Just a 46-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). Preschool had spots so the kids are going 4 days this week. Woohoo. I hadn't even thought of it but dh has a lot of video work to do too - so this should help.
Monday is a holiday so they are going T/W next week. At least I feel we are getting our money's worth. They were under no obligation to make up for holidays or vacations.
I signed up BM for swim classes in July - with the city - very reasonable. About $12/hour.
OF course we just got an e-mail regarding lessons at our community pool. It's within walking distance and private lessons are merely $30/hour. Really, not horrid. 2 weeks of classes. VERY convenient.
So I am signing up for those as well. I don't care if he has to take 10 sessions through the city. I want BM to be swimming by end of this summer. He's ready. I think ideally he will have the private lessons first, and dh will practice with him a lot.
Grandma is finally getting a fence around her pool too - that is where her stimulus check went. You don't know how relieved I am.
I guess pool/swimming is on our minds here with this horrid hot weather. Our pool does not open until Memorial Day. That annoys me every year. (though think - just one week!). We have a birthday party to go to at the pool Monday, so we will enjoy the day it opens...
Today dh met me for lunch since I had wanted/needed to deposit my paycheck today. He met me, picked up my check, and went to the bank for me. That's my guy! I had considered driving by yesterday but wasn't exactly in the mood. This was way better.
We ate at a Taqueria around the corner - lunch for 2 - $8. Was a lot of food. & yummy yummy yummy.
I was kind of dreading work today, but it wasn't so bad. The kids were thrilled to go back to preschool today so dropping them off left me on a happy note (we just love the place). & work was not so bad - not a lot of calls or e-mails during my absence. The place did not fall apart either. Phew!
Heck, just a couple of hours before I pick up the kids. The whole kid drop-off/pick-up thing will not leave me very productive this week, so oh well. I had considered working a bit Saturday, to catch up a bit. But I hadn't realized Memorial Day was so soon. Wow. I think I will enjoy a 3-day weekend. Forget working extra...
Just a little more catching up to do, though once I hit June I expect the pace to slow considerably. HEck, it already has... But work has slowed to a more bearable pace. Summer will be slow. I will probably be bored. Figures!
Getting My Money's Worth
May 19th, 2008 at 09:20 pm
May 20th, 2008 at 11:30 pm 1211326224
May 22nd, 2008 at 06:03 pm 1211479380
The kids are $35/day for part time/each. (9 hours a day plus lunches and snacks included). My friend pays $600/month full-time at the same place. (I pay $315 for 2 days a week, for one).
That is about as cheap as it gets around here - small in-home daycare. & part-time is REALLY hard to find (beyond like community programs that are 4 hours a week or something very minimal).
If you are asking in regards to your own situation, I have 2 tips. First, look for a preschool co-op in the area (volunteer time in exchange for less out-of-pocket expense). I have a lot of friends who do cop-op, there are just none in our area.
Secondly, a deal like this with a set schedule of 2-3 days a week is generally cheaper/better than a nanny/babysitter anyway. This is my own personal conclusion. You don't have to use all the time, but you can lock it in for a much cheaper price, and much better care (IMO). We looked for some very part-time flexible care and found little under $10/hour for distracted college students and distracted mothers. We just couldn't make it work so started BM out at preschool for 8 hours a week to begin (that was probably much more impossible to find than the 2 full days we have grown into).
So I don't think the token $4/hour we pay, now, is half bad, though we certainly benefit from economies of scale.
If you are looking for preschool for just a couple of hours a week there are a lot of really cheap options though, if you check the community centers and the like.
May 22nd, 2008 at 06:06 pm 1211479591
The kids are $35/day for part time/each. (9 hours a day plus lunches and snacks included). My friend pays $600/month full-time at the same place. (I pay $315 for 2 days a week, for one).
That is about as cheap as it gets around here - small in-home daycare. & part-time is REALLY hard to find (beyond like community programs that are 4 hours a week or something very minimal).
If you are asking in regards to your own situation, I have 2 tips. First, look for a preschool co-op in the area (volunteer time in exchange for less out-of-pocket expense). I have a lot of friends who do cop-op, there are just none in our area.
Secondly, a deal like this with a set schedule of 2-3 days a week is generally cheaper/better than a nanny/babysitter anyway. This is my own personal conclusion. You don't have to use all the time, but you can lock it in for a much cheaper price, and much better care (IMO). We looked for some very part-time flexible care and found little under $10/hour for distracted college students and distracted mothers. We just couldn't make it work so started BM out at preschool for 8 hours a week to begin (that was probably much more impossible to find than the 2 full days we have grown into).
So I don't think the token $4/hour we pay, now, is half bad, though we certainly benefit from economies of scale.
If you are looking for preschool for just a couple of hours a week there are a lot of really cheap options though, if you check the community centers and the like.
This has worked REALLY well for us since our kids go M/W & she has T/Th kids, we often use her for drop-in care on Fridays, if needed. We just found the whole part-time/occassional care thing impossible. But now we know we have care M/W/F when we need it. We usually don't "need" it but it is so nice when we do!