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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>How Much Do You Get Paid An Hour?
Lovatic24 01:21 PM 02-15-2015
I care for a child on the weekends and charge them $20 a day. She is 2 years old and is in care for no more than 9 hrs a day (Usually 7 or 8). Am I charging a good price?

I will be watching her little sister starting in may (She will be 8 wks), how much extra should I charge for her, $5 or $10? More?

The two year old goes to daycare during the week and they pay $350+ every week for it so I don't want to take all of there money.

What do you make an hour? Is it different for different age groups?
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Unregistered 01:31 PM 02-15-2015
If you only watch one or two days, I would probably charge an hourly rate. If they can afford 350 a week in daycare, they can afford to ay you 8-10 bucks an hour on the weekend.
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Unregistered 01:34 PM 02-15-2015
My regular pay would be 25/ day for the older and 30 for the little so $55/day for the apple. I make anywhere from $10 an hour to $18 an hour based on a 49 hour work week.
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Lovatic24 02:37 PM 02-15-2015
She is a single mother so she gets help from the government or something. The new baby is with her boyfriend (He is great). If they got married now they would not be able to afford for childcare.
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Starburst 02:51 PM 02-15-2015
Just divide the number of hours per day by how much you make for a day ($20÷8= $2.5/hr). What you charge depends on what you can afford to live off of and the family can afford to pay (each state and even city/county rates are different).

I currently nanny a preteen boy with autism on the weekends for up to 12 hours a day for $5/hr; Sat-Mon is typically $160/week if he has school Monday, about $200 if he doesn't; more if I can't get a break on Sat or Sunday (his grandparents spend a few hours with him, his mom only works 3 days a week but sometimes will call me for non work related child care).

The baby I watch the rest of the week used to pay $5/hour (but recently gave me a $1/hr raise; we agreed a $1/hr raise every other month) for anywhere between 5 and 8 hours a day. On average I work about 50+ hours a week for way under minimum wage (my state's minimum wage is about $9.10/hr).

My boyfriend wants me to look into working at a center where I would pretty much work more or less the same amount of hours per week and make more without having to work 7 days a week and having to go all over town. But a part of me wants to continue nannying for now until I can start my business. Most family child care homes and SAHMs here charge an average of $2.5/hr per child because that's the max DHS will reimburse in this area (if you have the max of four children at once unlicensed it averages to the provider making about $10/hour).

I have also seen some that charge $10-$15 (as a flat starting rate) per day (per child) up to a certain amount of hours (4 or 5 hours) and maybe $5 more per day for a full day (8-10 hrs, extra for more than that). Some just have flat weekly rates for full time or part time. And some charge less for potty trained or school age kids and more for babies and un-potty trained toddlers (depending on how much care they require) while some just have flat rates for all and may do a sibling discount (usually applied to the older child who typically requires less maintanence).
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Leigh 03:02 PM 02-15-2015
I would NOT give a break for a second child-they are not less work, nor less expensive for me to care for. I also wouldn't charge less than $25 per day, per child during the week, regardless of the number of hours. I would double that for weekend care. This is me-it depends on where you live.
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BumbleBee 04:43 PM 02-15-2015
$3 an hr per child, regardless of if they're siblings or not. I charge this across the board for all ages. I do have one child who is at $2.50 an hr but that child started when I had my rates lower for a period of time. The rate they start at is the rate they stay at.
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Crazy8 05:54 PM 02-15-2015
I don't charge hourly - my rates run about $37-45/day depending on the number of days per week.

I don't charge less for siblings either, I have 5 spots - each gets the same level of care therefore costs the same amount.

ETA: Just figured out for my 4 day a week kids they pay $4.44/per hour per child. Then my 2 day a week child pays $6.15/hr. If I took my weekly total income divided by the hours I have kids here I make about $20/hr.
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permanentvacation 06:03 PM 02-15-2015
Right now with having only one child, I am making $4.12/hour. But if I were full with 8 kids, I'd make 20.05/hour. I typically have between 6-8 kids, so I typically make $15.04 - $20.05/hour. That calculation is using the assumption of 60 hours week (6 am-6 pm M-F).

See why I need a part-time job!!??? And more daycare kids! There's a big difference from my normal 6 or so kids to only having the one child right now.


