How do you deal with the ups/downs of enrollment?

[DaisyMamma]

I need to make X amount per week to pay my bills.
The income potential is there, plus even a few hundred more.

I recently took on another financial obligation and at the time (of course) I was scheduled for summer to make enough and then some to cover it. And the inevitable happens, when someone walks out without notice after the summer rush of interview calls

Well I can make it work for the summer, no problem. Come fall I will be down enrollment and need two more kids full time to cover my expenses.

So my question is, how do you handle this? Not how to you advertise or get the extra kids, but the stress? I'm really stressed out. It's pretty much all I think about, eventhough I know that I won't be getting calls until August. I can't help it, I'm just a worrier.

And I can't just go out and get a different job. I have thought about it. But I would really only make half of what I do on average at home doing daycare, so that's not an option.

[permanentvacation]

I used to take a certain percentage of each child's pay and set it aside in a savings account just in case I lost a kid or two. And I never used to rely on the food program income at all. I just thought of it as a nice lump of money that arrived in my mailbox periodically. I would either blow it or save it. But for quite some time, I have handled it by learning that as long as you pay your bill by the end of the 2nd month after it's due date, they don't cut your stuff off!! ::

But yeah, if you can, start saving a portion of your current parents' pay. If you need to, start with just $10/$20 per child per week. If you are on the food program, maybe you can stop thinking of that as your income to go towards debt and put the food program check straight into a savings account. If you are not already on the food program, if you have that where you are, I would suggest getting on it and saving that money.

[Unregistered]

I deal with if by having an emergency fund. Currently just over 1 months income if I were full. My goal is 3-6 mos income.

[midaycare]

I've been so poor that I could barely afford to eat, and had enough money to take nice vacations, do fun things, and help others.

I have discovered that worrying about money doesn't help. The best thing I ever did was to get out of debt by following the Dave Ramsey plan.

[DaisyMamma]

I used to take a certain percentage of each child's pay and set it aside in a savings account just in case I lost a kid or two. And I never used to rely on the food program income at all. I just thought of it as a nice lump of money that arrived in my mailbox periodically. I would either blow it or save it. But for quite some time, I have handled it by learning that as long as you pay your bill by the end of the 2nd month after it's due date, they don't cut your stuff off!! ::

But yeah, if you can, start saving a portion of your current parents' pay. If you need to, start with just $10/$20 per child per week. If you are on the food program, maybe you can stop thinking of that as your income to go towards debt and put the food program check straight into a savings account. If you are not already on the food program, if you have that where you are, I would suggest getting on it and saving that money.

I've given a lot of thought to this lately myself and it is my plan to do just this. I will be starting a savings account as soon as I am able. Right now I'm not able to. Right now I use my food program $ to pay for irregular bills, like getting my 4 dogs their shots and quarterly trash pickup.

[DaisyMamma]

I've been so poor that I could barely afford to eat, and had enough money to take nice vacations, do fun things, and help others.

I have discovered that worrying about money doesn't help. The best thing I ever did was to get out of debt by following the Dave Ramsey plan.

yes. This is me. we can go from extra $$$$ to no food in a matter of weeks!

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

Oh I am so there right now. I termed one that needed to happen and I would be fine without that income. Summer I am always down my teacher's kids (p/t but a nice chunk of money) but I plan for that. This monday one of my moms that I never thought I would loose gave her 2 week notice. I am very happy for her, she will be a stay at home mom.(2 kids for me and my most flexible mom because ga wanted them at leat one day a week) But now I am down 3 kids (half) and my extra kids.
Thankfully I am done paying dd's tuition but I thought I could get some put off things done...
I did have an interview last night for 2 and if she gets all of her ducks in a row I will get them and they are adorable. (young single mom)
I had a savings account until this month when we had unexpected expense...
Yay it is almost the end of the month and I will get food program check.

[DaisyMamma]

Oh I am so there right now. I termed one that needed to happen and I would be fine without that income. Summer I am always down my teacher's kids (p/t but a nice chunk of money) but I plan for that. This monday one of my moms that I never thought I would loose gave her 2 week notice. I am very happy for her, she will be a stay at home mom.(2 kids for me and my most flexible mom because ga wanted them at leat one day a week) But now I am down 3 kids (half) and my extra kids.
Thankfully I am done paying dd's tuition but I thought I could get some put off things done...
I did have an interview last night for 2 and if she gets all of her ducks in a row I will get them and they are adorable. (young single mom)
I had a savings account until this month when we had unexpected expense...
Yay it is almost the end of the month and I will get food program check.

Private tuition is the expense I picked up. I am VERY happy about it and will do absolutely everything I need to, to make it work!

[permanentvacation]

DaisyMamma,

I also suggest the Dave Ramsey classes. I typically think that people like that just scam people out of their money. But even though I already knew everything he taught, simply hearing someone teach it all to me, walk me through it step by step, and hearing everyone in class discuss their financial situations, it gave me the pep talk I needed to get back in a positive mind set about getting myself financially together again.

