Daycare….how soon do you really need to start looking into it?December 28th, 2005 @ 8:33 am
My parents and two younger siblings (and their spouses) live in the same state (not Washington). Naturally they celebrated Christmas together. For the first time ever, it was not celebrated at my parents house. Which means nobody was able to see all of my Mom’s decorations (yes, she has two Christmas trees side by side in her front room). This year they had Christmas Eve dinner at my younger brothers house. This was because he has a new baby that they didn’t want to take out in the cold. And also because he had to work late that night at his horrible, horrible job (at a store that sounds a lot like Small-Bart).
They called me on the phone so that I could be “there” while they opened the family presents from each other. I had sent a big package and was excited to hear if they liked what I got them. Before they were opening their presents, I chatted on the phone with my sister in law about child birth. Which, by the way, she swears she didn’t feel at all. This is exactly what I like to hear. Then we started talking about her thoughts on motherhood. She sounded so in love with her little girl and it made me happy to hear. (Plus, have I mentioned that my Dad bought me a plane ticket to fly out there in a few weeks? So I get to snuggle my new niece, soon!)
Then I asked her when she was planning on going back to work. (It must be noted that all my siblings and their spouses work for the same company, which rhymes with Mal-Kart.) She said she was scheduled to be back to work on January 9th. Which is two weeks away (from the time I talked to her). The conversation then turned to daycare and where they would be taking my sweet little niece. When I asked, my sister in law said (are you ready for this?)……
“We haven’t looked into daycare yet.”
I may have thrown up a little at this point. But I tried to stay calm, and replied, “I’m not sure what it’s like out there, but in most places in the Free World you have to start looking basically as soon as the pee dries on the pregnancy test, because most places have waiting lists and you want to check out a lot of different places to find the right one for you and your baby. There are daycare centers, as well as in-home facilities, and nannies. There are a lot of things to look into.”
This didn’t seem to phase her. At all.
She told me that she didn’t think things are like that where she lived. Plus she said that she was hoping “something” would come up and she wouldn’t have to go back to work.
Huh? “Something”, like what? What the crap does that mean? Like maybe between now and January 9th they might win the lotto? I doubt it.
She said that she and my brother had hoped to be able to live off just his salary (which, it also must be noted, is peanuts). But that they hadn’t had a chance to “practice” living on his salary because she had so much vacation time saved up, she has been getting paid during all of her maternity leave (of course she didn’t get any official maternity leave, she just had to use her own vacation time). She said they wanted one pay period without her pay to see if they could do it.
I assume you just do the math, and figure out your budget and whether or not you can live off the one salary. I didn’t realize you had to actually try it out.
It will be interesting to see how this unfolds for them. I hope it works out, like they have (sort of) planned.
—————–
The King and I will be visiting another daycare center today on our lunch breaks. We have been looking around in West Seattle, where our new house will be. And also in downtown, where we live now and where I work (The King also works about 2 miles from downtown). Of course, downtown daycare is more expensive that out in West Seattle. But if we take the baby to a place near our house, we would have to drive the baby there, drive back home, park the car, and then take the bus downtown to work. It might be worth it to just take the baby with me downtown, on the bus.
I hope this place works out. It is really close to my work, and is a decent price. Well, none of them are really decently priced. They are all expensive. We want a place that will be good for our little guy, and good for us, and not so much money that I will have to work over time to pay for it.
Plus, I am sort of hoping/dreaming that I’ll be able to work a few days from home each week. And maybe we can talk The King’s mom into watching our guy one day a week. Which would mean we might only need daycare part time. Which would basically rock.
But I’m not holding my breath for that.
——————————-
I am super-duper curious how much daycare costs where you live. Out here in Seattle the most expensive I have seen (at a place that sounds like Minder Mare) is $350.00 a week. The least expensive place (an in home center near our new house) is $250.00 a week.
They're just my family · We're having a baby
Elisette
said,
December 28, 2005 at 9:41 am
Okay, I have a friend in Indy burbs and she was looking at places when she was 4 months pregnant and was on a waiting list and all that jazz. Her prices are about $200 or so a week I think.
I went looking later, maybe 6 months, because she was freaking me out, here in the NW Chicago burbs and there were several place with openings, no waiting lists. Nice places. Our place is $259 a week, I think, but we only have him there two days a week. They have 2, 3 and 5 day options. 3 days was about $200 a week, 2 days is $150.
My cousin has a private daycare operator and pays $150 a week.
A friend in Memphis was complaining about the high cost of daycare down there. $150 a week for five days. Mmmkay. His house, all brick, “fancy” suburb neighborhood, also ran $150,000. I try to explain Chicago costs to him and he just doesn’t get it.
I use daycare costs to scare my 18 year old cousin about children. Is that wrong?
Elisette
said,
December 28, 2005 at 9:42 am
My cousin is also in the Chicago burbs. The one with the baby, not the one I scare.
Anna
said,
December 28, 2005 at 12:21 pm
For the year that our 2 older children were in daycare, we paid $350 a week for both, in the Greater Dallas Metroplex. This was also 4 years ago, so I am sure prices have only gone up.
