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Child care costs
Added: 1240 days ago.
Added by: thehudsons
Section: General.
Status: This question is Closed. (Questions will be closed after 10 days.)


How much do you spend on daycare costs? For day, week, or month? I am considering leaving my job but I dont know where to begin. Please help and explain what your situation is. This is our first baby and we are scared that we dont make enough money to pay for the care we want for our baby. Are you a stay at home mom and how do you make it work???? Thanks!

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Rhonda Lynn - 1238 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) I am very lucky to know a woman who sits out of her home. She has done it for years and only goes by word of mouth. ( you have to know her or of her to get in) She comes HIGHLY recommended by all that have used her. She is going to charge me $400/mo for my baby which is HIGHLY reasonable. I cannot complain. ( except for where I come up with the money as I am a single working mom)

mommad - 1239 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) We pay $175/week here in NC. It's a 5 star center.

lizzie287 - 1239 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) I'm in Canada and it looks like day care is going to be between $25-45/day here in BC. I'm seriously considering starting my own home care... For infants it's even more, even up to $60/day... I can't believe it ...

kimmiepooh - 1239 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) I'm in FL and pay $160 a week. That's reasonable. Some pay up to $250 wk. My DH and I both work full time and make decent money but with all other expenses it can be overwhelming at times. The only thing I can suggest for you is to do what is best for your family according to your situation. Best of luck to you.

o0kathryn0o - 1239 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) I'm in Canada and I went back to work and paid $250 a week. It was a great daycare centre, they even had webcams in the rooms so you could watch your baby all day! Needless to say I didn't get much work done lol. But With the daycare costs and the cost of gas (my commute was an hour, so is hubbys) it wasn't worth it and now I'm a sahm. Hubby has a pretty good paying job and it works for us.

smilebig27 - 1239 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) I wasn't so lucky when I had my son 6 years ago. I was with my son father but he wasn't helping me with our son. i had to go back to work and so i can pay the bills. I wa paying 1300 a month for my son to go to daycare. Yes, that is a lot of money but this daycare was the best in state and had a wait list. I had a friend that worked there and she took great care of my son. It wasn't to far from my job I could walk over there on my lunch to see him. I love in california and things here cost a lot and i finally got the help of his father to help pay for things. We didn't live a rich life but we had nice things he made sure his son had the best. Out son now is 6 years old and am baout to have my second child. this child will have to go to daycare as well but i see nothing wrong with it. I found a nice one that is close to my job and i can see my baby when ever i want to. Now I make more money and i can work differnet hours and still be a mom to my two kids. look around and find what you are looking for. If you can afford to stay then you should so it.

arkansastechmommy - 1239 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) My son just started going to daycare. He only goes on Tuesday and Thursday and it costs us $40.00. The daycare he goes to also has a program where they can go Mon, wed, and Fri for $60.00 OR if you choose to go all week it is $85.00. I don't know where you live, but around here for a newborn it averages around $110.00/week. My son is 22 months old though. I am a stay at home mom/college student, and I will tell you sometimes it is tough, BUT if you sit down and make a budget out, you will know exactly what you can spend on what, and how much money you will have left after the bills are paid.

Debra - 1240 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) I'm going back only part time. I've arranged to have my son go to my friends house- who is a stay at home mom and has 2 girls. She will take care of him on monday and tuesday of each week for me. If she goes back to work then i will take her girls for the days she goes to work. Otherwise we try to budget. i breast feed and that saves about $150 Cnd a month. We buy diapers from Costco- which is the best price we can find.

