egads!!

[Gunslinger08]

Even if you're breaking even on daycare, it's going to benefit you in the long run. Your wife won't be at home all day with the kids spending your money/eating/getting mad at your for not being there. You get the benefits of a wife/mother who feels guilty that she isn't there with her kids during the day, so she doesn't give you a bunch of crap if you want to watch TV for an hour while she plays with the kids.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: vi edit

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: rasczak
When the child is born, try to take advantage of the flex spending for daycare through your employer if they have it. I wish I had done so, it would have made things a little easier for us if i had planned it, but my wife got the job out of the blue

Have you asked your HR person if your wife returning to work qualifies you for a do-over? Usually there are rules which allow you to modify your flex spending contributions even during the year, one of which is if your spouse changes employment status. You should definitely look into this.

There's two ways to do the day care deduction. Either through flex plan (this counts for stuff like diapers and formula too) or a deduction on your taxes at the end of the year. You can do one or the other. Eitherway it's $5000 and they both lower your taxible income.

The nice thing about flex one is that you can have your paychecks docked the money and then just budget it out. Every couple months you can apply for reimbursement and it's like a bonus check a couple times a year.

That's what we do anyway. Pay day care out of pocket, have the flex pull out about $190 a paycheck and just count that as a loss in pay. Then after a couple months of day care we apply for about $1500 of that in reimbursement. That's money we then use for Christmas, home improvement, ect.

only $5000?! Even if the daycare ends up costing nearly 10 grand a year? That's what my estimate of the costs comes to anyway. $206 a week x 52 weeks = $10712/yr. I feel like I just got ripped a new hole.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Even if you're breaking even on daycare, it's going to benefit you in the long run. Your wife won't be at home all day with the kids spending your money/eating/getting mad at your for not being there. You get the benefits of a wife/mother who feels guilty that she isn't there with her kids during the day, so she doesn't give you a bunch of crap if you want to watch TV for an hour while she plays with the kids.

Dude, that's so wrong on so many levels!

 

[vi edit]

Yup. Only $5000. I'm paying $270 a week for one infant. Do that math on that one. Uhg.

Next week we are moving to a different daycare that is partially subsidized by my employer. It's "only" $190 a week. Once we found out we were pregnant we started looking at daycares. This one had a NINE MONTH waiting list. Seriously...people were putting names and holding spots on there before they even got pregnant.

 

[Hoober]

Originally posted by: rasczak

Originally posted by: vi edit

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: rasczak
When the child is born, try to take advantage of the flex spending for daycare through your employer if they have it. I wish I had done so, it would have made things a little easier for us if i had planned it, but my wife got the job out of the blue

Have you asked your HR person if your wife returning to work qualifies you for a do-over? Usually there are rules which allow you to modify your flex spending contributions even during the year, one of which is if your spouse changes employment status. You should definitely look into this.

There's two ways to do the day care deduction. Either through flex plan (this counts for stuff like diapers and formula too) or a deduction on your taxes at the end of the year. You can do one or the other. Eitherway it's $5000 and they both lower your taxible income.

The nice thing about flex one is that you can have your paychecks docked the money and then just budget it out. Every couple months you can apply for reimbursement and it's like a bonus check a couple times a year.

That's what we do anyway. Pay day care out of pocket, have the flex pull out about $190 a paycheck and just count that as a loss in pay. Then after a couple months of day care we apply for about $1500 of that in reimbursement. That's money we then use for Christmas, home improvement, ect.

only $5000?! Even if the daycare ends up costing nearly 10 grand a year? That's what my estimate of the costs comes to anyway. $206 a week x 52 weeks = $10712/yr. I feel like I just got ripped a new hole.

Yeah, we're paying closer to $15,000 a year. Government only allows a $5,000 deduction.

 

[Insomniator]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Even if you're breaking even on daycare, it's going to benefit you in the long run. Your wife won't be at home all day with the kids spending your money/eating/getting mad at your for not being there. You get the benefits of a wife/mother who feels guilty that she isn't there with her kids during the day, so she doesn't give you a bunch of crap if you want to watch TV for an hour while she plays with the kids.

lol

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Even if you're breaking even on daycare, it's going to benefit you in the long run. Your wife won't be at home all day with the kids spending your money/eating/getting mad at your for not being there. You get the benefits of a wife/mother who feels guilty that she isn't there with her kids during the day, so she doesn't give you a bunch of crap if you want to watch TV for an hour while she plays with the kids.

Dude, that's so wrong on so many levels!

No, you're wrong on many levels. I like his thinking! Plus, she can't give me the "I'm too tired for sex" routine because the kids burned her out during the day Thanks for brightening my day josh!

 

[JulesMaximus]

We spent about $1000/month on daycare when our son was younger.

 

[scttgrd]

I have been home with my daughter for 2 years while the wife works and this was the primary reason. She's in kindergarden now but the aftercare is still $175 a week for 3 hours a day. We are still deciding if the cost of a second car insurance etc. is worth it to put me back to work.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Day care for our son is roughly a mortgage payment.

 

[aldamon]

Originally posted by: dullard
It just isn't worth it for many families with young kids to have two earners. Plus, your kids lose the personal parental attention while in daycare.

Note: there is a second earner's job that is worthwile. Daycare. The second earner can stay at home, take care of his/her own kids and be PAID that massive fee to take care of other people's kids. Plus there are good tax deductions for working at home.

Yeah, if they totally disregard the wife's career and professional development and benefits. There is more gained from employment than just money.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: StrangeRanger
at least one of them would end up duct tapped to the wall in the garage.
j

You say that like it's a bad thing...hell, look at it as free child care. If they're attached firmly enough, they can't get into anything!

