What do you pay for child car/preschool? How to save?

[Minnesota!]

When my kids (2 of them - at the time they were infant and 3) were little we paid $456/week (so just under $1900/month) for daycare at a center. A friend of ours was quitting her job as a daycare aide and offered to be our nanny. We paid her $1500/month to do so...she did it for 5 years. It is the only way we could have afforded child care, honestly!

So, my suggestion is to look for a qualified nanny....ours did "work" with the kids - she was going to school to be a preschool teacher, so my kids were her test subjects! Reading, writing, math, etc. She was truly a god-send.

Our summer program the kids attend is 32.50/day/kid so runs us $325/week. Plus field trips. I ask my mom to come and stay with them a few days during the summer to save a few hundred, and then if my SIL wants to take them out at all, I am all for that, too.

Kids are expensive! I thought that baby-hood was the most expensive...until my kids discovered sports, clothes, electronics, etc. At least as they get older, you can get some "money" back from them by putting them to work! "You want an iTunes card? Scrub that bathroom then take out the trash" ha ha!

I just looked and where our kids went:
2 days a week from 9-1130 = 560/month
Full day (meaning, you can have them there from 630a-6p) = 820/month
The core preschool program (8-3 M-F) is 680/month
And the Pre-K program which is M-Th from 8-11 = 820/month

 

[coastalhh]

Well this thread at least has taught my I am not alone and my cost is lower than some. At least we are all learning to budget without this money- then when they go to real school we will all get "raises"

 

[staceyeileen]

Different perspective here...I am a childcare provider in a Boston suburb. I charge $125.00 for 1 child/ $200.00 for 2 children for an 8 hour day.

Wow, yes that is steep! I consider myself pretty well paid, and even I think I would stay at home and quit my job if I had to pay that much. The 8 hour day is also just not possible in many cases. I have to work 8 hours per day + take a lunch if possible, therefore with commuting time between work/daycare most children need more than 8 hours of care per day.

 

[Minnesota!]

Well this thread at least has taught my I am not alone and my cost is lower than some. At least we are all learning to budget without this money- then when they go to real school we will all get "raises"

I wish - I put mine in private school. So while it is cheaper than the tuition I paid when they were really young, all the "extras" now make it just as expensive (uniforms, donations, sports fees, field trips, etc.). I am hopeful that I can send them to public high schools...but it is not looking that good. I figure my youngest will be out of college in 14 years...I might have some money then

Wow, yes that is steep! I consider myself pretty well paid, and even I think I would stay at home and quit my job if I had to pay that much. The 8 hour day is also just not possible in many cases. I have to work 8 hours per day + take a lunch if possible, therefore with commuting time between work/daycare most children need more than 8 hours of care per day.

I agree. We drop the kids off at 645 and pick them up at 5. And that is with us working the standard day. There is no way a firm "8 hours" would be do-able for the majority of families I know.

 

[HHMcG]

I would do your research. Some preschools that push education may not be the best. After we are still talking about very young kids here. That being said, we did move our children from daycare to preschool once they were 2 1/2 to 3 years old.

Our daycare was loving but I didn't feel they offered much education-wise. They did try to introduce education but I felt not in age appropriate ways (trying to get my 2 year old to write his letters when he just wanted to scribble.)
Our pre-school is fantastic (I absolutely adore the place.) They introduce appropriate 'education' thru play. Each head teacher has a degree in early education. And it is also a warm, loving environment.

For what it's worth, for four (full) days a week I paid $190/week for daycare and now pay $830/month. So the price wasn't shockingly different.
Heck I'm just thrilled to have one kid left in preschool. Used to have 1 in daycare and 2 in preschool. We considered a nanny but I would still want the kids to have the social atmosphere and structured routine that daycare/preschool provides.

 

[barkley]

This is pretty much how I feel. Isn't that what pre-school is all about?

