I homeschool our 12 yr old DS and am wanting to earn a little extra money, but don't want to work outside the home. This is just for the extras a month that pop up. My idea is to offer short term babysitting in my home. For moms that need to run errands, get the housework done, or just have a break (mommy time). I am thinking of charging $5 to $7 an hour for this. I have had a childcare business in the past and am still in touch with those parents. I can get references from them. I also have been a school bus driver locally. That was 3 years ago. While there I had a federal background check done. I can reassure the moms of my capabilities and that I am responsible. I guess I am asking hte moms out there if you would sometimes use a service like this if it was available? What do you all think?
I would! Seriously if I could drop my kids off somewhere for a couple of hours so that I could go and have a cup of starbucks ALONE I would happily pay 30.00 for two hours of peace and quiet! (I say 30 because with three boys at 5.00 each per hour)
Now I have my 14 year old stay at home with the younger two, but in the past I would have loved your service. **TIP** I noticed the last few New Years Eve's that a few day care providers offered overnight care on the NYE holiday. They had a 'party' for the kids with movies, dinner, party hats and horns at midnight. The parents would pick the kids up by 8 or 9am the next day. If I remember correctly, they charged around $50 per kid, maybe upwards of $65. That would be a great idea for you to do since you have contacts of previous families you cared for.
If it was just me I would jump at the idea of an over night. I have to run that one past the DH, lol. He loves kids, but his job is super hard physical work and he comes home drained. I basically need something that will allow me to have my own spending money and get the extras in the house we need. But that won't be a nuisance to him. He is such a jem, wants me to be a stay at home mom and homeschool. We have cut the budget so much. My money will be to spoil my two men, lol.
I was thinking the same thing, that it would be nice if you offered extended hours for evening date nights and such. You could even set it so that you only do it one or two nights a week or even just two nights a month, by late night the kids should be ready to crash on the floor with a sleeping bag and watch a movie. P.S. When I worked at a home daycare the lady did that once a week on Friday's she would take 3 kids max (parents signed up in advance) and she's make them supper and then put on movies for the kids while they played, once 9pm rolled around she'd pull out their sleeping bags & cots and let them lay and watch the movies. If the fell asleep that was ok, and if they didn't it was OK too.
Around here we have two major prisons in town, and for awhile I did over night sitting for the parents that worked the over night shift. I had alot of people asking me to watch their kids b/c other daycares just don't do that. Offering like a 3-11 would be fantastic too. I would definately pay for a service like that, especially since we are moving in 3 weeks now (and hardly anything is packed in either house). We would pay some money to have the kids play for a couple of hours while we got some packing done. LOL, DH and I joke that back when we didn't have kids we could move a house in about a week. lol. Not anymore! Two kids and a pregnant momma don't move as fast as we used to! lol
Holiday sitting would be great. Halloween night, New Year's Eve, etc. I thought of doing that last year but had too much going on with my own kids to do it.
I use to co-own a large Day Care in TX. Around Christmas time we would have evening care so parents could go shopping. We didn't do this very many times because parents would go out and get drunk and then come to pick up their children and as far as over night care, they were suppose to pick up their by 9:00am and we wouldn't see them until 10:30 or 11:00 I don't mean to be a downer, just want to give you some things to think about. It is a wonderful idea, if people just follow the rules.
Unfortunately, there are always people who will take advantage. I would instill fees up the whazoo to make sure people are timely! Put together a policy book and make sure people understand that if they do not adhere to the policies (esp. pick up time, etc.) they will not be allowed back. When I did daycare my late pick up fee was $2 per minute. I let a few slide who were only a couple minutes late here and there. However, anything over the standard few minutes is unacceptable, IMO. I also think it's a wonderful idea and a useful service. But, make sure you cover your butt and write out policies or else people will take advantage of your services. Good luck!
We charged an outragous amount for picking them up late, but they did it anyway, I guess thinking we wouldn't stick to it. But we would. Sometimes they owed us so much money for being late, we would never see them again and never get our money.:x
I've had that happen too still. Even though I charged $2 a minute, they still were late sometimes. I usually told them after the 3rd time, they were not allowed back. This was in a M-F daycare I managed and owned. There are other policies you can instill that help this as well. It's not always going to turn out ok, but you still have to have those policies in place to protect yourself. I usually asked for the money upfront upon picking up if they were late. If it wasn't paid then, the child was now allowed back until it was paid. To pay, no play! I also never hesitated to send them a statement in the mail, and on a couple occassions sent them to collections. Either way, I made sure to get my money.
I went the easy, low stress way. I kept one little girl and her mother was a teacher at the local elementary school. I only had her from 7am till about 3:45 and had all school holidays off! This also allowed me to continue to take care of day to day errands and chores because I had her car seat in my car at all times. I still could go grocery shopping, library, whatever I needed to do. I homeschooled during her nap time. I loved keeping that little girl and would still be doing it if I had not moved.
My little ones' former teacher set up a babysitting service. Her hours are MWF 4-7, and the kids can come for any amount of time (half hour blocks); reservations are not required. One must purchase a card in advance (and she punches on the half hour). The cards come in blocks of 5-10-20 or 40 hours (One gets a little extra time for purchasing a 40-hour.). She provides a terrific service--the girls love the occasional Friday afternoon with friends, and three hours is plenty of time for me to run errands. I LOVE the MonkeyMamma holiday evening suggestion, and Birbitt's date night too!!! Gosh, what I'd be tempted to pay for being able to have New Years Eve dinner alone with the husband.
That's what I'll be doing starting next month. I will be taking care of a friend's baby 3 days a week only in the afternoons from 2-6pm. A little extra money and I'll also be able to still do all my errands and everything. I also still take a little girl when her and my son are out of school (they are in the same grade at the same school). Nothing more than that...lowkey is nice. A few years ago when I had my inhome daycare, I had 8 3-4 year olds. Although it was nice at the time because we needed the income I was making, I was still landlocked and I don't want to be landlocked again full time during the week.
I would LOVE to have someone to watch my girls while I went to doctor's appointments, etc. What a great idea!
I love all the input. I used to have a full time daycare and still have the policies I had written for that. The DH was not thrilled with the late pick ups and no pays back then. He also didn't like being landlocked when he got off work. I am still trying to figure out how to offer this and still have him be happy. We will definately need the extra money, especially if we want to get any Christmas for our DS. The budget right now is every penny has a place to go. It's a tough way to live. Surprise expenses are almost a panic right now. I guess I am looking for a comfort zone. Maybe a little to set aside to throw at the surprises. Oh, and of course, enough to spoil my men.
I would talk to him to see how you can compromise. If he knows he wont be landlocked ALL the time, then perhaps he'll be more flexible?
Now that's a TERRIFIC idea! That way the time is already paid for. If you're late, you get more punches (plus a penalty punch or something). Heck, I might be inclined to do something like that if there's a failsafe like a punch card in place.
