Child care expenses have a way of eating up a huge chunk of the family budget and can also include nanny tax if you are employing someone full time. You might need childcare if you are working, but at the same time, it is not unusual to see more and more parents searching for ways to cut down on expenses these days.
Check with your human resources department to see if you can take part in a dependent care account. Several businesses now include this cool option, which allows you to put a certain amount aside every month before taxes.
Talk to your friends and your own parents if they live nearby. If you can get by with only having part-time daycare, you will be able to cut down your expenses a lot. Perhaps grandma and grandpa can babysit your children on Tues. and Thurs, or maybe your good friend is willing to keep your child at home on Monday, for example.
Form a co-op for childcare services. Maybe you can speak with the parents of your child’s friends and find out how they are doing with regards to childcare option, and perhaps you find a few who also want to reduce costs. By creating a co-op, you can spread around the child care and each parent can have a turn at the child care.
Locate a few parents who would be willing to pay to hire a high school or college student and then have the same person watch your children and the children of the other parents who are also participating. The kids will also have the opportunity to play together and become friends.
If you are working a particular shift, maybe you can trade for childcare with another coworker who is on a different shift. If your children are already close friends, then it will become much more like a play date and less like childcare to start with.
Obviously, there are a lot of ways to reduce costs when it comes to child care expenses. While one size certainly doesn’t fit all situations, there are going to be quite a few ideas that will hopefully work for you.