Your best bet for not doubling cost is probably a nanny -- I don't think there's cheaper daycare between Woodinville and work that is a quality match. (Personally, I'm sticking with the Learning Garden when my second is ready to start daycare, because my older daughter does really well with the group situation and a nanny *plus* preschool would be even more expensive.)
I would suggest checking out the Overlake Kindercare. It’s on 152nd just down the street from Office Depot. My daughter has been there since she was five months old. We’ve been very pleased with their care. The director, Vicky, is well organized, makes an effort to know all the kids and families, and very open to listening to parents’ concerns. They also offer a 10% discount to Microsoft families and the tuition is very reasonable. Our daughter is now in the Toddler room and with the discount we pay just over $800 a month.
You should be able to hire a nanny for less than that, especially if you share full or part time with another family. If you have the room for one, au pairs are quite inexpensive, since their room and board is part of their pay. To make sure that your son has socialization time, look into co-op pre-schools, or part-time pre-school. Your nanny can drive him there and pick him up.
Use a nanny to care for both kids if they are close in age
I will be moving to Issaquah after school ends this year and will be selecting an AuPair to care for the children. With the older 2 in Kindergarten and 1st Grade, she will supply after school care for them. The 2 year old will attend a Coop preschool which the AuPair will take her to and will also count towards the required educational credits the AuPair needs. The contract is 1 year and you select your AuPair. The initial fee is $6000 and then you pay $140 a week; I believe its $170 a week for infant care qualifications. They can only work 45 hours a week, so I will probably have a flex schedule where I work at home one day a week. Each person needs to make the choice when it comes to safety and how comfortable they are with in home care. Honestly, I’m not sure I would have done this with an infant…for some reason I felt “safe” having my babies in a daycare setting before they could talk. However, both my older children were very calm and quiet and therefore received hardly any attention when they were babies in daycare.
It is my hope that the AuPair will be able to do many of the same things I was able to do when I was a stay at home mom. This will benefit the children, as well as the AuPair since part of her reasons to be here is to experience the culture. The more I read about the AuPair programs the more I think it is a very good arrangement. I have not selected an agency yet, but if you are interested I can forward you some of the contacts I have.
Look at the in-home day cares. They are cheaper around $800 - $900 per month for a child. There are lots of them near main campus.
My daughter currently goes to Lake Washington Technical Colleges child care center. I can’t say enough about them. I have never visited Bright Horizons, but I know that every child I have seen at my daughters daycare is 99.9% always happy to be there. They are located in Kirkland and for my 2 year old, I only pay $700 a month. As she gets older the cost goes down. I supply lunch and extra clothes and they do lots of art projects and sensory, singing, dancing, playing and go outside every day as long as it isn’t absolutely pouring. They are usually really full so you may have to go onto a waiting list, but I highly recommend them for the care that they provide as well as the cost.
Toni Terry is the Director and can be reached at 425.739.8117.
Get a good nanny. You may be able to find one for around $2500 per month. We faced the same situation when we had our second child. We now have four kids, and we are still with a Nanny, as there’s no way I could afford four kids at the Learning Garden. : )
The benefits of having the Nanny is not having to drive and pick up the kids, less colds, more consistent chilld care, they can be on their own schedules. We’re happy with the flexibility a Nanny offers, especially as the kids get older and they need to be dropped off and picked up at schools, doctors appointments, etc.
You're closing in on full time nanny territory at $3,000 a month. We have a full-time nanny for our one child: monthly cost about 3,400 plus another 33% for FICA and taxes. We have her for almost 50 hours a week, so if you can limit the time to 40 hours a week, you can bring the cost to less than 3,000 a month. While the right thing to do is pay FICA etc, a lot of folks do not. If neither your husband nor you is planning to run for public office, you can probably fly under the radar screen. Plus, some nannies would rather have the extra $$ than have you pay their FICA.
The benefits of having someone arrive at your house each morning and save you the insanity of getting everyone out the door and having a second pair of hands for housework and laundry cannot be underestimated. Most importantly, the 1:1 attention for your children will be wonderful.
Although we used an agency to find our nanny, consider posting an ad for the position on Craig's List and conduct a background check yourself to save the agency fee, which can be a few thousand dollars.
Wow, have you considered a nanny? We had only one child and we did this when nannies weren’t quite so expensive. I still think that you might be able to save money that route, even at today’s prices. We loved every aspect of it. We hired a person who had a son the same age as ours and who brought him along. She took the kids somewhere every day and as part of her compensation we gave her memberships to the Zoo, the Aquarium, the Science Center, etc. She also had a play group of which she was a member and took the kids to that to interact with kids other than each other. The situation worked out fantastic for us, our son was loved, got lots of attention and had a “best buddy” everywhere he went. We really missed them when she moved and he moved into preschool.
There are lots of tips on finding a good nanny on the sharepoint, if you’d like to take a look. http://stsweb/MSParents/default.aspx Check under Free discussion and Infant Care discussion.
Small Dimensions, Bellevue (not Redmond)…..by Overlake Hospital. 425.453.1216
Monthly care is reasonable $$......care givers are awesome!
They are booked so I recommend getting on a waiting list. We love the place!
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