Weekend Work - Coatesville,PA

Health care how? Like what position? I ask because I work for doctors and I know our nurses who take weekend call make as much working a couple weekends as the do in their salary.

I guess a better way to ask this, are you paid a premium to take weekends? If so the math will not support changing to weekdays and daycare costs. Also be aware of your marginal tax rate a 5% increase in taxes doesn't just hit you, it hits your household income and can negate a 10% increase in your wage easily.

Hmmm.. Gotta say, my first reaction is don't mess up the good schedule you've got going. Can your husband work extra hours?
If finances are tight, I'd urge you to look at income vs. outgo.
Look at your expenditures and see what you can cut. And what you can cut to the bone.
Eating out?
Car payments?
Too much cell/cable cost?
Too much credit card debt?
I don't know your specific situation, but I know when there's lots of debt, there's no wiggle room in the budget for extras.
So.....
Sell some stuff
Sell your kids outgrown clothes & gear on eBay or Craigslist.
Garage sale.
Cut bills for sevices as much as possible.
Reduce convenience foods, cook from scratch, cook double batches & freeze.
If you have 2 car payments? Sell them (yes, even if you're upside down) and pay cash for 2 cars.
Budget "fun" money into your plan.
Find fun & free stuff do do together as a family.

Sounds like u need to cut costs. Working during the week will likely not help finances and could make them worse. You need to look carefully at what u r spending. You need to pay ur rent or mortgage. U need to pay electric, trash, water, sewer. U do not need to pay for cable tv. Get a cheap roku and pay 7.99 a month for either Hulu plus or Netflix depending on ur watching style. U do not need to pay for a landline if u have cell phones. Combine ur phones to a family plan to save and see if u r eligible through either of ur businesses to save even more. Do not go out to eat. Cook all meals at home. Limit snack foods and deserts and processed foods which r always pricier. Make sure to keep ur freezer full and turn all lights off when not using them. Run dishwasher once a day. Do only full loads of laundry. Hang as much as u can to dry. Cut ur kids hair ur self and limit haircuts for u, trim ur own bangs and go longer between. Cut hubby's hair
Yourself. Do not go for anything not absolutely needed. Buying certain household items in bulk will save money but compare prices. So truth be told putting kids in someone else's care is likely only going to make ur problems worse.

Updated

Sounds like u need to cut costs. Working during the week will likely not help finances and could make them worse. You need to look carefully at what u r spending. You need to pay ur rent or mortgage. U need to pay electric, trash, water, sewer. U do not need to pay for cable tv. Get a cheap roku and pay 7.99 a month for either Hulu plus or Netflix depending on ur watching style. U do not need to pay for a landline if u have cell phones. Combine ur phones to a family plan to save and see if u r eligible through either of ur businesses to save even more. Do not go out to eat. Cook all meals at home. Limit snack foods and deserts and processed foods which r always pricier. Make sure to keep ur freezer full and turn all lights off when not using them. Run dishwasher once a day. Do only full loads of laundry. Hang as much as u can to dry. Cut ur kids hair ur self and limit haircuts for u, trim ur own bangs and go longer between. Cut hubby's hair
Yourself. Do not go for anything not absolutely needed. Buying certain household items in bulk will save money but compare prices. So truth be told putting kids in someone else's care is likely only going to make ur problems worse.

My cousin is a phlebotomist and she's doing what you're doing for years. worse still, her weekend job is out of state. She crashes with friends or relatives Friday night through Sunday night and then drives back to PA at 4 AM so her husband can go to work. They have one more year before the youngest is in school full-time. So you are not alone.
Consider work from home. I don't mean those scams people post, but a legit company. I have a friend who sells insurance from home 4 days a week. Her base pay isn't great, but she gets 10% commission. The nurses handling complex case management for my insurer all work from home.

From a child care point of view.

You won't be able to find child care that goes and picks your child up after 2 1/2 hours. They won't transport them there and then turn around and pick them up either if you go to work at 7am.

So before you can even consider the option of working during the week you have to face up to some facts.

You will have to take your pre-schooler our of pre-school and put them and the toddler both in child care full time.

If you work 7-3 5 days per week then you still might end up on weekends sometimes right? But in child care you have to pay for the whole week even if you don't work 2 of the weekdays, you'd be off 2 weekdays and work 5 days which would include Sat. and Sun.

So you'll still be paying a set amount for child care. Good thing though, if your center picks up school kids then they'll be able to do your kindergartner next year if they go to his school. Then you'll only pay for after school care if hubby gets the kids off to school on your early mornings.

What I did for a family is this.

I worked as their nanny, in their home, but I had full autonomy. I took the kids where I wanted to go, I took them anywhere. The zoo, the mall, choir practice, to the store, out to eat (I paid if it was my choice), and I was basically their surrogate mom. I cooked their lunch and picked up after them, that's all.

I got paid per load of laundry that "I" did at their request, I got paid for doing any cooking for their dinner, I got paid extra for any cleaning I did, etc....I got paid enough to have pocket money but not enough to call it a full time job unless I was doing a lot of household chores.

I was not tied down, I did not get gasoline paid to me, I did not get paid for a full day for the school kid that went half day, I did have a lot of fun with these kids. The mom was a professor of nursing and did have an 8-5 job.

Can I suggest that you wait until kiddo is in kindergarten to go to work full time weekdays only?

Do you have an advanced degree? Could you find work at a Jr. College level or Vo-Tech teaching nursing? It might not be as good money that you get doing nursing but it might weigh out with benefits and stuff. Once you were there for a few years you'd get tenure and have even more benefits too.

What is the big picture here?

You supposedly have a good schedule which allows for you and hubby to provide your childcare and if you change the schedule, you are going to be out more $$ for childcare.

Sit down with hubby and look at your monthly finances. Go over them with a fine toothed comb and determine what is a real need vs want.

You can cut costs within your household by doing a lot of things.
What is causing your debt? Credit cards, special smart phones, tv cable, car payments, gym memberships, etc... you get the gist.

Educate yourselves on personal finances, work toward getting out of debt and make some sacrifices. Delayed gratification works wonders!

You have a good situation to be home with your children and if you change that, you could very well change your income for the worse vs better.

If you don't understand personal finances, go to the library, get books, read them and educate yourself.

There is a lot you can do before you make a drastic move that might not be the best move for your family.

Best wishes to you.

I could be guessing...but if you worked more during the week, you'd probably trade your money worries for stress of another kind...getting the kids to and from child care, having time for grocery shopping, meal prep, TIME WITH YOUR KIDS...time with your husband...etc. You don't want to be one of those moms who is doing laundry at 2am because that's the only time you have to do it.

I was thinking the other day (and I shouldn't do this, but every now and then, it sneaks up on me) that had I not given up full-time work 17 years ago to work minimal hours and be with my kids...we could have bought and paid for the beach house that I dream of. However...the time I've spent with my kids the past 17 years isn't something I can put a price tag on.

Recently my daughter babysat for a 5 year old for the day. His words were "I wish I could have a 'normal' summer, but I have to go to camp (i.e. daycare) every day." From the mouth of a 5 year old!!

I'm with the others, comb through your outflows and see what you can cut. You will never regret spending time with your kids. It's a financial sacrifice - and HUGE at times - no doubt about it. But in the end...it's worth it.

Good luck!