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View Poll Results: How do you bill and keep track of payments?
Invoices (Before the Due Date) 1 3.85%
Receipts (After the Due Date) 12 46.15%
Both 3 11.54%
Neither 10 38.46%
Voters: 26. You may not vote on this poll
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Receipts or Invoices or Both?
spud912 03:19 PM 06-05-2015
I am legally unlicensed so have free will with how I keep track of payments. I decided that I pull myself together and get more organized and professional. I think invoices are especially important the day before the due date so parents know how much they need to pay. Receipts are the aftermath so I know how much they did pay.

What do you all do? Invoices? Receipts? Both? TIA!
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LysesKids 03:45 PM 06-05-2015
Originally Posted by spud912:
I am legally unlicensed so have free will with how I keep track of payments. I decided that I pull myself together and get more organized and professional. I think invoices are especially important the day before the due date so parents know how much they need to pay. Receipts are the aftermath so I know how much they did pay.

What do you all do? Invoices? Receipts? Both? TIA!
I do receipts, but then some of my families have rotating schedules (3 days one week, 4 the next 2 weeks then back to 3 days type of thing) and some have set schedules. Their contracts stipulate how much they pay (daily/weekly/monthly) & when it's due - not my job to remind them which I believe invoicing does. Now every now & then I have to say to one parent, guess I have to wait until "Hubby" gets home because it's a week she isn't paid and she doesn't have the cash on her, but they still get me the $$ by 6pm on Fridays lol (she picks up at 4pm); I know her schedule a month at a time so I know what she owes weekly ( she pays minimum of 3 days week regardless of schedule)
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KiddieCahoots 03:48 PM 06-05-2015
Receipts. Don't have any particular reason, as long as I have the carbon copy for records, it's all good
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Thriftylady 03:59 PM 06-05-2015
Carbon copy receipts. Invoices would be extra work for me and probably just tossed out.
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Baby Beluga 04:05 PM 06-05-2015
I email receipts after the payment is made and I keep a spreadsheet of what is paid/who paid it/date it was paid/week is was paid for. That information is also in the emailed receipt.

All of my families have set schedules and set tuition due each week (week before care) unless I close for some reason. If I close for some reason then I send them an invoice on Wednesday with the adjusted amount and a receipt after tuition is paid.
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jenboo 06:06 PM 06-05-2015
Parents know how much to pay each week. They give me cash, check or a bank transfer. I log it on a sheet (each family has their own). Then I total up the sheet at the end of the year and give them a copy for taxes.
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Annalee 07:23 PM 06-05-2015
My clients pay every Monday morning for upcoming week or they do NOT stay that day! I keep tabs on paper and then transfer to my computer (microsoft excel)
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Blackcat31 06:48 AM 06-06-2015
Originally Posted by Annalee:
My clients pay every Monday morning for upcoming week or they do NOT stay that day! I keep tabs on paper and then transfer to my computer (microsoft excel)
I do it in a similar way..

Everyone pays Friday by 5pm (or they dont get put on next weeks schedule)

I issue a written receipt (carbon copy) and then transfer info to Minute Menu software.

I used to e-mail invoices but it got to be too time consumung.. Everyone pays their same weekly rate so it really just became unneccesary.
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childcaremom 07:11 AM 06-06-2015
I marked neither but I do both invoice and give receipts but use a separate system to keep track.

I invoice parents on Tuesday (payment due Friday).
I do receipts at the end of each month.
I keep a checklist for each family with space to mark when payment is due, if it was rec'd, what period it covers, and if I've written the receipt.

Sounds like a lot but it works for me.
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Luvnmykidz 05:40 PM 06-06-2015
I use Minute Menu. I create invoices and they are emailed to the parents and expected to be paid by Friday of the prior week of care. Families can log onto the childcarepay website and see all invoices and payments. I log info in on Fridays after closing.
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Patches 02:47 AM 06-07-2015
I do receipts since everyone pays the same rate every week. The only reason I send an invoice is if something changes. For example, if I close for a personal day they do not have to pay for that day so I will send them an invoice with that day deducted.
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Indoorvoice 05:45 AM 06-07-2015
Originally Posted by Luvnmykidz:
I use Minute Menu. I create invoices and they are emailed to the parents and expected to be paid by Friday of the prior week of care. Families can log onto the childcarepay website and see all invoices and payments. I log info in on Fridays after closing.
I do the same exact thing. Takes all of 5 minutes to log everything.
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NoMoreJuice! 07:56 AM 06-07-2015
Originally Posted by jenboo:
Parents know how much to pay each week. They give me cash, check or a bank transfer. I log it on a sheet (each family has their own). Then I total up the sheet at the end of the year and give them a copy for taxes.
Same. Except I use an Excel spreadsheet so I can import it to my profit/loss worksheet, income balance, and balance sheet. All that paper seems totally unnecessary unless the payment would be different every week.
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earlystart 03:44 PM 06-09-2015
I don't do invoices, the parents have set schedules and payments, unless they take a vacation day, which they usually are able to calculate themselves, or email me to confirm the amount. I only do individual receipts for families that need it for reimbursement programs they are a part of. I keep track of each payment on my own excel spreadsheet though, and give each family a copy of that at the end of the year that shows all their payments.
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originalkat 05:53 AM 06-19-2015
I bill monthly and it is the same amount each month so there really is no need to send out invoices. I do not regularly give out receipts unless someone requests it. I do create invoices on my minute menu program for my own records and then record payments. At the end of the year I give parents a printout of all payments made for the year for taxes.
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DaveA 05:59 AM 06-19-2015
Receipts.
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Heidi 02:33 PM 06-19-2015
Originally Posted by originalkat:
I bill monthly and it is the same amount each month so there really is no need to send out invoices. I do not regularly give out receipts unless someone requests it. I do create invoices on my minute menu program for my own records and then record payments. At the end of the year I give parents a printout of all payments made for the year for taxes.
same here except weekly
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TheNestDaycare 07:40 PM 06-24-2015
Originally Posted by NoMoreJuice!:
Same. Except I use an Excel spreadsheet so I can import it to my profit/loss worksheet, income balance, and balance sheet. All that paper seems totally unnecessary unless the payment would be different every week.

@NoMoreJuice--

Would you be willing to explain these documents a little more? Or share blank ones, if possible. I'll be opening my daycare in August, and am not really sure where to begin in terms of recording keeping income and expenses and other information for tax time...
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