https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 13 Apr 2026 09:25:00 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-146437 Thu, 03 May 2012 15:52:00 +0000 Honeybee 146437@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Jacks: No kidding!</p> <p>Daycare prices played into our decision for me to stay home, since I wouldn't be bringing much to the table after paying for full-time care for two. When it was just DD, it was mangeable, but once you add that second one, it gets really expensive! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-146412 Thu, 03 May 2012 15:22:55 +0000 mediagirl 146412@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dc yoga bee: YES...DC and the surrounding area is such a diverse area. You'll find people are very accepting there. That is one things I liked about the area. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-146403 Thu, 03 May 2012 15:13:34 +0000 Crisark 146403@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We spend as much in rent as we do in daycare. That's also only after school care from 2pm til sometimes only 4 or 5pm. So, 3hrs a day, 5 days a week is almost $600 a month. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-146391 Thu, 03 May 2012 15:04:26 +0000 dc yoga bee 146391@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@everyone: I told my mom about this thread. and she said she's retiring in a year or two so she'll be our "daycare!!" I told her we'd still pay her a nominal fee, and she was like nope. just spending time with future grandbaby! The drive from Bethesda to NOVA everyday may be icky- but it's better than and wont cost as much as $1900 a month in gas...I hope! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145764 Thu, 03 May 2012 09:37:01 +0000 dc yoga bee 145764@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Lozza: that's another big incentive! We are an interracial couple and have had a hard time here plus hoping dc is a wee bit more accepting and more culturally diverse for future lo. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145738 Thu, 03 May 2012 09:24:38 +0000 Lozza 145738@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dc yoga bee: @mediagirl:<br /> Aww, I am jealous of both of y'all.... I'm from Atlanta (and went back for grad school), and went to undergrad in NC/Research Triangle (Durham), and I would KILL to move back to either place.<br /> One nice perk of the DC area compared to Atlanta is that once your kids are a little older, there is TONS of free stuff to do with them on the weekends thanks to museums and festivals and such. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145662 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:57:47 +0000 mediagirl 145662@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dc yoga bee: Don't worry. You will find a way to make it work. It just takes some changes and making sure you're watching where your money is going. Also - Bethesda is a beautiful place. I WISH we could live there but there are just a few things keeping us south now (including family). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145641 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:50:40 +0000 dc yoga bee 145641@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mediagirl: Gah don't tell me that hehe! And we are moving from Atlanta where everything is dirt cheap! I just really miss my family! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145628 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:42:23 +0000 mediagirl 145628@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dc yoga bee: unfortunately, yeah.... I'm SO glad that my husband and I decided to move away from that area instead of to it. I don't think we could have done it up there on our salaries and with the housing prices. </p> <p>The "best" daycares in Raleigh are surprisingly quite expensive - $1400-$1800/mo. We found one near us that is only $1000/mo and we're SO glad we did research and found it. Just because it's cheaper doesn't always mean it's bad. It had great reviews from the parents that send their kids there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145618 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:34:09 +0000 dc yoga bee 145618@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Lozza: we are *hopefully* moving at the end of this month! I'll be studying for the bar and DH will be working. We will probably start doing the flex account when we get pregnant? Have to look more into it, but we think if you don't use it that year it expires so no sense doing it now when we aren't pregnant! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145615 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:31:45 +0000 Andrea 145615@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. wagon: i think if we have #2, i have to quit working, but we shall see. i will have a hard time quitting. i just love having my own money. :-D </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145613 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:30:13 +0000 Andrea 145613@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dc yoga bee: my daycare is $1800/month in new york </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145612 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:29:52 +0000 Lozza 145612@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dc yoga bee: I work in Rockville, and the daycare I liked best in the North Bethesda/Rockville area is $1800/month. (Though they do have 2-day and 3-day options if there's a space free, so if you or other family have flexible schedules, that could be an option). Bethesda/Chevy Chase is an incredibly expensive area rent-wise... daycares have to charge a lot to cover the costs of being located there. If you do want more specific ideas of costs and types, the DC Urban Moms forum has a subsection on preschools and daycares that may be helpful.