Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have one kid in day care and another in aftercare.

Day care = $1500/mo
Aftercare = $750/mo

Holy cow. What aftercare in DC is $750/month? I presume your school has a less expensive option or you've selected other enrichment activities on top of basic aftercare? At least I hope...

Gawd, no kidding. I've seen $400 tops but never $750. Maybe PP is also using beforecare?

+1 that is ridiculous!

Anonymous wrote:If you have flex spending benefits at work be sure to take advantage of it.

+1 i gave up mine after kid began prek3 last year and no more daycare. gonna get right back to it come january.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have one kid in day care and another in aftercare.

Day care = $1500/mo
Aftercare = $750/mo

Holy cow. What aftercare in DC is $750/month? I presume your school has a less expensive option or you've selected other enrichment activities on top of basic aftercare? At least I hope...

Gawd, no kidding. I've seen $400 tops but never $750. Maybe PP is also using beforecare?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you add in lunches and the stress and expense of having to coordinate days off, "free" PK3 is definitely not that much of a bargain. Most daycares around her have PK classrooms for around $275/week including lunch, year round. Many aftercares are around $100/week. Lunches are $10/week. Days off and holidays are around 4 weeks a school year at $250/week. Then summer camp is (conservatively) $300/week. By my calculations, daycare preschool is $14,300 all in; "free" PK is $8,800. So you are saving only $5,500.

It's definitely a bargain. Definitely. I think you're underestimating the cost of many full day, full year daycares/preschools. If it weren't people wouldn't use it. I will not be using it, though, due to what you said about stress and expense of coordinating days off/summers. Plus I have a younger child in daycare so I want to put off the double drop-offs/pick ups for as long as possible.

For some of us, $5500 a year is a huge savings in our budget.
YUGE.

for many of us it's not

Then why are you here? Money is obviously no concern to you.

Anonymous wrote:We have one kid in day care and another in aftercare.

Day care = $1500/mo
Aftercare = $750/mo

Holy cow. What aftercare in DC is $750/month? I presume your school has a less expensive option or you've selected other enrichment activities on top of basic aftercare? At least I hope...

I've been using the flex spending account for years, but does anyone know if lets say, your child has piano lessons twice a week during aftercare hours, can you submit that invoice as well? Thanks

We have one kid in day care and another in aftercare.

Day care = $1500/mo
Aftercare = $750/mo

This is so great to her re dependent flex- THANK YOU! We feel the same way, since it comes out before it hits our accounts we don't see it and then it comes in handy for things later when we submit for reimbursement. I am glad to hear we can keep doing this even with school!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you add in lunches and the stress and expense of having to coordinate days off, "free" PK3 is definitely not that much of a bargain. Most daycares around her have PK classrooms for around $275/week including lunch, year round. Many aftercares are around $100/week. Lunches are $10/week. Days off and holidays are around 4 weeks a school year at $250/week. Then summer camp is (conservatively) $300/week. By my calculations, daycare preschool is $14,300 all in; "free" PK is $8,800. So you are saving only $5,500.

It's definitely a bargain. Definitely. I think you're underestimating the cost of many full day, full year daycares/preschools. If it weren't people wouldn't use it. I will not be using it, though, due to what you said about stress and expense of coordinating days off/summers. Plus I have a younger child in daycare so I want to put off the double drop-offs/pick ups for as long as possible.

For some of us, $5500 a year is a huge savings in our budget.
YUGE.

for many of us it's not

Well ok then ... aftercare expenses are not an issue for you.

Anonymous wrote:PP on flex spending- do most dependent care flex programs cover aftercare expenses? We have been using it this year with our private daycare/early preschool but weren't sure when we switch to a charter if we will still be able to use it for aftercare etc. Thanks for any tips!