 

[Tweak155]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: captains
there was a study of women goin back to work full time and only making <$4k a year after the cost of day care

Yep.

Consider 2 young kids in daycare at $206/week for 50 weeks a year. That costs $20,600. If you are in the 25% federal tax bracket and 8% state tax bracket (typical for a two earner family), then the lower paid second earner must make $30,746 a year to break even. Note: I'm ignoring any daycare tax break in this calculation. Or, the first $15.37/hour goes directly towards daycare. Many second earners find that it is not worth the work. Even if you can find a decent job paying $17.50/hour, the second earner only nets just over $17 for a full day's work ($11.40 after taxes).

It just isn't worth it for many families with young kids to have two earners. Plus, your kids lose the personal parental attention while in daycare.

Note: there is a second earner's job that is worthwile. Daycare. The second earner can stay at home, take care of his/her own kids and be PAID that massive fee to take care of other people's kids. Plus there are good tax deductions for working at home.

This is what my step mother did (the last part).

 

[CRXican]

I'll add this to the list of reasons not to have kids.

 

[trmiv]

Thank goodness my retired parents live 5 minutes away and are literally begging my wife and I to have kids so they can have something to take care of during the day.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Daycare providers get paid under $10/hr

Much of the cost translates to liability and the physcial environment.

The directors make only in the $30K range.

You want horror stories on running a daycare - contact CPA - his wife tried it a few years ago.

yeap. me and my wife were looking at opening a daycare. there is a reason prices are so damn high (most of them silly). the cost are insane. we figured after all said and done we would need about 10 full time kids to make it worthwile.

i know more then one family in this situation. A good friend of ours is nuts. he makes $200+k a year. she was working at a bank makeing like 20k a year. after they had a kid she wanted to go back to work part time. they are paying $250 a week for it. she only makes $300! its just insane.

i watch a few kids (though the parents worked for chrystler and they are laid off now) for $20 a day (each) and everyone said that was very very cheap.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: trmiv
Thank goodness my retired parents live 5 minutes away and are literally begging my wife and I to have kids so they can have something to take care of during the day.

They all say that. Then the remember just how much work kids are and rescend that offer.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Daycare providers get paid under $10/hr

Much of the cost translates to liability and the physcial environment.

The directors make only in the $30K range.

You want horror stories on running a daycare - contact CPA - his wife tried it a few years ago.

yeap. me and my wife were looking at opening a daycare. there is a reason prices are so damn high (most of them silly). the cost are insane. we figured after all said and done we would need about 10 full time kids to make it worthwile.

i know more then one family in this situation. A good friend of ours is nuts. he makes $200+k a year. she was working at a bank makeing like 20k a year. after they had a kid she wanted to go back to work part time. they are paying $250 a week for it. she only makes $300! its just insane.

i watch a few kids (though the parents worked for chrystler and they are laid off now) for $20 a day (each) and everyone said that was very very cheap.

i figured it out. the cost of daycare with my wife's current pay will leave her with approximately $100/month. Oh well, it''' work itself out in the end. three more years and we can send this one off to preschool as well.

Originally posted by: vi edit

Originally posted by: trmiv
Thank goodness my retired parents live 5 minutes away and are literally begging my wife and I to have kids so they can have something to take care of during the day.

They all say that. Then the remember just how much work kids are and rescend that offer.

exactly.

 

[GasX]

I have 1 kid splitting time between two different preschools, 1 kid about to start preschool and 1 kid about to be born. I haven't done the math, but between the nanny and the schools, we are at least $1000/week. Good thing I am quitting my job to go back to school soon... :roll:

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Originally posted by: rasczak
I can't believe the price of daycare these days. My yougest daughter starts daycare next week as my wife recently picked up a part time job. It's going to cost $206 a frickin' week just for part time daycare. There goes my play money from the PT job I started yesterday My wife's first paycheck doesn't come until March 1, so it's gonna be REAL tight for the next month and a half.

Boo frickin hoo. In Boston daycare for an infant is $375 a week, and that's the cheapest place I can find. Toddlers are a "bargain" at $300/week.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: soxfan

Originally posted by: rasczak
I can't believe the price of daycare these days. My yougest daughter starts daycare next week as my wife recently picked up a part time job. It's going to cost $206 a frickin' week just for part time daycare. There goes my play money from the PT job I started yesterday My wife's first paycheck doesn't come until March 1, so it's gonna be REAL tight for the next month and a half.

Boo frickin hoo. In Boston daycare for an infant is $375 a week, and that's the cheapest place I can find. Toddlers are a "bargain" at $300/week.

but everything costs more where you live. we're barely scraping by on 50k, so if you take out 10k for daycare alone, that's a fifth of my pay. you may pay more, but you prbably make more than me too and can better afford the service. once i can finsh my degree, then i can make more money, but that is on hold until my wife completes her program.

 

[OutHouse]

your wife will be working for the babysitter.


/Sarcasm
pretty satisfying isnt it.

/sarcasm

 

[NoShangriLa]

Who said kids are cheap?

My sister have 2 kids in day care 1 part time and the other full time at a totall for $2300 a month.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: lokiju
I'm in the same boat

We have a little one on the way in June and ran the numbers and it still makes more fiscal sense to put the child in day care and have us both work, though we might look into having my wife work part time at her current job if they'll allow it.

you did the math wrong.

 

[child of wonder]

Ouch! My 4 year old goes to a daycare in a church and it's $107 a week full time. They do an awesome job!

My son is 6 and in 1st grade. His after school care is $30 per week.

We can't wait until September when my daughter starts Kindergarten and our daycare expenses will drop by $270 per month.