1) How do you do this on a budget? I see oh, so many things I would love to have for "my" kids, but I just can't afford them. Even trying to just buy one little thing at a time sometimes is too much for me. I'm at 50% capacity right now and even when I'm full, I just don't make very much money. How do you run a "quality" program with "quality" toys and supplies etc. on a childcare provider's salary? (My husband works but we probably make, I don't know, roughly 25,000 or 30,000 a year combined. It's enough to get by on, but there's nothing left to put back into the playroom.) I'm operating on hand me downs and old stuff right now. My own My Little Ponies from the 80s are in there.

2) "I wuv you, Ms. Xxx!" How do you reply?


I had a third one, and now I can't remember it! I'll come back and add it if it comes back to me.

Reply

1) quality doesn't have to be new.. I scour garage sales all the time and craigslist. My state has a program where the local agency provides assistance for free for toys, books, etc and that helped me a lot

2) love you too!!!! Or you could say "ditto" or "back at ya!"

Reply

Yard sales and Craigslist

I buy a mixture of new and used. I just opened my home daycare 8 months ago. I had a lot of stuff due to my niche childcare business that I’d been doing for several years. Due to a move I had to shift gears.

So there is a lot of stuff I wanted for my program and the DCKs. I catch sales on Lakeshore and have score a lot of stuff from yard sale and Craigslist.

Even if you spend $20 a month on adding something new it’ll definitely make a difference.

Good luck to you!

Reply

I'm so happy you asked these questions, because I need the answer to these as well.

Reply

yard sales, Craigslist and lots of donation from neighbors friends and the parents I work for

PS if you have a group for your location, you guys can swap items

Reply

I too do yard sales and Craigslist as well as Goodwill, Salvation Army, Savers and consignment shops. Another great resource is Freecycle because everything is free. I opened almost a year ago and have just been slowly adding to my daycare over time. I also like the Dollar Tree for prize box stuff and some arts&crafts, and stuff like sidewalk chalk and bubbles.

As far as the "ILY's" I say it right back to them.

Reply

Tag sales mainly, I'm so excited it's that time of year again! And Savers or Goodwill

I say "I love you too". They love to feel loved, even if you don't always mean it

Reply

I find all kinds of stuff on ebay. I keep my bids low and last minute so it stays cheap, and don't stress if I don't win something. Good for toys you remember as a kid

I'd say "Aww, you are the greatest", or "You are soo sweet!", or something similar, if you don't want to profess love But I love my kiddos, and don't mind telling them

Reply

I love thrift shopping and craigs list. I also tend to make a lot of things with the kids. As cheap as it sounds if you can fix some large boxes the kids could play for hours on end. last year we did this and built a train, we made cars out of them had car races, built a castle and a fort, a house, a restaurant the list could go on for miles. So many things to do with a box.

As for the I love youMs___________ I just say thanks johnny that makes me feel good and I move on.....

Sometimes it does start a wave in all of the kids doing it, but it does not bother me. I just start saying thank you and move on.

The only child that I say love you back is my own............

Reply

Thanks everyone! That's kind of what I've been doing...just picking some up here and there as I go. It's just taking longer than I want it to! I'm going to look into freecycle.

I say I love them, too. I don't always mean it, but I say it. I figured if anyone had a good reason not to say it back (other than personal preference of course), it would be you all! Haha! I figure they have as much time--if not more-- with me as they do with their parents, so I just go ahead and say it.

Reply

I get most of my items second hand. If it is something big, I plan and save up for it.
As far as the "I love you's", I say it right back. I truely do love my daycare kids, even the harder to love ones, or I wouldn't be a provider.
Thats just me though

Reply

I buy most stuff at thrift stores. But I also charge parents a $50 supply fee each year. Then, when it comes, I buy one big thing that I'm unlikely to find used--a big set of unit blocks, a light box. One big purchase a year adds up faster than you'd think. When you have great open-ended toys, you don't need a lot of them.

Reply

I used to buy one big item per year too. Usually during Christmas sales. And I used to buy a baby item whenever I started a new infant. I still remember who was a baby with each item Now I am trying not to buy new items. Unless it has too much play/learning value to resist

Reply

1. yardsales, craigslist, goodwill. Look past what you see and think about how you can clean it/fix it up. If it's broken and parts can't be replaced, I wouldn't buy it. If it's something that has soft and hard parts (like a doll) and is REALLY dingy and dirty, I wouldn't buy it. But if it's a dollhouse covered in crayon for $2? A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser will take care of it and make it look brand new. If you have things like blocks or a board game that have broken/missing/too dirty to clean pieces, considering tossing the troublesome pieces if they are not absolutely pertinent to the functionality of the whole set. What you have left after tossing the bad pieces might look nicer without the not-so-nice ones.

