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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Get Into a House or Buy a Newer Car?
Unregistered 02:47 AM 09-14-2014
i feel that the details need to be given in order to get the proper situation out there...


it's daddy and me and 8 month old baby. currently in a 2/1 apartment at $860/month. we have 14k in consumer debt, our credit cards are maxed out (i wasn't working for 6 months), no savings, etc. So long as we give 30 days notice to current landlord, we can move out.

we're looking at houses tomorrow (to rent) and because of our $ situation, we cannot get into a house ($1200-$1350/month + utilities) AND get me a newer car (used for $17k-$25k, $2k of that for down payment). in all honesty, we'll probably have to wait until 2015 to do either, but i'm optimistic... we both have good credit (mine is 675 and daddy's is 670 i believe). no evictions, no bankruptcy, etc. just bought daddy a new car in August (his was older than mine and had no AC ! we're in FL !). his car is $20k with 0% APR for 5 years.

i have a 2001 SUV that's a gas guzzler (18mpg at BEST) and poor quality- something breaks down with it every 3-4 months and i hardly drive it 10-15 miles a day. it was a hand-me-down car and it's paid off. Kelley Blue Book says it's worth $800. the shocks are bad on one wheel and it makes noise constantly as i'm driving. the gas tank stops every 5 seconds (literally) as i'm pumping because there's something wrong with it. clock doesn't work, radio sometimes has an error message when i go over a big bump, if i turn the radio off it's impossible to turn back on, the steering wheel is crumbling from heat exposure, the paint job is splotchy really badly cause of the heat and sun exposure, and in general i hate it. insurance on it is $77. i'm over 25 so my insurance will not be too much higher on a newer car. daddy's is $115 for just his and so when we add me, we will prob get a discount.

i've asked my family and friends on FB about this too, but what do you think we should do ? there's no room to do daycare here and there's no laundry in the apartment- it's in the clubhouse. pain in the butt to try n do laundry with a baby like that so i just go to my mom's 5 minutes away and spend a day there doing laundry. it wears me out!
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Unregistered 02:48 AM 09-14-2014
the SUV has 160k miles on it, btw
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Thriftylady 06:50 AM 09-14-2014
I personally would not take on more debt with cards maxed out and such. I would start saving up for a new car, but would not take on more debt in your situation.
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Thriftylady 06:54 AM 09-14-2014
And I should add no need for repairs to cost a fortune. If you have a technical school near you call the automotive department there. Most times they will give you free labor (you pay for parts) so the students get experience. Yes you have to sign that you won't sue them if something goes wrong (ex they break a part and you have to buy another), however instructors are there teaching the kids and that has only happened once in my experience and my son was going to school there in a different program. They did something to his rear axle, but they had another one laying around that the students had been practicing on so he got one with newer parts than the one they broke and his became the practice one. Win win lol. They may have your vehicle a little longer since they have other classes to take and can't work in it all day every day, but well worth it to me.
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KidGrind 07:50 AM 09-14-2014
I view vehicles as a luxury. Your family already has a new/newer car in the family. You haven’t expressed a need for another car. You’ve only expressed a want.

I would hold off of purchasing another car. I would drive the clunker until the wheels fell off, then I would arrange to have the newer car when my partner is at work. Unless he delivers pizzas, it is highly unlikely he will need his car during work hours.
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itlw8 08:59 AM 09-14-2014
you have 14000 in cc debt ??? You can not afford any of that right now. You need to stay where you are and take the $400 you want to pay in extra rent and pay off those cc . YOu need to cut expenses and increase income to get out of debt before you even think about another new car of a bigger home.

start saving that baby emergency fund of 1000 snowball that debt and cut the expenses to the bone.

That means no eating out, cut cable and all those other wants that are not needs.

As far as the laundry stop collecting a weeks worth do one load a day. Or go to a laundry mat and do all at one time in several washers. GEt a weekend or evening job so Daddy can watch the baby. And really you could use just one car if you are both not working. You can get ahead in a very short time if you work on it.
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Controlled Chaos 09:05 AM 09-14-2014
Check out Dave Ramsey. Get out of debt, then buy everything with cash. We follow his advice 90% of the time. It has really helped us get out of debt, build some savings up etc.
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LysesKids 10:58 AM 09-14-2014
Can I ask a ?... if OP wants to do childcare so bad, what is stopping her from watching just one or two kids just a few hrs here and there (space is a BS answer IMO)... I watched 3 kids in an apartment for 2 years; unless you live in a county where you must be licensed for even one child ( yes FL has some where you can't work without a license, some areas however, you can, so it's worth a look), date night babysitting might be an option - I did it in a small 2 bdrm with my teenage dd and my now Ex back in 2006.

