Is an in Home Daycare a Good Business?

I have been a licensed provider for the past 22 years. In my opinion, if done correctly, being a licensed childcare provider is a way to make a good living.

All of your utilities, cable t.v., internet, gas, electrical, water are calculated according to the amount of hours you are open for business every year and deducted from your income before taxes. It is called time/squarefoot percentage.

Anything you buy that your daycare uses is tax deductible. This means that if you buy a t.v. and you use it for daycare, part of that cost is tax deductible unless it is used solely for childcare. Then it is 100% deductible.

When you do a home repair, if the area you are repairing is used by daycare kids/parents, it is tax deductible. I just had to replace two sets of stairs, one I can deduct, one I cannot. I am able to use a percentage of the $1300 for one set of stairs for taxes.

When I do landscaping outside, because it is necessary for my business to look presentable, I will be able to use that for taxes.

We just bought a snow blower to the tune of $1200. Of course, I have to clear my driveway for daycare parents and that is tax deductible.

I buy food in bulk. I am able to write off around $5400 a year in food costs for daycare. I feed the kids, but I also don't pay taxes on that.

Cleaning supplies, paper goods, office supplies, lightbulbs, carpet cleaner, dyson vacuum, they are all tax deductible.

Another poster commented that kids are hard on your house. Yes, indeed they are...but I also know that if you teach them from the get-go that 1) we don't throw our toys or step on them, 2) we don't touch walls, 3) we don't jump on furniture, 4) the only time we have coloring books/colors is at the table, same goes for playdough, markers, paint, scissors, etc. 5) we don't touch t.v.'s, d.v.d. players, stereos, phones, 6) we take off our shoes at the door and put them in the cubby. By teaching them right away and on a constant basis, the wear and tear on your house is minimal.

Now for the good part! Depending on the area of the country you live in, you can make a very decent living. If you remember to treat your business as it should be treated...LIKE A BUSINESS, then you will do quite well. Establish a contract (which will take a few years to prefect), revisit your contract once a year to make any necessary adjustments, keep good records of your money coming in/going out, establish boundries for your hours and what you are willing to do, and you will do just fine.

I earn just under $58,000 a year (including income from the USDA Food Program) and I am off during the summers/almost two weeks at Christmas/Spring break for a week as I am a teachers only childcare. It is VERY possible to make a very decent living at this job. You really do have to love children, have boundless energy/patience, but all in all, it is a really wonderful job. You will get out of childcare what you put into it. The best part for me was that I got to stay home with my own children as they were growing up and still earn a very decent living.

There are a lot of things to consider, but I will say again, you get out of it what you put into it.

Good luck with your decision!

C.

My first thought is, Are you good with kids? Do you have the patience to handle a crying infant and a defiant toddler and a sneaky preschooler without losing it and screaming, spanking, or swearing at that child? Do you care if you have to spend most days home, with kids, no time for yourself, no real time to clean, or relax? Will you wish you had days to go shop with the girls, meet hubby for lunch, help in your kids school, get your hair or nails done during the day? How do you deal with people who treat you poorly and think of you as the hired help, and forget to pay, never tip, never give a raise and rarely say thankyou? Do you and your family worry about other kids ruining your home, furniture, car, and yard?
If you arent so sure about some of these things then it might not be the best thing for you to pursue.
But on the other hand, If you like kids, love babies, dont mind diapering someone elses child, wiping noses, cleaning up vomit, chasing after spunky toddlers, and wont worry about the house and car, and in general want to be with kids all day, then it might be for you!
I had an inhome daycare for 27 years. I LOVED it. Nearly every minute of my day was with kids, and gooey hands and faces, and I loved it, and miss it still. Our house was rarely clean, but never really dirty. We had a porta crib or 2 in every room. I had high chairs lined up in the kitchen, toys in every cabinet, car seats coming out of our ears for years. I LOVED IT!
I started out keeping a friends child, 1 day a week for free, as a favor. She mentioned this to another friend and I kept her little guy for free too. It was about 4 years into it that a friend came to me and asked if she could pay me to be her regular daycare. I tried to do it for free but she refused and insisted on paying me. All of a sudden I had money to spend and made a list of things to buy, and started fixing the house and planning for Christmas and enjoyed the next several years with new kids, new families, repeat families with 2nd siblings, and went on to keep some kids of former daycare kids! 2nd generation was fun! I was never licensed, but this was a long time ago and rules, laws and such were not the same. I did this because I wanted to spend my day with little kids and gained some real joy helping out a family that might otherwise not be able to trust anyone else with their little baby. I think you have to be a certain type of person to have a daycare and a lot of the tme people start them for the money and fail because they dont enjoy the job. I would have done it for free just for the fun. In my opinion the worst reason to start a daycare is to earn money. I would suggest you first get some experience at another daycare or preschool and see how well you like the job, and then get licensed and inspected so you can earn money. Im sure theres a practical side to you wanting to start a daycare. Just make sure YOU want to do it for the KIDS, not the cash.

You'll have to check the laws for your state for licensing issues. Here in Tx you don't have to be liscensed unless you watch more than 6 kids. I keep it pretty simple around here. I only watch 3 kids full time and 1 part time and then I have my 4 year old home as well. I get paid pretty well. I could make more if I wanted all the red tape around me, but I don't so here I stay with my maximum. All the kids that I watch are preschool age, so I also pay for them to do a curriculum. I think it would be harder if they were all differing ages. During the summer I watched an infant, a 4 year old, a 7 year old, and 8 year old and then I had my own 2 kids who were 3 and 10 at the time. It was pure madness. Not quite sure how I survived, lol.
I love my job most days (it's tough, but I love the kids) and it enables me to stay at home with my little one, so that's the biggest payment EVER!!

