I have been meaning to put my youngest in child care for a while now, but having recently moved into the area, and dramas with my other daughter's school it was impossible.

But now I can, so I enquired at the one 4 houses down from me. I explained I am on the single parent pension, (we get reduced fees) Anyways, they told me thier bond was 5 weeks.

That's cool, with child care benefit (CCB) I can totally afford that in a few weeks, it should only be around 200 bucks

Oh HELLLL NO. How wrong I was. They tried to charge me $600

For bond. 4 weeks + 1 week in advance + ridiculous admin fees. That's not even including what they tried to charge me for Fees!! I polietly told them that I would call them back.

I won't.

Instead I called the other one about 2kms from me.

They charge $200 Bond. No admin fees, no waiting list fees. Plus the rebate they give me is much more than that of the one closer to me.

Seriously, with this economic crisis going on, how can ANYONE afford $600? For anything?

Bastards. I hope the center closes. :(

/endrant