Your laundry can be done onsite instead of at mommas house. If there is public transport, sell the car and use it if the car is that unreliable to drive... grocery shop after daddy gets home. With your debt, you don't have options on getting either a car or a house - Neither is more like it

Dave Ramsey's ideas can help, but you have to be willing to forgo what you consider needs because they are really wants (like cable TV and eating out...); Heck, I actually draw a nice childcare clientele because I don't have a TV or Microwave.
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daycare 11:55 AM 09-14-2014
Sorry for this sounds rude but how in the world do you get that much credit card debt living in an apartment.

I would cut up those cards, work on paying them off. Work odd jobs, care for 1-2 kids at a time if you can. Cut expenses, sell stuff on Craig's list.

If you pay down the cards you can improve your credit. 700is a good score that will get you the best rates. It seems like your debit to income ratio is too high. You will end up with a car loan at a higer interest rate and therefore be in even higer debt.

If you don't work why do you need another reliable car.

For years we had one really good realizable car an one piece of junk. I worked from home and didn't transport so I didn't need the vehicle. I waited until my husband was home to use his car to get what I needed.

Don't save for today to spend tomorrow.
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TwinKristi 12:02 PM 09-14-2014
Yeah, believe me... Get out of debt. Save money. If you want to do daycare set up a time line with savings and deadlines. Having a new car is 100% a luxury and the way our media and society has found a way to cripple people.
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daycarediva 04:26 PM 09-14-2014
Originally Posted by itlw8:
you have 14000 in cc debt ??? You can not afford any of that right now. You need to stay where you are and take the $400 you want to pay in extra rent and pay off those cc . YOu need to cut expenses and increase income to get out of debt before you even think about another new car of a bigger home.

start saving that baby emergency fund of 1000 snowball that debt and cut the expenses to the bone.

That means no eating out, cut cable and all those other wants that are not needs.

As far as the laundry stop collecting a weeks worth do one load a day. Or go to a laundry mat and do all at one time in several washers. GEt a weekend or evening job so Daddy can watch the baby. And really you could use just one car if you are both not working. You can get ahead in a very short time if you work on it.
Originally Posted by daycare:
Sorry for this sounds rude but how in the world do you get that much credit card debt living in an apartment.

I would cut up those cards, work on paying them off. Work odd jobs, care for 1-2 kids at a time if you can. Cut expenses, sell stuff on Craig's list.

If you pay down the cards you can improve your credit. 700is a good score that will get you the best rates. It seems like your debit to income ratio is too high. You will end up with a car loan at a higer interest rate and therefore be in even higer debt.

If you don't work why do you need another reliable car.

For years we had one really good realizable car an one piece of junk. I worked from home and didn't transport so I didn't need the vehicle. I waited until my husband was home to use his car to get what I needed.

Don't save for today to spend tomorrow.


I would make it a priority NOT to move (increase expense) or buy a newer car (increased expense) until your debt is paid off. If you can, cut everything AND put the difference between a house and apartment (several hundred based on your estimates) towards the CC debt.

I would absolutely max myself out (legally) in daycare kids and use ALL of that money to put towards debt.

Cut ALL unnecessary expenses.

you're (imho) living well beyond your means.
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itlw8 06:43 PM 09-14-2014
Many new moms start doing childcare with one or 2 children. If the going rate is $100 a week that would be $400 you could put towards your debts each month. in 10 months you would have paid $4000 of that debt. 2 children $8000
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Unregistered 04:13 AM 09-15-2014
Originally Posted by itlw8:
you have 14000 in cc debt ??? You can not afford any of that right now. You need to stay where you are and take the $400 you want to pay in extra rent and pay off those cc . YOu need to cut expenses and increase income to get out of debt before you even think about another new car of a bigger home.

start saving that baby emergency fund of 1000 snowball that debt and cut the expenses to the bone.

That means no eating out, cut cable and all those other wants that are not needs.

As far as the laundry stop collecting a weeks worth do one load a day. Or go to a laundry mat and do all at one time in several washers. GEt a weekend or evening job so Daddy can watch the baby. And really you could use just one car if you are both not working. You can get ahead in a very short time if you work on it.

