Income for single mom in DC

[Anonymous]

$30k is what we pay for annual
Daycare for infant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Infant child care is the highest in DC, averaging around $1200-1800 a month. I say $200k is the needed salary with the cost of living.

1800 is the low end

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a single Mom in NOVA with 75K base, plus bonus and child support. No debt or loans.

When?

[Anonymous]

I did not see that this was an old thread and I was flabbergasted b6 the numbers people were giving!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a single Mom in NOVA with 75K base, plus bonus and child support. No debt or loans.

When?

5 years ago

[Anonymous]

I live right outside DC and am a single mom of an almost 2 year old (donor conceived). I make 124K My condo fees and housing costs (with utilities) are 2200 and daycare is also 2200. I am doing fine, could do it for less, but am not currently saving beyond like 7% in my retirement accounts or going on many vacations. I use my PTO to give myself a break, run errands, 1-2 night trips with my child. Thing should be better when daycare drops significantly (by $450/month) when my child is 2. Plenty of people do it for less but it is hard in such an expensive area. If you are in DC, you might also go PK3 and PK4 which means less childcare costs sooner.

[Anonymous]

You can do it for cheap...

$150-200/ week daycare (in-home daycares are what I used for low cost)
I used reusable diapers at home, diapers at the daycare
Breastfeed (you will need to eat more food though)

If you want to travel, the prices will be double but you can do things on the cheap side (Amtrak has 1/2 price kids seats til their 12)

Double cost of food depending on what you eat. I cook ever meal now so that saves money. Also not really drinking/partying saves money too.

Spend time at parks and libraries. DC is great for free museums!

Housing... With just 1 child, it's easier to rent an attic, basement, even a room. I have done swaps where we live somewhere for free in exchange for me babysitting/petsitting but I could have my child with me.

You make do with what you have to do. The love of a child is priceless ❤️

[Anonymous]

Pp - yes also live in an area where they can go to pk3 for free. They also give free breakfast and lunch there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can do it for cheap...

$150-200/ week daycare (in-home daycares are what I used for low cost)
I used reusable diapers at home, diapers at the daycare
Breastfeed (you will need to eat more food though)

If you want to travel, the prices will be double but you can do things on the cheap side (Amtrak has 1/2 price kids seats til their 12)

Double cost of food depending on what you eat. I cook ever meal now so that saves money. Also not really drinking/partying saves money too.

Spend time at parks and libraries. DC is great for free museums!

Housing... With just 1 child, it's easier to rent an attic, basement, even a room. I have done swaps where we live somewhere for free in exchange for me babysitting/petsitting but I could have my child with me.

You make do with what you have to do. The love of a child is priceless ❤️

I agree with all of this EXCEPT the childcare costs. We’re in DC, didn’t have a car, and could not find any in home daycares anywhere close to where we lived. The absolute dirt cheapest childcare we found was $1900 a month, and that was four years ago.

[Anonymous]

We pay 1600 for full time daycare today in Maryland just a few min outside DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We pay 1600 for full time daycare today in Maryland just a few min outside DC.

Must be in PG or a not-so-nice area.

[Anonymous]

$70k per child.