Daycare costs ....

[aegis2005]

I'm just curious what you all are paying (or will be paying) for daycare. Just trying to do some preliminary budgetting ...

[alzi]

I'm curious too.

[amellis2]

I've been calling for quotes. I have heard as low as $120/week for 1year plus to $190/week.

[moonstone523]

Anyone have an in-home nanny? How much per hour?

[melis74]

Make sure you're sitting down before you read this!

We are paying $260/week for Mia to go to KinderCare. I called 37 places, 11 were disconnected, of the 26 remaining only eight took babies. Of the eight, six were different KinderCares. The prices ranged from $250 - $280/week.

Also, Prepare yourself, people told me that she would get sick, but I didn't realize how quickly it would happen. She has been there for three weeks and been sick twice already. My pediatrician said it's either now at daycare or later at Kindergarten...it just sucks seeing your little baby not feeling good!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Good luck!

[jen812]

I know this doesn't help you too much, but we will be paying $225 a week for FT in home care or $6.50/hr.

[tashaandsage]

My son's preschool does do infants, but if he went a full 5 days it would be $150 a week. I would definitely expect to pay a good bit more for a smaller baby.

And I agree with what Melissa said about expecting lots of sickness. Maisy wasn't even in daycare herself but from having an older sibling in school, she probably had ten colds her first year. Little kids are germ factories.

[aegis2005]

Aug 6, 2012 11:30:06 GMT -5 melis74 said:

Make sure you're sitting down before you read this!

We are paying $260/week for Mia to go to KinderCare. I called 37 places, 11 were disconnected, of the 26 remaining only eight took babies. Of the eight, six were different KinderCares. The prices ranged from $250 - $280/week.

Also, Prepare yourself, people told me that she would get sick, but I didn't realize how quickly it would happen. She has been there for three weeks and been sick twice already. My pediatrician said it's either now at daycare or later at Kindergarten...it just sucks seeing your little baby not feeling good!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Good luck!

My husband has an employee who is going out on maternity leave in a couple of weeks and she'd told him this range too. This was actually the range I was expecting to hear ...

[sara76]

Omg. This makes me thankful for the arrangement we have now. I complain about being bored but perspective is nice. $200+ a week is ouch. Don't you get a portion back with income taxes though?

[lovethesun]

DS went to daycare at 3 months old and we paid $240 for the 1st year. That was with a construction discount for the 1st year since the place was brand new. Normally they would have charged $285 for an infant. Insane!!!!

As far as the sickeness goes, the doctor told me a child in daycare will get a cold every 3 weeks where as a child at home will get one every 2 months.

Trust your gut when going to check the places out. Also expect for there to be some turn over in the teaches as sometimes that is what happens at places like this.

[sara76]

I just don't know how the hell single mothers do it. $285 a week? How much is left for life?? I assume there are subsidies for single parents or single income families, i hope? It all just really makes me feel grateful for all that I whine about, ie staying home, being lonely, h working a lot... at least we can afford for me to, especially since u wouldn't bring home much after the costs anyway.

[alzi]

This actually makeshift feel better. I expected it to be higher.

[alzi]

Makes me. Not makeshift.

[loskadoodle]

It is 1180 a month here until they are 1, then it goes down slightly.

In home nannys are around $15/hr

[amellis2]

Aug 6, 2012 12:48:40 GMT -5 sara76 said:

I just don't know how the hell single mothers do it. $285 a week? How much is left for life?? I assume there are subsidies for single parents or single income families, i hope? It all just really makes me feel grateful for all that I whine about, ie staying home, being lonely, h working a lot... at least we can afford for me to, especially since u wouldn't bring home much after the costs anyway.

There are subsidies. When I was completely on Welfare (working 160/month for $200/month) I paid $30 month for daycare. Title 20 took care of the rest of it.

I sought for and found a wonderful job on the premise that I would be entitled to these benefits once I was back in the workforce.

Not so. I sought, interviewed, and was offered a job. I make too much (mind you, I had not yet drawn a paycheck) to be eligible for any sort of benefit. How much too much? $500 too much a month.

Please, someone tell me where I find childcare for twins for $500/month.
So, nowI am in the workforce, trying to make ends meet, with no reliable childcare.

I recently filled out applications for Early Headstart, but I have no idea if I will be accepted or not.

/vent/rant. Sorry.

If I had known this was a trick to get the unemployment numbers up, I would have stayed being a SAHM.

[mskateb]

I paid $250 a week for Lily, but that was 4 years ago. All of the non-church day care centers in my area were identical in pricing at the time. I'm pretty sure churches are cheaper, and of course in-home is cheaper, too. Well, in THEIR home, that is. A nanny in your home is obviously going to be more expensive.

It does get "cheaper" every year as they get older, but not much. The "tuition" cost goes up every year, add the fee for registration, and it all pretty much cancels out. Well, it's nominal, at best, I suppose.

I put 5K in a pre-tax flex account every year, and I guess that helps. Well, it helps me manage money, which I'm not very good at.

