LYNN -Keeping her child enrolled in Gregg House is a priority for Christine Brown and she juggles her other bills to ensure day care gets paid first.
?I pay one or another but I’m usually behind on my utilities,” she said.She is not alone. Local parents like Barbara McCann and Sandy Armstrong are trimming budgets and keeping them balanced so they can pay for day care. With parents working and educators stressing the need to keep kids busy after school, day care is not a luxury but a necessity.?We just don’t buy extras,” Armstrong said Tuesday by way of explaining how she fits day care costs into her budget.
Richard Vaczy spends $200 a week on day care and hopes he won’t get laid off from his job. Massachusetts, according to the National Association of Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies, is one of the most expensive state for day care in the nation.
Average annual prices for full-time care for a toddler range from $3,400 a year in Mississippi to $10,800 in Massachusetts, but there are ways to save money.
The YMCA offers affordable child care at around 10,000 sites across the country. Costs vary depending on the region. As a reference point, the YMCA in Akron, Ohio charges $155 a week for full-time care for a 4-year-old. Part-time care, or two days a week, is $80. Select centers also offer subsidies for low-income parents.
If you employ a caregiver at home, consider switching to an au pair to dial back spending. Unlike nannies, au pairs work for room and board instead of a salary. Most au pairs are college students, however, so their work week is often capped at 20 hours.
Company benefits like flex time and telecommuting can help cut back considerably on child care expenses. Couples might even be able to stagger shifts so someone is always home with the kids.
Before you approach your boss about a special work arrangement, however, consider the level of trust you’ve built. You might want to wait a few months to broach the topic if you’re still relatively new, said Steve Williams, director of research at the Society for Human Resource Management, an industry group based in Alexandra, Va.
One alternative to traditional day care is family child care. These are small operations run out of homes by stay-at-home guardians looking to earn extra money.
The family child care home Lichtenstein uses, for instance, only has two other children.
As with any outside care you employ, ask for references and what credentials or experience the provider has. For family child care, licensing and regulation vary from state to state.
In Massachusetts, for instance, providers need at least a year’s experience caring for children. Homes also need to meet safety and space guidelines and can generally take on no more than six children.
Regardless of where you live, one way to assess a home is to bring your child along for a visit.
“You can tell a lot by that. If the provider is warm and nurturing, the children will just melt into her,” said Linda Geigle, executive director of the National Association for Family Child Care, an advocacy group based in Salt Lake City.
Many large companies also offer tax-free spending accounts to care for a dependent. The benefit typically lets workers set aside up to $5,000 to cover costs such as child care.
Last year, 84 percent of large companies offered spending accounts for dependent care, according to business consulting firm Mercer.
Onsite day care, meanwhile, is usually only available at corporate headquarters, said Suzanne Riss, editor-in-chief of Working Mother. That means the vast majority of U.S. workers don’t have access to it.
When all else fails, enlist your network of family and friends. Barbara McCann is raising a grandchild and finding out for the second time around that teenagers have big appetites. Her dual role as grandparent and parent reflects the reality of a larger community played a central role in tending to the kids.
“People are
