Just starting out and STILL confused :-/

[cbshoat]

Hi I have just registered and have yet to acquire any children. However, I am still a little confused about a few areas. Firstly, our income. Am I correct in that we deduct certain percentages for various thing's from each payment we receive like wear and tear, tax, national ins etc monthly and the rest is kept as our wage? Do we then have to keep all payments and wages in a seperate account? This bit is really confusing me on how to divide up several different bills to make one weekly wage.

Also, do we still have to complete all the same paperwork for our over 8's or progress checks and reviews just kept to under 5?

Thanks, sorry to be a pain

Christine

[sarah707]

It's up to you if you have a separate account / keep money separately - just keep careful accounts of incomings and outgoings.

Lots of tax and expenses help here - bottom left - Free Downloads (http://www.childmindinghelp.co.uk/freeresources/freedownloads.html)

Welcome to the wonderful world of childminding! :D

[FussyElmo]

Over 8's need contracts, permission forms, child record forms but you dont have to do lj's, progress checks, reviews etc for them :thumbsup:

[cbshoat]

Over 8's need contracts, permission forms, child record forms but you dont have to do lj's, progress checks, reviews etc for them :thumbsup:

Thank you all so much. Keen to get started but dont want to get anything wrong x

[mummyMia]

My childminding income all goes into a separate bank account. I just lump in all the different payments from parents and childcare vouchers. I also pay out any childminding expenses (such as insurance, Ofsted fees, toys, craft materials, outings, etc.) from this account. At the end of each month I have a look at how much money I have left in the account, then set a little aside to cover my unpaid holiday periods and also any larger expenditure that I need to save up for. I transfer the remainder into my personal bank account, and that is my wage for the month. It was hard for the first few months as I couldn't really predict my level of expenses but now I am much better at budgeting and have a good idea of how much money I will be left with. I have not yet managed to earn over the tax threshold so I haven't had to worry about setting money aside for taxes yet. :)

[susanrich]

Do we have to keep information on expendesure? Can I not just keep a receipt of how much I get paid to me?

Help. I am new as well.