Big Decision

[nanglgrl]

I would close too. It's sad to me that the majority of providers would close if given the chance. I do understand of course but in reinforces the reason I've never sent my children to daycare. It takes over our lives and a lot of times the bad outweighs the good. I've often dreamed of winning the lotto (fat chance since I don't even play) and then I contemplate what I would do with my daycare and decided I would give 2 weeks notice but would give the parents money if they could find someone sooner!

[mema]

I would!!! I would really like my house back and so would my kids. I have looked into a few houses in our neighborhood to use as a daycare house, but really I don't have enough to make another house payment.

[SquirrellyMama]

I would close too. It's sad to me that the majority of providers would close if given the chance. I do understand of course but in reinforces the reason I've never sent my children to daycare. It takes over our lives and a lot of times the bad outweighs the good. I've often dreamed of winning the lotto (fat chance since I don't even play) and then I contemplate what I would do with my daycare and decided I would give 2 weeks notice but would give the parents money if they could find someone sooner!

I think most people would quit their job if they didn't need the money. I think a lot of people would also change professions if they didn't need the money from their current job. I don't think it is unique to childcare.

K

[Country Kids]

I have four friends that are all have done childcare for awhile now. They are all filing for divorce-. Just ironic to me that they all have the same profession. I wonder what the rate of divorce is among childcare providers?

Childcare is stressful for everyone in the family. Your family comes first and if you have the chance to not do it then go for your dream. I love my job even though I do have days but it stresses my family alot. We (hubs and I) are looking at way to make changes but its not always easy.

[Unregistered]

I envy you having a job you could do from home and make enough money! I want to find a job like that...LOL! My husband is semi-retired although his part-time job ties up his whole day and I'd like to semi-retire too from daycare...unfortunately, my income is what keeps everything going well and allows us to have a little spending money...

I would like to have a job from home where I could make enough money to gradually quit daycare in a year or two... I would certainly downsize to only 2 or 3 instead of 5.

If we hadn't had an ******* run a stop sign in September and total our car, I wouldn't be in even more debt now since I had to buy a new one and the settlement didn't cover the price of a new one so that just drove another nail into the old debt coffin...

I too think maybe you should just downsize gradually until you see if your business will take off and give you the income you want/need...good luck!!

[DBug]

Because I am a Dave Ramsey nerd I would say that unless you have all your debts paid off, no car loans, no cc debts, no med bills, no misc school debts etc you should work to pay those things off. If you are spending money on fun things like you mentioned and want the time with the kiddos I would stop spending money on the extras for 3 months. See what it feels like to not have that money. Use the fun money you are currently earning to pay off some of the above mentioned debts or put it in savings if you don't have those debts. Then after three months of living like you will when you no longer have daycare income (ie less spending money, less luxury money) you can make a fair decision.

This is kind of what we're planning to do in the short-term future. There are two small loans I need to pay off within the next few weeks, and then we want to bank the rest of it until I do actually close. That money would be available if we need it until this other business (design & printing) gets going. It would also put us in the position of not having any "fun money" from now on, and it would give us an idea of whether it's feasible.

For those that have suggested downsizing, I'm hesitant to do that because I would have to give up all of the full-timers I have now and interview for those willing to come only 2-3 days/week, and that seems impractical for something that could be temporary. I could downsize the number of full-timers I have, from 5 to 2 or 3, but I'd still be working the same number of hours, for less money . And really, if I keep doing daycare in any format, we'd still be sharing the house, I'd still be missing appointments, school assemblies, etc., and I still wouldn't have a whole lot of time to develop the printing company.

I could see converting the house back to a home, and then offering to do drop-in or occasional care for other providers who need a sub, or for parents who only need care once in awhile.

I think we'll do our "trial period" of not using daycare money for anything and see how it goes. I'd like to make a decision by the end of the month so that I can give two months notice for the end of the year. My contract only requires two weeks though. How much notice would you guys give?

[Crystal]

Personally, I wouldn't quit. I have REALLY thought about it, and have had a few REALLY good offers for other positions....that I have turned down.

The thing is, every time I start thinking it's time to wrap things up here (it has been almost 16 years) I look at my children (DCK) and their families and KNOW how much I need to continue working with kids. I LOVE my children and families, so I will quit when I have slowly phased out the children and families who have been with me for up to a decade, and the few infants and toddlers I have now, and THEN I will be done.

BUT....for YOU OP.....I think you already know what you want to do. I feel that if you are confident that you can squeeze it financially, you are comfortable with that and your family is on board, then GO FOR IT!!! Do what is best for YOU and YOUR FAMILY.

[lil angels]

I to have thought about it many times. I have as of last month started putting daycare money in savings except what a job that only pays about $10 an hr would give me I would love to go up to the school and be a para or something so I am taking worst case for my income and we are going to try live off of that for the next yr or so. If I decide I think it would be to hard I guess it. Is putting us on a heck of a savings plan.

[thatdivalady]

I would close too. It's sad to me that the majority of providers would close if given the chance. I do understand of course but in reinforces the reason I've never sent my children to daycare. It takes over our lives and a lot of times the bad outweighs the good. I've often dreamed of winning the lotto (fat chance since I don't even play) and then I contemplate what I would do with my daycare and decided I would give 2 weeks notice but would give the parents money if they could find someone sooner!

Isn't it sad though? I'll be honest here, I have done the math and I definitely make more money for less hours as a therapist. It's terrible! I make literally 10 times more than what I end up making in day care! I think it's especially hard when your numbers are down too. Because even at full capacity I would be making less than half of what I could be making doing therapy.

Overworked, underpaid... Day care is the only business where you can get paid $3.00 per hour (and I charge around 33 per day... which is high for a lot of people) and parents can still say that your services cost too much! I'm ready to start a babysitting business and that way I can charge $10-$15 per hour without a parent even blinking!

What keeps me going is the mission of my business, to provide quality care when parents need it. My primary focus is on non traditional hours. So it keeps me grounded. But I would probably quit doing the direct portion and hire someone to do it if I could afford it.

[AnythingsPossible]

After watching children for 47 years and restructuring many times I would walk away without one regret. As they say...Been there done that. No particular stress but always tired. Old, very old person.

I did just terminate a little sociopathic turd though so my time left should be easier.happyface He will probably return some night and kill me in my sleep.

Too funny!!! Thanks for the laught!!! I think I've had a few of those too