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Resolution!

August 25th, 2015 at 04:12 pm

Phew, we finally figured out the after-school situation for our soon-to-be kindergartner (she starts tomorrow! eek!).

Initially we decided that AS would pick her up and take her to daycare on days that she could, and we enrolled AA in the school's after-school program the other two days (Tues. and Thurs.) of the week. For the first week, when AS wouldn't be available Wed. or Fri. to pick her up, we were arranging friends to step in.

When I told the daycare lady about this, she said she'd be able to pick AA up Mon-Wed-Fri. That was a surprise because previously we'd only talked about that happening if AA could get bussed slightly closer to daycare (e.g. to the daycare lady's sister's house). So then we thought to ask if she could pick her up all FIVE days.

So today we worked it out. For $155 more per month, the daycare lady or her husband will pick AA up every day after school.

Whew! Is it the absolute cheapest option? No, but it's the best-feeling one. Our daycare provider and her family are like OUR family. And frankly, her tuition is so cheap that an extra $155 doesn't feel like a big deal at all. With the 2 days a week at the school's after-school program, we would have been paying about $105 more per month anyway, so this is only a bit more expensive than our other option, and AS doesn't lose productivity on her freelancing in the afternoons getting AA from school to daycare.

As for the net effect to our budget, it's $155 more than we originally planned, but still $35 cheaper than full-time daycare for both kids.

We realized another expense we need to work into the budget is school lunches. It's not much; AA will probably only eat school lunch 1 or 2 days per week when there's a vegetarian option (besides grain-veggie salads, which are available every day but I don't think AA would go for). So it'll be maybe $20 per month. Our food budget may need to go up a bit to accommodate making lunches when usually we just relied on the daycare to feed AA, but we'll see. We might be able to just work it into the existing budget.

Even so, with AS's healthcare dropping from $170 last month to just $70 from now on, our overall budget is looking really good.

So, I'm really really happy!

9 Responses to “Resolution!”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1440517491

    So happy that you figured it out! It's not always about the money is it?!

  2. MonkeyMama Says:
    1440517955

    That's great!

  3. snafu Says:
    1440519626

    I too feel relief for AA as the least complicated the transportation the better. Winter can have brutal days and in our city it seems one child always becomes 'at risk' on a bad, really bad, winter storm day due to complicated transportation arrangements. You'll likely discover adorable AA will be much happier with lunch from home, familiar things she likes. DSs used to comment on how much food got traded or worse thrown into trash totally untouched at school.

  4. CB in the City Says:
    1440521234

    Much better solution than all that convoluted scheduling!

  5. Bluebird Says:
    1440521417

    That's a wonderful option! Glad it worked out to be a simple solution!

  6. laura/deacon's wife Says:
    1440524749


    Win-win all the way around: more money for daycare provider, less stress for you and AA and the schedule! Good news! Smile

  7. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1440547070

    What a great solution! I hope AA has a wonderful first day of K tomorrow!

  8. My English Castle Says:
    1440549670

    Good and simple! Hooray for all of you.

  9. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    1441124703

    Much simpler solution and honestly much easier. I'd do it in a heartbeat. You have someone you know and trust picking her up and not having to rely on AS who is busy working. Great deal.

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