My husband and I are not rich. We're not even comfortable enough financially to allow me to stay home with my son. We both need to work. It's our reality and we're okay with it.

Although we had never lived paycheck to paycheck, since having a child, we've found ourselves in new territory. In our late 30's and early 40's and suddenly living paycheck to paycheck so that we're sure to save enough money for education for our children and retirement for ourselves. Budget. That's our word of the day everyday.

One of the larger items in our budget is daycare for our son. As I've mentioned before on this blog, he's at a Montessori School and I couldn't be happier. It's not perfect - but I'm okay with that because I don't believe there's a 'perfect' option out there for those of us that have to send our child to daycare. But it's pretty darn wonderful. And V loves, loves, loves it there.

A few weeks ago we were informed that we would be facing 10% increase in fees for daycare services. Ten percent. Maybe it's just me - a first time mom who has never experienced this before - but ten percent seems like an outrageous amount all at once. Would have been easier to swallow in increments or something. Outrageous is the word that came to mind also because about a year ago we experienced a change in ownership. Upon meeting the new owners, one of the things she said to us was that we are paying premium rates at our school ... and now we're paying premium plus ten percent.

This news has prompted me to look around and see what else is out there. Options. They're always good to investigate now and then, right?

I've now toured three different daycare options - none of which are Montessori. I'm going to tour two more, including the pre-school at our current school. So far all I've learned is that yes, we are paying a premium plus ten percent for the care of our child. But we are getting what we're paying for.

So, it appears that we are going to continue paying a premium plus ten percent so that our child can continue with premium care. No question it's worth it. And the Husband and I will cut back in other areas to make it happen. No question.