Don't want to add child care expenses

[Mongoose]

I have a bit of a dilemma. DH works at big box store and is supposed to have the ability to choose his hours as long as he is full time. That was true until this month. Pay is horrible so I have a freelance contract for 6 months to cover a decent take home (gets us to $2600/month take home). I need to be on site 10 hours/week during business hours. We had it worked out so that we could trade off with our 4 year old.

Now that I am working, his manager has totally screwed us with a new schedule that doesn't allow me enough hours. DH gets off at 3pm now and I have to get older kiddo out of school at that time. And then have an hour drive. I suppose he could get the kiddos at 4 pm from me at work. I am furious because I really was thinking I could transition this into a permanent part-time position and these hours are going to totally fuck that up. Management has agreed to fix this but the next two weeks are equally bad schedules.

I might be able to find a two day a week (half day) preschool near where I work for our 4 year old. It would be around $210 a month, which we can't afford. I hate to spend the money.

Any ideas to work around this issue? I don't want to jeopardize DH's job but the sudden loss of ability to choose hours right when I need to is making me nuts! I am mad enough to chew nails!

[jda1984]

Do you have friends or family nearby who stay home during the day?  My wife had to be on bedrest the last quarter of 2014, and we hit up a few friends for a couple days before we got a nanny situation worked out.  It helps if you can return the favor, but as a once in a while thing I wouldn't be surprised if some of your friends are willing to help you through this couple week period.

[Mongoose]

Sadly no. Our few friends in this area all work full-time and we have no family anywhere nearby. We haven't been here long enough to develop much of a network. My 4 year old has never been left with anyone but grandma before too. If I could get a preschool spot at this late of date, we'd have to pay for the rest of the 5 month school year.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Have you looked to see if your area has an hourly, drop-in daycare? Ours is a godsend. I can drop off Little Brother at, say, 2:45 pm when I'm on my way to work (I'm a librarian and we're open till 8 two nights a week) and Mr. FP can pick him up around 4 or whenever he's able. We pay only for the actual hours used; $7 for one kid or $11 if Big Brother happens to be out of school as well.

Super frustrating situation. Good luck!