How to Locate an Inexpensive Child Daycare

There is nothing more important to a working parent's piece of mind than knowing his or her child is spending the day surrounded by loving, enriching people at a quality daycare facility. However, many times that wonderful daycare comes at an extremely high price. And sometimes that high-priced daycare isn't half as wonderful as the inexpensive daycare across town. That's why it's very important to research child daycare centers thoroughly.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Notebook and pen or computer with Internet access
• Phone book

Find Day Care

1. Contact your county's social service agency's office for children. They can provide referrals for daycare as well as financial information.

2. Grab a phone book and start calling. If you work far from home, use the phone book for whichever area has lower real estate prices. Call every daycare listed to find out their rates. If they won't tell you over the phone, then cross them off your list. Also eliminate the ones that are out of your price range. Hopefully, you will still have a few on the list.

3. Find the in-home daycares. They might be listed in the phone book, but you can also check community bulletin boards, look for signs in your preferred neighborhoods and ask friends and acquaintances. Call all the in-home daycares you learn about and find out their rates. Then add them to your list.

4. Define your priorities. Hopefully you have a list of inexpensive daycares. Now you need to factor in other costs: gas to get there, extra charges for late pick-ups or early drop offs if you need them, whether they include meals or whether you will have to provide breakfasts and lunches, how many diapers you must bring and any other extra charges.

5. Visit each daycare with your list of priorities in a notebook or on a computer. Ask about extra charges and record the answers. This is also a good time to record your general impressions of the daycare, its license number to check for complaints, and a feel for the teachers.

6. Factor gas in with the extra charges and weekly payments to find the most inexpensive daycare.

Tips & Warnings

• Give yourself lots of time to find child care so that you can research thoroughly. Don't forget to check your own neighborhood first. In-home daycares tend to be more affordable.

Resources

• Info About Quality Child Care