[veggiegirl]

We are thinking about setting up a Flexable Spending Account for daycare and possibly some healthcare costs (co-pays mainly). Does it really save you that much money to have one?

I know daycare will be a huge chunk so yes, that might save us some, but how much really?

We're just nervous about setting too much aside (or, in reality, probably not enough) and wondering if it'll be worth it. It's a lot of money to deduct from a paycheck every week!

[kelceesmom]

We have done this for a couple of years. The best part is that it lowers your taxable gross by that amount. Then with being able to write of so much of daycare, our house, etc. it has been great. Last year we got $5500 back on our taxes. You just have to make sure you are going to use it otherwise you lose it.

[mommy3]

We have two children still in childcare and a fair amount of Rx's every month for the five of us total -- I was thrilled for my take-home to increase signficantly (a few hundred) the moment our plan went into effect. It does save lots of time to fax in your documents and find other ways to streamline your time for submissions, but we've been very happy with doing the pre-tax payments. Since we're all only allowed about $416 per month for childcare reimbursements (total, no matter how many children you have), you can typically use your whole eligible amount with just one child -- so, to answer your question, YES, taking pre-tax deductions for health and childcare should be a nice bump for your family's take-home pay each month. susan

[sissyminsky]

Just be careful that you can handle being out of pocket the flex money AND the daycare money until you get reimbursed. I have a friend whose budget is too tight for this to work.

I use it and am very happy with it- but I figured out what expenses would be and then took a few hundred off of it to be sure I would use it all.

Sissy

[aclee]

Originally Posted by sissyminsky

Just be careful that you can handle being out of pocket the flex money AND the daycare money until you get reimbursed. I have a friend whose budget is too tight for this to work.

I use it and am very happy with it- but I figured out what expenses would be and then took a few hundred off of it to be sure I would use it all.

Sissy

This is the part some people don't realize. For us, we're going use it almost like a savings plan. We pay out of pocket for the daycare, and then when we get reimbursed, we'll either pay off a home improvement, or put it in savings. When the money isn't in the check, you don't spend it. We pay more in daycare than we could claim in a year so we do the dependant care max. We need to do flex spending for medical too, but it takes so much more organization, so we haven't yet...and we spend a LOT in medical between DH's cardiac and sleep apnea stuff, and my auto immune. TONS of co pays. Stupid, we need to get on that.