<br /> One thing to remember, as others have pointed out, is that daycare costs don't stay this high forever. They're very high for infants and young toddlers because the ratios are required to be lower, but you can find a much wider variety of programs for much more affordable prices for your three-year-old than for your 6-month-old. And in-home daycares will also tend to run much cheaper, though I don't really think you're going to see anything less than $1000/month. We max out DH's flex account for dependent care, so that helps a little, plus the tax break helps... none of it offsets the major cost of having a baby, but there are ways to make it a lot more workable :)<br /> When are you moving? I keep wanting to do a DC/Maryland/NoVa area meetup sometime! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145611 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:29:13 +0000 mrs. wagon 145611@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Andrea: I think the public preschool is actually by lottery, and half day only!! I'm hoping to have at least one grandma in the area by then, and between their help and me working only 3 days a week I'm hoping to make it work. Oh the nickel and diming of childcare costs.... ;) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145610 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:28:24 +0000 pelikila 145610@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Much stricter budgeting for us. Infants at our daycare is $1500-$1600 and toddlers is $1400-$1500. We prioritize and do without a lot of pleasure things. We look forward to public school so we can get a little more "us" things but at that point we'll also be increasing what we put into our son's college savings so it won't really change, it's just nice to think about. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145609 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:28:10 +0000 mrs. wagon 145609@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@pointybird: uhh... do we attend the same daycare?? ;) Actually I know we don't, because ours will drop to about $330/week for 5 full days when he "graduates", but he will graduate to the toddler room starting September, and the rate will just drop the week he hits 2 years 9 months old. I'm incredibly lucky... especially because we're not exactly the type of mother/daughter to ask for and offer childcare help. It just so happens that financially I need help, and she's not working, so she's totally willing and I'm so excited. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145607 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:27:06 +0000 Andrea 145607@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. wagon: you're lucky that you have public preschool and your mom. i have neither so we want a big space in between kids!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145600 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:19:54 +0000 plaidpants 145600@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrs. wagon: That's just about what ours is for 5 days a week! Our LO goes 4 days a week, so it's "only" $340. I think we could spend less if she went to an in-home center, but I really like where she's going now. </p> <p>It drops to under $300/week when she graduates to the toddler room, although at that point we'll be thinking about having baby #2. You are so lucky to have some help from your mom! Even just a few months makes a big difference! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145596 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:18:23 +0000 yoursilverlining 145596@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Daycare expenses was/is one of our biggest freakouts regarding pregnancy, and will be one of the main reasons we’ll probably only have 1 child, or space 2 children out over several years (like, 4 or 5). </p> <p>I agree with @MediaGirl that it gets annoying when people just say “don’t eat out as much” – we don’t eat out $1500 a month or more. Its definitely an expense that generally needs to be planned for and taken into account if you are planning on making major life moves this year like new job, buying a home or renting a new place. </p> <p>For us personally, we bought a home we could afford on one income, so we have some built-in wiggle room with our budget to start with which helps tons. We’re been aggressively paying down our mortgage and student loans, and saving for the past few years – and something in that equation will have to give in order to free up the $1200-1500 a month daycare will cost for us. We haven’t decided yet if that means saving less and still as aggressively paying down mortgage/student loan debt, or if that means paying only what’s actually due on the mortgage, but being able to continue to save the same amount.</p> <p>Either way – it’s a juggling act. I think of it as adding an additional mortgage into our budget, except in 20 years we won’t have a paid off second/investment property – we’ll have a baby entering college – yet another huge expense to start saving for! Yikes! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145588 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:13:55 +0000 dc yoga bee 145588@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Lozza: we are moving to Bethesda!!! $1600-$1800?!?!