Pull from savings for preschool?

[Anonymous]

Many child development centers have years-long wait lists, so I know the experience of having to stick yourself on a wait list and grab a spot once it becomes available, even if the timing isn't quite right or the schedule of days/hours isn't full time. Many centers/schools also prioritize enrolling siblings of existing students, so once you get the ball rolling, it can be difficult to jump out because you can't "hold your place in line."

We currently have a 3-year-old in part-day preschool at a local child development center and a toddler at home with an au pair full time. I didn't want to enroll my kids in a center this early--mainly to save money--but we more or less had to if we wanted to have a spot for them during the pre-k year. Since child care demand greatly outstrips supply where I live, our child care situation is financially inefficient. But, like many other posters have said, it's only for a few years--there is an end in sight.

Also good to note: If you live in MD or VA, almost all 0-5 child care is private. You're not paying to put your kid in a fancy school. You're paying to put your kid anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t this only for one year as your 4 year old will be in K in fall 2020? I don’t have hundreds of thousands in savings outside of retirement but if I did this would seem entirely reasonable to me as there is value to having the kids at one school.

Yes he'll be in K but our public school system sucks so I'm going to try to see if we can swing private. We can definitely do it w/o a nanny because he pay her so much. But with a nanny, that's where we need a little extra $$

Unless you pay your nanny $80K a year, her salary is not going to cover two kids in private (tuition + fees + aftercare), unless you're going to a Catholic school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least in Bethesda, lots of families do what OP is doing -- pay a nanny but also paying for part-time preschool. It's a nice option if you can afford it.

Of course if you can afford it but not if you have to pull from savings to pay for it.

We used to have a FT nanny and had older child in preschool. Eventually put both kids in daycare. Now I stay home with the third child and older kids are in elementary. We are just going for convenience. The closest one also happens to be the most expensive and supposedly one of the best.

Disagree. We lived well beneath our means when we didn't have kids and built up our savings. And now we have 2 kids and it's worth it to our sanity and kid's happiness to have them with a nanny +part-time preschool. These are likely the highest expenditure years of our life (kids will go to public school), so it makes sense for us. It's called smoothing your consumption throughout your life cycle.

OP, I could have been you a decade ago. Flash forward and we no longer have 100s of thousands in savings. Health issues, underemployment, special needs that were best addressed in an independent school setting. I remember feeling so wealthy. We are still very fortunate, but I certainly could use some of the tens of thousands of dollars invested in preschool (closer to 100k over two kids plus nanny). Think twice and don’t live above your means if you both are W-2 workers.