Day care costs how much?!

Amawanderlust · November 2015

Is anyone else panicking over the price of infant care? I don't have the luxury of staying home and have no family to watch a baby. I'm also a teacher who really can't afford $400 a month on child care. What's a girl to do..?

huskypuppy14 · November 2015

400 a week is standard here! 400 a month would be amazing.Luckily my husband works second shift and doesn't work 2 work days so I could shift my hours earlier or just do part time.

cattlebride · November 2015

Move to western Kansas, its about $320 a month here and we need younger people

teaching is also one of the better careers to have in our community.

jennk0118 · November 2015

I have my son going to an in home daycare. I pay $3 per hour and when the new baby is born, I'll pay $5.

WSU2015 · November 2015

I pay $40 a day for preschool. When my son was too young for preschool I paid my younger sister $800 a month plus I paid her phone bill, car insurance, and gas money. Additionally she did all of her laundry at my house and ate free food. The cost of child care seems to vary widely depending on where you live. This time around I'm planning to pay my older sister to watch the new baby. She's currently unemployed and she wants to be a stay at home mom so it would work great for both of us. I'll probably pay her something similar to what I paid my younger sister (described above) unless she has a different idea.

candicek15 · November 2015

Um, daycare in my area is about $1500 a month...

seabandsforall · November 2015

$2200 in my area. And real shortage in spaces too.

goldie987 · November 2015

I WISH I could find somewhere for $400 a month, seriously. The cheapest center we were able to find is $1800 a month for infant care.

LizM61409 · November 2015

Amawanderlust said:
Is anyone else panicking over the price of infant care? I don't have the luxury of staying home and have no family to watch a baby. I'm also a teacher who really can't afford $400 a month on child care. What's a girl to do..?

Next November, vote for people that will work on making childcare more affordable.
I'm looking at a range of $1000-1300 per month depending on which place we pick

NicknShan · November 2015

Ours is $325 a week... You cost is actually pretty low compared to everywhere else nationally.

cdnrunning · November 2015

Ours is also around $300 a week in Dallas for an infant. I wish we could find something cheaper!

Amawanderlust · November 2015

I should say I live in Tucson and the cost of living here is really low but salary reflects this. I guess I'll just hope I can scrape together enough. I guess I can't do anything about it right now so not worth getting worked up about it.

alysemci · November 2015

$500 a week for children under 1 here!

AmberLiz99 · November 2015

I was paying $1,200 a month for only 3-4 days a week when ds was an infant. It is stressful I know. I'm grateful to be able to be home with the kids now (I work part time online)

snowhite12 · November 2015

WOW!!! Where do you all live??!! I would love to only pay 400-500 a month!

I have a 2 year old in child care and I pay 720 a month for her. Once I add this baby in, I will be paying close to 1750 a month.

My DD goes to a learning center so I don't know if that makes a difference or not, she also goes to childcare In Maryland.

chelthorn · November 2015

Wow! I thought we payed a lot for a pre-school program. We live in North Alabama and pay $229 a month for 2 days a week. If she was going 5 days a week it would be $525 a month. Of course our cost of living here is way lower than most places. I guess we are lucky to pay what we are paying.

MrsAlliKat · November 2015

I knew infant care would be expensive ($800 - $1,000 a month here), but i was surprised by $100 non-refundable wait list fees for waitlists that are over a year long!

Knottie86418473 · November 2015

Ours range anywhere from $800-2500 a month for FT infant care. Most people I know pay right around the middle of that (~$1600). I doubt I'll be sending baby to the lower end ones but these higher end ones are a little ridiculous. I love the idea of organic food and educational trips to farms and that they've sent on x amount of 'graduates' to Harvard (ok, that last one was an exaggeration), but I really don't think my infant is going to get much out of that.

MAbride0808 · November 2015

Only $400 for full time! Can I move to where you are?

DD currently goes 3 days a week at $50 a day. Once #2 is here we will be paying between $1200 and $1400 a month just for part time. This is also one of the cheapest day cares around. (Fabulous though only works with area teachers so she knows money is tight for us). I was planning on moving DD to a more center/preschool type daycare but it would be closer to $80 a day and we just can't swing that.

goldie987 · November 2015

MrsAlliKat said:
I knew infant care would be expensive ($800 - $1,000 a month here), but i was surprised by $100 non-refundable wait list fees for waitlists that are over a year long!

The $100 deposit surprised me too! I guess they don't want people waitlisting unless they're serious? At least ours is able to be applied to first month's tuition.

CourtJack · November 2015

$400 a month? That is amazing.

