Daycare Payments/Advertising

[SimpleMom]

Ok. A little background.

I have worked in a daycare facility for a combination of over 17 years.
I understand centers charge a lot more than home childcares. I grew up in the cities and the cost of childcare for my own child in a home care was $100.00 per week MINIMUM. It was expected. For a center it was $175.00-200.00 MINIMUM.

Now, I've moved just one hour from the cities and people are astonished when I ask for 85.00/week for 30 hours. This is so crazy and frustrating. People are known to pay $100.00 for 25 hours at the center, but a minimum of 100.00 for 40 hours is appauling???

That is so off balance. ummm...more one/one care, smaller numbers of children, home-like environment, AND home preschooling/education offered (included in the cost of care). YET, I can't seem to get clients in at 40 hours/week for 100.00 and to ask for $85.00/week is more than they will pay?

Are my rates really that high?

Any advise on advertising. That's the new part for myself. I have never advertised in the past. I get maybe 1 FT call/year here as well.

I'm really not about the money, but I do need to make enough to keep this running. I love kids, I love what I do. I barely pull in $300.00/ week between regular children and drop-ins. I have had 7-9 kids a day at times and 3-5others, but no more than $300.00/week.

Which means I've only pulled in about $100.00/ week after groceries and activities/bills (related to daycare) are paid and that hardly covers my own cost of living. I have my own bills, a house payment, my own children's activities, etc. Any advise on making this work and come together in the near future? I am praying for 3-4 children at a minimum of 40 hours/week to sign up so that I can make this work.

Should I keep taking PT or hold off for FT calls?

[melissa ann]

What are your part-time rates? This should be higher per day than for full-time. Currently, I charge $85/week for 5 days. I am changing my rates because right now I only charge for days the kids are in my care, but am having problems with that. Almost every week, the kids miss at least one day because of other arrangements. I am going to have a min. rate of $60/week for 3 days or less. For kids in my care 4-5 days, I will charge $18/day, which wil come to $72 for 4 days and $90 for 5. I have 1 family with 3 kids. Sometimes, with all 3, I barely make over a $100/week. This way, I know I will be guaranteed at least $180/week. The mother says she loves the crafts that we do. We have cut back on crafts because I haven't had extra money to get materials.
I have had no luck on craigslist. When I put an ad in our free weekly paper, I do get calls. But, mostly the callers just ask for my rate and then I never hear from them. I print out my own business cards and if I hear someone mention about childcare care, I hand them out. It took me 6 months before I got my first clients.
I wish you luck. Just hang in there.

[tymaboy]

I dont think your rates are unreasonable at all. When I started I was only charging $2.25 an hour. I changed my rates this yr. $21 a day, $12 half day, $3.25 hour drop in or they have their choose to pay $2.50 an hour if they do not want the daily rate. I figured it out that they get a better deal if they do the daily rate. Going rate in my area is higher then $2.50 an hour.

When I started out I got most of my calls from Child resource & referral. I had gotten a couple calls from Craigslist but now its word of mouth. What you can try is leaving your business card in restaurants, restrooms or any place else when you are out & about. I get my cards done at www.Vistaprint.com You can 250 free but have to pay shipping.

[Unregistered]

Not Unreasonable

I only accept full time enrollments and I charge $125 per week in my home childcare. I have my CDA and Associates Degree in early childhood, years of experience, and a nice home and materials. I would say I am on the high end for home childcare programs in my area, but not too high to get enrollment. However, if I lowered my rate to $100 I think I would fill my spots more quickly. People throwing a fit over $85 per week sounds crazy to me. How is it even worth your time and money for supplies?

[mac60]

I don't know where you are from, but your rates are low, just like they are where I live. From research I have done, I live in one of the lowest rates areas of the country. I too have a minimum rate per week, and I charge whether you are here are not. I don't understand why parents are so willing to pay a center so much more than a home daycare, considering the pluses with home daycare. One of the biggies is that I don't feel parents understand the cost involved in operating a home daycare.

