Those of you with young kids...

[Jumpem]

Do you take your kids to daycare, or does the lady of the house stay at home? If they go to day care what does it cost you?

 

[leftyman]

i discussed this earlier, i use my car trunk

 

[Slvrtg277]

Full time daycare, M-F, about 450-500 bucks per month.

After school daycare only, latchkey program, M-F, about 240 bucks per month.

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: Slvrtg277
Full time daycare, M-F, about 450-500 bucks per month.

After school daycare only, latchkey program, M-F, about 240 bucks per month.

That doesn't sound bad. Someone on another board mentioned ~$1500 per month and I was a bit shocked.

 

[Jmman]

In my area daycare is around 800-900 a month for fulltime M-F. My college has a great program for about $550 a month though. Saves my butt...

 

[Toasthead]

my wife stays home with our little one. I dont trust anyone else to raise him.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Too much. I was paying almost $1000/mo when my son was an infant.

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: Toasthead
my wife stays home with our little one. I dont trust anyone else to raise him.

That would be great. But it has a couple downsides. Lost income from the wife means a hard time paying a mortgage. Also it would put a big halt on trying to progress in her career.

 

[theknight571]

Day care is expensive.... real expensive.

It put us in the poor house (so to speak). We are still trying to recover financially from it. At the time we really didn't have a choice though.

Hindsight being 20/20: If it'll hit you financially so hard that you have to revert to Credit Cards for alot of purchases.... try not to do it if at all possible.

On the other hand I think it did my son some good since he got a head start on school and was able to socialize with other kids on a daily basis. (The Day Care we choose didn't just watch the kids and let them play... it was almost like kindergarten)

He's in school now, and we have a deal worked out with his Aunt to watch him after school...still not free, but alot better than the cost of Day Care.

Just my $0.02.

- TK

 

[blackdogdeek]

costs vary depending on location and quality.

the one we were going to use was about $1500/mo i think and it was convenient to where my wife was working at the time so she could check on the girl during her lunch hour and stuff.

however, make sure you check the place out at least a few times. my wife went the day before the girl was supposed to start but there were children crying everywhere with no one paying them any mind and this really upset my wife thinking that our girl would be in the same environment and she made the deicision right there to pull the girl from the program. she resigned the next week and now stays at home with the girl.

you can also look into nannies if the idea of only a few people taking care of many children doesn't suit you. while more expensive, it guarantees a one-to-one relationship with the caregiver and also possibly less chance of having issues bonding with other people.

 

[zendari]

1 parent can work nightshift if you want to save daycare costs.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Doesn't CPA's wife (and him too, I guess) own and run a daycare business around Houston, TX?

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: theknight571
Day care is expensive.... real expensive.

It put us in the poor house (so to speak). We are still trying to recover financially from it. At the time we really didn't have a choice though.

Hindsight being 20/20: If it'll hit you financially so hard that you have to revert to Credit Cards for alot of purchases.... try not to do it if at all possible.

On the other hand I think it did my son some good since he got a head start on school and was able to socialize with other kids on a daily basis. (The Day Care we choose didn't just watch the kids and let them play... it was almost like kindergarten)

He's in school now, and we have a deal worked out with his Aunt to watch him after school...still not free, but alot better than the cost of Day Care.

Just my $0.02.

- TK

I don't want it to us that hard financially which is why I am trying to plan ahead. Something I wasn't doing before, which is why I am selling my car a month after I boght I bought it.

I have been casually looking at houses, and my gf and I can afford a $200k place... now. But I'm trying to figure out what we can afford when kids come into the picture.

 

[Jumpem]

Originally posted by: zendari
1 parent can work nightshift if you want to save daycare costs.

That's true, but our lines of work wouldn't allow it.