Lorien - 1240 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) I am a stay at home mom as well and have been for almost 10 years. We do budget and we are careful about purchasing unnecessary things but we manage to still have money for extra things and to have fun. We always ask ourselves if we need or want something. People question my husband all the time about how we do it when they are barely getting by on the same income as us. We just purchased our first home but we got what we needed not what we could qualify for. We don't eat out often but we don't need to because I am home to cook all our meals/pack my husbands lunches. There are lots of books out there on budgeting and there is lots of info on working from home as well if you don't think you can do it. You can also try downsizing your home, vehicles etc. We do most of our shopping at places like wal-mart and target but I think I would do that even if I were working outside of the home. No my husband does not have a high paying job but he has always said he would get a second one before he would have our kids in daycare (no offense to anybody who does, this has just been a personal decision based off of our experiences and knowledge.)

tto - 1240 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) Another thing to consider with daycare is that they charge you even when your child isn't there. They usually charge by the week, not day so keeping him one day a week doesn't save anything. Then there's paid holidays and saving their spot if you stay home for the summer, like teachers do. They charge if your child stays home sick too. We would get one week a year to use as vacation and didn't have to pay for that and a discounted rate over summer to hold his spot, in return he could go two days a week. Part time is often more than half the cost and is often hard to find someone to accept you as part time. Good luck!

cadesmommy - 1240 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) I am a stay at home mom. We choose to do this so I could raise our babies. Everyone has different opinions but we felt it was best. Financially, we really have to stick to a budget. We dont have as much "spending" money if we would if I worked. All my little one's clothes are second hand, we live in a small condo instead of a house and I cut coupons but we make it. We dont have to charge anything and we even put a little back in savings each month. I dont care about the money, honestly its all worth it to raise my son. I couldn't imagine not being with him every day. I have so much respect for women that work because they are stronger than me. I just couldn't leave my baby. Good luck in no matter what you choose.

RobinG - 1240 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) It really depends on where you live. I am in upstate NY. FT residential is typically 135-150 a week give or take per child. 25-30 a day. Center is more like $150-175 a week. Or an average of $4 per hour per child. It is lower whhere I am compared to some areas. My sister in NJ pays double what I do. Best to call some places and ask to get the best rate. I stayed home after my first, I wouldnt have any paycheck if I went to work and had to pay.

femi - 1240 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) here in nyc, some places charge $200/wk +

earthmomma - 1240 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) it is soooo expensive! i work at a preschool and we take infants to five years. i work in the baby house where we have babies from infancy to 18 months and it is $200 a week! i don't know how people have any money left over in their paychecks after they pay us to watch their children. it is $800 a month, which is more than the rent for my apartment! but we are state licensed and the state will come check that we are doing everything right. we feed balanced meals to all the kids and provide formula and diapers so that the parents don't have to bring anything except their child! if you go any cheaper, you may be looking at unlicensed childcare, where you don't really know what is going on and the caregivers are not subject to any standards. we have background checks and drug tests on all of our workers.

moms the word - 1240 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) The high cost of childcare caused me to become a stay at home mother when my daughter was born ten years ago. I did not put her in day care until she was almost one year old. I was lucky enough to have family members willing to watch her for me until she was 11 months. I researched many factilites and put her in the one that I felt most comfortable with. I was paying over a hundred dollars per week for her care and I wasn't happy with how the day care center was operating. I would pick her up many days and she would be in a dirty diaper or have had been as they called it, "bitten by a friend while playing". She was bitten twice before I couldn't take it anymore. How was she getting bitten and the caretaker didn't see it happen? They would never tell me what happened. I realize they couldn't tell me who to protect that child's privacy (that's what they told me when I asked if she had been bitten by the same child the second time) but they couldn't tell if it was provoked by fighting over a toy or something?I finally had enough and pulled her out of childcare and stayed home with her myself. I went back to work during school hours when she was old enough to go to kindergarten. With this baby, I will be staying at home full time. We just don't do much socailly to save money. We only eat out once per month and don't do a lot of movies or anything like that. I plan to breastfeed this baby until he is able to go on whole milk which will keep me from having to purchase expensive formulas. I will also be using cloth diapers to keep disposables out of the landfills as well as save myself alot of money. Good luck!

DKB - 1240 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) I am pregnant with my first child, but i've been researching child care.. the average for an infant in my area is $200 per week! That's expensive.. I am still looking for a more reasonable price with out skimping on quality!! Good Luck with whatever decision you make!