Things that make you go :facepalm: (day care, infants, parents, chores)
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I am sitting here, balancing the checkbook and paying bills, and I realized I was pleased that our monthly daycare bill has gone down since the kids went back to school. We only have one child in after-school care now, but we've had two kids in full-day care before and THAT is expensive. Still, one month of one school-age kid in after-school care generally costs in the hundreds of dollars. I don't know how people with even more kids afford it. I guess we're so used to paying for it (we've had at least one kid in daycare for about 14 years, because our middle child is disabled) that it doesn't even seem optional.
Anyway, my son is in first grade now, and I hope that in a few more years he can stay home alone after school in the rare cases it's needed. Maybe three more years. And then the realization of how much money three more years will be. Next to our mortgage and grocery bill, child care is our largest bill. (Well, maybe health insurance tops that, but that is taken pre-tax so we don't really notice it.)
My kids are a sweet joy to me, but man are they EXPENSIVE. I think by the time we can afford for me not to work, we won't need childcare anymore.
When my dh was in the Navy, we figured out that between tax benefits of only one spouse working, no daycare costs and being able to get by with one car that if I went back to work, making $45k a year, I'd bring in an extra $150/month. That's without figuring in the extra clothes I'd need, lattes I'd stop for, lunches out, dinners out, etc.
I just stopped work after the birth of my second child four months ago. My older child was in after school prior to that and I was loving how much we were saving compared to when she was in full-time daycare, but full-time daycare for infants is way more than it is for 4 year olds, plus paying for after school, the train, parking, lunch, clothing - it just wasn't worth it. The tax benefit alone has us coming out on top. Plus we were able to cut back to one car which saves a lot.
I think it's a shame though that so many moms are finding themselves in the position of not being able to afford to work. You should never be better off financially staying at home than you are working.
I just stopped work after the birth of my second child four months ago. My older child was in after school prior to that and I was loving how much we were saving compared to when she was in full-time daycare, but full-time daycare for infants is way more than it is for 4 year olds, plus paying for after school, the train, parking, lunch, clothing - it just wasn't worth it. The tax benefit alone has us coming out on top. Plus we were able to cut back to one car which saves a lot.
I think it's a shame though that so many moms are finding themselves in the position of not being able to afford to work. You should never be better off financially staying at home than you are working.
I think that is the reality for anyone w/o a college degree and 2 or more kids. Day care is expensive!
Total up how much you pay for daycare for multiple children.
Is that total high enough to hire someone to work inside your home, doing light housework and watching the children there?
If so, seriously consider going that route.
Even if you spend the same money, you will have a higher quality of life by not having as many household chores to do when you get home.
If it's not possible at this time, save the idea for when all the children are in school and need after school care.
It could be more affordable to hire someone to do after school care in your home, arriving an hour before the kids to straighten up the house and do the dishes.
I just stopped work after the birth of my second child four months ago. My older child was in after school prior to that and I was loving how much we were saving compared to when she was in full-time daycare, but full-time daycare for infants is way more than it is for 4 year olds, plus paying for after school, the train, parking, lunch, clothing - it just wasn't worth it. The tax benefit alone has us coming out on top. Plus we were able to cut back to one car which saves a lot.
I think it's a shame though that so many moms are finding themselves in the position of not being able to afford to work. You should never be better off financially staying at home than you are working.
Why not?
Chilren are better of being raised by their parents than by a surrogate at daycare. Shouldn't that count for something? Seems it does when one compares the actual cost of choosing work over parenting full time.
Chilren are better of being raised by their parents than by a surrogate at daycare. Shouldn't that count for something? Seems it does when one compares the actual cost of choosing work over parenting full time.
I think Chicago meant that it's a darn shame people aren't paid better, not that parents shouldn't be at home.
But, sadly, some kids are better off in daycare than with their parents.
Let's please not turn this into a working vs stay at home thread? I truly doubt this was Julia's intention....
Here's what I can never figure out why is it when one huge expense ends (be it diapers, daycare, braces, car payment...whatever)...one is always right there to take it's place? I look at my budget, I count the months until one expense ends and we'll "finally be able to get ahead" - I cannot begin to tell you how often I have said that over the years...but I never really feel that happening....
I also don't think it was the idea of the thread - it's true that as soon as you think you have paid off one thing a new expense comes along to take it's place!
But I don't agree that putting your kids in daycare equates to having surrogate raise them. There are advantages and disadvantages to both daycare and having the kids stay home, different circumstances dictate different preferences for different families. No one solution is best for everyone. I just think it's a waste of an education and the tax earning potential of a mother if she has no choice financially other than to stay home.
All it has to take is a tax incentive for employers to provide affordable workplace childcare solutions for their employees or something along those lines. The cost to both the government and the employer would be easily earned back in no time.
All it has to take is a tax incentive for employers to provide affordable workplace childcare solutions for their employees or something along those lines. The cost to both the government and the employer would be easily earned back in no time.
I think it's a bad idea to rely on private industry to solve these social problems.
Just look at our mess of a healthcare system. Its structure is the direct result of industry WANTING to provide healthcare as a way to attract workers.
It's great that some employers provide childcare solutions, but to provide tax break incentives would cause many businesses to do it for the wrong reasons.
When providing childcare solutions becomes too expensive for the employer, we'll be in the same boat with childcare that we're in for healthcare.
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