I think it can vary greatly depending on what an area's expectations are for kiddos entering k and if a parent is looking to get their kiddo into a public or private school.

where we lived when my kids were at this age the only options for before/afterschool/summer months (once in kindergarten) care on-site was through the private schools and the competition for slots were fierce. to get a kid into one of these kindergarten slots there was an admissions test and the expectation was that upon entry into kindergarten a child was reading short books with paragraphs and could do some basic math. looking back those kids entering were probably at about a traditionally mid year 1st grade level academically. so the preschools affiliated with a private school had a heavy academic program b/c they wanted their existing kids to breeze through the admissions test. the other preschools in town realized pretty quickly that if they wanted to retain kids in multi kid families they better up their programs as well, otherwise when mom and dad found that the older sib didn't have the academics to get into the private school k they would pull the younger ones out to enroll them at the private school's preschool so it wouldn't be a problem down the line (and at the one dd/ds went to the school made a boatload of money from kids who failed the k admission test and were enrolled in k-prep which was basically the same curriculum as the preschool but was filled with 5 and 6 year olds whose parents wanted them to pass the admissions test the following year).

I have no clue what the expectations here are for kids entering school-k isn't required, and for that matter mandatory attendance laws don't kick in till the kid is 8. yup-we got some older kids in 1st grade and though ds will be 19 when he graduates he will by no means be among the oldest in his high school graduating class.

 

[staceyeileen]

I think the primary reason I am not as worried about academics for my son may have to do with the Florida VPK program. Almost all daycares/preschools participate in this program, and it's standardized as to what they have to learn going into K. Did I mention it's also FREE for all 4yos?

 

[Crystal824]

I'm not sure how your daycare works, but at 3 my daycare was a preschool environment. My daughter is now 4 and while she is in daycare, it is a pre-k structured environment. We pay $135 week, which is about 550/mo. for 9 hours of care 5 days a week. That includes lunch and two snacks per day. I've actually been quite happy with their curriculum.

The most we paid was $185 per week when our daughter was in the baby room. Each year she moved up, the cost decreased slightly. We are really lucky because my mom moved closer to us. She takes care of my youngest for about half the cost of the baby room.

 

[crisi]

My youngest is fifteen - so what I paid (A LOT, I had two 13 months apart) isn't relative, but I will say the following, which still is:

1) You have to decide what you want and what its worth. We were in a more expensive center because we never had to worry about the providers sick days or vacations. Other people like home daycare. Home is often cheaper. Some people want a religious based center - we specifically did not. Church daycare is often cheaper. Its your values and your needs at play, and what you pick in daycare has to reflect that - not mine or anyone else's here.
2) It may make sense to stay home for a few years, especially with more than one in daycare. But don't take just now into account - you'll set your earnings back, you will likely never catch up, you won't contribute to a 401k, and your spouses health care may increase if you are at home. And it might drive you nuts (or it might be very fulfilling). Take it all into account.
3) When you are done with daycare, don't think you are out of the woods. You'll move some of that money straight into after school care, private school, activities, and just the expenses of having kids (car insurance for teenagers! High school trips!). If you still have some left over, put it in a college fund. My kids are sitting very nice for college because we just moved the daycare spend.
4) Don't skimp on their safety, or their physical or intellectual development. If its more expensive to get them in a place where they get read to, go outside every day, and there is a good staff to child ratio - over a situation where one frazzled woman parks a dozen kids in front of the TV for the day and diapers get changed twice a day whether they need it or not - cut somewhere other than daycare if you possibly can (and the shame is, not everyone can). On the other hand, don't go overboard. Ivy League prep preschools are probably not worth it - unless you are going to continue that level of financial commitment to your child's education for the next 25 years.

 

[pixiemama91]

We Pay 308/Week For Our 4 yr old to go to Pre-k at a center. When she was younger she went to a home daycare thst was 350/week. Both of these included meals and snacks except when an Infant. Then you have to provide formula and food. Our DD will be going to kindergarten in the fall and after school care is around d 200/wk. We will also need to find someone to watch her in th e morning for an hour and drop her off at school as our school doesn't provide before school care. I am currently pregnant and it will be around 415/week for her to go to daycare. We live just outside of Boston and this seems to be the standard for most places. we always joke that we will have so much money left over once daycare costs are gone, but the reality is they just get allocated for other things.

 

[DisneyHoover]

What is your teacher:infant ratio? I always hear people complaining about Maryland being so expensive because of our 1:3 ratio, but to me, one teacher to 3 babies is still a lot! Imagine all 3 needing to be changed/fed at the same time. My son's center has 3 infant rooms, with a maximum of 6 babies each. They move up in each room depending on developmental level, so no one in his room is crawling yet. After 18 months, they are moved to "toddler" classrooms, which still have to maintain the 1:3 ratio. The rooms are just bigger and have more activities.

