You are here: Home / Parenting / Simple Alternatives to Expensive Daycare Centers
0 Shares
Happy Friday! I’ve added a parenting category to the blog to switch things up every now and then and cover parenting topics that I know affect my life and probably other readers as well. So you guessed it, I’ll be discussing child care solutions as an alternative to expensive daycare today. If child care doesn’t apply to you or if you aren’t a parent, you can still read along as this may be useful to you if you plan on having kids one day. Or feel free to check out my article on Young Finances about scoring a salary raise and come back Monday when I’ll be talking about side hustles.
Still with me? Great!
Looking for quality childcare can be a challenge, especially when you have a tight budget. Daycare centers are nice but they can get extremely expensive quick. I’m not going to bash daycare centers because I actually like them and my son learned and experienced a lot while in daycare.
But when I was in college a few years back there was a daycare center conveniently located on campus and they offered students a nice discount on child care tuition/fees. If I didn’t have that discount I probably would have been paying a monthly fee that was close to my rent at the time ($579) just to put my son in daycare.
Unfortunately, a lot of parents take on childcare expenses that are equivalent to their monthly living expenses or higher. Here is a summary of the fees among the most expensive and less expensive daycare centers in my state (Still both very expensive in my opinion).
Most Expensive
Less Expensive
Some daycare centers are beautiful, clean and have a very friendly staff with an engaging hands-on curriculum. So I get it; people need to be paid for their hard work. But what if you don’t have the money to put your children in daycare?
Babysitter or Home Daycare
Getting a qualified babysitter to watch your children is a great way to avoid paying to send your child to an expensive daycare center. Finding a reputable, affordable, and flexible babysitter with references and licensing/certifications that meet your standards is now an easy task thanks to sites like Care.com.
With Care.com, you can search for babysitters in your area and compare their rates, availability, and experience to determine who would be best for your family.
Sometimes you might get lucky and find someone who has a home daycare set up. Home daycares are generally cheaper than traditional daycare centers not only because the care takes place in someone’s home but there are also less providers involved. Usually, a small home daycare might consist of 1 to 2 teachers and about 3 to 8 kids at most.
I tried out a home daycare with my son when he was 2 and we both loved it. I liked the convenience and quality of the care along with the price and I think he loved the homey atmosphere and was able to receive plenty of attention and care from the provider.
Can You Afford to Stay Home?
Couples who don’t want to pay the high costs associated with daycares sometimes opt to have one parent stay home while their child is young and the other parent (preferably the one who earns more) continues to work. This situation is ideal for some but not all. When considering this option you really have to ask yourself Can one of us afford to stay home?
Sometimes daycare costs eat up an entire parent’s income so it makes sense to cut expenses, and live simpler so someone can stay home for an extended period of time. When doing this it’s important to budget accordingly and live within your means since there will only be one income in the household.
Related: A Day in the Life of a Full-Time Work-From-Home Mom
Utilize Family
Do you live close to any family members? If so it might be a good idea to see if they will help watch your child when you need it. Most grandparents love to spend time with their grandchildren anyway, and if it wouldn’t be an inconvenience asking family to help provide care it will definitely help you save money. This is the route I plan to go when I move this summer. Since I need to save more money and my son will be in kindergarten for 6 hours each day, I see no need to pay for daycare with my mom close by.
Alternative Work Schedules
If you and your spouse have opposite work schedules, one of you can watch the kids during the day while the other one watches the kids during the evening and at night. I know a few people who planned their schedules to intentionally work like this to avoid daycare. If you’re able to accomplish this it could be great for your child to get to spend lots of time with both of their parents but you and your significant other might not get much time together and just see each other in passing.
This was almost the case with Ray and I since I work during the day and he has a lot of night shifts. Sometimes he may start working an hour or two before I get off so the alternate schedule routine for childcare doesn’t work for us (hence the kiddo being in daycare currently). I don’t like how some days we don’t even see each other unless he gets up early when I do but he has a few off days during the week so we all enjoy that.
Have you ever tried any of these options as an alternative to daycare? Why or why not?
Stop Worrying About Money and Regain Control
Join 5,000+ others to get access to free printables to help you manage your monthly bills, reduce expenses, pay off debt, and more. Receive just two emails per month with exclusive content to help you on your journey.
0 Shares
About Choncé
Chonce is a personal finance blogger and freelance writer who enjoys sharing debt stories (as she and her husband work their way out of $40,000 in debt) along with talking about saving, budgeting, conscious spending and improving your financial house. In her spare time,she enjoys working out, playing sports with her son, cooking, and thrifting.
Reader Interactions
Comments
Prudence Debtfree saysWow! This post brings back memories . . . My three daughters have been out of daycare for a long time now, and I remember the relief when the expense and logistical stresses associated with it came to an end. We had very good experiences with both daycare and home care – but there were complications. With irregular work schedules; a care-giver’s change in career; occasional illness . . . There is so much for parents of young children to deal with! All the best as you continue to navigate this part of working parents’ lives.
- Chonce says
Thanks Prudence! Finding the right child care for your kids really is a process, but once you find the right situation, it does get easier. And the kids grow up so fast. This will be my son’s last year at daycare and I will rely on some of these methods above for child care until he’s older.
- No Nonsense Landlord says
It is expensive to care for a kid, that’s why I am on the early retirement program instead. And you cannot just glue the kids hands to the wall to save money, some woman already tried that and got arrested….
- Chonce says
Child care can be pretty expensive but there are plenty of different options when you really look. And woah I hope your kidding about that. If not I wonder how I missed that in the news, sad.
- No Nonsense Landlord says
Not kidding. All the great dare care ideas seem to be illegal.
- Chonce says
That’s crazy!
- HappinessSavouredHot says
My alternative has been to stay home with my kids, work part-time (freelance), and gradually increase my workload when the kids started school. I am still home for them before and after school. I might not be as “rich and sucessful” than I would have been had I prioritized my career, but I will NEVER regret that choice.
- Chonce says
I’m glad your situation has worked out very well for you. I know a few parents who choose to take that time out with their kids at home when they are young and the kids love it while the parents truly cherish the time. It’s great to do when you have the opportunity and the means.
Now that my son is transitioning to a school-aged child, I’d like to work during the hours he’s at school and be home in the evening to make dinner and spend time together.
- Jessica says
I don’t have any kiddos, but my very close friend was paying more to put her little guy in daycare than she paid for rent! Your suggestion to utilize family is a great one. When I was younger I don’t think my family ever paid anyone to watch me. I was fortunate enough to have a grandmother who could be with me all the time and we are still very close.
- Chonce says
That’s awesome that your family was there to help provide care from you when you were younger. I think I had a combination of all of these different types of care growing up. My mom stayed home with us for some time then when she started working part time we had a babysitter and even did a little day care.
I could never pay more than my rent for child care even though it is very important to my livelihood but that’s just me. The crazy part is, even though child care is supposed to be fun and engaging kids don’t really remember going to daycare or what they did at the babysitter’s house when they get older. I know I sure don’t, haha.
I was talking to some people at work about childcare costs. My jaw dropped when I heard the costs of having two kids in daycare…unreal! My response is always the same: I’m never having kids!!! (or at least not for a few years…).
- Chonce says
I only have one and it can get very expensive but I’m happy we’re only doing daycare for 3 more months. Woo hoo! I couldn’t imagine doing it with 2 or even 3 children but that’s why it’s best to have a strong support system of family and friends when you have kids.
