by Ashley
How quickly the summer has flown by! Even though it doesn’t feel like Fall yet (and I guess technically its not for another month and a half!), the Fall semester is soon upon us!
This month is going to be a little on the pricy side for childcare. Our current childcare facility (the JCC)’s last day is on July 31st. They close for a week for teacher planning before the next school year begins. But our new childcare facility doesn’t start until August 12th. So we’re left with 7 weekdays with no childcare! Yikes!
Although my job does allow some flexibility for working from home, there’s no way I can stay home for the entire 7 days in a row. Especially at this time of year (being brand new, trying to get all the prep work done for my classes, endless meetings, setting up my new office, etc. etc. etc.) it’s just not feasible.
So after racking our brains for possible options we’ve finally resigned ourselves to the fact that we’re going to have to pay someone hourly to come to our house to watch the kids. This is WAY more expensive (per hour) than taking them to a childcare center. But I also don’t feel good about just throwing them in a random childcare center for 7 days and then moving them again to the new place (they’re not great with change, and moving to the new facility is going to be enough of an adjustment. Plus – anyone remember our bad experience with a childcare center last summer? That experience has scarred me a little so I’m extra careful about vetting places now). To me, this is really our only available option.
And, even so, I’m still going to have to take off work. Our babysitter is a senior in high school and schools start back next Thursday so she can only watch our kids Monday-Wednesday. The plan now is for me to stay home Thurs-Fri, and for hubs to stay home the following Mon-Tues, and then they start the new place on Wednesday, August 12th. Whew!
In addition to babysitting expenses, the new school has a whole list of things we need to bring. I’m going to use our same lunch boxes, but we need a new backpack (I’d only bought one last year and we never even used it, but the new place requires them and I want them to each have their own), we have to bring some school supplies, oversized shirts (to wear over their clothes for art projects), and it seems like a ton of other things that I can’t even remember right now. I just remember going through the paperwork seeing dollar signs as I was reading.
Even so, I’m VERY excited for them to start this new preschool. I absolutely loved the JCC and will sing their praises to the very end. But it’s not practical to stay there given the distance from our home (especially now with me working), and our new place seems really awesome, too. I ADORE their teacher, its closer to our house, the curriculum is incredible (it follows NAEYC standards), and it’s cheaper! A win-win-win all around!
So hopefully after this first month of extra childcare expenses (due to babysitting costs and back to school supplies), costs should even out a little bit.
I don’t know if its just because I’m in higher education, but I have always LOVED back-to-school excitement! You can just feel the energy and buzz in the air! I find it especially true on a college campus, but I’m sure it’s a similar feeling everywhere.
When do your kids go back to school? How much do you typically spend on back-to-school supplies?
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizonan on paper, Texan at heart. Lover of running, blogging, and all things cheeeeese. Freshly 40, married mother of two, working in academia. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-digit student loan debt!
I love back to school too Ashley. Hope you guys can successfully juggle the childcare craziness for a few days.
Hi Ashley,
from a frugal perspective:
don’t you have old shirts left the kids could use as oversized shirts?
Sure old shirts might not be as nice as new ones, but if they’re going to be covered in glue, paint and whatnot who cares 😀
That’s a really great point! I’ll go through my closet and see what I can find! Thanks for the idea, I honestly hadn’t even thought about trying to use something we’ve already got. Definitely makes sense, given it’s just going to get destroyed anyway! : )
If there is any chance that your girls will be asked to bring in additional school supplies later in the year, you’re probably best stocking up now. There’s nothing worse than paying full price in January for something that was on sale for $0.50 now.
Man, I second this. Last year we were asked to bring glue sticks again in January. Even though they were only $1, they were $0.30 in August. This year I bought about 40 sticks, just to be sure.
They didn’t specifically say, but I think you’re right that it’s probably a good idea to stock up, just in case. Worst case scenario (if they don’t ask for more in January), I can save them for the following year or even just use them for our own personal craft stuff at home!
Hi! Here in Canada school doesn’t start for another month, but we are not out until almost the end of June. I used to love back to school when I was a kid. I homeschool my 3 youngest now, so it’s not the big event that is was for my older two, but nonetheless they enjoy cracking open new books and beginning a new set of curriculum. But it’s nice to not have to worry about buying a whole bunch of stuff and clothes that ends up being for naught. Good luck with your crazy weeks ahead 🙂
I agree about stocking up on school supplies now! There are so many great deals going on, although be sure to price compare as some of the “deals” are not that great.
I always buy extra supplies to use throughout the entire year and even buy extra to donate to my teacher friends.
And this may be something to put in future budgets for August – soon they will need a second pair of shoes for gym class, locker supplies, expensive calculators (!!), band uniforms, sports equipment and then on to dorm supplies, etc……it really only gets more expensive each year, even when you try to keep it frugal:)