How do you handle childcare?

Question

I am a full time real estate agent, part time overnight retail worker, part time student (online courses), wife and mother of a wonderful 6 year old little boy. My husband works full time during the day as an account manager. Now that it is summer and our son is out of school, I don't know what I am going to do. I am not fortunate enough to have family or friends to care for him. Also, in my area the summer programs are entirely too expensive ( all range from $190-$210 per week).

I just want to know how everyone else does it.

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure most either are at home moms, or are living within their means enough to cover daycare expenses. 2 full time jobs, and a part time job should be sufficiently covering the bills and then some. We live on my husbands 700-800/wk income, with 500-1000 a month left over after bills. Mtg, car payment, 2 kids, pregnant with our last..so 25% of all pre-natal expenses. If we had the income of 2 f/t, 1p/t job and 1 kid....we'd be Vacationing in Europe every 6 months!!! (Seriously)

Cut out anything that isn't mandatory in your monthly expenses. Obviously real estate school didn't teach financing/economics? Increase income, or decrease bills.....thats what people do.

Edit* as I said...BUDGET! Helpful advice is *INCREASE INCOME, OR DECREASE BILLS* what else do you want? It's a simple concept..."helpful advice" is obviously not what your looking for! Because it's right there clear as day, and your not seeing it. Whatever lady, thats your problem.

Answer 2

I would suggest to look for a babysitter.  Even a teenager can handle a 6 year old, they pretty well know what's going on with what and can feed and change themselves, etc.  Babysitters usually don't charge much for their services, maybe $75 a week or more.  Find a responsible teen with references (people that can prove they know what they're doing) that are relevant to your parenting style.  For instance, if you are against video games don't take a reference from someone who lets their kids play them all day long.  Me and my husband were in a similar circumstance and had to hire a babysitter.  Even well paying full time jobs aren't good enough right now, the economy is terrible and everything is so expensive.  Just find a babysitter.  It doesn't sound like you have much choice.  Or if you belong to a church, sometimes they have summer programs for children.

Answer 3

My husband and I had a similar problem a couple of years ago. Summer came along and our three kids were home. We were both working full time and just couldn't spend the money on expensive day camps to keep the kids occupied during the day. $190-200 is NOTHING where we live...camp comes to about 3g a kid for 8wks! We ended up finding a town rec camp that was about 60wk per child so they did that. They also spent a few days at friends houses and a in home day care. We took turns taking days off and bringing work home and made it work.

Can you take time off from your online classes? Are there any rec camps in your area? Any cheap in home daycares? Any friends of his who can watch him for some pay? Can you take days off? Can you bring any work home to do?

Check all your choices and see what you can come up with.

Good luck!