Daycare costs.

[aaronc879]

Originally Posted by Urchina

In our area it's about $400/week for full-time child care for one child. A quality helper/babysitter runs $10/hr on up. I define "quality" as reliable, cheerful, honest, first-aid/CPR-trained with good references and a modicum of common sense. We currently pay our babysitter (4 hrs/wk) $15/hour to watch two kids. They love her, we love her, it works out great.

The cost of childcare in this area is one factor that supported my desire to stay home -- but just wanting to be with my kids was the main one. (Though days like today, when they're both screaming for no apparent reason, makes me wonder if I made a rational choice).

$400/week? That settles it, i'm getting fixed. That's 3/4 of my takehome pay. That's insane.

[laurence]

That is high! I think we were paying that for two kids.

[CCdaCE]

OK, I'll stop complaining to the wife now.

-CC

[Urchina]

Doh! I should have written $1600/month for TWO kids, full-time, between the ages of 2&5. Infants and toddlers are more.

The babysitter/nanny hourly rate I posted is accurate, though.

aaronc879, hope you didn't have that surgery yet! Although I understand that little kids are cheap compared to teenagers. You might want to ask Nords or TromboneAl about that... too early in the game for me.

[Salaryman]

Originally Posted by aaronc879

$400/week? That settles it, i'm getting fixed. That's 3/4 of my takehome pay. That's insane.

Unfortunately, it's a fact of life that good care cost money.

A recent article pegged a stay at home mom's 'pay' at 138k a year.

The price of a mom: $138,095 - MSN Money

By having nanny care, we are both able to work and function.
Also, by the time the kids enter elementary school (Kindergarden+) we won't need to have a full time nanny, so it really becomes a temporary phase.

Having kids is a lot of responsibility and certainly costly; that said, it's all worth it from my stand point.

[ats5g]

Originally Posted by Salaryman

Having kids is a lot of responsibility and certainly costly; that said, it's all worth it from my stand point.

Your kids must not be that old.

Seriously though, my kids are finally starting to do stuff/get stuff by themselves. Though, it's actually more like them demanding to do it themselves, like:

Son: "Daddy, I'm getting the milk BY MYSELF! Now get away from me."
Me: "Okay, just be careful."
Son: "Ok-aaaaay [eye roll]."
[two minutes later]
Son: "Daddy, someone spilled the milk. I'm going in the living room, now clean up that milk."

Yes, he's only 6 and he's already mastered the art of the "eye roll" and "the look." Though, it did take him 3 yrs longer than my 2 yr old daughter.

Every time they do things by themselves, I'm thinking "I should get the video camera 'cause this is either gonna hurt or be hilarious."

[Salaryman]

Originally Posted by ats5g

Your kids must not be that old.

The kids are 6,3 & almost 1.

We do get the attitude, eye rolling and the drama king/queen routines too (We have a lock on Obie awards for childrens' performance if they are giving one).

We see the kids get older by the day, but we still see the wonder of our kids' childhood in the little things that they are still capable of.
I figure until they are 10, they still need their daddy and mommy so we're making it count.

It's a crazy life that we live, but it's really for the kids that we earn money and struggle so mightily.

Now that we have our kids, we can't imagine a life without them.
They are truly our biggest blessings.

[RDamien]

We just had our first and are looking into daycare. Short term my wife is staying home until he is 5 months old and then we have both sets of grandparents clamoring to take care of him a couple days a week each.

In looking into daycare we found that the local one costs 1400 per month... uh. Wow. And it has a waiting list. OK then! Moving on, we'll have to look for more affordable options, which I'm sure exist, and we will only need it part time as I am off Thursdays and Fridays and she is off Sat and Sun.

[DallasFH]

Depend on where you live but it will be somewhere around 1K a month at least for a five months old baby.

Originally Posted by RDamien

We just had our first and are looking into daycare. Short term my wife is staying home until he is 5 months old and then we have both sets of grandparents clamoring to take care of him a couple days a week each.

In looking into daycare we found that the local one costs 1400 per month... uh. Wow. And it has a waiting list. OK then! Moving on, we'll have to look for more affordable options, which I'm sure exist, and we will only need it part time as I am off Thursdays and Fridays and she is off Sat and Sun.

[FinanceDude]

This thread reminds me of something funny I heard at a PTA meeting. A dad with twin girls going into kindergarten said:

"Now my mortgage payment drops to a car payment"..........

[Notmuchlonger]

Damn. Not never having children. I didnt realize how expensive daycare was.

[Salaryman]

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger

Damn. Not never having children. I didnt realize how expensive daycare was.

On the other hand, raising kids bring joy to our lives that cannot be counted in dollars and cents. Expensive is just a number afterall.

My parents came to this country around the same age as myself (early 40) with three kids and no 'career paths'. I shudder to think what they went thru.

I pay the nanny and thank my lucky stars that we have it so good.

[kumquat]

DW decided to 'test' ER when our first kid was born. She liked it so much that the 'I'll go back to work when they are in school' thing never happened. Took me 30 years to join her. Friends who did the daycare route with 2 workers are still working. YMMV.

[kombat]

Originally Posted by Salaryman

On the other hand, raising kids bring joy to our lives that cannot be counted in dollars and cents.

And being free to enjoy our lives without being shackled by the responsibilities of having children brings joy to our lives that cannot be counted in dollars and cents.

See? It works both ways.

[aida2003]

Originally Posted by FinanceDude

This thread reminds me of something funny I heard at a PTA meeting. A dad with twin girls going into kindergarten said:

"Now my mortgage payment drops to a car payment"..........

We say something similar at our house...if we pay our house mortgage off by the end of this year, we'll have two mortgage payments (2 kiddos at daycare) instead of three.

[Marquette]

Originally Posted by aaronc879

$400/week? That settles it, i'm getting fixed. That's 3/4 of my takehome pay. That's insane.

Been there, done that. It's painless.

[Sarah in SC]

Marquette, there is an old thread somewhere around here where the menfolk get all up in arms about the big "V". Pretty funny, actually, as Nords was trying to convince them it wasn't all bad. DH had it, too, no big deal.

Totally OT from daycare costs, but there you go!

[RDamien]

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC

DH had it, too, no big deal.

Easy for you to say! *crosses legs*

[Marquette]

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC

Marquette, there is an old thread somewhere around here where the menfolk get all up in arms about the big "V". Pretty funny, actually, as Nords was trying to convince them it wasn't all bad. DH had it, too, no big deal.

Totally OT from daycare costs, but there you go!

Thanks Sarah, I feel bad about bumping such an old thread, but I posted my story over there.

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