So much for saving money on daycare this fall...

So I am really frustrated. We've been waiting for a year, since I came back to work, for this school year to start since with both older girls in school, we'll be saving a bunch of money on daycare.

Or so we thought.

I dropped the girls off at daycare this morning and our daycare provider didn't say one word to me that wasn't normal every day conversation.

Then I got to work and found this e-mail in my inbox (written yesterday):

Hi Deb,

I want to apologize...I made a mistake when figuring your fall tuition.

Becca will stay the same, $150. Hannah will stay at $100, technically she should be $125 because even though she will be going to school, she will be here more then 4 hours per day and is taking up a full time space. Abby can stay at the $2.50 per hour, but I charge my other before and after school kids $5 per hour. I gave you a break in the beginning because I know that having 3 kids in daycare is expensive. I will offer a discount for the fall as well. I again apologize. The way I have it figured now is~

Becca $150

Hannah $100

Abby $12.50

total $262.50 per week.

I will have a new contract for you to sign with the new tuition on it. The contract is the same, just the total tuition will change. As before, tuition is still due on Mondays.

I hope this works for you, I am sorry for messing this up...I feel terrible. It seems we never have time to chat, this email seems so impersonal.

Have you heard from the doctor in regards to Abby's testing? I am sure that when she starts school they will also have some resources for you. Please let me know if I can help in any way. She had a good summer, I know this last week will be the hardest!

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know. I don't know if I will have the chance to check my email until Monday evening, things are busy during the day.

Thanks, and again I'm sorry for my mistake!

This is after I'd sent her an e-mail a couple of weeks ago verifying what I thought we'd be paying this fall, and she wrote back agreeing with me.

What really bothers me is two things. First, she could've said something to me this morning in person when she saw me - even just a "hey, I sent you an e-mail" kind of a heads-up would've been nice.

And yes, Hannah will be there for 5 hours. But Hannah will be there the exact same hours that Abby was during the last school year. Abby cost us $62.50/week even though she was technically "taking up a full time space" then. And now we need to pay $100/week for the same hours? This just doesn't make sense to me at all.

Sigh.

Somehow it seems like we just can't ever get ahead. I was really looking forward to our daycare bill finally being lower than our mortgage payment and maybe having extra money to get caught up on bills...

Sorry - I know it's a drop in the bucket compared to what other people are going through and dealing with, but I just needed a chance to vent. Back to what you were doing! :)