How much do you need to earn to afford childcare?

[Anonymous]

I've started looking for daycare for 2 yo DD, and holy-moly is it expensive. I am 99% sure that I'll be offered a job at a sweet place doing what I enjoyed before DD's birth, and it's looking that I will need to turn down the offer because there won't be much $$ left over after paying $1800 for childcare.

To those of you with modest salaries:
How do you all afford childcare or how did you find something that costs less but where your kids are happy?

Second interview this week. I would love to take the job, and would be so grateful for any advice.

[Anonymous]

Please excuse me that post title doesn't exactly fit the text.

[Anonymous]

And $1600-1800 etc are the quotes I'm finding for the Dupont Circle/Friendship Heights/Adams Morgan areas.

[Anonymous]

I use an in-home daycare. I pay 225/week/child and I have 2 kids. My kids are very happy there and I am very happy with their care. I got a referral to the place from a coworker and thank my lucky stars all the time that there was an opening when I needed one.

[Anonymous]

Factor in things other than the immediate cost/benefit analysis. Look toward future earning power and what will happen when your child no longer needs daycare. What about Social Security contributions, matching 401k benefits and other benefits? It's not all about the money right now. Think long term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've started looking for daycare for 2 yo DD, and holy-moly is it expensive. I am 99% sure that I'll be offered a job at a sweet place doing what I enjoyed before DD's birth, and it's looking that I will need to turn down the offer because there won't be much $$ left over after paying $1800 for childcare.

To those of you with modest salaries:
How do you all afford childcare or how did you find something that costs less but where your kids are happy?

Second interview this week. I would love to take the job, and would be so grateful for any advice.

Why would you this? Even if you break even or go a little in the red, it will get you back in the workforce. If you want to work, of course you take the job you like at a good place--do you know how fortunate that opportunity is? It may not be there 3 years down the road when DD is ready for school.


Assuming you get some kind of raise in the meantime, you will have some money left over, a job, and other opportunities.

Of course, this assume you want to work. If you want to, just take the job.

I don't know where you are, but I am sure you can find childcare for a little bit less. I will let others chime in on this. But I say take the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Factor in things other than the immediate cost/benefit analysis. Look toward future earning power and what will happen when your child no longer needs daycare. What about Social Security contributions, matching 401k benefits and other benefits? It's not all about the money right now. Think long term.

Or yeah. What she said^!

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP to take the job. I just cut back in other areas as much as I can (single mom).

[Anonymous]

Home based daycares cost less, though not sure how that works in DC as I live in NoVA.

Also, remember the cost goes down as the child gets older. $1800, $1400, etc.

Consider a babysitter (less expensive than a nanny) if you have flexibility in your job and maybe you can negotiate working hours that would allow you to cut some time out. With my firstborns schedule, I could WFH 6-9AM, go to office from 10-3, and only need 6 hrs of daycare so could look at part time programs.

Also depending on disposition of your child if you can WFH with a mother's helper that can sometimes save a bit of money too.

A lot of these options are circumstance/child dependent though.

[Anonymous]

Try an in-home day care. Our amazing day care is $265 a week.

[Anonymous]

$22000 approx for child care
Then commuting costs, clothing, food, and taxes. I'd say at least $40,000 to break even, $60,000 to bring something minimal home depending on taxes.

[Anonymous]

I have two kids in daycare (infant and preschooler) and pay $2500 per month total. I only make a little more than that (take-home) per month (I work part-time, 4 days/week). But the way DH and I look at it, it's not just MY salary that's going to child care. It's money we put aside from our total household income for our kids' care so that we can both work at jobs we enjoy (I am not cut out to be a full-time SAHM). And this isn't forever--the big kid starts school in the fall, which halves our daycare bill. And by working during their baby/child years, I'm keeping myself up-to-date and on track for better, higher-paying jobs down the road. So the fact that my salary only barely covers daycare right now isn't an issue.

[Anonymous]

Why is it your salary paying for daycare, vs the household income? Also take into account retirement, health care, your individual happiness/self worth, future earnings etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is it your salary paying for daycare, vs the household income? Also take into account retirement, health care, your individual happiness/self worth, future earnings etc.

LOL or just what the poster above me said

[Anonymous]

You have to play the long game, and look at the big picture.

Healthcare, benefits, retirement contributions all factor in

Continuity of employment factors in--imagine yourself trying to get back into the workforce in 5 years or so. What does that look like? Will it hurt you to be out that long?

Look at your personal fulfillment and happiness--would you prefer to be home, prefer to work?

Look at it not just as YOUR salary contributing to daycare; your kid has two parents, right?