You can go to www.daveramsey.com (the classes do cost money, so you might want to research right now, if you decide to take the class, save up for it). If you attend church, your church might offer the class. If not, you might be able to ask them to do so. It really helped me to sit in a class and listen to everyone's stories. Your church might be able to help you pay for the class also. My church was willing to pay for 1 person's costs. I didn't take them up on that, but I did ask them if they would pay for it up front for me so I could start class on time with everything I needed and then pay them back within 2 weeks. They did that for me.

[permanentvacation]

Middaycare,

I went to a class of Dave Ramsey's too! The Financial Peace class.

Once, in the past, very soon after getting separated from my husband, I started using my income to pay off my debt. I finally decided to get as far away from my ex as possible, so I sold the house and got half of the proceeds from that. I used the proceeds to pay off the rest of my debt and pay 1 year's rent up front for a home in Florida. I paid off all of my debt including my van all by myself as a single mother. So, I know what to do and how to do it. But after letting the world get the better of me for some time, I couldn't pull myself up by my own boot strings and needed help seeing that there IS a light at the end of the tunnel. So when my church offered Dave's class, I took it. I didn't really learn anything that I didn't already know, but sitting in class, listening to him teach a step by step process on getting yourself out of debt and financially secure, hearing his stories, hearing my classmates stories, and listening to myself tell my stories, it made me remember how I felt when I was married and had plenty of extra money to just go have fun with, had the sense of being financially safe; knowing that my bills were definitely going to be paid, honestly, never being scared of anything that you needed money for. It also made me remember how I felt after getting separated and I paid off all my debt BY MYSELF as a SINGLE MOTHER!! So, even though at first, I didn't think I needed the class, it made me remember how I felt before I let the world kick me around and got myself in a rut. It gave the 'You can do this again' feeling that I needed!

I don't even have Baby Step one done, and I only need to save $500 not $1,000! But since going to his class, along with some other things I have done lately to brush myself off, I do have a plan and can see that even though I am on a very slow train, there is light at the end of this tunnel I seem to be in.

[NeedaVaca]

I coupon I save a lot of money by doing that and that savings helps when I need it for extra expenses. I also have a huge stockpile of food and personal supplies from couponing so if money is tight I can get by for months and only buy milk, bread & produce.

[DaisyMamma]

I coupon I save a lot of money by doing that and that savings helps when I need it for extra expenses. I also have a huge stockpile of food and personal supplies from couponing so if money is tight I can get by for months and only buy milk, bread & produce.

Something so simple and I never even thought of it. I never use coupons. I'm going to check it out!

[NeedaVaca]

Something so simple and I never even thought of it. I never use coupons. I'm going to check it out!

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52976

You can check this thread out to get started

[permanentvacation]

This might seem odd to you to do, but if you have food pantries around you, (typically at churches) you can get some food from them when you aren't able to afford groceries.

It is also much better to call all of your creditors - get every bill you have, sit them in front of you with some paper and a pen. Write down your current total due, current minimum amount due and due date. Then call that creditor, explain that you are having financial difficulties and see if there's anything they can help you with as far as lowering your payment due, pushing back your due date, allowing you to skip a payment (sometimes offered if you have paid on time for a long time), or anything they can think of to help you lower your bills this month (or for a couple of months).

UNPLUG EVERYTHING you are not currently using in your house! It's the weirdest thing, but about an hour after I kicked my ex out, I realized that I just told 3/4 of the household income to get out! My mind started racing about money! I went outside and looked at the electric meter. It was running like crazy! I went around and started unplugging things then gave it a couple of minutes to register, and ran back outside and watched the electric meter. Even though things were turned off, they were still running up my electric bill! After unplugging things, my meter went MUCH slower! Don't forget to unplug the clothes washer and dryer!

Get a notebook and take it with you everywhere you go. Write down every time you spend any money - even 10 cents! Do that for a week or so and then go through and categorize your expenses; gas, groceries, fast food restaurants, impulse buying ( grabbing a pack of gum when you really just need a pack of diapers for the baby). That will help you see where you spend your money. Then adjust your habits accordingly.

Walk through your house and look around in every room. What is costing you money in your home? Like the things being plugged in even though you aren't using them. Is there something in your house that you are paying for on a continuous basis that no one really uses anyway? Like having a cable box that you are paying an extra $10/month for in the guest bedroom when you really never have guests stay with you?

Look through your house a second time, room to room, and see if there is anything that you could sell at a yard sale.

Make a list of your bills and extra expenses. Are there ways you can cut costs there? Are you paying for a lawn service but you really could take care of the lawn yourself? Are you spending money on 'you time' in more expensive ways than you need to? Ex: are you going to the movies, paying $15/20 for a ticket, then another $15/20 on the concession stand totaling about $40 for a movie night when you could stay at home, order a movie through cable for $6 and eat and drink things you bought at the grocery store.

Are you running errands daily/nightly that takes much more gasoline than if you wrote a list of your errand needs and get everything done at once?

After you find ways to save/get some money, you can either use that money to pay some bills - especially if you have cut off notices! Or use it to start a savings account.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

Private tuition is the expense I picked up. I am VERY happy about it and will do absolutely everything I need to, to make it work!

Mine was for dd's college... graduated in May happyface
we homeschool so I still am paying for my son.. we use Seton.