how do you handle the cost of daycare in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: Thanks for all of your comments--this has been helpful, a little depressing, but informative!

Basically, I need to cut $550 in spending from my budget in order to afford the $1700/month daycare. Then, if I want to have a savings account, I need to cut more. I don't own a home (rent in DC), I own a car (no payment) but mostly take PT, don't spend too much on frivolous things--my life isn't that expensive and I live within my means. I can cut things like eating out for lunch, etc. to make it work but not being able to put away a decent amount of savings monthly stresses me out. My salary is $120k/year and we are a one-income household.

Thanks!

Just curious - when you say one income household do you mean single parent? If not could your partner take on some of the child care responsibilities? Many day care centers will allow part time (3 days a week) for reduced tuition.

[Anonymous]

Just find the cheapest possible day care option available and cut every single expense you can. We cut our health insurance bill, phone bill, and stopped eating out saving us almost $300.00 a month (one week of daycare) when new year comes. Daycare is just daycare, as long as your kid is safe and happy there, you don’t need a fancy Montessori school or anything of that sort. 120 HHI is doable as long as you live cheaply and don’t have debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: Thanks for all of your comments--this has been helpful, a little depressing, but informative!

Basically, I need to cut $550 in spending from my budget in order to afford the $1700/month daycare. Then, if I want to have a savings account, I need to cut more. I don't own a home (rent in DC), I own a car (no payment) but mostly take PT, don't spend too much on frivolous things--my life isn't that expensive and I live within my means. I can cut things like eating out for lunch, etc. to make it work but not being able to put away a decent amount of savings monthly stresses me out. My salary is $120k/year and we are a one-income household.

Thanks!

OP, looking at this, the answer is so simple. You already own a car. Move to a suburb not too far away where rents are cheaper and affordable home daycares are plentiful. You'll save on both fronts. I live in 22043. My daughter was at an awesome home daycare that cost $300/week and there were many options within close range. Nowhere near $2000ish you pay in DC for a center. The problem in DC is that there are very few home daycares so you are limited to big centers.

[Anonymous]

OP, we were renters when our kids were little and we saved hardly anything at all when our kids were little. My husband made the minimum retirement contributions to get his match but I stopped mine altogether. We were renting a rowhouse that was affordable for us so we just stayed there and made it work even though it was small. Our kids were in a wonderful in-home daycare that was pretty affordable by DC standards ($350/week), but the years that they overlapped were a crushing expense at the time.