I am trying to find information on how much to pay my child care provider. My son is 6 months old and will be starting at a woman's home in a couple weeks. She has not done this before (she just retired from an assistant's job in a school) and does not know how much to charge either. I'm wondering what people pay weekly and also what you do when it is not a full week either for a holiday or if I keep him home for some reason. I work in a school so the general hours will be 7:30 to 4ish...
Any input would be great! Thanks!
I was paying about $140 for the cheapest in home daycare and for a childcare center they would charge us about $215 a week. I'd suggest somewhere in between the two....but keep in mind if it's going to cost more for daycare than its worth to actually work than its not worth it. Good luck.
Hi S.,
We would pay $278 a week for an infant at our center. I did look at an in-home place and the charge was about $200 a week. My friend in Schaumburg pays $150 per child per week at an in-home place. Another mom I know pays $175 per week if she pays cash and $200 per week if she plans to write of the daycare cost and get a form at the end of the year.
From what I understand from the in-home care is that if your child is out for a day, it's still considered a full week. Usually, if you schedule a whole week off, it should be free of charge or at least a reduced rate (we still pay 50% tuition at Kindercare). But, talk with your provider and agree on something and get it in writing to avoid any confusion later on.
T.
Good luck.
T.
My son goes to an at home non-licensed day care 4 days a week. We pay a flate rate of $25 per day. If he misses one day we still pay her the full week rate, but if he misses more than 1 day we only pay for the actual days he was there. Hope this info helps.
I am surprised she isn't setting the rate for you.
When my son was an infant and I checked into daycare centers, they were charging between 190-250 a week 3 years ago.
I took him instead to a woman who did daycare out of her home. She watched many other children as well but was not licensed. She had some experience and was older and had 2 grown children and she charged me 170.00 a week.... a great deal in this area! Since this woman is watching only your child though, you might consider more like a starting nanny pay (which I am not sure how much that is). I now have him (at almost 3) in a home daycare similar to a Montessori school and it is 200.00 a week.
So, I hope that gives you an idea. If you haven't looked into it, see if your school has a daycare spending account option where you can pay your daycare expenses pre tax.
Oh, and just to add, I too work at a school so the hours are comparable. I would expect the rates to be higher while they are infants, lower as they get older. Only reason mine increased is because I had such a deal at first and I chose to take him to a more expensive place because I thought it was worth it for his education and the wonderful environment there.
