$2400 for childcare cost is very reasonable and especially for childcare in an environment that you like. No money can beat your peace of mind when it comes to your kids' happiness. I would suffer for x amount of years just being able to sleep at night and never questioning if this is the perfect environment for my kids. Besides, what are you going to spend the money on, if not on your kids (since it sounds like you have a nice nest egg)?

Anonymous wrote:You're maxing out your childcare FSA, right? Does your take home amount take into account the $416 per month you get refunded to you through the FSA?

We are scaling back on my retirement (from the max to the match), we eat at home a lot more, I buy fewer clothes (I used to be a clothes horse). I clean my own house (yes, even though I work FT). We dropped my gym membership and I run with the jogging stroller.

It's tight, but it's temporary.

No, because our goal was to claim the full $5,000 at the end of the year and put it in 529 accounts, but you're right--we can use it monthly if we have to.

That sounds reasonable. You'll have enough left over for other expenses. You need to start budgeting and tracking your expenses. Every dollar should have a purpose. When I started budgeting and expense tracking, it was shocking how much money we were spending on little things that we could cut back.