Our teacher to infant ratio is 1:4 & our 1 year old ratio is 1:6. That price also include breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack for the older kids & formula and baby food for the infants. I will say the infant room is our least profitable room but a lot of infants have older siblings or move up throughout our entire program from infancy so it's still worth it.

 

[tvguy]

Different perspective here...I am a childcare provider in a Boston suburb. I charge $125.00 for 1 child/ $200.00 for 2 children for an 8 hour day. This is for any 8 hours chosen between 7am-6pm. I only care for one family at a time. The family also provides all supplies for child/children including all food. I get paid for any holidays but not vacations. If I am sick I do not get paid, if child/parent is sick and stay home I do. I realize after reading this thread that this seems like a lot of money, but in doing the simple math it works out to $15.62 an hour. In my area I could make that same $125.00 in 4 hours by walking dogs/dog sitting.

Your state could be different. Here there is a huge difference in price between licensed and unlicensed childcare in California.

 

[Golf4food]

Ours was $190 infants, $170 1-2 yr old, $150 3 yr old, 4 yr old/VPK set by state but around $135. All of that went up $10 this year, so our 3.5 year old is $160 per week ($640/mo) in a good sized city. The nicer places are well over $200, the one we liked best would have been $260/wk for infants.

 

[aprilchem]

When I had 3 in daycare I paid around $3300 a month total for full-time childcare at a center in my town. My oldest is currently in 3rd grade, so that was 4 years ago. And yes, I make enough that it was financially worth it for me to work at that time.

Now that all 3 are in school (K, 2nd, and 3rd) we pay a lot less - full-time after school care runs $99 a week, per child in my area. We have them in after school care 2 days a week and I get them off the bus the other 3 days. I pay $170 a week for that, or $680 a month in a 4-week month.

 

[marmalade]

Wow - I can't believe what some of you have to pay. I'm incredibly grateful for what we have. We live in a very high cost area yet the prices aren't as ridiculous as what you all have to pay.

I live in a very low cost area and when my two were in daycare it was $150 a week for only 2 days, it would have been $300/week if they went full-time. Now they are older 8 and 9 and I pay $900/month for summer camp and $250/week for both of them during breaks (xmas, winter, easter). This summer I am thinking of asking my neighbor who is a stay at home mom to watch them and I'll pay her.

 

[chiisai]

We decided to move ours out of a home daycare to preschool when the daycare started asking. : ) It was at about age 3. There were just more babies there and it was just geared toward very early life.

It did cost more, but I'm talking going from $1000 to $1250 (per child), so not a huge amount more.

We have our kids 4 years apart and the last year before older DC was in school was killer. Older DC is now about $500 a month for before and after care. Soon, it will be $1000 total for care, which will be amazing - hello savings! Summer still kills, at about 1400 - 1800 per kid per month.

 

[Tanooki]

My kids are all in school now and I became a sahm when I had my 3rd but things are very different around here. Since public daycare is subsidized here (Quebec), it's 7$/day per child. Waiting lists are veeeeery long of course, and many parents have to resort to private daycare, which is way more expensive (30-45$/day depending). The government is trying to change things and has proposed an increase in daycare fees proportionate to the annual family income (up to around 20$/day) but most people are NOT happy about this...

 

[nalajms]

Holy cow! Where do you live? We're not in the city, but I've never seen prices that low. Under 3yo is a 1 to 4 ratio, it's just shy of $1800 a month for 7am to 6pm. 3-5yr a 1 to 10 ratio and is around $1500 for those hours. The daycare does have a morning pre-school program that's included.

We had looked into a Montessori pre-school program. That was around $15k for the school year with LOTS of holidays. So with additional daycare it would have cost around 16k for the 8-9m of school, wasn't worth it for us.

 

[disney55]

Wow, yes that is steep! I consider myself pretty well paid, and even I think I would stay at home and quit my job if I had to pay that much. The 8 hour day is also just not possible in many cases. I have to work 8 hours per day + take a lunch if possible, therefore with commuting time between work/daycare most children need more than 8 hours of care per day.

My last 3 families the moms have been elementary school teachers, so the 8 hour day is not an issue. All 3 have also only needed care 3 days a week, with grandparents caring other 2 days. When you factor in summer vacation and the other 3 vacations their annual childcare cost is not so bad.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I don't have any children yet, but wow, daycare is expensive in some parts of the country. My cousin has my Goddaugther in a fantastic daycare/preschool and she pays $135 per week.