what is the cost of daycare?

OUKap

I was wondering what the going rate for good daycare runs in okc. What about other baby expenses.

amidavey06

The daycares we looked at ranged from $150-$175/week (this is the prices for an infant). The most expensive were centers. We ended up going with an in home daycare but will be putting her in a center sometime this year. We have priced the centers again (she is now 2) and the prices do go down when they get older. I would think that OKC would be about the same range as Norman.

The other baby expenses I think it depends on whether you are planning on breastfeed or formula feed and also if you want to use disposables vs. cloth. The huge chunk of our money goes to daycare each month.

Temp856430000003146

I can't speak for daycare, but the other baby expenses werent too high. I breastfed DS until he was 6 months old and diapers were about $40/month. For us, in the first year we spent less than $200/month total (diapers, clothing, copays, some formula, a few toys....)

BoyMom21

Don't forget to include doctors visits and copays, prescriptions (some of our breathing treatment meds were almost $400 last year). A can of formula is like 20-28 bucks and you go though it quickly. After the first year they get cheaper, but now I spend a lot on toys, books, child classes (those alone are around 60-70 a month) and fun outings like the zoo, chuck e cheese, lido's, Orr family farm, pumpkin patch--we go A LOT. I don't do well sitting at home! You'll get a lot of essentials at your shower if you have one. It can be as cheap or expensive as you make it. You can buy a crib for $200 or $1200--baby crap has ridiculous variety. If you don't mind clothes shopping at target/kohls/jbf, it is very affordable. If you're a baby boutique lover, you'll spend $30 on a onesie.

OUKap

I see it often, per week...do you still pay if you take a vacation and the kid is not in daycare for two weeks.

amidavey06

OUKap:

I see it often, per week...do you still pay if you take a vacation and the kid is not in daycare for two weeks.

We don't pay if M is not attending that day. Our DCP gives us 10 vacation days but she also have paid vacation for herself (she doesn't take it all at one time). I'm sure it varies from place to place though.

Steven&Jamie

OUKap:

I see it often, per week...do you still pay if you take a vacation and the kid is not in daycare for two weeks.

From what research I've done so far, some daycares charge daily but most that I've found charge by the week even if LO isn't there. Since I teach, I obviously don't want to pay for daycare during spring break, Christmas break, summer, etc....so I'm hoping we can find a place that will cooperate with my schedule.

critti710

OUKap:

I see it often, per week...do you still pay if you take a vacation and the kid is not in daycare for two weeks.

The center DD used to go still charged you if your kid was gone a whole week (or two), but it wasn't the full rate.  I'm guessing this is different for every provider.

critti710

BoyMom21:

It can be as cheap or expensive as you make it.

I definitely agree.  I think it depends on the choices you make, what your taste is, and to some extent, just chance.  With DS, I exclusively breastfed, cloth diapered, bought clothes at consignment sales and received most of the big stuff we needed/used as gifts.  Because of all of that and that fact that he has fortunately been very, very healthy, most of the cost involved when he was an infant was from his delivery itself.  The only really significant cost we've had lately was when we upgraded to a very safe, high quality car seat when he outgrew the rear-facing limit in the first convertible seat we'd purchased.

ShansBride

critti710:

BoyMom21:

It can be as cheap or expensive as you make it.

I definitely agree.  I think it depends on the choices you make, what your taste is, and to some extent, just chance.  With DS, I exclusively breastfed, cloth diapered, bought clothes at consignment sales and received most of the big stuff we needed/used as gifts.  Because of all of that and that fact that he has fortunately been very, very healthy, most of the cost involved when he was an infant was from his delivery itself.  The only really significant cost we've had lately was when we upgraded to a very safe, high quality car seat when he outgrew the rear-facing limit in the first convertible seat we'd purchased.

I agree too.  V was pretty price, mostly because his medical bills for his first year were through the roof.  M was pretty cheap though.  I already had cloth diapers from V and just got a few cute girly ones because I wanted to (totally didn't need them though), I breastfed, and we just used all the stuff we had from V (carseat, swing, etc).  We did get her clothes, but that was about it.

With this baby, the only thing we really need to spend money on is the birth.  I have all the diapers and clothes from the other kids so we are pretty set there.

ETA:  assuming this child is healthy.  Like I said V was not and his medical bills were high, but M was healthy so we didn't spend anything on her for medical (aside from copays which we don't have with our new insurance).

OUKap

Thanks. I was trying to figure out a realistic budget with a kid. I would need daycare and had factored in $150 for other expenses. My insurance already includes family and has excellent maternity coverage, so those expenses should be low with a healthy baby.