 2012

  For us a nanny would be way more expensive unless our nanny wanted $6/hour for 2 kids.  We use an in home daycare. The girls are very structured in their schedule and are socialized with 2 other little girls.  Our DCP is wonderful with them and very patient and caring.  I'm very happy with the care our girls get.

  
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• emilyec1 member

  October 2012

  I think a nanny could be a great option, but don't forget to factor in extra costs like employer taxes and potentially paying a service to do nanny tax prep. All this together could run you $4k or more per year on top of hourly nanny wages. This almost made us decide against our nanny but with 2 infants the convenience factor of a nanny made it worth the slightly higher cost versus daycare. For help estimating what your yearly employer taxes would be I highly recommend the Breedlove and Associates site. That's what we use.

  

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