Decent money is only in the eye of the beholder. You have to realize that so many of the in-home expenses a provider pays are expenses we would need anyway. BUT, consider this.. I have wood floors. I can't sand and refinish them without taking time off and moving ALL my furniture out. That would cost in upwards of many thousands of dollars. I'd have to take time off or find a temporary space and pay a moving company and rent a pod for our furniture. It would be almost impossible and this business does not net me enough to pay for this. Every day the kids are in my house, the wear and tear is about 3-4 times what a normal family would be placing on these floors.

Then consider the utilities. I can't turn them up or down when I leave because I don't leave. So my utilities are at least 25-40% higher, depending on the weather. I can't in all good conscience expect the kids to suffer at higher or lower temps to make my bills lower.

Consider our walls... The kids touch these walls without thinking and it's a lost cause to try and keep them from putting their hands all over the walls. They are extremely hard on the furniture. A child can climb up and down off my kitchen chairs in upwards of 20 times per day, per child. That repeated action, 7 days per week, all day long and all evening too, has me going through a LOT of tables.

If you read here much, you know that a 3 year old child recently broke his providers flat screen tv. Only 2 people out of 40 thought the provider should be reimbursed even partially from the parents.

I had a child put a toy in a toilet causing me to call a plumber and 2 of my boys broke a window last year. However, my husband had been letting them play with a ball. So it was partly his fault. And yet, these boys had been with me 5 and 6 years. They KNEW that in the 10 minutes I was outside, I would not tolerate throwing balls. My husband was showing them how to juggle the balls. But they started throwing them at the window?

I am telling you just a few of the things to consider and every provider on here could give you so much food for thought.

You have to really love kids and be willing to NEVER get ahead financially. If you can keep food on the table, the utilities paid, keep up with the toys, equipment, and wear and tear on the house, you are making all the profit you can count on.

There are a few people on here that have previously answered these quesions with how they make so much money and their kids are angels and they never tolerate anything to get broken because they are so good at what they do. WHATEVER LOL. Once again, it's in the eye of the beholder. One person thinks that 10 dollars an hour is a lot. I think anything less than 50,000 per year is almost poverty. BUT, I don't make that much and I don't expect to. I look at it like this...

I am paid to be a stay at home mother for my children and grandchildren, and I take a few more with me. All stay at home moms will tell you that it takes sacrifice to be a stay at home mom. Daycare is not a high end money making proposition. Some don't think we should make as much as we do! That's such a crock. But that's another post for another day.

I had a center for a while and I did fairly well. I had about 50 kids enrolled and 4-6 staff on at any given time. We opened early for a while but found the staff hated getting it. I stayed open evenings until midnight then I worked if someone wanted care on the weekends. I did a lot of the hours myself.

One important thing to remember is to have your family taxes done by an accountant who is very familiar with child care in home businesses so they will know the full amount of deductions you can use, even vacuuming your carpet is a side effect of having this business so if you have to buy a new vacuum it is a bit of a deduction. Same with the phones, vehicles, paper plates, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, electricity, etc...each and every item is to go on the taxes.

Joining a directors/owners group is very important too. You will gain much information and make friends in the business.This is important when finding an accountant, an attorney for filing as an LLC so you personally can't be sued for any injury that may happen.

Taking classes through the state, if offered, to get a certification in early childhood education, etc..so many things can promote this business and make you more desirable.

Good luck, I hope you give it a try if you like spending time with kids. It is a fun and rewarding career.

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I am going to pass on a link that applies to Oklahoma but is general enough to have good solid information in it.

An article on how to go about opening a child care business.

http://www.okdhs.org/nr/rdonlyres/e7de27a5-31a6-45ce-950f...
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Here is the link to your states regulations for being licensed or whatever certification is allowed.

http://nrckids.org/STATES/GA/georgia.htm

I am thinking about starting an in home daycare once my boyfriend and I get our house (So excited!!!). I mentioned this to my current employer and she gave me a great idea... Overnight daycare. There are hardly any overnight day cares, but a lot of single parents that have to work overnights. Something to think about...

It can be a great business for someone with the time and temperment and opportunity. When the kids were very little from birth to school age, there was a local in home day care provider, Miss Dottie. She had 5-6 children of her own still at home at the time and she had many little ones to tend to. She was the absolute best in cariing for the children. My kids loved her but hated most of her children (found this out much later long after they were no longer at the day care).

You will need to find out what regulations are mandated by law or statute. You should get CPR certified and learn a few early developmental things.

You need to know the maximum child to caregiver ratio to determine what other things may be required of you.

Is your area full of children? Will you be providing services for older kids or just little ones? Do you even like children? What will you do with these kids when you have appointments outside of the house?

The thing I liked best about Miss Dottie is that each child had a palate for the floor where they could play or nap while the infants were in play pens. She managed to keep a very clean area for the children and there were two ways in and out which was important to me since she was caring for the children in her basement. Some states don't let you become a certified childcare provider unless there is two ways in and out of the area in case of emergency. Miss Dottie also had tons of helpers which was nice too.

As an insurance agent, I have to tell you to check with your homeowners insurance company. IF they will allow you to have one, it will be higher premium for your insurance because of the liability. Yes, if one of those kids gets hurt on your property, you can be sued. A lot of people forget about this possiblity. And alot of insurance companies will cancel you if they know you have one. You can get a commercial policy on your own, but its usually expensive. Most people don't "like" to pay for insurance, but we have it for a reason. So sorry to go off on a insurance rant, but its an important thing to consider and a lot of women dont. And if you are only doing it to potentially make a lot of money, it may not be a good idea. You have to LOVE being around a bunch of kids all day, and its a long day...6am to 6pm usually and every day without much time off. Good luck!!!