  I try not to ever be stingy with money. If I've got it, I'll happily pay for dinner, and if I don't, I'll happily accept another's offer to pay. I'm not big on saving money for a someday future, I'd prefer to enjoy it now as long as my family is healthy and youthful.
That's probably a big reason I'm still paying for college! I do have life insurance so if I ever suddenly leave those debts behind, my family is taken care of. The elastic boundaries of expendable income always fascinate me, and I'm often left with the feeling that God or the Universe (pick whichever name you feel most comfortable with) is in control here more than I. Because we don't save, expendable income decisions are a bigger deal for our family than most. When money's tight, we don't spend it, and when the money's flowing, we do.
Childcare used to be fully within the boundaries of expendable income, but it's increasingly becoming a fixed cost. I expect it will be this way until the kids finish college! Separate from the cost standards of programmatic childcare, are the quality standards of home care. One area I prioritize money for is childcare. This is a worker in your life that you want to feel fulfilled and happy about working for you.
Job dissatisfaction for the childcare provider could exhibit a whole range of behaviors ranging from the worker being crabby with your children to dangerously lazy. I pay the wonderful domestic goddess that relieves me one (when I'm splurging, two) afternoons a week $10/hour. This is roughly twice the minimum wage, and yet, nearly half the poverty line. Now I've gotten a flyer from a neighborhood girl (11 years old) offering to babysit for $5/hour, when I asked about two kids, she said $6/hour. She's taken a course in babysitting and learned CPR. I think she's pretty responsible, but on principle, I can't abandon the domestic goddess, a first generation immigrant who teaches the children Spanish and has a lifetime of professional and personal experience. As is typical with the American market, I doubt one will replace the other, instead the market will most likely expand for both.
I'm already scheming to pay the 11-year old to come over one or two hours once or twice a week for the summer to play with Ellie while I shower or write. And speaking of the writing, if I don't get a publisher soon, all this childcare is going to become expendable again! 
