How to Determine Wages

[Unregistered]

Do you go by minimum wage?
With Oregon wanting to up the minimum wage it got me thinking. I will not be making under minimum wage! So how do you determine that? Add up hourly rates for maximum kids allowed? Or the average most of the year, say 4 kids daily?

[SnowGirl]

I'm interested in the answer to this, as well. I also wonder if providers who have their own children in care count the value they are saving by staying home with their child as part of their wages.

I have my daughter at home with me now, and am expecting baby #2 in April...so would my wages "increase" in value, if not actual money?

Good question OP!

[Thriftylady]

I am currently making less than min. wage when you factor in my expenses. But in this area people just won't pay more. There are so many SAHM's providing very cheap care. I think it depends a lot on your area.

[Unregistered]

I'm interested in the answer to this, as well. I also wonder if providers who have their own children in care count the value they are saving by staying home with their child as part of their wages.

I have my daughter at home with me now, and am expecting baby #2 in April...so would my wages "increase" in value, if not actual money?

Good question OP!

I think I would count your own children since you would be paying. Unless your children don't count in your numbers??
I added mine up once for all the years I would have paid for, it was insane!

[Blackcat31]

I've never really tried to figure out how much I make per hour.

With everything I do outside of business hours/direct contact with kids and families, there really is no good way to accurately figure that out.

You'd have to really get down to some serious number crunching to tally "per hour" wages with the differing schedules kids have etc. For example I have 12 kids here today but not all 12 of them are here for the exact same hours.

I have different expenses based on different things...some days we use more water than others, some days I use the AC more and in the winter the furnace may run longer each day in January than it does in May. Trying to calculate those factors into how long each kid was here every day and for what hours would be a full time job in and of itself.

I guess I could look at TOTAL income earned per year minus my total expenses and that is my yearly wage. If I have tracked ALL hours worked, then I can divide the total wage by hours worked and come up with a pretty good guestimate of how much I make hourly but even thinking about that much math makes my head hurt.

[Second Home]

Every time I figure out my hourly wage I want to cry .

[Unregistered]

I did that once BlackCat. It was only $12.50... that's why I think I'll need to raise rates in the wage goes up.

[thrivingchildcarecom]

Oh man! This will really hurt your feelings. I'm in California where the minimum right at $9.00, I currently make $3-4 an hour when you factor that I work an average of 9.5-11 hours a day. Now I know that is per child and I should take that amount and multiply it by the number of children in care, but when enrollment dips so does the total.
I don't know if this would work for tax purposes, but I guess you could take a monthly total and divide that by the number of hours you work (this might change every month). You would then have to deduct expenses, and I mean everything! Your assistant, supplies, food, purchases, etc. to even get close to what the hourly rate is. Whatever the final figure is, I can almost guarantee its way too low for job we do! Even if its minimum wage. Side note: Because the hourly rate that the parents pay is so low, I use that when I am presenting my rates to new families, just so that they are aware and don't get the idea that I can give them a discount just because I am an FCC.

[Blackcat31]

Oh man! This will really hurt your feelings. I'm in California where the minimum right at $9.00,

I thought California was one of 14 states that upped their minimum wage to $10 per hour as of January 2016?

[sahm1225]

I thought California was one of 14 states that upped their minimum wage to $10 per hour as of January 2016?

Chicago is at $10 and going to $11 this summer. It's crazy!

[MunchkinWrangler]

I don't try either. I do try to cap when I work on daily cleaning after the kids leave and make sure I don't do anything for the daycare over the weekends so I don't feel burned out. So many people try to schedule interviews on the weekends, which to me is rude but I firmly say that I am unavailable on the weekends. If it's a current parent, I would communicate but so far all my families respect my weekends and after hours unless it's urgent or a schedule change that I need to be notified of.

I'm sure if I figured it out, I'd probably cry too so I let it go and know that as long as my enrollments are covering my expenses and bills and I have money left over, I'm good with that.