This is a guest post from Gina Lincicum, a long-time BabyCheapskate reader, who writes about frugality and family finance at MoneywiseMoms.com.

As a busy mom to three kids, a 6-year-old son and 3-year-old identical twin girls, I’m often looking for a little “me” time during the day or an evening out with my husband. The hourly rate for babysitters for three, however, is outrageous, and it’s difficult to find someone you can trust when you don’t have family around (like us). Living on one income in a high cost-of-living area (Washington DC), I’ve had to get creative with our finances in all areas, and I’ve found a few ways to beat the budget for babysitting:

1) Trade with a Friend/Neighbor: Try setting up a direct trade of babysitting hours with another parent in your neighborhood, preschool class, or neighborhood. When my son was 4 and my girls were 18 months old, I did a weekly trade with a friend whose sons were the same age as my children. My son played with his buddy while I played with the three little ones. While it was hectic having five at once, it made the following week (with zero!) very peaceful. In the past few months, I’ve been trading hours with a friend who was laid off. He babysits while I work from home, and I babysit while he attends interviews–free childcare for both of us.

2) Use a Mother’s Helper Instead: I put up signs in my neighborhood asking for a 12 to 15-year-old “mother’s helper” rather than try to find a college-aged sitter or adult with whom I could leave all three children. I’ve had a 12-year-old walk over afterschool once or twice a week to either play with the twins while I attended to my older son, cleaned house, or made dinner. The novelty of a new face during the witching hour was helpful, and it fit my budget at just $5.00/hour. The key is that you stay home with a younger helper, and having them within walking distance solves the transportation issue.

3) Barter for Payment: Even before the economy turned and bartering came back into fashion, I was trading scrapbooking supplies, gift cards, and groceries for babysitting services. What services or supplies can you use as payment? If you have a direct-sales business, you might pay a sitter in credit or product. If you have a service-based business like tutoriing or accounting, you may want to trade hour-per-hour. Use your talent in trade for babysitting dollars.

4) Join (or create) a Babysitting Co-op: A babysitting co-op is a group of moms/families who trade hours similar to #1 above, but with the larger network it’s less essential that your schedules match up. I began a co-op in my MOMS Club years ago, and it still serves my family well. Because I can choose from 10-12 moms that I know, I have plenty of options for dates and times. I’m able to schedule doctor’s appointments, haircuts, or a date night by emailing the group and finding a sitter.

For years, we tracked our hours on paper through a volunteer coordinator, but recently we switched to HiveMoms.com. HiveMoms is a FREE website where you can join or start a co-op in your own area. Think about the other moms in your networks (preschool, church, clubs, etc.). Get them online and give it a try!

What are your strategies for saving on babysitting or childcare?

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New at my Upromise deal blog, Mommy Saves Best: 5 Easy Gifts Under $20: Babysitters, Teachers and Caregivers. And none of them are coffee mugs or scented candles!

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This impromptu guest post is from the lovely Amanda of Kiddio.org:

Raising a kid is expensive even with good planning and financial savvy, but once your child is ready to go to preschool…look out! The average cost of full-time preschool in Massachusetts tops $9500 for full-time care, consuming over 40% of an average single parent’s salary, or more than 10% of a two-parent’s family income.* At that rate, you’re going to need to save every penny you can to afford good care. If this sounds like a huge expense to you, join the club. Between rising food and gas prices, such a significant monthly outlay is a real pinch for a lot of families. Preschool fills an important role in preparing children for Kindergarten and Elementary school both academically and socially, and is an important first step in their education. So what is a cost-concious smart parent who wants their child to have a preschool experience to do? Here are some creative ideas to get you started:

• Consider whether you truly want/need full-time care. By selecting a preschool that meets for a few half-days per week as opposed to full-days you’ll cut the basic preschool expense dramatically, to as little as $100 or less per month.

• Look for small, traditional preschools in Churches and community centers. Here, too, you’ll find significant savings. Many Churches (particularly Methodist and Lutheran) offer preschool programs as a community outreach to enable all children to attend preschool. You may not find a ‘Montessori’ or ‘Waldorf’ program here, but you’ll often find an organized program with experienced teachers that will meet your child’s need for academic and social growth.

• Seek out a cooperative preschool. Many cities have preschool co-ops which use parent volunteerism to maintain super-low tuition prices. One in our area requires 10-20 hours per month of service cleaning classrooms, serving on committees, and aiding the teachers in exchange for a huge break–only $90/month gets you three 3-hour sessions per week–less than one-third of what you’d pay for a similar amount of time at a comparable private preschool.

• Ask about tuition assistance. Many preschools, particularly those offered by Churches, universities, and community centers are focused on making the preschool experience possible for every child. Even some preschools offered by private schools offer tuition assistance as a means of increasing the diversity of their classes. Alternately, offer to ‘volunteer’ in exchange for a break in tuition payments.

• Start up a home preschool group. Before my oldest was old enough for preschool we joined a group of moms who traded off childcare responsibilities in exchange for a (much-needed!) break. In our group of six, four mommies would enjoy a morning off and two would say with the children, provide a few enriching activities, playtime, and a snack before pick-up time. It provided the kids with invaluable social experience and the opportunity to learn some basic skills from adults other than their parents. It would be simple to expand this with more of a ‘preschool’ curriculum.

Saving money on preschool is like every other part of parenthood–it requires creativity to make it work! What ideas do you have to keep school costs manageable?

*(Source: National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies)

When she’s not trying to get her kindergardener, preschooler and baby fed, dressed and ready for school drop-off, Amanda writes www.kiddio.org, the source for oodles of creative ideas to make life with children fun!

photo by merebearlandon via Flickr.

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Today’s guest post is from Cheryl of SwapSavers.com:

In order to purchase items at Warehouse Clubs (i.e. BJ’s, Costco, Sam’s Club) you have to pay a membership fee usually around $40-$50 a year. Before you pay the price for admission, ask yourself these questions to figure out if it is worth it.

How far away do you live? Similar to a gym membership, if you live far away (20 minutes or more) from the Warehouse Club, the chances of you using it on a regular basis decrease significantly. If you live close by (five minutes or less) and you are able to purchase milk and other staple items, the prices are considerably less then other stores. Also these staple items rarely go on sale at most grocery or other stores so the prices will always be less at the warehouse clubs.

Will you use the entire product? Most items sold at warehouse clubs are sold in bulk. If you have a large family or business, your odds of using up the entire food product before it goes bad increases. However if you have an average size family buying in bulk might equate to throwing away a lot of food.

How do the prices compare to nearby stores? This requires some research, but in the long run you will save either the price of the membership or you will save money from purchasing less expensive items at the warehouse club. If you already have a price log of items you purchase on a regular basis, bring it with you to the warehouse club you are considering and compare prices. You will need to do some math to figure out the price per unit for the bulk items. If you don’t have a price log create one for a few weeks making sure you write down the prices of items you purchase especially when the items are on sale since the sale prices can be noticeably lower then warehouse prices. Also keep in mind most grocery stores double coupons and warehouse clubs do not.

Does the warehouse offer a free trial membership? Before purchasing the membership, ask if you can do a month or more free trial membership (without the surcharge fees). BJ’s usually offers a free three month holiday membership in October. Obviously if you can try it for free first, you have more time to use the above questions to figure out if it is worth paying for the rest of the year.

Print out a 60-Day Pass to BJ’s Warehouse.

Cheryl Maguire is the mother of boy/girl four-year-old twins and a baby 1 year old girl. A stay-at-home mom, she runs a website called Swap Savers, which is a social network for frugal folks who love freebies, coupons and rewards.

photo by mathowie via Flickr

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