What to Charge for Part-Time Kids

[janell999]

I have had an unlicensed (legal) in home day care for a couple years now and have always charged $50 a day per kid. Being unlicensed, I can only have 3 kids and 2 of them have dropped down to part time. I have them maybe 3-4 days a week. one of them sometimes only comes 2 times a week. So my income is never really the same each week.
My husband thinks I need to increase my rates since $50 a day is really just barely average here. He thinks I should charge $60 a day per kid for full time. I am in favor of that because he is right, my rates are on the lower side. I plan to increase my rates starting in June. But now that I have been at it for a while I really want to charge more for part timers too. They are taking up spots that I could be using for full time kids. What would you suggest I change my fees to for full time and part time kids? the kids I watch now are 7 months, 15 months and 2. I don't charge different rates for different ages either. Its just a flat rate. What do you think? How do you determine what to charge part time kids?

[Michael]

Here are some threads for part-time rates: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...ime+care+rates

[Cat Herder]

Part-time should be more expensive and not guaranteed. Full-time always comes before part-time. If you have someone wanting full-time, the part-time slot is filled.

I don't even offer part-time anymore. It is not worth the money with the constant turn over, increased illnesses and increased parent conflict.

I offer full-time only, flat rate tuition, not based on attendance but the slot. It is more practical, gives me a stable income and provides an environment free of turn over and excessive transitions for kids.

[rosieteddy]

I would definitely charge 60 a day .Then 70 for part time .I would try to fit two children in one slot ,3 day client picks days ,two day client gets leftover days.If both want 3 days I would charge them regardless of attendance.

[LittleExplorers]

I charge more for part-time and I charge the for the spot. If they want to come 3 days some weeks, they pay for 3 days every week. If I could only have 4 kids, unless you have families that split a week(MWF , & TH for example) I would not take them. I also have a flat rate regardless of age. As for what you charge, that is geographically specific so do some market research and go from there.

[Blackcat31]

I offer care on a 3, 4 or 5 day option. Once a parent chooses an option, that is the number of days they pay for regardless of how many they actually use. If they want to add additional days they can at an additional cost.

The more days they contract for the cheaper the "daily" rate.

Anything less than 3 days is considered drop in care and is never guaranteed and comes at a much higher "daily" rate than any other type of contract/agreement.

[janell999]

Thanks for the advice! All good points! I like the idea of having the parents pick 3,4,or 5 days and charge them for that no matter what. and additional cost for adding additional days.