March 11, 2014

The Cost of Summer Day Care

Last Summer we only put the girls in day camp/daycare 2 days a week: Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Those are the only 2 days we need daycare all day.  My mother-in-law watched the girls on Monday mornings and my step-dad watched them on Thursday Mornings.  Mr. R is off on Fridays.

This schedule worked out great for our budget, but not so great for Big R.  She wasn't there long enough each week to feel comfortable with all the kids.  Every Tuesday she was nervous about going and then by Wednesday she was having fun.  Then next week she was nervous again.  Plus the daycare takes the older kids on fun field trips every Thursday and she was always disappointed she missed out on all those.

We can't afford to put both girls in day care 4 days a week.  The cost would be $1192 per month.  If we had to do it we could but it would really hurt.

This summer I am going to ask my mother-in-law to watch the girls Monday mornings again and my step-dad will be our back up.

The girls will go to day care Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Hopefully this will be enough time for Big R to get comfortable with all the new kids and make some good friends.  Plus it will allow her to be there for a lot more of the extra activities that the older kids get to do.  On Tuesdays they walk the older kids to the local pool (last year we had to pay $5 per day at the pool or purchase an annual pass) and then every Thursday they go on a field trip which we have to pay an extra $15 per week for.  But they go to some really cool places: Laser Quest, a farm, bowling, skating, movies, museums, etc.

These are the summer camp costs we are planning for:

One Time Fees:

  • $50 Registration Fee
  • $10 Camp T-Shirt for Big R (estimated price)
  • $70 Pool Membership (estimated based on last year's rate of $65)
Monthly Fees (based on 4 weeks per month):
  • $60 Field Trip Fees
  • $102 Big R Weekly Day Care Cost 
  • $85.50 Little R Weekly Day Care  (includes 10% discount for 2nd child)
Monthly Total: $990 (OUCH!)

Grand Total for 3 Months: $3100!  Yikes!  

Looks like I'll need to do some more saving for this summer!



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