<prompt> Human: Background: My wife and I bought our forever home then had a child a few years earlier than planned. We initially had a relative stay with us and take care of our newborn, but things fell through and now we are left looking for child care. First some basic info on us:After tax monthly gross income: 6,500 3,0003,500 splitMortgage: 2,700 3.75Monthly Bills utilities, gas, phone, internet, etc. : typically 800Average Credit card usage a month groceries, hobbies, etc: 1,200No student loans, no car payments. We both have 401Ks but they are not maxed and health insurance through work.We have 40K in general savings.Question: Child care in our area is very high for infant care, typically 1,200-1,500 a month for a nanny, and 1,800-2,000 a month for a child care center. Private schools are even more costly at 2,200-2,800 a month. Should we use the bulk of our savings for the cost of child care for a year until another relative retires and comes to live with us? Or should my wife leave a job environment she hates 3,000 a month after tax income to stay at home with the child and do freelance work which we estimate can bring in around 1,200 a month but not certain and dip into our savings each month to cover costs as needed? Either way we realize money will be tight but we only need to last a year when another relative can come, or toddler care cost goes down to a more manageable 1,000 a month for child care centers. We have room to cut our expensesutilities to 1,200-1,500 if needed. My wife should be able to find work easily after a year off as well. We just keep going back and forth on what to do since the maths are similar, but the intangibles can have huge implications.Any thoughts or similar experiences on what we canshould do?TDLR: Child care is costly. Have to use savings to either pay for a year of child care or cover costs if my wife quits a job environment she hates to stay home with the infant. Which is better?  <response>: So 6500 income and 4700 in expenses, leaves a delta of 1300. I would definitely have both of you keep working; you cannot afford to have either of you take off. To afford the childcare for the year I would: 1 stop 401K contributions for the year, and put that towards childcare; 2 cut back your 1200 in discretionary spending to 1000 you guys dont need new clothes for a while; 3 investigate a nanny share wsome local families maybe a family wolder kids who are in school most of the day; 4 take any additional funds needed for child care from savings; 5 investigate some part-time jobs deliver pizzas; medical coding; etc. to bring some more cash to the situation. Hopefully, you and your wife will get salary increases at the end of the year, which should give you more to put towards child care, and you will need to take less from savings. If you really only need to get through one year, this is how I would do it. It sounds like you are one disaster away from a real money crunch; taking someone out of the work force is not the answer. 