This is PP. you can definitely use your flex spending for school aftercare as well as summer day camp programs. As another poster stated you cannot use it for sleep away camp. I max out my contribution every year and what's so nice about it is It's taken out of my paycheck before I see it so I grow accustomed to not having that money. Often, at the end is the year i'll have 1000 or two which I have yet to submit receipts for and then I suddenly have that money for Christmas spending.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you add in lunches and the stress and expense of having to coordinate days off, "free" PK3 is definitely not that much of a bargain. Most daycares around her have PK classrooms for around $275/week including lunch, year round. Many aftercares are around $100/week. Lunches are $10/week. Days off and holidays are around 4 weeks a school year at $250/week. Then summer camp is (conservatively) $300/week. By my calculations, daycare preschool is $14,300 all in; "free" PK is $8,800. So you are saving only $5,500.

It's definitely a bargain. Definitely. I think you're underestimating the cost of many full day, full year daycares/preschools. If it weren't people wouldn't use it. I will not be using it, though, due to what you said about stress and expense of coordinating days off/summers. Plus I have a younger child in daycare so I want to put off the double drop-offs/pick ups for as long as possible.

For some of us, $5500 a year is a huge savings in our budget.
YUGE.

for many of us it's not

Anonymous wrote:PP on flex spending- do most dependent care flex programs cover aftercare expenses? We have been using it this year with our private daycare/early preschool but weren't sure when we switch to a charter if we will still be able to use it for aftercare etc. Thanks for any tips!

Yes! You can use flex spending for aftercare and summer camp, but not sleepaway camp.

Also seconding that $5,500/year/kid savings is real money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you add in lunches and the stress and expense of having to coordinate days off, "free" PK3 is definitely not that much of a bargain. Most daycares around her have PK classrooms for around $275/week including lunch, year round. Many aftercares are around $100/week. Lunches are $10/week. Days off and holidays are around 4 weeks a school year at $250/week. Then summer camp is (conservatively) $300/week. By my calculations, daycare preschool is $14,300 all in; "free" PK is $8,800. So you are saving only $5,500.

It's definitely a bargain. Definitely. I think you're underestimating the cost of many full day, full year daycares/preschools. If it weren't people wouldn't use it. I will not be using it, though, due to what you said about stress and expense of coordinating days off/summers. Plus I have a younger child in daycare so I want to put off the double drop-offs/pick ups for as long as possible.

I don't know about other parts of the city, but in downtown DC, for the 3-5 year olds, $275/week is about average at all the places we checked out. Plus, it's actually fairly easy to find a spot for a preschooler, unlike the hell that is infant and toddler waiting lists.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you add in lunches and the stress and expense of having to coordinate days off, "free" PK3 is definitely not that much of a bargain. Most daycares around her have PK classrooms for around $275/week including lunch, year round. Many aftercares are around $100/week. Lunches are $10/week. Days off and holidays are around 4 weeks a school year at $250/week. Then summer camp is (conservatively) $300/week. By my calculations, daycare preschool is $14,300 all in; "free" PK is $8,800. So you are saving only $5,500.

It's definitely a bargain. Definitely. I think you're underestimating the cost of many full day, full year daycares/preschools. If it weren't people wouldn't use it. I will not be using it, though, due to what you said about stress and expense of coordinating days off/summers. Plus I have a younger child in daycare so I want to put off the double drop-offs/pick ups for as long as possible.

For some of us, $5500 a year is a huge savings in our budget.
YUGE.

Oh, totally! That's funding a 529, or being able to take two nice vacations, or a major house renovation project after a few years ... the only thing is that in our experience, for the very little ones, DCPS plus aftercare is actually not a good care situation. You kind of get what you pay for. Ultimately we were willing to suck it up and pay more to opt out of aftercare for a few more years. Sigh. Kids are expensive.

PP on flex spending- do most dependent care flex programs cover aftercare expenses? We have been using it this year with our private daycare/early preschool but weren't sure when we switch to a charter if we will still be able to use it for aftercare etc. Thanks for any tips!