Making financially imprudent choices for sake of childcare

[Anonymous]

Since you are renting, you don't need the security of good schools.

Your children are 2 and -6 months. You will not need to worry about elementary schools for 3-4 years. In that time you could save a lot of money by moving to a lesser neighborhood that has a decent commute but lousy schools. Rent in that area and you will save a considerable amount of money (a few hundred dollars a month at least). I would rather move to a lower cost rental without good schools and apply the extra money from lower rent towards getting a nanny I trusted than decrease retirement or dip into savings or stop saving for rainy day/house down-payment.

In 3-4 years, when your oldest is ready for kindergarten, then you can start to look at buying in a neighborhood with good schools or renting in a neighborhood with good schools. When your oldest goes to school, you can make a different decision when you have more disposable income due to lower childcare costs (and your wages may have gone up).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since you are renting, you don't need the security of good schools.

Your children are 2 and -6 months. You will not need to worry about elementary schools for 3-4 years. In that time you could save a lot of money by moving to a lesser neighborhood that has a decent commute but lousy schools. Rent in that area and you will save a considerable amount of money (a few hundred dollars a month at least). I would rather move to a lower cost rental without good schools and apply the extra money from lower rent towards getting a nanny I trusted than decrease retirement or dip into savings or stop saving for rainy day/house down-payment.

In 3-4 years, when your oldest is ready for kindergarten, then you can start to look at buying in a neighborhood with good schools or renting in a neighborhood with good schools. When your oldest goes to school, you can make a different decision when you have more disposable income due to lower childcare costs (and your wages may have gone up).

Move with a two year old and a 6 month old to a crummy neighborhood to save money for a few years? Sure, except what about all the costs, time, and inconveniences of moving with two tiny children? And also what about the safety of the so called lesser neighborhood? Will it have a good grocery store, short commute, public transit, safe places for kids to play, a good library, etc? How much is a moving truck and movers? A new security deposit? The time and cost of apartment hunting, changing addresses, drivers licenses, mailing addresses, rerouting all mail, packing and unpacking, getting settled in a new home? The time and cost of finding new child care (ie center and nanny) in the new location? Many DC child care centers have waiting lists years long. Moving to a new part of the city is a great way to blow up your deposits on all those daycare or preschool waiting lists the OP may be on. Also, living in a neighborhood with good schools gives the OP flexibility to send their child to the neighborhood school if they haven’t found their dream house or can’t afford it in 3 years time. If you move to a crappy school district, you’ve just wasted a boatload of money, messed up your quality of life, potentially blown up your child care arrangements, and given yourself a ticking time bomb to move again before the oldest is ready for K. None of this seems wise to me for a savings of what may amount to a couple thousand dollars.

[Anonymous]

As others said, maybe the daycare isn't the right fit and you should look around. As for being sick - the first year kids are in daycare it's very standard for them to be constantly sick. It's the exposure to new germs. It's not fun and very hard for working parents but honestly it'll be now or it'll be sometime later when they do join school. The sickness will eventually slow down. It sounds like a nanny would be a real stretch financially--you could consider another nanny share?--also, nannies have downsides too. When your nanny is sick you have no back up. Your nanny also might quit or you might decide she's not a good fit and need to find a new one. Also, you noted that you could only afford 40 hours exactly. Do you work less than that? If not, don't you have a commute to factor in? Day care is much more stable and consistent.

All that said, daycare for 3 kids could easily cost what a nanny does so that might change the balance a bit...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As others said, maybe the daycare isn't the right fit and you should look around. As for being sick - the first year kids are in daycare it's very standard for them to be constantly sick. It's the exposure to new germs. It's not fun and very hard for working parents but honestly it'll be now or it'll be sometime later when they do join school. The sickness will eventually slow down. It sounds like a nanny would be a real stretch financially--you could consider another nanny share?--also, nannies have downsides too. When your nanny is sick you have no back up. Your nanny also might quit or you might decide she's not a good fit and need to find a new one. Also, you noted that you could only afford 40 hours exactly. Do you work less than that? If not, don't you have a commute to factor in? Day care is much more stable and consistent.

All that said, daycare for 3 kids could easily cost what a nanny does so that might change the balance a bit...

Apologies, I misread. You have 2 kids, not three.

[Anonymous]

This doesn't really address your question, but I did want to maybe bring up something that you may not have considered. When DD was young and in daycare, she was sick constantly. Was probably home (sick) longer than she was at daycare. It changed completely, when I put her in Montessori, and it wasn't much more expensive than daycare, either. It was less crowded, the kids were taught hygiene and supervised closely, there was plenty of play time, etc.