korepeterson t1_j29qng9 wrote on December 30, 2022 at 5:50 PM

This is really more of a lifestyle question. Do you work to live or live to work? Keep your eyes open for new opportunities just be very selective knowing what is important to you. Could you offset your work schedules to reduce or eliminate childcare costs? Shop daycare vs nanny vs Au Pair.

pookiewook OP t1_j29s2zw wrote on December 30, 2022 at 5:59 PM

We have a small 1,789 sf home with 1.5 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms. 2 bedrooms are very small. We do not have enough room for an au pair, we did look into it.

My daughter is in Kindergarten and my twin boys are in preschool. A nanny is $20-25 per hour here.

korepeterson t1_j2bb7da wrote on December 31, 2022 at 12:02 AM

Go through the mental exercise with your husband of what could be done to eliminate or drastically reduce daycare. Get creative and use your work flexibility. One could start work early the other start work late. Break your day into a morning and evening shift to get your hours in. Put some hours in and Saturday and Sunday to offset shorter work days. Have a babysitter/nanny come in for a few hours a day to help if needed. Getting rid of daycare would add 37K to you bottom line. You would need greater than a 40% pay raise to make that 37K.

pookiewook OP t1_j2bhfql wrote on December 31, 2022 at 12:47 AM

But what kind of socialization/schooling would my children get without daycare? Getting creative is great for babies and toddlers, but in February my twins will be 4 years old. I’m September they will start preK at their current daycare (private, no public preK here).

Not to mention both boys receive speech therapy services at school now, through Early Intervention. There is currently a shortage of providers, so they would not receive services if I took them out of daycare/school.

korepeterson t1_j2bkbbh wrote on December 31, 2022 at 1:09 AM

It comes down to a lifestyle choice. You have to decide if paying for daycare works best for you and understand the financial impact on the household. There are parent groups and homeschool resources for socialization if that is a priority for you. You could also research what homeschool parents do for preK to see if you can find a solution for your situation. Contact Early Intervention to see if there are any other options for speech therapy. Check with your health insurance to see if they will cover the therapy costs. The other option is tell your husband you are happy with the way things are and we can revisit this when the kids are full time in school.