Also, you can make things look nice based on what you are storing things in. If only cardboard boxes are in your budget, buy a pretty roll of printed duct tape and wrap it around the boxes. Otherwise, you can always find baskets for cheap at yardsales. Walmart has big rope tubs in different colors for around $5 for larger items or bigger collections.

Finally, you can always spruce up what you've got with a little bleach and water. Or throw certain things in the washing machine. And don't limit yourself to things that can be bought. You can save boxes from things like macaroni and cheese or jars from things like peanut butter or butter tubs (all washed out of course) to let the kids play with in the kitchen area. You would be surprised how many kids would rather play with this kind of stuff than paid for toys anyway!

2. I never did figure out how to handle this one. If it was a child I had just started watching, I would say "that's very nice of you to say", or "Oh you are so sweet!". But if it was a child I had been caring for long enough, I would say "I love you too".

Good luck to you!

Reply

1. It takes a lot of time to acquire equipment/furniture/supplies. We have been open 10 years, and now I feel pretty happy with all that we have. But I still have a mile long wish list of things I want, I just have to keep myself in check.

VERY FEW of my things have been purchased brand new. Craigslist is great, and I also check craigslist for daycares that are going out of business. I also have been gifted many many things from my parents, from bouncers to diaper genies. Some give them to me, and some offer to sell them, but it is definitely nicer when they donate them to us.

To keep myself in check, I take a small portion of my weekly pay and put it aside for unessential daycare purchases. It has ranged anywhere from $20.00 a week to $50.00 a week, depending on my income. I also put all enrollment fees, late fees, and late payment fees in the daycare account. It gives me money to buy daycare things with, without feeling like I am spending my personal money, and also keeps me on a budget.

Also, IKEA is my favorite place for daycare items. It is inexpensive, holds up well, and provides a clean, bright, modern look.

2. I tell the children "I love you too". Some I mean it, and some I don't. But no matter how disconnected I feel from the child, when a child looks at you and says "I love you", it is hard to not melt a little. Even my most problematic children, I feel like at minimum I need to at least let them THINK that I am reciprocating.

Reply

I love it too, when parents pass things down to me. And it's so sweet when a three year old brings in their "old toys" for his littler friends. Though a couple of times they went back home with the original owner

I put all late fees in my Pizza Account Somehow I lose any upset I had when I order food (not to say you don't have a great idea for keeping your budget in check - you do )

Reply

Agree with cradle that quality program doesn't mean expensive toys. I've been open for 5 years now and oy a handful of things were purchased new. Craigslist, garage sales, daycare closing sales, thrift stores, etc. One of my dear neighbors knows I have a daycare so she started asking her friends to donate to the daycare.

- We had a Dcd that worked in shipping, he brought us a case of different sized boxes for the kids to build & decorate.
- My husband used to work at an electronic retail store and they used to throw away the demo cell phones so we ended up with a case of pretend cell phones.
- I asked our dentist if they could donate things for dental awareness month and they gave us toothbrushes & toothpaste
- we have a new large chain grocery store that opened up walking distance from us. We took lots of field trips there to buy fruits & veggies for the week. Then one day the manager sent their staff with lots of samples for us to try (orange juice, yogurt, cookies, etc).
- our local library will make book theme packages for us if we ask. They were even willing to host a special Story time slot for us
- one of our daycare grandmas is a bargain thrift store hunter. If we ever need anything, she finds it for us for dirt cheap!
- one of our old dcm used to work at a doctors office. She would bring us the face masks for the kids to play pretend doctor
- one of our dcm worked for an office that was tossing all their legal
Size paper. She asked them to give it to us instead of recycling it. That was over a year ago and we still have legal paper
-

Reply

I actually asked my friends on facebook for help. i got a bunch of great stuff that way. I traded for somethings too. When i was yard selling I was told people I was opening a childcare and people gave me great deals and even free stuff

Reply

1) How do you do this on a budget? I see oh, so many things I would love to have for "my" kids, but I just can't afford them. Even trying to just buy one little thing at a time sometimes is too much for me. I'm at 50% capacity right now and even when I'm full, I just don't make very much money. How do you run a "quality" program with "quality" toys and supplies etc. on a childcare provider's salary? (My husband works but we probably make, I don't know, roughly 25,000 or 30,000 a year combined. It's enough to get by on, but there's nothing left to put back into the playroom.) I'm operating on hand me downs and old stuff right now. My own My Little Ponies from the 80s are in there. I don't think I have ever bought new. Garage sales, thrift sales and craiglist(especially the free listings). Plus I ask for or am asked by parents if they want to donate, especially old out grown toys. I have one dad that works for a printer and NEVER buy paper! Contact your local printer for roll ends and scraps

2) "I wuv you, Ms. Xxx!" How do you reply? Thank You!

Reply