Talk to me about considering a nanny instead of daycare

[Anonymous]

We live in Fairfax - have 2 kids and one on the way... Oldest will be in kindergarten next year and we were planning on SACC for before/after school care. Middle one (2.5) and baby will be in full time daycare. Does it make more sense (financially) to think about a nanny and put 2.5 year old in part time pre school? Or are nannies much more expensive than full time daycare? I don't even really know where to begin - especially considering being someone's full time employer.

We are not rich by any means, so although logistically it would be so much easier to have a nanny (no sick days, no worries about school breaks) it would at least need to be comparable in price to daycare to even consider it.

[Anonymous]

Well, daycares don't all cost the same. How much would your daycare + SACC cost?

[Anonymous]

Also, keep in mind that you will need to give the nanny vacation and sick days.

[Anonymous]

What will you be paying for daycare and sacc? If you give us a number we can figure out if it's possible , also what hours do you need? How much vacation can you give the nanny ?

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, just posted on your other thread but it seems to have been moved or deleted. I can try to recreate my response if it's gone.

[Anonymous]

OP it's hard to tell without knowing the exact amounts, but for us, it made sense to move from daycare to a nanny after we had our 2nd, mostly because we didn't/don't need FT care and could not find a daycare that would allow us to do a PT schedule with our younger one.

4 years later, we still have a nanny and I have been very happy with the situation even though I am sure we would save money if we switched to after-care for our older one and daycare for our younger.

We pay $18/hour in Arlington. You will hear all kinds of numbers, benefits, etc but the reality is, we found it very hard to find someone when we offered $15/hour. In our case, it might be partly bc we need someone legal, with a drivers' license, and also don't offer overtime since the position is about 35-38 hours/week. There are "hidden" costs in the form of vacation time (we pay for holidays, vacation, and sick leave), unemployment taxes, FUTA, and payroll (we use a software) which isn't a whole lot, but it's something.

But there are also "hidden" benefits in that our younger one got sick almost never, while our older one was sick all the time in daycare. Our nanny takes care of the kids when they're sick (not as frequent, but it happens) and that is huge. Not having to get out the door with multiple kids is wonderful, too.

[Anonymous]

2 in daycare is about the breakeven point for daycare vs. nanny. Sounds like you have 2.5 kids so you should do nanny.

[Anonymous]

http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/top-daycares-chart/

The highest rated responding daycare for infants and up in Fairfax county is Common Ground Childcare Center. In **2010** their rates were between $1100 - $1400 per child per month. Assuming a rate increase of 2% a year you might be looking at $1550 for your infant and $1350 for your toddler. I'll guess $150/week for aftercare and summer care for your 5 year old as an average cost, or $650/month.

That makes your total daycare cost $3550/month. To stay in that range, you would pay Nanny about $3200/month and pay $350/month in employer expenses.

Many here believe you can find a great Nanny for $15/hour. If your Nanny worked a 10 hour day, taking overtime into account, she would earn $825/week gross. That is $3575/month. Your employer costs would bring you to almost $4000 a month.

And frankly, a great Nanny for 3 kids will likely cost more than $15/hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/top-daycares-chart/

The highest rated responding daycare for infants and up in Fairfax county is Common Ground Childcare Center. In **2010** their rates were between $1100 - $1400 per child per month. Assuming a rate increase of 2% a year you might be looking at $1550 for your infant and $1350 for your toddler. I'll guess $150/week for aftercare and summer care for your 5 year old as an average cost, or $650/month.

That makes your total daycare cost $3550/month. To stay in that range, you would pay Nanny about $3200/month and pay $350/month in employer expenses.

Many here believe you can find a great Nanny for $15/hour. If your Nanny worked a 10 hour day, taking overtime into account, she would earn $825/week gross. That is $3575/month. Your employer costs would bring you to almost $4000 a month.

And frankly, a great Nanny for 3 kids will likely cost more than $15/hour.

You can get a plenty good enough day care for like $200 a week.

[Anonymous]

Daycare is an institution and Nanny is care in the child's own home.

[Anonymous]

AT this point, I'd seriously consider a nanny. Your nanny would have primary responsibility for the 2 younger children, but would be there for all the times your oldest doesn't have school (and there are a 1000 of those... conference days, snow days, teacher training days, so many Fridays are off when there is a Monday holiday..... and then when your child isn't 100 percent well he/she can be with nanny, plus school vacation weeks - there are 2 or 3 of those...)

And I do think that at this point that the cost of full time out of home care is more or the same as a good full time nanny. And then there are the intangible benefits: less hectic getting 3 kids out of the house, your older can come home and just hang out after a busy day of kindergarten, not having to dress baby, etc. etc. etc.

I think you should really look at the finances and think about a nanny.

[Anonymous]

3 kids? usually this is a tipping point in favor of a nanny. both for cost and logistical purposes. I have 4 kids and switched from daycare to Au Pair when we had kids 3 & 4 (twins). The childcare logistics are actually easier now that we have 4, than when we had 2. Young kids are on all different schedules and it helps to have a nanny/AP to take care of it all. Plus, it makes getting out of the house easier in the morning, and it's less stressful if you are late or stuck in traffic coming home and can't meet the 6pm daycare pickup time.

[Anonymous]

Plus your kids will stay healthier at home than at a daycare. With 3 kids, they pass around illnesses so much, that you will have to take many days off of work, if they can't go to daycare because of illness.

[Anonymous]

Nanny for sure. First of all, you say you're planning on SACC. Does that mean your DC actually has a spot? I signed DC up the day the waitlist opened (so the year before K started) and he never got off the waitlist. I eventually removed him from the list because I knew we would be keeping the nanny.

If you are going to pay for daycare for two kids, the convenience of having a nanny for the older child is worth it for all the breaks, snow days, summer, etc. that you would otherwise have to deal with. There are a lot of child care costs associated with a K student by the time you add in SACC and summer childcare, not counting the non-monetary costs of you taking off work all the time.

I'm in Fairfax and pay $18/hour. Kids will be in 2nd grade and K, with the youngest in preschool 2 days a week. The preschool is a church preschool, so fairly cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/top-daycares-chart/

The highest rated responding daycare for infants and up in Fairfax county is Common Ground Childcare Center. In **2010** their rates were between $1100 - $1400 per child per month. Assuming a rate increase of 2% a year you might be looking at $1550 for your infant and $1350 for your toddler. I'll guess $150/week for aftercare and summer care for your 5 year old as an average cost, or $650/month.

That makes your total daycare cost $3550/month. To stay in that range, you would pay Nanny about $3200/month and pay $350/month in employer expenses.

Many here believe you can find a great Nanny for $15/hour. If your Nanny worked a 10 hour day, taking overtime into account, she would earn $825/week gross. That is $3575/month. Your employer costs would bring you to almost $4000 a month.

And frankly, a great Nanny for 3 kids will likely cost more than $15/hour.

You can get a plenty good enough day care for like $200 a week.

The math is not exactly accurate or it is outdated.

When I looked at daycare, most daycares wanted closer to $1800. Most have different prices for infants, which are higher. Maybe these prices are for older kids.