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145585 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:12:54 +0000 mrs. wagon 145585@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Andrea: Seriously... I was planning on spacing the kids out until I realized Wagon Jr. was born literally ONE WEEK after the cutoff of 2 years 9 months at the time of the first day of school. So unless I wanted to space my kids out 3 years and 10 months, we didn't really have a choice. Luckily my mom is not working and is willing to come help out with childcare for the first six months. That will cut us down to 9 months of double daycare, less if my mom can come back during the summer and we can pull them out of daycare for the summer months!</p> <p>I'm gonna be buying my mom a LOT of spa days because she's going to be saving us so much money. :)</p> <p>@pointybird: haha... "hurrah!" to MA daycare costs :( We spend $376/week and that's considered really reasonable in our area. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145584 Thu, 03 May 2012 08:10:33 +0000 Lozza 145584@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@dc yoga bee: We live just outside the DC line in Maryland, and $1000 is a pretty awesome deal for a good daycare- most places that I've seen that I liked run more in a $1600-1800/month range. That's for centers... in-home daycares tend to be cheaper. If you have family that could maybe watch an LO a couple days a week so you could look for part-time daycare, that might help.<br /> But yeah, it's crazy expensive :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145572 Thu, 03 May 2012 07:55:08 +0000 heffalump 145572@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No advice, just want to wish you good luck! I don't know how people do it. I'm lucky because my parents paid for all of my college and grad school, and I didn't make a lot of money at my job so it made more sense for me to stay home. But I feel like it has to be doable because tons of people in this world do it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145571 Thu, 03 May 2012 07:53:00 +0000 plaidpants 145571@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We spend around $1400/month, but we live in MA which is the most expensive state in the country for childcare. Hurrah! We just watch our money and try to remind ourselves that the cost will go down as our LO gets older. But I panic when I think about adding a second baby to this mix.</p> <p>I found this article helpful, just to compare different areas: <a href="http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/1109/gallery.child_care_states/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/1109/gallery.child_care_states/index.html</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145569 Thu, 03 May 2012 07:51:57 +0000 LuLu Mom 145569@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Luckily we are in an area that childcare isn't as expensive as a big city, but we are planning on cutting out a lot of the unnecessary spending that we do now as it will still be around 600-700 a month. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145542 Thu, 03 May 2012 07:13:13 +0000 dc yoga bee 145542@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mediagirl: you mean as in there aernt good ones for $1000? Eep!</p> <p>We actually are moving to the dc area to be closer to my parents. So we will be about an hr away as opposed to ten hours we currently have to drive! We def want two close together but daycare costs are like ugh. That's another reason we are waiting other than adjusting to being married a bit! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145535 Thu, 03 May 2012 06:52:11 +0000 purrpletulips 145535@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My husband and I get $50 each a month for ourselves and everything else goes to daycare/bills. We're negotiating with our daycare center right now because #2 is due in September and we can't afford to pay full price for 2. If they aren't able to work with us we've started exploring in-home daycare providers who cost about half as much as a daycare center but with LO being 2yo I have reservations because she is learning so much at our current daycare/pre-school and I don't want to see her miss out on the pre-school part.</p> <p>I second what @MediaGirl said above-start looking at it now so you can be prepared when you need it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145533 Thu, 03 May 2012 06:50:26 +0000 T.H.O.U. 145533@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes its expensive but you do just make it work. We aren't doing as much big fun stuff anymore like trips or toys but it all works out. </p> <p>Our daycare is $900/month. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145526 Thu, 03 May 2012 05:43:41 +0000 mediagirl 145526@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh, my husband had that freak-out, as well. We would get so mad when people would say, oh you just stop eating out and buying coffees as much. We don't do that all the time! We don't spend a lot on ourselves and when we sat down and looked at our expenses, we realized we could do it with one. We would still have a little bit left over for savings and emergencies. </p> <p>We also have a buffer if one of us ever lost our job - we're paying a lot more than our mortgage each month so we have it paid off in 13 years. If we had a catastrophe, we could still afford a child by cutting back on that, if necessary. </p> <p>I would suggest doing your research. Sit down and look at your income, look at your bills and then research daycare in your area. Honestly, if you're in DC? You might not find one that you want to send your child to for $1000/mo. Figure out where your money is going and how you'll relocate it when a baby comes around. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tonight-dh-said#post-145478 Wed, 02 May 2012 23:33:15 +0000 Mrs. Blue 145478@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm right there with you on the law school loans. Ughhh. Mr. Blue had a freakout about daycare costs today, too. </p>