Daycare Shmaycare

I may not be a VP or anything, but I like to think I make a pretty decent salary at my job considering I've only been working in this field for a couple of years. Between me and Hubs I'd say we both do fairly well for our ages and positions. I've been on maternity leave since November and my return date is approaching probably a bit faster than I'd like. It's not that I love being at home with the kids, I mean, I love my kids, but I don't love being their scratching post, vending machine, maid, teacher and therapist all day. I get that it is part of the job description I signed up for when they were just two big fat pink lines on pregnancy tests, but at the same time I don't need to love the day-in-day-out work to love the job.

Ah, I digress. (What's new?)

As my start date is fast-approaching I have to start thinking about what the heck I'm going to do with these two little shits darlings while I'm at work all day. Who is going to pick them up? Who is going to drop them off? More importantly, where are we going to be doing said picking and dropping? There are a vast amount of options, each with their own set of pro's and con's. The major factor for most parents choosing a day care facility isn't "who will teach my kid the most" or "what will they be feeding them?" but "How much will it COST?!"

That's right boys.... you're each worth about $35/day!
I wish someone would pay ME that much to look after you!

So far in my research it seems like fully licensed facilities usually run about $45/day per kid. You *do* get a $10/week sibling discount (gee, thanks!) BUT the only facilities around here don't take kids under 12 months, meaning we'd have to split the boys up and do two seperate pick ups/drop offs every day.

Eff that noise!

SO, the second option is a home day care. They seem to be plentiful around here and usually run about $30-35/day per kid. Since Hubs has Wednesdays off and it's not a licensed facility we can get away with 4 days per week. So at it's highest (oh gosh, math!) that should run no more than $70/day or $280/week (approximately $1213 monthly give or take).

I don't want to go into specifics about my earnings, but suffice it to say I make about double that amount monthly.

So it should be no problem, right?

PFT. NO!

Calculating all of our major bills, daycare and the cost of travel to and from work every day, I'd be making about (-$80) per week. Let me rephrase that.... I would be WORKING just to keep them in daycare. Honestly, I think for my sanity alone it's worth it... but still!

*hangs head in defeat*

I know we will figure it out. Work from home, Switch off Days Off, Adopt one of them out, whatever. But yet, SO. FREAKING. FRUSTRATING!

At least that settles the "should we have another one?" argument.


Ha! Over my depleted paycheck!!!