I pay $45 a day for home daycare for my 2 year old. So $900 a month and I think I'm getting a good deal.

fishwife799 · November 2015

$400 a month seems very reasonable. I wouldn't call staying home a "luxury" either. I stay home with my kids. In the area we live in the cost of care is so high and the job market is poor. All the jobs available that I am qualified for wouldn't cover the cost of daycare for my two kids let alone adding a third. So it may sound crazy but we can't afford for me to work, it is not a luxury.

colesmom33 · November 2015

I was fine until we found at we're having multiples. It'll be about $500 per baby plus my DS. They'll give us 10% discount for each additional after the first, so that'll help. I love our daycare and so does my DS. They are very interactive and now that my son is older, they play on the playground, do art projects, Santa comes at Christmas time and they do parades for Halloween and the 4th of July. It's also really close to my work. After hearing what everyone else is paying, I'm feeling pretty lucky for what we have!!

arteduc8 · November 2015

Feeling your pain! I panicked this weekend and made DH figure out our budget. I'm a teacher here too. I have no idea what we will do, but we need my income and benefits. I'm praying my mom will be willing to care for LO at least through infancy. At that point more affordable options seem to open up, like church daycare. Once I announce at work, I'll be asking all my colleagues where they take their kids. I think there are some home daycare options in my area I don't know about. Good luck!

Lilwatz · November 2015

We pay $166.25 a week for infants-which is a STEAL! It's going up to $185/week. in January, but our nugget will be in the toddler room by then, which is cheaper. But this new one will be the $185/week when it goes.

violetmarie61516 · November 2015

You guys are all freaking me out over here. I'm really hoping to be a SAHM but I'm not sure we can swing it. Currently I make more than DH so it'll be most like SAHD looking at these prices.

june2016baby · November 2015

I paid 1,800 for two kids per month (well per 4 weeks, so really less than a month).

SweetMamaJune · November 2015

#whymypregnantselfiscrying

hillanne87 · November 2015

I pay $307 a week for three days for my toddler. Infants are more expensive, so we'll be looking at about $700-750 a week for not even full time. I teach also and have no idea how we'll swing it. Ohhhh the stress..

Corts · November 2015

Hi consider yourself lucky at that price. It is normal here (in NY) to spend at least 1500+ a month for full time infant care. Even babysitter wise, we pay at least 9 or 10 dollars an hour for a a college student to come here for one child if we want a date night. My son is in preschool 3 days a week and that is $500 per month. Hope this gives you a little more perspective

GinnyJ2012 · November 2015

fishwife799 said:
$400 a month seems very reasonable. I wouldn't call staying home a "luxury" either. I stay home with my kids. In the area we live in the cost of care is so high and the job market is poor. All the jobs available that I am qualified for wouldn't cover the cost of daycare for my two kids let alone adding a third. So it may sound crazy but we can't afford for me to work, it is not a luxury.

This was my thought too. I love being a SAHM, but would not call it a luxury. With baby 3 on the way and daycare at $1200-1500/child we couldn't afford for me to work. Staying at home is a lot of hard work.

Huskerfanz · November 2015

Love4Labs326 said:

You guys are all freaking me out over here. I'm really hoping to be a SAHM but I'm not sure we can swing it. Currently I make more than DH so it'll be most like SAHD looking at these prices.

I would suggest finding out the average daycare price and then start putting that aside each month and saving it.

We knew that I was going to be a SAHM so my salary went straight into savings while I was pregnant.

jennk0118 · November 2015

Omg!! Just reading some of these!!! How do you pay more than my mortgage for day care?

I'll definitely shut up!! Im going to have to take back everything I said to my husband about $600- something a month for 2 kids.

mebaby333 · November 2015

Do you qualify for assistance? I paid higher than that in Mesa, Az for my 18 year old when she was a baby lol.... 400 is super cheap

mebaby333 · November 2015

I'm not minimizing btw... it's a lot of dollars I know... I have 3 already. Just didn't want to be misunderstood but it is the reality.

Corts · November 2015

A lot of my friends use most of their salaries to pay for child care, decide to keep working for the healthcare, 401k plans and retirement benefits.

Linsbins · November 2015

I don't know your situation or background op, but here in CA it would be the 1500-2000 range where I am. Surprises me that people don't check this out before getting pregnant. 400 would be a dream. I had to wait until my mom retired because I'm a teacher and flat out can't afford child care and student loans.

FutureMrsCAF · November 2015

The sick part of all of this is that the people that actually care for your children do not see that money. My mom is a preschool teacher and makes just a little more than minimum wage. This all has to change. It was important to DH and I that I stay at home, but even if I wanted to still work, there is no way I would ever make enough money to pay for childcare.

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