Childcare for single parent with seemingly good job

[Anonymous]

I am a single mom to an infant. All the other single moms I know are using retirement money to fund the early, most expensive years of daycare. Otherwise the numbers just don't add up.

In homes are the least expensive option and have the greatest number of last-minute openings. Their quality varies a lot so beware, but I'd focus my search on in homes and know that you might have to go in the red.

[Anonymous]

People in your situation get under the table nannies and pay cash.

[Anonymous]

This was me ..., but with one. I got a second job that I could do from home.

[Anonymous]

https://rcolley.aupairnews.com/

Just saw this on the Daycare Network of NOVA FB page.

[Anonymous]

OP: Look at the "enhanced Pre-K programs" here http://www.myschooldc.org/find-schools/school-options-outside-my-school-dc. These programs become free for your child the day she turns 3. So if you can get into one of those, then you just suck it up and pay for 6 months. Be sure to apply in the lottery for PreK3 (you have time to research places you're more likely to get in). You won't find any programs in Ward 3, but you can move before school starts next year. I'd look at Brookland for proximity to schools/cheaper daycares.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks again everyone. I spent the afternoon looking at church daycares. No luck with availability yet but I'll keep looking.
My oldest doesn't make the cut off for prek 3 so I'll apply next year and hopefully I'll be some place cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might have to go with a nanny right now until you can move and to keep your job. You will have to incur debt most likely but it sounds like you are desperate and maybe this is the only option for a year. Once your lease is up you can move and once the infant is 2, daycare centers will be cheaper.

It doesn't sound like she can afford a nanny. A decent nanny for two kids costs at least $15 an hour. Including overtime for 45hrs is almost 3k. If she can't afford daycare, she can't afford a nanny.
Let's not forget that nannies have to make a living too.

Your math is off. Almost 3k is still less than 4K (2k EACH KID). So she could afford the nanny easier than 2 kids in daycare.

I don't know any nanny that would charge $15 for two kids. Most will charge more. The math is just on the bare minimum. I don't know a single nanny that would charge less than $18 for two kids which would be more expensive or slightly less than a daycare center and that doesn't include any hours over 45hr and benefits.

[Anonymous]

OP you seem to have placed your family in a seriously precarious financial position. You're either going to have to borrow money to pay for a nanny or to pay for breaking the lease to move some place you can afford the daycare, or beg a relative to come stay with you while you sort this out. Possibly both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might have to go with a nanny right now until you can move and to keep your job. You will have to incur debt most likely but it sounds like you are desperate and maybe this is the only option for a year. Once your lease is up you can move and once the infant is 2, daycare centers will be cheaper.

It doesn't sound like she can afford a nanny. A decent nanny for two kids costs at least $15 an hour. Including overtime for 45hrs is almost 3k. If she can't afford daycare, she can't afford a nanny.
Let's not forget that nannies have to make a living too.

Your math is off. Almost 3k is still less than 4K (2k EACH KID). So she could afford the nanny easier than 2 kids in daycare.

I don't know any nanny that would charge $15 for two kids. Most will charge more. The math is just on the bare minimum. I don't know a single nanny that would charge less than $18 for two kids which would be more expensive or slightly less than a daycare center and that doesn't include any hours over 45hr and benefits.

Not to mention that many (most?) good nannies in DC want to be on the books so you have to add taxes to that. If OP was paying $500/week in NYC she was not only underpaying, but also not paying taxes.

[Anonymous]

Have you tried Petworth for in-home daycare? I know people who've gone places like Gladys Morales/Little Praudde Home Care and really liked it. I think there are other options a little north on 14th too around Columbia Heights. A lot of these places don't have websites so it might be worth driving around if you can, and collecting phone numbers. Best of luck to you---I've been there and it's really hard!

[Anonymous]

I think that paying $4,600 to break the lease will be a drop in the bucket with what you'll save in cheaper rent and cheaper daycare in PG or Silver Spring (just outside the Beltway).

You can find childcare homes in Silver Spring for as low as $200 per week per child (including infants), so you can spend as little as $1,800 per month for your two children and have care from 7 AM to 6 PM. Centers in Silver Spring cost more with costs starting at about $1,200 - $1,300/month for your 2.5-year-old and about $1,500/month for your infant, for a total cost of $2,800/month.

You can find 2 BR apartments in safe areas close to cheaper day cares for about $1,800/month.

You can find lists of licensed Maryland day cares here: http://earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/families/finding-child-care/early-care-and-education-program-lists and you can use a mapping tool here (that for some reason doesn't include every daycare on the list): http://geodata.md.gov/mdcc/

I know it really stinks you're stuck in a lease, but you may want to just cut your losses early so you can start working.

If it helps, Bright Start Daycare on Embry Street in Silver Spring just advertised last night to a local listserv that they have at least one opening currently. Their CareLulu listing is here: https://www.carelulu.com/childcare-in-silver-spring-md-20902/bright-start-daycare-silver-spring/520881 and their Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/Bright-Start-DaycareLLC-176136772556896/?ref=br_rs . I don't know anything else about the daycare, but CareLulu says it's $300/week per child (which is a little more than many other places charge in the area), but at $2,700/month, it would be much cheaper than your DC options, and it would still probably be worthwhile to break your lease.

Relatively recently on this forum, Heritage Child Care Center in Hyattsville advertised that they had open infant spaces, and their costs are relatively reasonable for a center in the DC region.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I would break the lease and move outside the beltway. Rent and childcare are cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Can you find another family to share a nanny with, and host? That might save you some money.

Or an in-home and try to negotiate the rate. Can you look in SE?

[Anonymous]

in-home daycares and daycares run by churches.

[Anonymous]

Call First Baptist in Dupont Circle. They enroll infant through preschool and maybe would have space. infants are the hardest to find spsces for! I have friends who really like the program and it's less expensive than the corporate centers.