How to avoid daycare fees working 12hr shifts.

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any advices on how to avoid daycare fees and work nights i am a er nurse that works 12hrs and 26 weeks pregnant......i currently have a 3yr old son and due to have another one may 30. i would really enjoy not having the expense of daycare for 2 children, and was wondering if i work nights, weekend shift fri sat sun that i could avoid daycare fees. my hubby works m-f from 3pm-11pm so he could watch the kids on the weekends, and i could find someone on fridays for 4hrs until he gets off.........any advice........daycare for 2 kids are outrageous and my current daycare gives a whopping 5 dollar discount for siblings.

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It sounds like you already figured it out.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

I'm not sure how anyone here could advise you...it seems that you and your husband must work out the daycare issue.

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any advices on how to avoid daycare fees and work nights i am a er nurse that works 12hrs and 26 weeks pregnant......i currently have a 3yr old son and due to have another one may 30. i would really enjoy not having the expense of daycare for 2 children, and was wondering if i work nights, weekend shift fri sat sun that i could avoid daycare fees. my hubby works m-f from 3pm-11pm so he could watch the kids on the weekends, and i could find someone on fridays for 4hrs until he gets off.........any advice........daycare for 2 kids are outrageous and my current daycare gives a whopping 5 dollar discount for siblings.

why don't you advertise in church, for a hs girl to watch the kids for four hours once a week? or on a community bulletin board? i worked every other friday, saturday, and sunday, and the other friday. my husband would drop off the kids in the am, and the daycare had a van, drove them to school, and picked them up from school, and took them back to the daycare until my husband got off of work.

i only worked two 12 hour shifts. i was then able to take extra shifts for other nurses who needed days off in a pinch, and i wasn't ot working only 24 hours, so it was ok. i remember those days well, and don't envy people who have young children and have to work. it was not fun- juggling schedules, needing day care at odd hours and days. day cares that closed at 6:00 pm, and you worked 12 hour days, and did not get off until 7:30pm.

lindarn, rn, bsn, ccrn

somewhere in the pacnw

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Specializes in OB, ER.

It's tough, I'm in the same boat. I work 12 hour shifts on the weekends then work one or two 8 hour shifts during the week. I don't get a lot of sleep some days but I avoid daycare all together so it's worth it to me. It saves money and I get to raise my kids. My husband gets them a lot too which I think is great for him and the kids.

I did work a weekend reward program where I worked every weekend 24hrs and got paid for 36. I had to work EVERY weekend but it was wonderful. Because of budget reasons they cut the program a few months ago. I miss it a lot. Some places still do this though if you look around.

It's hard and sleep depriving but it's possible, good luck

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

Work nights and swap kid shifts with hubby. You'll be tired all the time of course, but save a fortune, and your kids will be with their parents. Good luck.

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Specializes in ED, OR, SAF, Corrections.

That's what I did for years when my kids were small - I worked nights, husband worked days - we simply couldn't afford the childcare.

We didn't have the time overlap problem like you, but assuming you can find someone to cover for those 4 hours, it's a good plan. Of course, you will be getting the short end of the stick because they are small, needy, and home all day just when you need to sleep - unlike your husband who will go to bed and stay there (or will once the newborn starts sleeping thru the night) once he puts them down for the night.

BUT as someone else mentioned - YOU will be raising your kids and who else cares more about their safety and well-being, so it's a worthwhile trade-off. Best of luck!

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Have you looked at the cost of a nanny? A friend of mine at work looked into the cost of daycare vs nanny and the cost of her and her husband working seperate shifts and the nanny end up being the better bargain.

Or look at colleges with an early child hood development program and see if any of their students needs a part time job

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Another option--a long shot but you never know until you ask: is switching to 8 hour shifts an option?

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Can you figure out a schedule where the only time you work is when your husband is able to care for the kids? Another suggestion is you could run an in home day care yourself or take care of special needs foster children. I had a baby 15 months ago and decided that taking the risk of trusting someone else with his life was not worth it, quit my job and stay home to take care of my 3 kids. I am taking care of other peoples kids and take home about $500 less than I did when I was working, plus no gas and car maintenance, uniform expenses. I am much happier now.

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Working 12 hours is hard when it comes to juggling childcare. My husband works 12 hour nights, I work 12 hour days. We have some overlapping days (I leave before he gets home in AM, he leaves before I get home in PM). We found a sitter on Sittercity.com, we love her. We have used her now for 2.5 years. She comes over in the mornings when I have to leave and he's not home and sits until he gets home. She gets our kids up and gets them ready for school so they are all ready when he gets home and he takes them to school/daycare. And vise versa, she comes in the PM and sits with them/helps with homework until I get home. She only costs about $20 for those 2 hours. We still have to pay for daycare at a Kindercare for our 5 year old but just a few days a week because we try to stagger our days. I also worked out a deal with my employer to get out of working days that would really cost me a ton of daycare. My unit requires 1 Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon per 4 week period. My husband works every Thurs/Fri/Sun. So working Fri/Sat would cost me a TON of daycare. I worked out a deal that I would work every Sunday in return for not working any Fri/Sat/Mon. Saves me a ton of daycare. Maybe try to negotiate your way out of days that would be really pricey and find someone that would be willing to come and watch your kids during those periods that you don't have anyone. Sittercity has background checks and references. I wasn't happy with just anyone watching my kids, but I LOVE my current sitter. :) Good luck!!!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I worked around his schedule. My husband works days so I worked 8 hour nights friday, 12 hours sat and 12 hours sunday.......every week. With your husband working evenings you could work 12 hours Sat 12 hours Sunday and maybe 8 hours picked up during the week......I was exhausted but worth every minute.......

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