WOHP - how much per month are you spending on childcare?

[Kestrel]

low COL area, we paid $18/day for four hours or $22/day for full day (up to 6am-6pm) preschool last year; (we paid about $220/month for three 1/2 days per week). This year, in K, school has no aftercare program (common in our area). I work early mornings and pick up from K, DH goes to work later and takes DS to school. Works for us, !!no more daycare!!
Anyone looking to move here? I'm married to a great RE agent!

[twowhat?]

Low COL but expensive neighborhood/daycare. We pay $150/week per child...just for AFTERSCHOOL CARE. I think that's crazy expensive (though to be fair they also cover holidays like Columbus Day). To compare, the YMCA afterschool program is $75/week per child. I am hoping we feel comfortable with using that next year.

When the kids were in full-time daycare, it was $250/week per child.

[mommy111]

Whoops, wrong thread

[TxCat]

Holy cow! I am in TX as well but the sitter/nanny rates are relatively low i guess. our recent sitter (teacher from DC's school, in her 40s) requested $10/hr for sitting (my 2 kids). we gave her a heavy tip!

I think our city is starting to move into HCOL territory, but not VHCOL which I would classify as CA and New York. Anyways, yes, we pay $15/hr for our nanny, which is low-middle range of the pay scale for two kids. For date nights we lucked out and found high schoolers down the street who want to work and we pay them $10/hr, which I feel is a bargain at this point. College-age and older sitters want $15/hr, minimum (most want $20/hr).

[twowhat?]

I think our city is starting to move into HCOL territory, but not VHCOL which I would classify as CA and New York. Anyways, yes, we pay $15/hr for our nanny, which is low-middle range of the pay scale for two kids. For date nights we lucked out and found high schoolers down the street who want to work and we pay them $10/hr, which I feel is a bargain at this point. College-age and older sitters want $15/hr, minimum (most want $20/hr).

I think part of this also depends on where within a city you live...here (I'm in TX too), out in the suburbs that are 45 min from downtown, $10/hr for 2 kids is typical. Closer to the city center, it gets more expensive. All the nannies we interviewed when we were looking were $13 (less experience) -$15 (more experience) /hr for 2 kids. You probably live in a nice part of your city so that may explain the higher rates. And then of course there are a few REALLY expensive neighborhoods here where nanny rates are probably comparable to those in NYC.

[marymoo86]

Low COL but expensive neighborhood/daycare. We pay $150/week per child...just for AFTERSCHOOL CARE. I think that's crazy expensive (though to be fair they also cover holidays like Columbus Day). To compare, the YMCA afterschool program is $75/week per child. I am hoping we feel comfortable with using that next year.

When the kids were in full-time daycare, it was $250/week per child.

This is us too! My daycare bill is almost double my mortgage $1875 for almost 1 and 4 yo. This is one of the more reasonable centers too.

[wendibird22]

We are in a MCOL area for daycare and LCOL area for dd1 before/after care. We pay $241/wk for 4.5yo dd2 for full time daycare. We pay a mom $10/day for dd1 before/after which is about 1hr before and 1 hr after school. We only pay her for what we use. And daycare doesn't make us pay in the summer when both DH and I are off from work which I know is very rare.

[niccig]

DS is in aftercare at school. I pay $22 a day. He goes 4 days a week and depending on number of days in the month, I pay about $370/month. This includes before school care that we don't use. There is a cheaper aftercare program which is $50/week - it's all outside and kids play under supervision. It's not open as long, so I can't use it.

[ArizonaGirl]

We have a 2 year old that goes to one of the priciest centers in the area (MCOL) and we pay $1271/month for 6 - 9 hours a day for 5 days a week.

It is a certified center and most of the teachers have college degrees and the ones that don't are in college, they are open 7 am to 6 pm.

It is more than our mortgage (for our 1450 sq. ft house), can't wait to move, but we can't afford to until she starts Kindy.

[SoloMelody]

HCOL always but neighborhoods are a mix of old and brand new houses. Always had FT 40 hr care.
Nanny shared when DD was 1-2 year cost was $12-16 for 2 kids which is low to mid range. Moved her to a daycare at $1075/month. They raised it to 1175. Lower end do daycare prices thus did not include lunch, but they did provide snacks. Open 7:30-6.
Higher end of daycare here is $1700 for toddlers and $1900 for infants.

Nanny for DS we lucked out, $12/hr with all her exp etc. was a steal. $14/hr for the time she picked up DD from school 3:30 -4:40.just let her go and DS is going to same daycare as DD did. Prices have changed, toddler rate is now $1275, so 100 more since DD moved out.

Giving up nanny implies we save more now but have to do the house work, laundry etc that she did for us in addition to watching children.