Thank goodness Greg can work from home now.
Artist Formerly Known as Ella
said,
December 28, 2005 at 12:52 pm
I have no advice on day care, I hear that its expensive.
I’m more curious about that your family all working at the same store. That can’t be right. All in the same store for the same chain. I can’t imagine working with my siblings let alone my FI every day all day.
They should venture out and look to see if a certain store that sounds like Barget (that is not as funny as yours but I tired) is hiring.
Lisa
said,
December 28, 2005 at 3:01 pm
When I was pregnant, daycare (in a facility) in my town was $8.00 for an infant an hour. So I don’t know what that translates to costing a week. My sis who lives an hour away was paying $1.75 an hour for one child. (And was complaining about how expensive it was!) But her kids were in a woman’s house with like 8 other kids. And the kids spent alot of time watching the Disney Channel.
I think costs here widely range. I’ve noticed preschools and housing costs are the same way.
Nap Queen
said,
December 28, 2005 at 3:34 pm
I used to work at a day care in the richest part of Austin. Infants (keep in mind this was almost 5 years ago) were $1000 a month which I thought was just crazy since I was getting paid roughly $8/hour. I wonder where all that money was going?
Nap Queen
said,
December 28, 2005 at 3:35 pm
Oh, and there was like a year long waiting list, too.
Avorie
said,
December 28, 2005 at 6:20 pm
My friends pay anywhere from 200 to 300 a week for daycare. The 200/week daycare is in a really bad part of town and the 300/week daycare is an uppity “educational” center in a older part of town. I think the average is 250/week in Dallas.
Believe it or not, I’ve had people suggest that I get baby on the list to attend a private high school! I nearly fell over laughing. She hasn’t even been born yet - so I don’t have her middle-school records to submit to the admissions department (I looked it up for laughes). I don’t think we’ll be sending baby to that kind of a school anyway!
Suzanne
said,
December 28, 2005 at 9:27 pm
We have a wonderful lady that does in-home care. Jaxon is there with 2-3 other kids. She charges $30/day so, $150.00/week. After reading all the comments, I feel so fortunate to have GREAT care for a good price. I guess there are some pro’s about living in Oklahoma!
Suzanne
said,
December 28, 2005 at 9:31 pm
When looking, make sure to ask if they provide food, snacks, wipes, diapers, etc. I know a newborn does not use all of the above, but He may be there for a while & it helps with some of the cost if they do provide.
Shannon
said,
December 29, 2005 at 7:07 am
I am lucky - here is Charlotte NC ours is $140 for the toddler and $120 for the 4 year old - but it is far away from home and work and the driving is killing me. (It’s a church center).
GOOD LUCK!
Shannon
hardtoimagine
said,
December 29, 2005 at 8:18 am
Wow, I have just decided that my day care costs are nothing compared to other areas. Here in Kansas City, I pay $120/week for infant care at an in-home day care with about 6 other kids. When I was checking around, I focused on in-home care but found anywhere from $100-200 a week depending on the area.
Contrary
said,
December 29, 2005 at 9:05 am
Good Gravy Miss Maisie, I can’t believe how much childcare is there!
The ‘expensive’ plces here are about 100.00 a week. We chose a home daycare because there were tons less kids and the sitter was a mom herself with a kiddo right at our kiddo’s age. We paid 85.00 a week until he was weaned from the bottle and then it dropped to 70.00. This woman is great, she even gave him breathing treatments when he had bronchitis as a little guy so I didn’t lose my job from having to take off work so much. (I have a much better job now and don’t have to worry about losing it over little things like taking care of my child’s health)
Dawn
said,
December 29, 2005 at 10:18 am
A good center in New England is a Minimum of 200 per week for an infant.
Ask if they are NAEYC accreditated - ratios for infants should be no more than 4 infants to one caregiver….and there are lots nad lots more tidbits of advice I could give. I was an infant care provider for most of my career, then was Director of an accreditated child care for 5 years ( 140 children).
I put Em on the list at MY facility when I was 2 weeks pregnant. No kidding. I was lucky to get into my own center.
Erika
said,
January 3, 2006 at 7:05 am
We are doing in-home for $180/week (we provide formula and diapers, she provides solid food when he gets to that point). As for how early to look, we pretty much started when the school year started (since my husband is a teacher, that’s about when we started to freak out about it) which was about 3 months along. This lady doesn’t have a “formal” waiting list but only takes 2 infants so we have “reserved” our son’s spot for next fall. My OB is now starting to lean on me about choosing a pediatrician!! The mind, it boggles.
Liza
said,
January 5, 2006 at 2:10 pm
This was the issue I was most paranoid about, so we started looking when I was about 2 months pregnant.
Good quality centers in my well-educated but mixed-income Atlanta suburb run just under $1000/month, but have insane waiting lists or crazy application processes. We were #48 on a waiting list for 8 slots that would come open 11 months from the date of our tour.
Fortunately, we found a place in a Montessori school that both takes infants AND has a slot opening up “in May or June.” So we maybe be crazily juggling for as long as 2 months….