How to Charge For This?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Honestly, I wouldn't do it, for the sake of my family and personal hapiness. I advise against it. If you absolutely MUST do it for financial reasons, I would limit her to once a month. And she must make a "reservation" one week in advance. And seriously, I think it would be fair to get $300 per weekend for this "premium" service.

IMO, I would have to be in a serious financial crisis (as in no $ for food) to do this though. Sorry but even every other weekend would be....too too too much. What does your husband think?

[Abigail]

I quoted her at $125 per day so we will she if she decides she is still interested or not, she is supposed to find out for sure this week if she will have that weekend shift or not so who knows, and it wouldn't start for over a month so I would still have what is left of my summer weekend beach time and such.

I may just do it on a trial basis when I don't have stuff happening on the weekend, wait and see what I hear back from her I guess. No way I am doing it under contract, it will definitely be on a drop in basis. Speaking of that, for those of you that charge an enrollment or registration fee, do you do it for the drop ins too?

If she takes you up on the offer it equals out to $5 per hour which isn't too bad because you have them all day to make a week's worth of income in two days. As far as drop-ins, you would still need to have all the paperwork on file and up-to-date so I would charge an annual fee of $10 per child because you already know you're not going to do your daycare routine and use many daycare supplies during the weekend. Think how much your time/space percentage will go up as well for having an additional 25 hours that week! I agree with the other person who said they should be scheduled. You should require $25 per day she doesn't show because you were expecting if she decides to cancel or have mom/dad watch the kids again to save money. Create a contract and make it a drop in basis.

[beachgrl]

Honestly, I wouldn't do it, for the sake of my family and personal hapiness. I advise against it. If you absolutely MUST do it for financial reasons, I would limit her to once a month. And she must make a "reservation" one week in advance. And seriously, I think it would be fair to get $300 per weekend for this "premium" service.

IMO, I would have to be in a serious financial crisis (as in no $ for food) to do this though. Sorry but even every other weekend would be....too too too much. What does your husband think?

Well we are getting close to that actually with both of us being in school and him being the only one really working right now. He makes okay but nothing by the time he takes out child support for his son and the 400+it costs him in gas going to work, plus I make over $3000 a month as a teacher and had benefits so we are taking a huge hit on income right now and I am worried what will happen until I get a full schedule of kids enrolled without the extra money.

He is all for it, he is very supportive of anything related to the child care business and wants it to be successful as well as he worries about the financial aspect as much if not more than I do right now. I do like the idea of having a contract and charging a fee if she backs out on days she had scheduled.

[CheekyChick]

I could not do it... I think working the weekends would send me over the edge.

With that said, I would charge $120.00 per day. She is a nurse who probably makes $25.00+ per hour. You are giving up your weekend. Oh, and I would write in the contract that if you ever have plans, you will have a regular "sitter" come to your house and she will have to pay the "above and beyond" fee that will be paid to the sitter. Does that make any sense?

[beachgrl]

update

I told her it would be $125 day for a total of $250 for the weekend. She was supposed to let me know something Thursday on whether she got the position but haven't heard from her so I don't know if that is due to the storm or her just not wanting to pay that much but she didn't seem to bat an eyelash when i told her how much.

Her mom is available as back up so if I want to do every other weekend or have a weekend off she can watch them but she has a full time job all week so she doesn't want her mom having to watch them all the time.

Maybe won't even hear back from her. I am working this week on getting some yard signs done to put around our town and getting a sign for my business out front so people know I am here and hopefully will get some more kids in with the additional advertising.

[PitterPatter]

First of all I strongly suggest you rethink the effort and personal time you will be sacrificing not having a single day off ever! I can see a total burn out within a couple months. It would be dif if it was for a few hours on Sat & Sun but your WHOLE weekend is gone! Do you have a family? I'm only asking because as it is with me having to work some Saturdays and only getting Sundays off I struggle to make time for family, cleaning, groceries, errands and me time all fit in. If you think you can do it then more power to you and I wish you luck but that is my 1st thought.

2nd I would NOT discount for her. Being she only needs care for 2 days per week and is a nurse then she can afford it. Charge your regular rate with maybe even a few bucks extra for weekend care. I say $30 per kid per day making it $180 per week. Average daycare costs that much or more so why cut her slack when you will be working hard for her. I will never do daycare 7 days a week I almost got burnt out doing 6 days at 10-11 hrs a day. I know my limits please just be sure you know yours as well. Good luck to you!

[PitterPatter]

I told her it would be $125 day for a total of $250 for the weekend. She was supposed to let me know something Thursday on whether she got the position but haven't heard from her so I don't know if that is due to the storm or her just not wanting to pay that much but she didn't seem to bat an eyelash when i told her how much.

Her mom is available as back up so if I want to do every other weekend or have a weekend off she can watch them but she has a full time job all week so she doesn't want her mom having to watch them all the time.

Maybe won't even hear back from her. I am working this week on getting some yard signs done to put around our town and getting a sign for my business out front so people know I am here and hopefully will get some more kids in with the additional advertising.

Ooops guess I should read all the replies and updates 1st huh? ::

A little help with signs.. I bought mine from vistaprint. Great deal and the signs hold up year round! I have both styles. Good luck to u and your business!

[beachgrl]

Haha, it's okay I do that too sometimes
I will look at those, thanks for the suggestion as I had looked at them on eBay, I got my business cards from vista print..got my car magnetic signs customized and ordered from eBay and they are otw! Thanks, haventmheard from her anyway and I just don't think I want to take that on anyway so yay..but I hope I get some kids in the next few weeks!!