$1355/month. 3 kids. Baby and toddler in DoD daycare full time ($1190). Elementary aged child in before school care ($165). Flex schedule so no aftercare needed.

$4600 per month.

Full time nanny and preschool

$500/week total for both the au pair & preschool. We have some savings in the summer because there's no preschool (a few half day camps at the rec center run $50/week) but there's more outings to the zoo, so rather de minimus.

Anonymous wrote:$3150 for two kids in daycare.

There are childcare FSA's if your employer offers one (feds get it) that let you apply $5000 pre-tax money for childcare costs. As you can see, for me that covers less than 2 months of care.

There is also a childcare credit which caps at $3000/child up to $6000 total but is phased out based on income. You have to deduct any FSA money from the credit. So if you only have 1 kid, if you use the FSA you can not use the childcare credit.

For my two kids, I use the $5000 FSA (worth about $1400 in tax savings), and then I get to claim $1000 additional for the childcare credit, but at my income level 80% of it is phased out so I get an extra $200 credit.

Really?? I thought you could only use one or the other, but not claim both

Wow. DH and I were figuring on having just one kid (we're older). We also assumed childcare would probably come out to about $2000/month. From these posts, it sounds like that should be do-able but I wonder.... I'm guessing infant care is a lot more expensive than for toddlers. Not even sure I'd be comfortable with dropping an infant off in daycare -- seems really weird. But I don't think we could afford a nanny. Ugh. Maybe we'll just get a dog.

About $1700 for PT nanny and 3 days of 1/2 day preschool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I pay 1,684 in NE DC/Hyattsville for 2 kids: a 4 year old and a 6 month old.

There is a child care deduction, but it's not very much. If your work offers the pre-tax dependant care account, you can put up to $5,000 in it pre-tax to lower your income. That's always the better way, if available. I just wish they didn't cap it at $5,000, because that's only a small portion of what you actually have to spend.

Why so much less than the other posters? Is the daycare center decent?

Yes, I love the center - Heritage Learning Center in Hyattsville (right on the NEDC border). My 4 year old has been there since he was 6 weeks old, and my infant started when he was 10 weeks. They have a great pre-school program. They have weekly Soccer Shots lessons (elective), Spanish and Mandarin Chinese classes and the teachers are wonderful and have been there a long time. They are a smaller non-profit center, so their costs are lower than the big for-profit centers.

Sorry though, I did make a mistake above, I actuall pay $1,720/mo

http://www.heritagechildcare.org/

St. Anns, practically next door to Heritage, also has about the same tuition rates also. Not sure about the nearby Rheema and Our Redeemer

$1800 for one infant in Arlington daycare. Fortunately we have local family willing to babysit!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:about 3900/mo for daycare in bethesda. 2 kids, 3 and 1.

holy shit that's expensive, we have a nanny and preschool and it comes to 100 more than that.

yup this is one of the most expensive centers in the area. there are definitely cheaper options out there (in home etc). oldest will be in K next year and then our costs will drop by half, luckily!

$2200 for 2 kids and 3 days of preschool from 9-3. I work part time.

$3150 for two kids in daycare.

There are childcare FSA's if your employer offers one (feds get it) that let you apply $5000 pre-tax money for childcare costs. As you can see, for me that covers less than 2 months of care.

There is also a childcare credit which caps at $3000/child up to $6000 total but is phased out based on income. You have to deduct any FSA money from the credit. So if you only have 1 kid, if you use the FSA you can not use the childcare credit.

For my two kids, I use the $5000 FSA (worth about $1400 in tax savings), and then I get to claim $1000 additional for the childcare credit, but at my income level 80% of it is phased out so I get an extra $200 credit.

Anonymous wrote:Christ - well I guess I won't be having kids anytime soon. So is there a credit or deduction for childcare expenses? If so, is it actually helpful or is the amount negligible (or phase out with income or whatever)?

Yeah, once we had our 2nd kid, we both had to stop contributing to our 401Ks and really tighten our budget in order to pay the child care costs, and we are still barely scraping by. Having a 3rd would probably bankrupt us so I guess we have to be satisfied with being "2 and through".

Anonymous wrote:I pay 1,684 in NE DC/Hyattsville for 2 kids: a 4 year old and a 6 month old.

There is a child care deduction, but it's not very much. If your work offers the pre-tax dependant care account, you can put up to $5,000 in it pre-tax to lower your income. That's always the better way, if available. I just wish they didn't cap it at $5,000, because that's only a small portion of what you actually have to spend.

Why so much less than the other posters? Is the daycare center decent?

1,100 for pre-k --- in the exurbs.

I pay 1,684 in NE DC/Hyattsville for 2 kids: a 4 year old and a 6 month old.

There is a child care deduction, but it's not very much. If your work offers the pre-tax dependant care account, you can put up to $5,000 in it pre-tax to lower your income. That's always the better way, if available. I just wish they didn't cap it at $5,000, because that's only a small portion of what you actually have to spend.