But I don't charge per hour. I charge a flat weekly fee. To get the above hourly rates to answer the OP question, I divided my flat weekly rate by the amount of hours I work per week. I also included the pay I get from the food program in my calculations. For example, I have one child right now who I charge $160/week to watch for 45 hours per week. Plus I get reimbursed from the food program $25.40 for him per week. So I added $160 +$25.40 =$185.40 Then divided by the amount of hours per week I watch him. $185.40/45 = $4.12/hour that I make.
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finsup 06:19 PM 02-15-2015
To me, and in this area 20$ a day would be too low. But it all depends on what you're happy with and what typical rates in your area are. In my program, 2 days a week counts as part time and they would be paying a weekly rate of 85$ each week (for one child) IF it was during the week. I don't offer weekends but if I did it would be more like 100$. For part time kids I don't offer any sibling discount. I only offer a minimal one to full time families just because most in the area do so I'm competing with that. But really, its all in what for comfortable with. If you feel like your charging a fair price and getting paid enough for the work your doing then that's all that matters. Don't worry too much about "taking their money" you aren't "taking" it. You are earning it by providing awesome care for their children. That doesn't mean charge them a ton, it just means make sure your getting paid a fair rate
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Blackcat31 07:13 AM 02-16-2015
Originally Posted by Lovatic24:
I care for a child on the weekends and charge them $20 a day. She is 2 years old and is in care for no more than 9 hrs a day (Usually 7 or 8). Am I charging a good price?

I will be watching her little sister starting in may (She will be 8 wks), how much extra should I charge for her, $5 or $10? More?

The two year old goes to daycare during the week and they pay $350+ every week for it so I don't want to take all of there money.

What do you make an hour? Is it different for different age groups?
Originally Posted by Lovatic24:
She is a single mother so she gets help from the government or something. The new baby is with her boyfriend (He is great). If they got married now they would not be able to afford for childcare.
I am in MN also and $20 per day is SUPER low!! Especially for the Twin Cities area.

MN has a great CCAP (child care assistance program) so if this mom is a single mother with a low income, she can qualify to receive assistance in paying or her child care. This includes not only her regular child care provider during the week but you as well. CCAP allows her to list more than one provider and as far as I remember you do not need to be a licensed daycare in order for her to have the state pay you on her behalf.

I think you should be charging at the very least $30 per day and I would NOT give a sibling discount.

This mom is lucky to have you as weekend care is often difficult to find and usually MUCH more expensive than regular weekly day care because it is on the weekend.
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AmyKidsCo 09:48 AM 02-16-2015
I figured it out once and was depressed by the amount so I haven't done it since.

Don't base your amount on the fact that they pay for daycare during the week - do you think the daycare center will lower their rates because the family has to pay you over the weekend?

If you can get average daycare rates in your area I'd figure out what the cost per day is, then base my charge on that. If you're not regulated and don't do any planned activities you could charge a little less, but ITA that $20/day is really low. Most places charge more for infants because they require more attention and work, so if you feel the need to give a sibling discount, give a % off the older child's amount.
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BabyMonkeys 10:08 AM 02-16-2015
My weekend rates are $10 an hour, or $60 for up to 8. My regular weekly rates are only $175 for up to 45 hours. So weekend rates are significantly higher.
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LysesKids 10:29 AM 02-16-2015
Originally Posted by Lovatic24:
I care for a child on the weekends and charge them $20 a day. She is 2 years old and is in care for no more than 9 hrs a day (Usually 7 or 8). Am I charging a good price?

I will be watching her little sister starting in may (She will be 8 wks), how much extra should I charge for her, $5 or $10? More?

The two year old goes to daycare during the week and they pay $350+ every week for it so I don't want to take all of there money.
What do you make an hour? Is it different for different age groups?
First off I assume you are licensed, because MN law requires it from what I understand... if they can afford 350 week, why cut yourself short; you are working 9 hrs day, charge 20 a piece minimum. I get 25 per child, 30 on weekends, no discounts. Out of that I pay food & taxes
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Blackcat31 10:51 AM 02-16-2015
Originally Posted by LysesKids:
First off I assume you are licensed, because MN law requires it from what I understand... if they can afford 350 week, why cut yourself short; you are working 9 hrs day, charge 20 a piece minimum. I get 25 per child, 30 on weekends, no discounts. Out of that I pay food & taxes
If she is only watching one family's children (whether the family has 1 or 20 kids doesn't matter) she is NOT required to be licensed.
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nanglgrl 11:58 AM 02-16-2015
My rate depends on pick up time and I don't have an hourly rate but if I break it down I make from $13.59 an hour to $28 an hour. The family that pays the lowest rate per hour is at $3.50/hr and the families that pay the highest are at $5/hr. I don't think any of them realize they pay that much when it's broken down per hour (I sure didn't).
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LysesKids 01:55 PM 02-16-2015
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
If she is only watching one family's children (whether the family has 1 or 20 kids doesn't matter) she is NOT required to be licensed.
Got it...
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Michael 02:51 PM 02-16-2015
More threads: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=hourly+rates
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Lovatic24 08:18 PM 02-18-2015
I am only watching one families child. I am almost done with my A.A.S. degree in child development. They only need care on the weekends and it works well with my schedule. After reading the replies, I am going to raise my rates To $30 per kid. And buy that double stroller I've been wanting The baby will be here in a month.
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