Once daycare stopped - how much were you really able to contribute to college savings?

[Anonymous]

I am trying to do a realistic financial plan for the next 5 years. I have 1 more year left of daycare and was trying to be realistic on costs of being in school.

There is obviosuly teacher work days, school holidays, summer camps and aftercare. Can I budget that I can take 50% of daycare costs and apply it to college savings? A key point is I only need summer camp coverage for 5 weeks out of the summer.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Daycare for me was about $220 per week per kid. School year coverage for me was $120 per week per kid - before and aftercare plus school days off and winter and spring breaks. Summer is the killer - at least $300 per week per kid at a cheap camp that offers before and aftercare. So the net gain in my pocket was less than $3k per kid per year and probably less than $2,500. But then there are sports and tutors, more fun and expensive weekend family activities and better vacations. End result was kids were more expensive once they hit school. I did most of my kids college savings when I paid daycare.

[Anonymous]

Ditto 16:32. Camp is expensive as are activities.

[Anonymous]

We did not have to do before/after care during school (but we did need summer camp coverage and the random day off camps), so I would say we saved about 3/4 of our daycare costs.

[Anonymous]

couldn't really get good savings till they were past 12...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:couldn't really get good savings till they were past 12...

+1

And once they are past 12 the cost of activities goes significantly higher.

[Anonymous]

It depends how much you spend on daycare now. I spend $11K per kid, so I do plan on having some extra once they start school.

[Anonymous]

Before/after plus winter, spring and summer vacation costs $$. And Camps get more expensive. Then when they end there are braces and music lessons, laptops, international trips..... Then there is driving classes and a huge increase in insurance and the camps get more expensive. Your eating budget triples, increased energy costs and increased water usage.

[Anonymous]

We pay $4,000 a month now for a nanny. I can't fathom any amount of sports and such shit that would come close. I hope I'm right about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We pay $4,000 a month now for a nanny. I can't fathom any amount of sports and such shit that would come close. I hope I'm right about that.

You are right. We paid about $3800 and are able to contribute an extra $2000 to savings now that we're through with full time childcare costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Daycare for me was about $220 per week per kid. School year coverage for me was $120 per week per kid - before and aftercare plus school days off and winter and spring breaks. Summer is the killer - at least $300 per week per kid at a cheap camp that offers before and aftercare. So the net gain in my pocket was less than $3k per kid per year and probably less than $2,500. But then there are sports and tutors, more fun and expensive weekend family activities and better vacations. End result was kids were more expensive once they hit school. I did most of my kids college savings when I paid daycare.

That's because you had inexpensive daycare, compared to a nanny.

[Anonymous]

I pay $1600 a month now. This school year before and after care runs about $400 a month. We already pay for outside activities that aren't included in that $1600 a month. I cannot fathom another $1200/month worth of activities cropping up, though obviously summers will likely run closer to the original $1600 a month for camps. That's only 2 months though, so I'm anticipating that $1200 for the other 10 months of the year will got stright to savings.

[Anonymous]

We'll be going from $1300/month preschool to $450/month in before-aftercare. Plus $300-$400/week for maybe 8 weeks of camps. We already budget for activities in and out of school; I just assume they'll go up as she gets older. We'll still probably save about 50%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Before/after plus winter, spring and summer vacation costs $$. And Camps get more expensive. Then when they end there are braces and music lessons, laptops, international trips..... Then there is driving classes and a huge increase in insurance and the camps get more expensive. Your eating budget triples, increased energy costs and increased water usage.

What? I mean god as a kid I had no laptop, no international trips and no music lessons. As for camp only when I was pretty young. (also no braces). I just think people in this area are freaking nuts. Much more important to save for college then spend insane $$ on sports or music lessons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Before/after plus winter, spring and summer vacation costs $$. And Camps get more expensive. Then when they end there are braces and music lessons, laptops, international trips..... Then there is driving classes and a huge increase in insurance and the camps get more expensive. Your eating budget triples, increased energy costs and increased water usage.

Then there are cars, lawyers' fees, court costs, rehab clinics..