I have a family who has very irregular hours. I charge them hourly because parents who have irregular hours also have a hard time getting errands run and are, therefore, much more likely to drop kids off earlier than they are supposed to or pick them up later than they are supposed to. By charging them hourly, the parents are much more likely to drop off and pick up at the correct times, and if not, then I get compensated for it. I have the parents give me their schedule as far in advance as possible (usually no later than a week ahead of time) and then charge a fee if they change it - I guess you could call it an inconvenience fee. I've never had a full daycare, though (since I don't really want a full daycare) so this might not work if you're trying to keep your daycare full. In that case, charging a full time rate is probably the best way to go. If you decide to charge hourly, I would go with 4.50 per hour. If you divide the 150 you said you were planning to charge per week by 40 hours you get 3.75, if you divide the 175 you get 4.38. Charging 4.50 should help cover some of the inconvenience of charging hourly.

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