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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Day Prices vs Weekly
legomom922 06:37 AM 09-01-2010
I have always charged by the day $35 for under 3 ( I dont really take toddlers anyway) with a 3 day miniumum. My part timer 3 day person may be going FT soon. I have noticed alot of you have a day & a weekly rate. The weekly rate seems to be discounting your daily rate though, and I just wondered why that was done? For an example, I have seen someone post that they charge $35/day or $150 wk, but then arent you really cheating yourself out of 1 days pay because it is like getting paid for 4 days even though you are working 5?? I'm sure the mom is going to ask me about this soon, but at this point since my rate is $35/day, I think I will still plan on charging that for the 5 days which would give me $175/wk for my newborn. So what do the rest of you charge for day vs wk? Do you discount?
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marniewon 06:41 AM 09-01-2010
I charge $25/day or $110/week. The reason I do this is to try to encourage full timers instead of families who need a day here or a day there. Ultimately, you are losing money if you have a family who only needs 1-3 days a week, unless you can find another family to take the other days.
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legomom922 08:27 AM 09-01-2010
I wouldnt accept someone who need care 1 or 2 days, I have a 3 day min, so if they want to come 2 days and pay for 3 thats fine, but then again, sometimes you can come out ahead by having 2 famlies that come 2 days, or one 3 day & one 2 day, with the 3 day min requirement. So I could get paid for 6 days when I only worked 5 with 2 part time famlies. With me, they pay by the day, weather its 4 hrs, or 10. So I prefer PT because usually too it's not a 10 hrs day, so I feel like I am getting more money for my time, and it gives me more opportunity to make even more money.

I think since this family signed on knowing full well of my policies and knowing its $35 day, I shouldnt have a problem getting it for all 5 days.
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missnikki 08:32 AM 09-01-2010
I would say that doing that is no benefit to the parents.
Why sign a contract if you can drop off as needed at $35/day? The reason for the discount is to guarantee your income and set in stone the amount the parents will pay. Whether or not they use what is contracted is up to them, but I certainly would not sign a contract that obligates me to pay for 5 days when I could pay daily at the same price.
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legomom922 08:40 AM 09-01-2010
Oh but they do sign a contract for what ever they sign up for! If they sign up for 3 days and then only want to come 2, fine but they are still paying for that 3rd day, so no matter what, all my PT famlies pay for 3 days. They cant come "as needed" I do have to guarenteed the income, plus if they sign up for 3 days, and then want to come next wk, for 4 days, they can only do that if I have the availability, so there is no guarentee to them that I would be able to take their child for a 4th day anyway, because I may have that day already contracted out to other famlies. KWIM? Besides, this is a parent who is going from PT to FT at her job, it's not an as needed basis only anyway. Does that clear it up?
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meli829 08:44 AM 09-01-2010
I don't give discounts, what I do is charge more for part-time because they are still taking the spot and that way I don't lose as much money even if they are not full-time. They also can't just drop off their child whenever they like, it is contracted for what they need and they have to pay the full week or 3 days for part-time even if their child doesn't attend. My rates are already low so I don't see the need to lower them even more for a discounted weekly rate. I only post my daily rate in ads and they know what they are to pay when they sign the contract.
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missnikki 08:51 AM 09-01-2010
I see what you mean- the contract is going from 3 days min to 5 days per week, and you are asking why someone would offer a discount in that situation. I was just saying that in my case, full time 5 day contracts are preferred, so I give an incentive to sign up for it that way. 3 and 4 days really puts a kink into things as I fill spots around that schedule. I offer it, but at a premium since it is harder on me. I give a discount on families that guarantee a maximum weekly income for my program.
There is no need to do it, it is your business to run and charge the most you can for it by all means- IMO we don't get paid nearly enough as it is. I was just thinking that since you noticed other providers offering a discount at 5 days, that might be the current fair market value for a 5 day program, competition-wise.
Whatever you decide to do, congrats on your increased business.
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SilverSabre25 10:27 AM 09-01-2010
I charge $140/week, that's what I set at the beginning. When I was first asked what my daily rate was, I decided that it would be $30/day because that made the math WAY easier than dividing $140 by 5. It's not much of a discount, but it is a little bit of one. My rates are higher than the area average anyway, so I want to encourage more business if possible.
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AmandasFCC 11:51 AM 09-01-2010
I do a daily rate for part time (less than 20 days/month) and a monthly rate for full time (20 days+). Full time caps at 20 days so they usually get 2-3 free days of care per month.
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TGT09 02:19 PM 09-01-2010
I do part-time, drop-in and full time care. I currently don't have any full-timers but I have enough part-timers to keep my income going. My daily rate=my weekly rate...there are no discounts....I don't charge more for drop-in care either.
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Unregistered 06:42 AM 09-02-2010
I only do fulltime rates and care so I know I have a set income every week I also charge a week in advance or 2 weeks in advance it all depends how the parent wants to pay I also had a parent who wanted to pay montly so they paid a whole month in advance every month it really doesnt work out if you charge by the day because you never know how many days a child would be there and so you wouldnt know how much to charge. If I did part time I would probably charge 30 a day and I charge a flat weekly rate of 120 untill school age and I dont take school agers only children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old.
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melissa ann 03:18 PM 09-03-2010
I noticed that most charge more per day for part timers than full timers I can see that since it can be harder to fill the slots of the opened days. In my local paper, some people have posted their rates. And their part-time rate is $10 less than full time. Ex. one had $25/day ft, $15/day pt.
I don't understand that. Who can get by on $15/day?
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momma2girls 02:16 PM 09-05-2010
I used to do one day a week, 2 days a week, 1/2 days, etc.... there is no way this is worth it- I had 5 children, and getting about $250.00 a week, and that is it. I used to do 1/2 day at $15.00 per day, 2 days per week, and so on- Now I have a 3 day min. only- no 1/2 days, no one day, 2 days/week- it is totally not worth it at all. The children do not get into your routine at all!! You learn as you do daycare for many yrs. it is not worth it any longer!!
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MarinaVanessa 03:04 PM 09-05-2010
Well, in my case, I don't have a daily rate unless a child is drop in, I have weekly rates whether they are full or part time, but I do have drop-in (which is charged daily) and the best way to explain why I charge a different daily drop-in rate than I do a weekly rate is this:

