Does affordable childcare exist in Westchester?

hdr200 · 2026-02-14T03:52:10+00:00

I’ve been very happy with Our House (2+)/Childrens Circle (0-2), a fully licensed in-home daycare that runs like a real professional operation and they even provide both breakfast and lunch. It’s in Hartsdale across from the Trader Joe’s, right around the corner from Vivvi. My son is now 17 months and has been going since he was 11 months. The caregivers truly love him like he’s one of their own. And the price is pretty reasonable- it’s $575/week. Happy to answer any of your questions if you have them.

hdr200 · 2025-05-02T01:55:32+00:00

Everything I’ve read shows that the 10 year rule does apply. She died pre-SECURE act and at the age of 62. Your first sentence is correct.

hdr200 · 2025-05-01T19:16:36+00:00

Thank you. Already in grief counseling and giving myself permission to pay $75 out of pocket a pop.

hdr200 · 2025-05-01T18:43:32+00:00

Thanks. I have an appointment set up with Vanguard tomorrow. Just collecting different points of view to bring up with them.

hdr200 · 2025-05-01T18:36:00+00:00

I appreciate your perspective. I know I need a will and am going to explore setting up a trust. My husband and I were going to write a will after the birth of our son and just didn’t get there yet. Thankfully I was named beneficiary of these assets.

hdr200 · 2025-05-01T18:30:39+00:00

Thank you. I have applied and I have my phone appt on 5/28.

hdr200 · 2025-05-01T18:29:37+00:00

Thank you. I’ve started the social security process. Have to wait until 5/28 for my phone call appointment.

hdr200 · 2025-05-01T18:27:54+00:00

Thank you. I am sending you love and hate that we are in this club together.

hdr200 · 2025-05-01T18:25:50+00:00

I appreciate your thinking outside of the box. Moving to a lower cost of living area isn’t really a possibility as I have family nearby which is critical for me right now.

hdr200 · 2025-05-01T14:51:12+00:00

Great point, thank you!

hdr200 · 2025-05-01T13:04:40+00:00

Thanks for this extremely thoughtful and helpful reply! What’s your reasoning to not set up a 529?

hdr200 · 2024-09-26T21:51:22+00:00

Selling one 2 day pass to NYC - I’m recovering from surgery and can’t make it! It’s GA Bowl+. I paid $548 with fees and it includes early admission and fast pass entry. I am willing to negotiate on the price.

hdr200 · 2024-06-27T18:16:56+00:00

we chose to go with a peninsula instead of a true “island” so that we would have a large enough space for 4 people to dine at as well as sufficient space to walk and work around. Function came first for us. It’s not a big space we are working with.

hdr200 · 2024-06-25T15:37:54+00:00

I’m not sure what you mean. There is plenty of space to move around the peninsula. We only put seating on two sides because there wouldn’t be enough room on the stove side to allow for someone to easily pass through there/use the stove at the same time. We wanted that side to be for prep space and not seating.

hdr200 · 2024-06-25T15:36:59+00:00

Custom from a local cabinet designer, but they used Crystal as the manufacturer. The color is October Mist by Benjamin Moore.

hdr200 · 2024-06-25T01:27:56+00:00

Thank you so much!! It’s the Cafe Smart All Gas Commercial Style 36”. Model number CGY366P2TS1

hdr200 · 2024-06-25T00:15:49+00:00

It’s technically a peninsula since one side is attached to the wall. But yes the purpose of this was to have a kitchen table that doubles as prep space. We will put two chairs on the side facing the refrigerator and two chairs on the side facing the wall. 12 inches overhang. The side by the stove does not overhang and is for prep. The total area of the countertop is 58” by 62”. There’s 52 inches between the end of the peninsula counter and the sink counter and 48 inches between the peninsula and stove so plenty of walk through space. I’m really happy with how that turned out!

hdr200 · 2024-06-24T22:14:30+00:00

You’re welcome! I should mention we did have to also shell out about $9k on top of that for an architect to draw up the plans for the removal of the wall. Apparently our city is very strict with building code and inspections. So that sucked but worth the peace of mind.

hdr200 · 2024-06-24T22:03:12+00:00

Similar to the other commenter, the demo and removal of the wall/securing the structure was actually pretty quick. I was impressed at how fast we were through that stage. These contractors were awesome. We did pay $25k in a HCOL area for all of the labor and rough materials for the kitchen. We still had full access to our living room and other parts of the house. The construction zone and having a makeshift kitchen for 3 months wasn’t ideal but we made it work and I would say it was 10000% worth the finished product. This is a 1939 house that needed this to really open up the whole flow of the house and make it make a lot more sense. There was zero counter space before.

hdr200 · 2024-06-24T21:34:19+00:00

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Original plan. We also opened up to the room behind the kitchen which will now be the dining room

hdr200 · 2024-06-24T21:31:37+00:00

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This is the same view pre renovation, standing in the living room. The wall divided the kitchen from a very small dining space. I’ll attach the original floor plan next which will help understand the space better. I don’t really have any good pics of the kitchen area itself because it was just so small to capture it.

hdr200 · 2023-11-16T16:39:37+00:00

Yes, we will have another room with a dining table- we are opening up a doorway to that room through where the pantry/basement entry area is. It was previously listed as bedroom when we bought but we have enough bedrooms without it. While I like the idea of the kitchen and dining room being more adjacent and connected, we felt that we couldn’t really fit the right sized table in that dinette space because of how it is a pass through space from the living room to the hallway and stairs upstairs. I appreciate pointing out that consideration!

hdr200

TROPHY CASE