How Do You Afford An Assistant?

[NightOwl]

I see lots of you who refer to having an assistant, sometimes two or three, and I'm curious. How do you afford this? I would love to have one, even just part time, but I can barely afford a substitute when I need one! I have 6 full time children @ $125 weekly. It's pretty good money, but I can't see having to pay an assistant. But I also have 4 children of my own, so maybe it's because my personal expenses may be higher? Sigh.... I dare to dream...

[permanentvacation]

I think it depends on the daycare provider's whole picture. You have to take into account the provider's income, if they are married, their spouse's income, and their total household and daycare expenses.

When I lived in a better area, therefore made more money per child, I could afford a helper everyday from about 7am - 4pm. But now I live in a different area and make much less per child and am now a divorced single mother. I can only afford to hire my sub about one day per week for 3 hours.

When I could afford it, I made $150/baby (2 babies) and $125/2-5 yr old (6 of that age) Totaled $1,050/week from the parents plus I was on the food program and got around $200/wk from that. So I made, on my own, $1,250/week.

At that time I was married. My husband made good money. The household bills were all paid by his income, so my income was really just for whatever I wanted to spend it on. So, I hired a cleaning service to clean my house and hired a (almost) full-time daycare assistant. I also upgraded the house, put my daughter in private school, and once when my husband went on a business trip and I wasn't able to go due to taking on a new daycare child and not feeling right about going on vacation so soon, I bought an entire new living room set and painted the living room while he was gone. When he got home, he simply told me how good it looked.

[craftymissbeth]

I'm curious about this too. I dream about hiring an assistant for mornings so they can take the older ones outside. It's so hard with infants by myself.

[llpa]

I am curious to know this too! Glad you asked in order to have an assistant I would need more kids to pay for it. Just doesn't seem worth it. I can take up to 6 on my own if they are 3-5 yo or four infants. I can handle the 6 older dcks on my own. So why do it? IMO

[NoMoreJuice!]

I struggled for a long time to fill all my spots, but now that I have, I am struggling to find time in my day to get anything done! I have 9 right now, plus 3 school age this summer, and I have 2 full time toddlers starting in August to replace the school agers.

Here's how my weekly budget breaks down for the summer:
1700....12 full time kids (150 a week, minus a few sibling discounts)
250......Food program money
-125....Groceries
-400....Paying my assistant $9 an hour, plus my share of Medicare/SS
Priceless...Getting dishes and vacuuming done before close

[Annalee]

I see lots of you who refer to having an assistant, sometimes two or three, and I'm curious. How do you afford this? I would love to have one, even just part time, but I can barely afford a substitute when I need one! I have 6 full time children @ $125 weekly. It's pretty good money, but I can't see having to pay an assistant. But I also have 4 children of my own, so maybe it's because my personal expenses may be higher? Sigh.... I dare to dream...

I work with my mom and we are allowed 12 children per licensing standards. It just works for us i.e. expenses, work schedule, child-rearing, etc. We started the business together but if she ever retires, I will go back to 7 children which is what I will be allowed to care for alone per licensing standard. There is NO money, in my opinion, to hire 2/3 persons daily. However, I see family providers with extra employees all the time....I don't know how they do it.....

[craftymissbeth]

I struggled for a long time to fill all my spots, but now that I have, I am struggling to find time in my day to get anything done! I have 9 right now, plus 3 school age this summer, and I have 2 full time toddlers starting in August to replace the school agers.

Here's how my weekly budget breaks down for the summer:
1700....12 full time kids (150 a week, minus a few sibling discounts)
250......Food program money
-125....Groceries
-400....Paying my assistant $9 an hour, plus my share of Medicare/SS
Priceless...Getting dishes and vacuuming done before close

Girl, if I was making $1700 a week in parent payments I'd be so happy right now I'm drowning because my parent income is only $970 a month! thank goodness my parents own the home I live in because I'm single and barely surviving.

[CordiallyCranberry]

I think it depends where you live. $125 a week?! That is unheard of here. Minimum $50/per child. Then of course, sibling discounts. I do sets of siblings at $80/day.
I can afford an assistant because I make about $800/wk.
Come August, I need to hire a 2nd assistant because I will have more kids. But then, I will be making about $1200/wk.

[Unregistered]

I'm required to have an assistant because I'm a group daycare. I gross over $2500/week and pay her $500/week.After weekly expenses and deductions I bring home$1700/week.
When I just had 6 kids I made $1100/week on my own.Sometimes I think about going back to kust six because an extra $600/week sometimes doesn't seem like much,but I like having another adult around and then I remember it's an extra $30,000 a year so yeah,it IS worth it!

[sahm1225]

I think you do have to look at the whole picture - cost of living, payments collected per child, personal bills & expenses, etc.

I wouldn't do this job if I didn't have an assistant. I have two that work part time. I couldn't do the day to day if it was just me (I would be lonely and my poor dh would come home to Me talking his ear off!).

For my situation - in our area providers don't offer part time care (for obvious reasons!). I have 9 families enrolled and only 3 are full time. Because it's part time, I charge more for the spot and I've been lucky to have families that need opposite days. I would make more if I downsized and did it by myself, but for my mental health I won't do it.

When I started I hired an assistant from 11-2. She was a stay at home mom that wanted extra cash while her kid was in school. It was nice to have help during the day even for a few hours.

[crazydaycarelady]

We can have 6 kids per adult, so I have 12 kids and an assistant. It is not affordable if you only have 6 kids.

[spinnymarie]

Same here with taking 12 kids vs 6. Although in the higher income areas, $9/hr isn't as much of the daily rate as it is other areas.

[Sugar Magnolia]

.......I'm married to my assistant::
We are co owner/operators, he'd kick my butt if I called him an "assistant".
We are a center so operating overhead is high. We currently have 12 at $195 per week, No assistants right now, but have had them in the past..

[cheerfuldom]

Many providers that have assistants, like me, use them sparingly. When I can afford it, about 8 hours a week. Sometimes it is just occasional use like 3 hours here and there for an appointment.

[Cradle2crayons]

Many providers that have assistants, like me, use them sparingly. When I can afford it, about 8 hours a week. Sometimes it is just occasional use like 3 hours here and there for an appointment.

I'm debating on whether I want to try to hire an assistant for this summer. Just maybe for field trips or if I want to hire a cleaning lady once a week. I'm not sure yet.

I had an interview today to fill my last two spots. I had a few on the waiting list but I really wanted a sibling set. The fewer parents he better .

But I'd love to have an assistant.. Just to have another adult to talk to .