This is part of the reason there are 4 years between Lily and NuBaby. ;-)

[alzi]

Kate where did she go? And where will nubaby go? THEY CAN BE CLASSMATES!!

[aegis2005]

Aug 6, 2012 15:34:21 GMT -5 alzi said:

Kate where did she go? And where will nubaby go? THEY CAN BE CLASSMATES!!

We could take over a daycare

[mskateb]

LOL, they would rule that infant classroom. Actually, Lily's little BFF, Paulina, has been with her since she was 10 weeks old. So that's kind of cute. Paulina is switching to a different school for VPK, and I'm really dreading it. I think it's going to be hard for her, as if dropoff wasn't hard enough already.

Lily goes to Kindercare -- the one closest to my house. Picking a daycare center is a lot like picking the hospital where you deliver. You hear a lot of good things and bad things about every place, and ultimately, you have to choose what feels best for you. Kindercare is definitely the oldest facility in this area, and it shows in some ways when you compare it to the brand new centers. But I like that they have their groove in and they have the kinks worked out. I also like that they have a lot of shade. I didn't even look at that, but Khan did. It matters for outside play, especially in the summer. They also have a really big covered veranda that they use to take the kids outside if they need to when it rains or whatever. They even take the babies outside, and I loved that.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to take Nubaby there, too. I loved the infant room best of all. Several of their staff have been there for 10-20 years, including the infant "teacher." She's been there at least 14 now, and she was really great with Lily and the babies. She has to be the most patient human on the planet. She was also really awesome about my breastmilk. Sounds weird, I know, but she did a great job of trying to conserve as much as possible, and they feed on demand.

As for the getting sick thing, yeah, it's true, and it's hard. But for what it's worth, it's not very common any more! We all built up our immune systems in the first two years of daycare, lol.

[melis74]

Aug 6, 2012 12:15:33 GMT -5 aegis2005 said:

Aug 6, 2012 11:30:06 GMT -5 melis74 said:

Make sure you're sitting down before you read this!

We are paying $260/week for Mia to go to KinderCare. I called 37 places, 11 were disconnected, of the 26 remaining only eight took babies. Of the eight, six were different KinderCares. The prices ranged from $250 - $280/week.

Also, Prepare yourself, people told me that she would get sick, but I didn't realize how quickly it would happen. She has been there for three weeks and been sick twice already. My pediatrician said it's either now at daycare or later at Kindergarten...it just sucks seeing your little baby not feeling good!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Good luck!

My husband has an employee who is going out on maternity leave in a couple of weeks and she'd told him this range too. This was actually the range I was expecting to hear ...

That's good, I had no idea when I started calling. I knew noone with babies to get a guesstimate. My good friend in Orlando talked about $175/week, but her youngest is two so it was a different area and outdated info. So when I called and found out how much it was I about fell out of my chair!

[alzi]

Aug 6, 2012 15:35:52 GMT -5 aegis2005 said:

Aug 6, 2012 15:34:21 GMT -5 alzi said:

Kate where did she go? And where will nubaby go? THEY CAN BE CLASSMATES!!

We could take over a daycare

best friends:)

[etteyam]

Aug 6, 2012 11:12:45 GMT -5 moonstone523 said:

Anyone have an in-home nanny? How much per hour?

We have a nanny but we pay her less than what most people pay.

[moonstone523]

I'm sorta, okay not really, freaking out as we have no childcare lined up. I called Primrose Schools and they charge around $220-240 (they wouldn't quote me on the phone) with a waitlist until March. We would rather have a nanny but neither H nor I have looked.

How do I go about finding a nanny?

[mrsshawanab]

My friend in South Florida found an in-home nanny at Care.com and she is very happy with her. She has been using her for about 3 months now and her baby is 5 months I believe.

I have 2 in-home childcare providers that I've been referred to by coworkers. We have not met with either of them yet but I've made initial contact. I'm not going back to work until January so we have a little bit of time, but one of them quoted me $160 a week and the other was $150. They each have less than 5 children at a time under their care. I like this idea better than a large scale day care where he is exposed to tons of kids and germs, but letting him get exposure to some other children as well for social skills.

[babybchbum]

I would look on Care.com or Craigslist (they all aren't shady.) There are a few in home day cares that charge $120 - $150 per week for fulltime care but it can go upwards from there.

[mrsjenrn]

Aug 6, 2012 15:35:52 GMT -5 aegis2005 said:

Aug 6, 2012 15:34:21 GMT -5 alzi said:

Kate where did she go? And where will nubaby go? THEY CAN BE CLASSMATES!!

We could take over a daycare

We need a WCF Nestie/GBCN daycare. We've got enough kids for it!

[mrsjenrn]

Aug 6, 2012 19:45:41 GMT -5 moonstone523 said:

I'm sorta, okay not really, freaking out as we have no childcare lined up. I called Primrose Schools and they charge around $220-240 (they wouldn't quote me on the phone) with a waitlist until March. We would rather have a nanny but neither H nor I have looked.

How do I go about finding a nanny?

I agree with care.com or sittercity.com. We got Zoe's sitter from care.com and have had a good experience with her so far.