As far as advertising, I think it totally depends on where you live. We don't have Craigslist here. I have gotten all my clients thru newspaper ads in the beginning, then word of mouth. We only have 1 grocery store besides WalMart and neither will allow providers to post ads. I don't really like the idea of resource and referral in our area, as you end up getting a lot of the families I really don't want in my home, and I refuse to deal with families that get their daycare paid thru programs.

Your rates sound very fair too.

[laundryduchess@yahoo.com]

I charge 110 per week FT, 28 daily or 3.50 an hour. (hourly has a 10 hour minimum.) They decide at contract sinage which they prefer. I also dont have an,.. I am open from this time to this time. I contract each family according to their needs. If someone drops off at 430 am, picks up at 230 pm, I get an hourly for 3-5ish.

[seashell]

Ok. A little background.

I have worked in a daycare facility for a combination of over 17 years.
I understand centers charge a lot more than home childcares. I grew up in the cities and the cost of childcare for my own child in a home care was $100.00 per week MINIMUM. It was expected. For a center it was $175.00-200.00 MINIMUM.

Now, I've moved just one hour from the cities and people are astonished when I ask for 85.00/week for 30 hours. This is so crazy and frustrating. People are known to pay $100.00 for 25 hours at the center, but a minimum of 100.00 for 40 hours is appauling???

That is so off balance. ummm...more one/one care, smaller numbers of children, home-like environment, AND home preschooling/education offered (included in the cost of care). YET, I can't seem to get clients in at 40 hours/week for 100.00 and to ask for $85.00/week is more than they will pay?

Are my rates really that high?

Any advise on advertising. That's the new part for myself. I have never advertised in the past. I get maybe 1 FT call/year here as well.

I'm really not about the money, but I do need to make enough to keep this running. I love kids, I love what I do. I barely pull in $300.00/ week between regular children and drop-ins. I have had 7-9 kids a day at times and 3-5others, but no more than $300.00/week.

Which means I've only pulled in about $100.00/ week after groceries and activities/bills (related to daycare) are paid and that hardly covers my own cost of living. I have my own bills, a house payment, my own children's activities, etc. Any advise on making this work and come together in the near future? I am praying for 3-4 children at a minimum of 40 hours/week to sign up so that I can make this work.

Should I keep taking PT or hold off for FT calls?

Im in ct. Home daycare in my town is about an average of $150 per week - Full time. As for advertising, I just found a great website that will print custom post cards, business cards, brochures . . . the initial order is free, you just pay postage. I got some awesome 2 sided post cards. A stack of 100 was free!!!!!! I just drove around and put them in mailboxes sent my daughter and her friends out on their bikes. I have already gotten a few calls. The website is www.vistaprint.com. I just got a refer a friend e-mail offering new customers free business cards (250), free post cards (100) free brochures (25), free hat, shirt, bag. . . you desing them online and pay only for shipping. Anyone who wants a copy of the letter, PM me with you email address and I will send it to you.

Good luck!

[melissa ann]

Seashell, I'm not sure, but I think putting things in mailboxes is illegal. I just don't want you to get in any trouble, because I think, if someone said anything, it might be a federal offense.

The area where I live, the grocery stores do not allow postings either. Once, I put up a couple of business cards up and I got a phone call from the assistant manager of the store. I was told I could only put up an ad for things for sale only. I have left some in my library. I leave in a small town and our library has a table where people leave coupons for others to rummange through, and business cards of people with their home business(ex: avon, creative memories, etc).

[SimpleMom]

Thank you for your responses!!! It helped so much to hear from other providers. It seems that rates do vary quite a bit depending on the area. That's too bad, because childcare is a really hardl, yet fullfilling, job and deserves pay to fit that. I once had a parent tell me that they work a full-time job and don't get this or that (in response to paid vacation time). I felt a little dumb-founded at first. I can understand it's hard to really know what the job entails and how hard providers to work and the long hours involved in the business if you haven't been in their shoes.