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mduck 07:59 PM 04-27-2015
When my dcm aksed me to watch her child, we agreed that we would do a 20.00 flat fee for per day, not do an hourly type thing. At that time, we were either doing an 8:30 - 5:30 day, or an afternoon - 5:30 day. So it was 20.00 for either situation.

She has had two work changes since and the first change didn't change our arrangement or her hours. She called and let me know that instead of working 2 jobs, she would go 'seasonal' on the one, and then full time on the other in order spend more time with her dd (she is a single mom). The full time one would require her to be at work at 4:00pm, though her boss told her she could be there at 5:30pm if she wanted to, which would completely eliminate her need for daycare aside from needing someone during the other jobs seasonal shifts. She told me that she wanted to do the 4:00pm shift because she wanted her dd to have friends. I am ok with doing the 3:30 - 5:00 care, BUT, I know she probably wants to reduce the cost of care (I can understand that). She didn't say anything about it, but I simply can't charge her that for 1.5 hours. BTW: I don't watch other children, I just have my own.

She did say that she might drop her dd off earlier on days that she might need to run an errand or something. She has had opportunities to drop her dd off earlier in the past on those noon drop offs, but has not been the type to do that a lot. So what to do? How to do? I really think she should take the 5:30 shift and not pay for care, but I wonder if she is afraid that I will not want to watch her dd or will be too busy when those seasonal shifts start up, or if she is afraid that her dd will have to readjust to us all over again if there are month long gaps in between care times.

So, here's my question. What would a center or home daycare charge her for something like this? I want to be fair, but then again, I'm not a center and if I am not watching her, my days are wide open to plan how I choose. I also do not charge if she is not here and don't ever plan to. If it would benefit her to go to a daycare, I might just point her in that direction since she's only looking at needing 1.5 hours at the end of the day. Also, she only needs 4 days a week.

Thanks in advance for the responses!
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Laurel 01:15 AM 04-28-2015
I think I would tell her that I would only do the hours she wants using an hourly rate. Anything else would confuse me, lol. Keep in mind that people 'say' they want certain hours with 'occasional' days to do errands but it rarely ends up that way. They keep adding more and more 'errands'. So whatever way you do it limit the number of hours she can use or charge by the hour.

For part time, I used to charge by the day with a 3 day minimum. If they used 1 or 2 or 3 days, I at least got 3 days pay. Once I did let someone pay half a day's rate as they were consistently there only 4 hours. Had they wanted to add extra time here and there, I would have changed the arrangement though.

It seems more simple to just charge an hourly rate.

Laurel
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Thriftylady 05:35 AM 04-28-2015
I would charge hourly.
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butterfly 07:09 AM 04-28-2015
I would charge a full time rate.

Every. Single. Time. I've lowered my rates for supposedly less hours, I have gotten burned. The kid always wound up coming earlier or staying later than was previously agreed upon.

If she wants access to full time care (when seasonal), they need to pay for it.
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DaisyMamma 11:33 AM 04-28-2015
I'm my care she would be charged for the spot, not for the hours. So it would be $20 still.
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Crazy8 12:12 PM 04-28-2015
I'd consider her like an after school kid (even if she's not school aged). If I offered that type of care it would be about $10/day for 3:30-5 only - no option of coming earlier/staying later.
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Unregistered 01:27 PM 04-28-2015
My minimum for drop in care is $16/day for up to 4 hours.
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LysesKids 04:50 PM 04-28-2015
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
My minimum for drop in care is $16/day for up to 4 hours.
My minimum for drop-in is $15 for 3 hours ... if they need less time, too bad, so sad. When I schedule Drop-ins, I explain they can't go over time reserved unless pre-approved at least 6 hrs in advance because there may be someone else scheduled for the spot at a set time (my case for Thur... one kid must be gone before the other arrives - both drop-ins). You go over, you pay the $1 minute OT fee - I leave a small time gap between kids just in case but they don't have to know that; I also don't reschedule again if they pull OT without notice thinking I won't do anything - last parent that tried ended up paying me $75 and lost their drop-in privilege. I don't play games
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mduck 07:43 AM 04-29-2015
I think my plan is going to be either:

A. to keep it at 20.00 per day whether 10 hours or 1.5. This will allow her to drop her off at 3:30pm or at 8:30am depending on whether she needs a full day during the extra seasonal job or if she just needs to drop early for an appt. or what ever she might have going on.

B. to drop the rate to 15.00. The reason I would not consider the 10.00 is because I watch NO OTHER dck. Just hers. So having the drop off/pick up in the middle of the day pins me to the house until evening. Sure I can leave in the am to do something, BUT, I would constantly being checking my watch in order to get back home in time for drop off. BUT if she needs an earlier drop than that, say 1:30, then it would go back up to 20.00. If it were an earlier drop off/pick up then I would go to 10.00 because I would have the rest of the day to be away from the house if I wanted/needed to.

Thanks all for all your advice and help! It is very MUCH appreciated!
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mduck 09:25 PM 05-01-2015
So she asked about a rate change from the 20 flat rate and I told her I was still thinking about it and would let her know. I just sent the email to say I would drop it to 15 for anything 4 hours or less, but anything more up to 9 hours would be 20. I guess I will see if she decides to go with someone else or stay with us. No hard feelings either way. Hope we either work this out or part ways on good terms.
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