I set my full-time weekly rate (50 hours a week max, 10 hours a day) at whatever I want, $155 a week for example, for full-time then I figure what that is daily ($31/day, $3.10/hour). Then I charge more for my part-timers.

Part-timers get a maximum of 30 hours a week (10 hours a day) so then my part-timers will pay more hourly (but less than drop-in) so it comes out to $105 a week ($35/day or $3.50/hr)

My daily Drop-ins get 10 hours a day max also and the rate is $37 a day ($3.70/hour) or if they are here part day then it's $5 an hour. So in essence I am not giving a "discount" on my rate if you are here full time weekly, people are just paying more to be here less time.
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delferka 06:28 AM 09-08-2010
I have some kids tht come 2 days per week, some come 3 days and some per week. I charge $40.00 per day or $180.00 per week. People don't blink an eye at that rate. I live in Western Massachusetts.
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Maria2013 05:59 AM 08-22-2013
I've always charged a daily rate
.... when I first opened my daycare I used to fill openings with kids that were only coming 1-2 days a week, now I do not fill an opening for less than 3 days because too many times I had to reject a FT cause I didn't have a full opening available
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NeedaVaca 06:11 AM 08-22-2013
I only charge a weekly rate. Some of the kids come all 5 days, some only come 3 but they pay the full weekly rate regardless. I have never had a complaint, and I am guaranteed my weekly pay 52 weeks per year.
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Familycare71 06:19 AM 08-22-2013
I have a drop in rate- which is high... I will do it but I can't count on that money and it does make my day harder so I charge for that.
I have a part time rate- I charge more per day because it is harder to have pt children and I make less over all per week from one family. ( I currently have a two day min but want to change it to a three day min)
I have a full time rate (4-5 days)- It is less work to have a solid schedule and I will make more over all with ft so I charge less per day.

By contract parents have a weekly rate they are responsible for based off the above. They pay half of that for my three weeks of vaca. When I am closed they get discounted for that day (non scheduled days closed).
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Jack Sprat 12:27 PM 08-22-2013
I have a weekly rate and a daily rate. My daily rate is more then my weekly rate. I don't have a part time rate nor an hourly rate. Hourly rates seem to loved by parents.
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TaylorTots 09:06 PM 01-05-2014
My daily rate is $27. My weekly is just that times 5 or $135. No discounts and my rate doesn't change regardless of the child's age.

I have an hourly rate of $3.50 per hour with one family who is 4 days a week but sometimes drops in for care on the day off - or over the summer as needed (teacher's family).

No discounts, just a little higher for the drop in care.
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Lucy 09:21 PM 01-05-2014
Haven't read the other posts..........

I see it the opposite. I have a weekly rate that is for FIVE days per week. To use round figures, let's just say it's $150/week. That breaks down to $30 per day. But if someone comes and they want to only attend THREE days per week, I'm not going to charge them the $30/day that the full-timer pays. I'm going to charge them $35 per day. (Or some people might charge $35/day if they come 4 days, $40/day if they come 3 days, etc.)

So to use your scenario in your original question, my rate would be $35 per day, or $150 per week. But I'm not DIScounting a weekly rate, I'm SURcharging a daily rate.

Hope that makes sense!!
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TwinKristi 12:01 AM 01-06-2014
I charge $50/day or $45/day if they're more 3+ days a week. Well that's what I did before, I'll be increasing it with future clients unless they're 5 days a week. For drop ins it's $10/hr. After school is $7/hr.
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Blackcat31 08:58 AM 01-06-2014
I am sure the info is still VERY useful and pertinent for many but this thread is from 2010.

If anyone is replying to the OP, she hasn't been here for a while.
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Tags:daily charging, rates, weekly rates
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