I'm a start-up provider and haven't begun doing daycare yet. I work full-time overnight as a janitor to bring in more $. My mom watches the baby between our shifts 3 times a week. next month we're coming into more $ and it'll be easier to knock down bills.

FL is really expensive for the basics ($1100 for rent, utilities, groceries, etc) and we're a young couple, i'm a college grad and daddy did 2 years of college. we don't live even remotely extravagantly and i try and cook most meals. i buy quality food but it just seems like the $ slips away each month. our son has cost us a lot of money from clothes to toys to his crib... nearly everything we own is good-condition used, but it still adds up. we have $25 internet, no cable tv, don't hardly leave the house. just watch Netflix streaming for $8/month which is a real bargain.
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Unregistered 04:24 AM 09-15-2014
it's tough being young and making minimal wages for your education and experience. i get paid $9.93 an hour and daddy gets $15.69 an hour. his job is non-traditional hours and his schedule right now is noon-10pm.

the main reason we're in so much debt right now is because i was going to do daycare at my mom's house but then something happened and i couldn't. was going to start in Feb this year- that was my plan. so then i decided to do it in my apartment. the prospective families i interviewed... never heard from them again. and i believe one of them reported me to DCF for doing daycare in my apartment... so then i wasn't working for 6 months PP (when i WANTED to start at 2 months PP). so we were living on daddy's income alone ($2300/month with $1100 in necessity, baseline expenses plus baby supplies, baby formula, diapers, wipes, gas, etc and i was buying used daycare supplies off Craig's List because we were going to get into a house in July 2014 but that didn't happen either...).

we were trying to be as frugal as possible but it was hard to manage it. some months we barely scraped by, with no help from our families. earlier this year we were down to $11k in personal debt (with help of tax refund) and we wanted to keep it going. then all hell broke loose.

i'm not looking to get a new car, just a newER car, like 2009 or newer. idc if it's the latest and greatest, i just want a safe car for my son to be in and something reliable that can get me to work right now while we're saving $.

our apartment is too crammed for me to do daycare here, honestly. that's why we were waiting to get into a house. there's not much room to move around in, especially for young kids.
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LysesKids 05:56 AM 09-15-2014
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
it's tough being young and making minimal wages for your education and experience. i get paid $9.93 an hour and daddy gets $15.69 an hour. his job is non-traditional hours and his schedule right now is noon-10pm.

the main reason we're in so much debt right now is because i was going to do daycare at my mom's house but then something happened and i couldn't. was going to start in Feb this year- that was my plan. so then i decided to do it in my apartment. the prospective families i interviewed... never heard from them again. and i believe one of them reported me to DCF for doing daycare in my apartment... so then i wasn't working for 6 months PP (when i WANTED to start at 2 months PP). so we were living on daddy's income alone ($2300/month with $1100 in necessity, baseline expenses plus baby supplies, baby formula, diapers, wipes, gas, etc and i was buying used daycare supplies off Craig's List because we were going to get into a house in July 2014 but that didn't happen either...).

we were trying to be as frugal as possible but it was hard to manage it. some months we barely scraped by, with no help from our families. earlier this year we were down to $11k in personal debt (with help of tax refund) and we wanted to keep it going. then all hell broke loose.

i'm not looking to get a new car, just a newER car, like 2009 or newer. idc if it's the latest and greatest, i just want a safe car for my son to be in and something reliable that can get me to work right now while we're saving $.

our apartment is too crammed for me to do daycare here, honestly. that's why we were waiting to get into a house. there's not much room to move around in, especially for young kids.

Believe me if DCF had been called because you were doing childcare in your apartment you would have known... did you even check the law for your county before considering start up? BTW, there is a good chance you won't even make 8/hr when you first open and you have to take into account self employment taxes, insurance, food and everything else out of what you charge... What happens if you get the newer car and then can't make the payment? What happens if you get the house and then not enough daycare clients to cover bills?

You are already in too much debt to try and take on more, that's what we are all trying to get thru to you.
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craftymissbeth 03:51 PM 09-15-2014
How much daycare experience do you have? Maybe you could get a job in a center while you're still figuring things out.
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craftymissbeth 03:56 PM 09-15-2014
Also, in you OP you said you were looking for a used car for "$17k-$25k, $2k of that for down payment".

