Having a bit of a wobble re:earnings!!!

[Adiamond]

Hi,I have just been working out my potential earnings and it looks great on pen and paper but then reality set in and I am thinking WHAT IF NOBODY WANTS ME??
I only work very part time at the minute,I will need 22 childminding hours per week to cover my wages so to me that doesn't sound too bad,but dh is really unhappy in his job and I would love to earn enough money so he doesn't have to work the long hours that he does.
Without me being rude does anyone earn alot of money from childminding? or am I living in la la land (again) hope I am making sense :blush: :blush: x x x

[estrelas]

I'm in the same boat
Having massive wobbles:panic: :panic:
Leave work in 5 days and a bit scared lol

Sorry to be no help to you
:laughing:

[TheBTeam]

hi, it is possible to make a childminding living, i work with my hubby and we get by and sometimes do well. If you fill a full time vacancy and earn in the region of £150-200 per week, it is amazing how much of this you can keep tax free and compared to a normal paye job you are better off with the same salary when you have taken account of the deductions you can claim for expenses.

I think you will be surprised, most of my cm friends do well even when not completely full.

Good luck, it can be slow to start but hang in there!

[sarah707]

Depending on how much your husband earns you might be able to get tax credits.

I do ok with a week full of part timers. :D

[misst104]

It must be pre-reg wobble week as I've been feeling exactly the same today!!

Hope we are doing the right thing x x

[Adiamond]

I hope we are too :panic:
This is all I have thought about for months now,I just hope it all works out well in the end :) ........ x x x

[Pudding Girl]

The earnings aren't bad but remember that off that comes a lot of expenses. For me it's the insecurity of the job. I have two ft mindees and I don't mind telling you how much I bring in off them £1100 but then as I say around a third maybe is expenses of some kind.
Mum has just been laid off ( well has 3 wks work left at most) and so in one fell swoop I've lost all my income.

We are only ever 4 weeks away from an earnings drop in this business :(

[Demonjill]

You are def not alone with these thoughts. I too have sat down with pen paper calculator to work out earnings. Unfortunately you wont know until it actually happens and the mindees come. At the mo I work with racehorses and money not great cos only can do few hours day to fit in with my kids school and nursery. So shouldnt have to do too many hours to make the same. But ..... like you i think what if no one calls.................EVER??:panic:

[Chanelle]

I too am a little worried ... In my part time job I earn £300 after I have paid tax, NI sand Childcare fees... I am easily able to double that figure with my part time work as a childminder ... but you say ... wont know until we try it!!

Got to bite the bullet as they say :)

[rickysmiths]

Lets put it this way there are a lot of us that do reach and go above the new NCMA threashold of £30,000 a year, thats why it was increased from £15,000, but it depends where you live and I can't say I fully understand a successful formular even after minding for nearly 15yrs now.

I moved house 5yrs ago. I moved 10 miles further out of London than I had been living for the preceeding 25yrs., into the countryside. So I had to give the 2 mindees I had notice. I was lucky because one moved with me (too long a story for now) so I moved with 1 full timer in the May. She left in the December and I had no other child then, it was the 1st time since I started childminding 10years previously that I had no children and it was devestating finanically and personally.

It took nearly a year of lots of odd bits and pieces to get another full timer and then it seemed to grow. Now five years on I am about to employ an assisstant because from Aug I will have five full timers under 5yrs (I have sibblings joining us) plus a number of before and after schoolers. Without exception all the mindees have found me on the Childrens Information Service Website, I do have a good bit of info about my service on there.

I don't charge a fortune. I feel I give a very good service and maybe that shows when new people visit so it gives them confidence in what I do, I don't know. I work from 7.15am to 6pm 5 days a week through the year. My only treat is my 5 weeks paid holiday for which I am more than ready when it comes!! You can make a good living but it doesn't happen overnight and it probabilly means working longer hours and being flexible.:thumbsup:

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Childminding can be really successful but it is not always in monetry terms. Sometimes the rewards are family time.

I know of childminders who are well over the tax threshold but they are at home working all day (paperwork in the evenings and weekends) and their children are over 12.

It all depends on balance and the ages of your own children. You can be at home with them and be paid but it all depends on what you are willing to put in.

[huggableshelly]

I only have part timers (11 of them possibly 12) and i make the same as I would with 2 fulltimers but the change of children constantly is really good for my own children and me too.

I make enough to ensure i can give Hubby enough for weekly shopping and petrol for both cars as well as having enough to pay for swimming and ice skating lessons for my own kiddies with left overs for wkends away when possible.

I make more now a wk than I did working fulltime but that was back when minumim wage was £3.50 ish an hour 9omg I feel old now). I havent considered the wage difference if I was to return back to work now on the current minimum wage levels.

[Adiamond]

Thank you,I am going to put everything I can into my business!!! My children are nearly 7 and 14 .My 14 year old daughter seems to attract young children to her (especially little girls) and she is really good with them(not her brother though he just annoys her lol) and my son is so easy going he gets on with everyone so I don't think I will have any problems there....I hope!!
I really want this to work for myself and my family. I can't wait to get going now :) And in my dreams we will have alot more money coming in cause at the minute we haven't got alot of spare cash if you know what I mean?
Thank you all again x x x

[misst104]

Thank you,I am going to put everything I can into my business!!! My children are nearly 7 and 14 .My 14 year old daughter seems to attract young children to her (especially little girls) and she is really good with them(not her brother though he just annoys her lol) and my son is so easy going he gets on with everyone so I don't think I will have any problems there....I hope!!
I really want this to work for myself and my family. I can't wait to get going now :) And in my dreams we will have alot more money coming in cause at the minute we haven't got alot of spare cash if you know what I mean?
Thank you all again x x x

You seem to be feeling a lot more positive today :thumbsup:

am sure we will be fine. Just a bit of an uncertain time isn't it. So glad of the forum - good to know there are others here in the same boat :) Have a great day hun

xxx

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Don't be down about earnings, it will come. With only one child in the Ofsted ratio's and nearly out you have the potential to earn in excess of £23000 (3 full timers) plus.

