Bills/Accounts

[kcnjason]

I was curious how other providers keep their finances organized for daycare. Do you have 2 seperate accounts? Do you seperate your food from your daycare supplies? Do you seperate your daycare expenses from your personal expenses? What ideas do you have? Anything that would help other out with organizing their receipts/bills? (regarding Home daycares)

[thecrazyisout]

Right now my husband and I are experimenting with different methods, but I would like to hear what has been successful with others as well.

Thanks for bringing this up!

[Cat Herder]

I recommend trying Minute Menu Kids. They have a free 30 day trial, it can't hurt...

(I swear I don't work for them.. I found out about it here this past year and it has simplified my mountains of paperwork.)

Also this forum has an entire section for taxes and it contains many threads about money management techniques and information about Toms books on this topic.

Good luck!

http://www.minutemenukids.com/signup/

[55CMK83]

I use Minute Menu Kids as well. All my daycare expenses are kept separately from my personal expenses. I have a daycare acct. so everything I buy goes onto that debt card - all daycare bills are paid out of there as well.

[daycare]

Originally Posted by Catherder

I recommend trying Minute Menu Kids. They have a free 30 day trial, it can't hurt...

(I swear I don't work for them.. I found out about it here this past year and it has simplified my mountains of paperwork.)

Also this forum has an entire section for taxes and it contains many threads about money management techniques and information about Toms books on this topic.

Good luck!

http://www.minutemenukids.com/signup/

ditto.. I use it and it saves me a ton of paperwork. I love the program. It also partners with a site called childcarepayexpress.com and your parents can make their DC payments online. Once they pay it automatically closes out the invoice for you...its wonderful and I love it!

[SandeeAR]

I have a separate account that the money goes into and comes out for me to use.

I keep all records in Excel (it's free ). I do not separate the supplies from food. As per my CPA, so long as it is being used for the kids, it just all comes off as a deduction. Btw, I am not on the food program.

[thecrazyisout]

Originally Posted by 55CMK83

I use Minute Menu Kids as well. All my daycare expenses are kept separately from my personal expenses. I have a daycare acct. so everything I buy goes onto that debt card - all daycare bills are paid out of there as well.

How do you handle paying utilities and so forth? Or any items that are both daycare and personal?

[Abigail]

Originally Posted by thecrazyisout

How do you handle paying utilities and so forth? Or any items that are both daycare and personal?

You would "pay yourself" by writing yourself a check to deposit into your own checking or savings account and label it as a paycheck to yourself. You could also simply withdrawl it as a payday for yourself as well. If you have daycare and personal items on one receipt, just circle or make a mark by the daycare expenses. If you are buying things you use for both, but a % by it. If you buy a jumbo size bag of tissue boxes and know you'll use only 25% of it in your home and 75% of it on the daycare then write 75% d for daycare.

[kcnjason]

Thanks for the ideas, I have checked into minutemenu kids but wasn't sure if it would be good. I think that I will check it out. Also, what about your bank accts? Do you have a bank acct for daycare expenses and another acct for others? I am not sure what I would pay for out of either acct? I understand that I would pay for daycare expenses out of the daycare acct but all of our other bills, where does that money come from other than my husbands check that gets deposited into the other acct? I'm kind of confused and may be confusing every person reading this.

[Abigail]

Originally Posted by kcnjason

Thanks for the ideas, I have checked into minutemenu kids but wasn't sure if it would be good. I think that I will check it out. Also, what about your bank accts? Do you have a bank acct for daycare expenses and another acct for others? I am not sure what I would pay for out of either acct? I understand that I would pay for daycare expenses out of the daycare acct but all of our other bills, where does that money come from other than my husbands check that gets deposited into the other acct? I'm kind of confused and may be confusing every person reading this.

LOL, I read this then had to re-read it again. You pay any and all bills that are not 100% daycare related expenses from your main/husbands bank account. You save receipts/bills for those shared expenses like your utility bill or cable/internet bill.

You use your daycare account to pay bills 100% for daycare. You go to the store and buy toys and food. If it's not all for daycare, I would recommend splitting up the items upon checkout to save yourself the hassle. You would also "pay yourself" from this account when you see the need to. This separate account is suppose to make it easier to track all your income (because ALL your daycare money should be deposited into this account only) and your expenses in order for tax time.