Your children are old enough to go to school, but not quite old enough to be home alone, either. In those hours right after school when the income-earning members of the household still have professional responsibilities, the options for child care can be frustrating and limited.
The easy solution is to simply send the children to a child care center, but those are often expensive and can eat into a tight family budget.
Thankfully, that’s only one route among the many that you can take for after school care. Here are six additional options to consider as you’re making this crucial decision.
Work out an arrangement with a neighbor, friend or family member. Do you have someone in your life who can take care of your child after school for an hour or two? Perhaps there is a neighbor who has a more flexible work schedule than you, or maybe you know a stay-at-home parent who could do it. If you’re lucky, perhaps you live near a grandparent who can take on the daily responsibility.
Look around your social network and see if there is anyone in your neighborhood or in your school district who could watch your children right after school. You may be able to work out a bartering arrangement with this person. For example, you could watch the child of a stay-at-home parent on Saturdays in exchange for the service, or provide free date night babysitting each week for a couple.
Use a flexible spending account. A flexible spending account is a program sometimes offered by employers that enables employees to take advantage of tax benefits for child care. To put it simply, you deposit pretax money into the account, then spend it directly on child care expenses without having to pay taxes on it.
There are a few drawbacks — the biggest one being that you lose any excess money in the account at the end of the year, so you need to be careful not to put too much money in there. Another minor drawback is that dependent care FSAs are capped at $5,000 per year, which may not cover costs if you’re using the account for other child care expenses or you have particularly expensive child care. Still, it provides a route to save on your tax bill if you’re a working parent.
Talk to your human resources officer. Many employers offer benefits for working parents that aren’t necessarily known to all employees. The easiest way to find out about all of the benefits available to you is to simply chat with your human resources officer.
Your human resources officer can walk you through things like FSAs and alert you to other services like cooperative arrangements with certain child care centers. A quick meeting with a human resources officer can help you learn about these benefits and sign up for the ones that help your situation.
Discuss a schedule shift with your boss. Another option is to sit down with your boss and discuss the possibility of changing your schedule so you could care for your child on school days. This type of arrangement might allow you to work from home after 2 p.m. on some days or allow you to start your workday earlier so you can leave earlier.
Employers are often happy to work with good employees for nonfinancial considerations like these. Sometimes, individual supervisors will go above and beyond what’s recommended in the organization to make things work for you. Don’t hesitate to ask.
Hire a trusted teenager. Just like your children, many high school students finish a full day of school in the middle of the afternoon, and many of them would like an easy opportunity to earn a few dollars on a regular basis. Find out if there are any teenagers in your area who would be willing to watch your child after school for a fee.
Not sure how much to pay? Look at rates at local child care centers for a guideline to start. What would you have to pay at a child care center? A little less than that would be a good number for a teen.
Shop around — and never truly stop. If all else fails and you do have to use a child care center, shop around. Look at lots of options and prices in your area before making a decision. You may find that some “deals” don’t provide the care you’d like and that some great centers are surprisingly inexpensive.
Once your child is enrolled, don’t stop shopping around. Keep your ears open for other options that might be less expensive or provide better services for the same price.
After school child care can be a big expense for working parents. Any avenues you can find for reducing that expense can really help out with a tight family budget.
More from U.S. News
10 Things to Know Before You Shop for Back-to-School Supplies
6 Essential Questions to Ask Before Choosing a 529 Plan
What Type of Child Care Can You Afford?
6 Tactics to Save on After-School Child Care originally appeared on usnews.com
