Child Care is Expensive, or Why I Bought My Mother-In-Law a Car

[sandraqx10]

@brandonhi I DID THIS. It felt insane. We spent $15k on a 2014 lowish mileage yaris, and we pay the insurance and gas. Still cheaper and kids get to be cared for by my MIL whom they love. Thank god she is so energetic and her eyes / ears work well so she can still drive. She's 84. I love the kids get to be partially raised by their greatest gen grandma, who loves them so much.

I don't know what the fuck we would do otherwise.

My own Dad is a boomer and not really interested in doing much with his grandkids, so we got so lucky with MIL. We might end up moving her in with us if she gets to a point where she can't drive. But she might opt for a more social retirement community instead.

 

[hannahhansen]

@brandonhi that's not insane at all. If you pay someone only enough to afford a car as a favor to you, that's much much less than when you pay someone who does it as a job and needs at least a living wage.

 

[starbrite1]

@brandonhi I probably sound insane, but it's not actually that surprising to me that a mass produced economy car is cheaper than paying trained humans to watch my child 10 hours a day. Baumols Cost Disease for the win.

 

[ayanne441]

@brandonhi In a HCOL city in an (the?) “educated part of the south”. We’re paying $39,600/year for two in daycare (3.5, 7mo). I now wish my MIL didn’t have a car.