It does take time to build up and it can all go quickly to it you have a run of parents leave (recently this happened in my town when Honda shut for 3 months) but this is rare.

Hope you enjoy it but the paperwork and mess does take some getting used to (usually by hubby), so don't wear yourself out from the start.

[mrsbumbles]

I earn enough to pay our morgage and our bills with a little left over for extras :thumbsup:

[Mollymop]

I earn quite a bit. As much as my last full time job where I worked as a QA assistant manager:thumbsup: But that is before I take away expenses, but expenses have to go out anyway whether I was employed or childminding. i.e - council tax, gas,/water/electric, insurances, etc.

[Mollymop]

I have sent you a message the first one you read is worked out correctly, ignore the second one, I am not very good with maths! ha

[Bushpig]

No matter what business you have of your own, there is always the risk of no income as things can go pear shaped for clients... but there is also the tremendous opportunity of earning really well! Some people prefer the stability of working for someone at a set salary with a minimal increase annually, I prefer working for myself, and the harder I work, the more I earn.

I have been full from day 1 thankfully... but am aware that this could change at any time. I have a variety of part-timers, which is safer I think than having full-timers, so if a parent is laid off it doesn't hit you in the pocket as much, but here again, part-timers on different days are harder to find. It always works out though in the end :)

[MissTinkerbell]

Because I have 3 year old twins myself I only have 1 full time mindee which brings in about £130 a week. I also have 2 before and after schoolies which is about another £90 a week. I manage to contribute to family income by buying all the food shopping, put aside for savings/tax and still have a bit left over for myself.

I did get a shock when 'mum' told me she was expecting so that I would be losing my full timer in July but hopefully I have managed to fill her space with an almost full timer ( shouldn't lose money as she will be an all year mindee whereas my current one is term time only). I then get my current mindee and new baby back full time in Sept 2010 which will then give me a potential income of around £400 a week.

My point is that I manage with only 1 full-time mindee and 2 before and after schoolies. Whilst its not a huge wage I think the non-financial benefits far outway what I could earn as a full-time teacher.

[Mrs.L.C]

It depends on the hours you will work and if you will do after school care or not. And of course if you have your own children under 8. mine is 9 so not included in my numbers

I have 2 full timers, 1 part timer for my under 5s and over 5's I have 1 before school & 5 after school all on dif days but most are over 8 now and iv got 2 on my waiting list for when 2 of the older ones start secondry school.

I work 50 hours a week

I have the potential to earn more if I filled the other part time space which would be the same as a full timer but id go mad I think.

Luckily most of the mindees I have are pretty good kids

I was minding for 3 years as a single mum and we managed ok so yes you really can make a good profitable business out of it.

[suet]

Hi there,

I know exactly how you feel about thinking "have i done the right thing". I gave up my job as a Nursery Nurse because in wanted to work from home as a childminder and although the pay in the nursery wasn't very good i was still earning. I got my Ofsted Certificate in Feb this year but as yet have only had one person phone me and that was about before and after school plus school holdidays (mon is coming to see me on Monday next week so fingers crossed).
I dont expect to make a fortune out of childminding - i belive you do this kind of work out of the love of children not for the money you get (but it is helpful).
Not having any calls does make me think Why did i bother but then i get out of it and think one day the phone will ring and whoopee i get a mindee.

Sue

[Mrs.L.C]

Hi there,

I know exactly how you feel about thinking "have i done the right thing". I gave up my job as a Nursery Nurse because in wanted to work from home as a childminder and although the pay in the nursery wasn't very good i was still earning. I got my Ofsted Certificate in Feb this year but as yet have only had one person phone me and that was about before and after school plus school holdidays (mon is coming to see me on Monday next week so fingers crossed).
I dont expect to make a fortune out of childminding - i belive you do this kind of work out of the love of children not for the money you get (but it is helpful).
Not having any calls does make me think Why did i bother but then i get out of it and think one day the phone will ring and whoopee i get a mindee.

Sue

It can take a while to get going. Took me 6 months-a year so I worked part time as a cheche working but eventualy it starts to take off and you get more and more word of mouth which is defo the best form of advertising and more assuring for parents and the out comes 99% of the time makes it all worth while

[Bitsy Beans]

I worked out if I earnt £30 a day then I'd bring home the same amount of money that I'd earn after paying childcare when I go back to work after maternity leave.
I have just signed up two children for wrap around care and whilst the money is not mega bucks (compared to a FT under 5 + an older child) the benefit is to have my days free for my own young children during the day. I can be home with them rather than 3 days a week being out of the house form 8am to 6.30pm. For me money just doesn't cover that bonus :D

[singlera]

I worked out that if i only have 3 before and after school kids mon to fri i would still earn the same as I did as a Ward Sister, because a/ i pay less tax and NI and B/ won't be paying someone else for my childcare. So i think its all relative really to what you want to get out of it as well as the financial side.

[nic]

ive been at both ends of the scale. i left a well paid job to do this and be at home with my 2 kids. at 1st i was earning, but very little. only just scraping by. then, within 1 month all the parents handed in their notice as one moved away, one was having a baby and another left work. my dad ended up paying my mortgage for me and i had to go back out to work.

i remained registered and recently got back into it for a 2nd go. straight away i recieved call after call after call. right now im earning just over £2000 per month which is great. i still have space for 1 more full timer but i choose not to take one on as i dont want to make my job too hard.