Cost the daycare is something many families have to live with. Very few families can afford to live on one income and if that is you, you are very lucky. I would love to be able to stay home with Mikayla, not full time but at least 2 or 3 days a week. Instead she goes to daycare 4.5 days a week and it kills me because someone else is raising my baby. But if I were to quit my job and stay at home that loss in income is too much and we would be in bankruptcy court before I could count to 10. I am luckily in the fact that I only pay $25 per day for her. I got into a home daycare shortly after they first opened. Now they have raised their rates to $35 per day which is about average for Gunnison.
But after baby number 2 is born I will be paying at least $70 per day for 2 kids in daycare. That means I am only taking home $50 per day. Is it really worth it?? I have given some thought to finding a waitress job in the evenings. I figure if I can make $400 - $600 per week by working 3 or 4 nights a week we will be much better off than me bringing home $250 with my regular job and I will be raising my kids as well.
I am going to have to make a decision in the next couple of months but first I would have to find that waitress job - they can be hard to find in Gunnison.
After all of that here is an article that makes me thankful for where I live. This article addresses the cost of childcare in other cities. I could not image paying $10,000 - $17,000 for one child in daycare.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/HomeMortgageSavings/ChildcareCrisis.aspx?GT1=10826#pageTopAchor
5 comments:
Daycare costs was one of the reasons that I am a stay at home mom. I was a teacher making a decent salary and when all was said and done (daycare, gas, car costs) I would be working for $200 every two weeks. Everything else would go to daycare and factors of me working. We looked around and it was averaging 85-105 a day for one kid! And the most expensive one we found was a home daycare. She wanted over $500 a week and she had just started out so experience wasn't the cost. It is crazy!
Good luck, I know how hard it can be.
Aside from the cost of daycare, you also have to factor in other expenses (like what midwest mommy said), as well as the stress of working your primary job AND a waitressing job (did I understand that correctly). We live on primarily one income. I should say we "survive" on primarily one income. We made some BAD decisions in the past, and we are now paying for it. My husband makes GREAT money at the university, but it doesn't mean squat because of those past decisions. I'm bringing in some money, but business is still slow for me. My paycheck covers Bridget's preschool and makes up what my husband's paycheck doesn't cover for food and gas. There are times when I think I should just get out of the house and work, but we would have daycare cost AND morning/afterschool care for two kids. My sister is in this situation, and she pays $1500 a month down in GA. She is SO stressed, both emotionally and financially, and her marriage is on the verge of doom. Nevermind that she hardly gets to see her kids. And it's her long hours at work and the little money she actually takes home when all is said and done, that gives her the most stress.
I know no one can evaluate your situation except you and your husband, and I have certainly been there before (trust me). Whatever you DO decide, good luck!
I KNOW...it is crazy when I sit back and think about what we spend on daycare...
it makes you think, really? is my income all that important or am I just paying for the damn expense of someone else having my child?
We never ever thought that one of us could stay home with a baby when we were going to have one. Then Jimmy quit his job (after he had gotten a new one) and the new job fell through. We had no idea what to do, so Jimmy got a part time bartending job until he found a full time job.
So we lived off of just my salary for about 10 months. We did have his bartending money -- which was sporadic at first, it was bar backing money and then he got some regular shifts -- and the money became more steady, though we could never count on a certain amount ever.
We quickly came to figure out that we could still survive and be happy with just one steady income. Sure things were very tough the first few months with figuring out how to budget to pay the bills and all, but after about the 2nd month it was a lot easier.
Now when the baby comes, Jimmy will just bartend 2 nights a week and I will work full time.
We looked into daycare and Jimmy would have to work a full time job to just pay for the daycare. We didn't want to both work and have to pay someone else to raise our baby. And we are lucky that we don't have to.
You need to think about the $ you are spending on gas, eating out (if you do), work clothes, dry cleaning, driving Mikayla to and from day care etc. And see if it is worth it. You could always get a small part time job on the side maybe 2 nights a week or do some work from home type business. What do you do for a living? Could you work part time for them and do any of the work at home? or in the evenings? it is worth a shot to ask, esp. if you are thinking about quitting overall, what does it hurt to ask?
woah that was long... ;) I should have just emailed you!!
I know how you feel, as my husband and I were in the same boat not too far back. We finally decided we were going to do whatever it took for me to be a stay at home mom since having a daycare, even a good one, raise my baby is my worst nightmare and I'd rather eat Ramen and Mac and Cheese for 5 years than pawn her off. So, we tenaciously set out to find a solution, since, at my husband's current job, there was no way we could pay the bills without me working full time too. Since then, we have found several amazing opportunites for our family and are doing just well, thank you. I don't know what your husband is making at his job, but I feel very blessed to be able to know about and now educate people about some options that they have at their fingertips that they don't even know are there that can provide a solution. Let's chat!
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