I'm Not Crazy

Here's an article, appropriately named The Childcare Crisis, about childcare costs that show that I was actually underestimating the cost of childcare in an urban area when I quoted $1800/month:

Wendy Brauner's rent clocks in at $1,800 a month -- what some might consider a great deal in San Francisco. But don't think Brauner is living the high life. With a son, 3, and another almost 6, she was spending $2,750 a month on child care until her oldest started kindergarten last fall -- nearly 20% of her household income.

"I was writing a check for $17,000 to the preschool and wondered why it sounded so familiar," she says. "Then I realized it was a few hundred off what I paid for my first semester of college at Wellesley. It's just an enormous outlay."

I get that. Even with just one child, child-care costs were a major chunk of my own family's monthly expenses until our daughter, Harper, started kindergarten. The tab never came close to the $3,200 a month we spend for shelter, but that was mostly because, as a freelance writer, I can shuffle my work hours as needed. And that saves money -- a lot of money. In part-time day care, Harper never cost us more than $900 a month.

Still, it's a serious budget item. And we're among the lucky ones. The cost of child care in this country is one of those little secrets -- like leaky diapers and colic -- that parents just don't share with friends who are expecting.