IME, you can get a reliable used car for $2000. You just have to know where to look. If your concern is going somewhere with your child then on days you need to take him somewhere you can swap cars with your husband.

To put it bluntly: you sound like a young wife/mom who is digging herself into a deep hole. Trust us... many of us have been at that point at one point or another. My best advice: *stop spending*. If your credit cards are maxed, that means you literally cannot afford to buy whatever it is you bought with that "money".
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Checkinkids.com 06:47 PM 09-18-2014
My wife and I had a similar situation, not quite 14k in cc, but substantial debt. First - stop using the cc. Pay it off as quick as possible, even if you need to sell some stuff. If one of the houses you are looking at renting allows you to have a daycare, I'd put that before a car for sure. When we were in debt and finally got a house, we started the daycare and only needed to drive about once or twice a week - to the grocery store. We didn't do anything but watch kids (we had 12 full timers) and we were able to get ahead in less than a year. Sometimes the temptation for a new car is hard to overcome - but you have to ask your self if you really HAVE to have a new car. If you are planning on watching kids for some income, then a new car might be a secondary concern.
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Crazy8 06:09 AM 09-19-2014
I'm in the neither camp too - no newer car, no house right now. Spend your next $10 on the Total Money Makeover book by Dave Ramsey. Read it cover to cover and then change your attitude on everything you "need". Look in the mirror, stop making reasons/excuses why this won't work or that won't work and get serious about getting out of debt. Make a bare bones budget and stick to it. Will it be easy?? Absolutely not. Will it be worth it?? Absolutely.

Learn the laws/regulations for doing daycare where you live and if you truly can not watch a child in your current home maybe you can find someone who will allow you to bring your baby as you watch their child in their home - look for nanny positions instead of daycare clients. A home daycare is not some glamorous earn money while staying home doing nothing kind of job. You get kids, you lose kids. You will be so much less stressed if you are not in financial turmoil when you start.

Good luck.
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Blackcat31 07:29 AM 09-19-2014
Originally Posted by Checkinkids.com:
My wife and I had a similar situation, not quite 14k in cc, but substantial debt. First - stop using the cc. Pay it off as quick as possible, even if you need to sell some stuff. If one of the houses you are looking at renting allows you to have a daycare, I'd put that before a car for sure. When we were in debt and finally got a house, we started the daycare and only needed to drive about once or twice a week - to the grocery store. We didn't do anything but watch kids (we had 12 full timers) and we were able to get ahead in less than a year. Sometimes the temptation for a new car is hard to overcome - but you have to ask your self if you really HAVE to have a new car. If you are planning on watching kids for some income, then a new car might be a secondary concern.
I agree with this. Often times deciphering between what things are "wants" and what are "needs" is difficult.

Wanting a newer car is NOT the same as NEEDING one.
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Thriftylady 07:54 PM 09-19-2014
I agree on the car thing. I had real clunckers for a lot of years. And I drove my kids in them, I had to didn't have another option. We got by just didn't go far. When we moved to Ohio in 2006, I gave my van to a needy family. It wouldn't have made the trip, it was that bad. We drove hubby's better truck here and shared a vehicle for awhile. No, I don't feel bad about giving a crappy van to a poor family it was better than the nothing they had before. In 2007 when I got a job here, I found my 2001 taurus in good shape and paid $8000 on it. Yes, I did it on payments but paid extra every month and paid it off in 18 months. Still driving it now, I wrecked it in a blizzard this last winter and it has a dent and the trunk is a bear to shut but it isn't worth the cost to fix it properly. It has needed some new parts lately, but my son does them for me if not I would take them to the vo tech school to get done. It isn't new, starting to look pretty bad, but I take as good of care of it as I can and it is still reliable. Just had to put an $80 part in it last week but still cheaper than getting something newer and then having to keep full coverage insurance on it because I have a loan.
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Silly Songs 10:52 AM 09-20-2014
I agree with the person who said to look for a job in a center. You will get a discounted or free rate for your baby, plus you can too work, do your job and come home without worrying about the children you watch until the next day. You also mentioned you graduated from college. What did you get a degree for ? As in, what was your major ? I don't know where you live, but usually the unemployment office has job listings. Perhaps you can contact a temp agency and see what is available. It sounds like you want to stay home with your baby, but you may need to get a full time job for awhile. Good luck .
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