Do You Make More Doing Daycare Then Outside?

[spinnymarie]

I made way more as a teacher. With potential, through experience and school, to make tons more than I am/will. Purely in take-home dollars.
What I make up for in emotional well-being is worth it - and I'm fortunate to have my husband's job provide the majority of our income and excellent health care.

[daycarediva]

I make almost twice what I made outside the home. Not even factoring in expenses like daycare, gas, vehicle wear and tear, clothing, etc. This year I will make about 65k. I also have perks like deductions that I did not get before.

I also LOVE being home, with my dh for lunch, with my own kids, not having to leave in a blizzard like this morning....

[Maggie]

Before I started doing daycare in 1995 I was making $8 an hour in a nursing home. I think at that time I was charging $65 a week for full time and I still made more money then when I was working outside the home. I could never go back to working for someone else ive been my own boss for way too long.

[BumbleBee]

Outside the home I was making $4000 more per year.

I will glady take a $4000 cut in pay for being my own boss and not having the stress of working in a hostile environment.

[originalkat]

I make 55K a year now which is a heck of a lot more than I could make outside of home especially considering all the deductions I get. Plus, I do not think I could go work for someone else and be happy. I LOVE being my own boss. I also homeschool our kids which is priceless to me. I feel so blessed to bring in a good income and be home with my family.happyface

[countrymom]

I make less (I was a nurse) but its not the money that makes the job. Its the person. Everyone has mentioned everything I would write about the job. But if your looking at making a huge amount of money, then this isn't the job and I think thats what the question is implying.

[AcornMama]

I've been a stay-at-home mom for 18 years now, so I'm making more money than I have in 18 years!

Before that I was a teacher. Theoretically, if I could get my enrollment up, I think I'd come close to what teachers make here. I know I'd make what I made when I was teaching, but that was 20 years ago!

But I homeschool my kids, and my commitment to homeschooling them and being home with them is greater than my need to contribute to the family income. So this business is the most sensible way I could come up with to supplement my husband's income and still be at home with my kids.

[crazydaycarelady]

When I first started doing dc I didn't make much BUT I was home with my boys. Once they got to be over 6 and did not count in my limits anymore I started to make a pretty good living. I don't think it would be feasible though if my hubby did not have a job with benefits and a really good retirement.

[MarinaVanessa]

I get more money doing daycare than working outside. My mother also works a 40 hour workweek at $14 an hour and I still make more than she does, plus I get to stay home with my kids, and take my daughter to school and pick her up, work in a career that I enjoy and am less stressful altogether.

For me however we have always had my DH's health benefits which are pretty good since he works for the government. They're going to go up next year and we will lose some of the perks that we had before but we figured it out and if won't affect us as much as we thought it would. We just cut back on some unnecessary things.

Also I wasn't able to afford or have the time to go to school to get a degree before I did daycare and now I can. This year has been almost as low as my first year of doing daycare because of the addition of my infant son so now we have three children of our own that count towards my ratios which means I only have five daycare spots. I only have three filled at the moment because I let 2 go in July right before I gave birth but I subsidize my income with drop-ins when I feel like it until the new year (once my infant gets a little bigger) so that I can enjoy my baby since he will be my last one.

All in all the perks of doing daycare outweigh me having job elsewhere.

[DaisyMamma]

If I'm full I make more.

We are lucky and qualify for state health insurance and it doesn't cost us a penny.

I give myself other benefits such as paid vacations/holidays as well.

I'm not full and I am actually way below where my income needs to be, however I wouldn't consider being away from my kids and putting them in someone else's daycare or working at night.

[sharlan]

I made a lot more money 30 years ago when I quit my job to be a SAHM and provide daycare. 30 years later and I still don't make as much as I did then, nor do I have the benefits I did then.

BUT, I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. I was not meant to be a mother working outside the home. I spent all day worrying about my kids. I've posted here some of the horror stories that my kids were exposed to. I spent all night worrying about what I didn't accomplish at work. It was a lose/lose situation for me and for my kids.