CHARGES FOR FOOD

[The Juggler]

I have never charged for food, rather doing an all-inclusive fee. However, food prices are just going up and up and up and shopping more expensive every week as I do tend to buy the 'good' stuff for meals.

The food charge will be difficult to introduce because some families have been with me 4 years and so this will be a shock to the system. That's why I thought a set monthly fee would be easier to swallow than a per meal charge.

However, some children only eat tea 1 day /week, some 2 days/week, some 4 days week, some have only breakfast and lunch and some have lunch and dinner.

Therefore, my question is, do you think that a per meal charge is the only way round this?

I was thinking different levels of fees which would include all drinks and other snacks i.e.

£5/month - breakfasts
£5/month - lunches
£10/month - dinner more than 3 times week
£5/month - dinner less than 3 times week

This would certainly help with my shopping bills adding up to around £60 or £70/month as I have 11 children in and out on different days, and, hopefully, wouldn't be too onerous in terms of extra costs for parents.

Honest opinions please!

[edayhouse]

I think your workings out are very fair - and it is not too much money to be asking from parents. Great way of working it out (monthly). I dont charge any extra for food either but having just started 3 afterschoolers a couple of months ago i think this may change as they eat loads and i am spending a fortune!!

[The Juggler]

I know when I started I had 2 mindees. Even if they don't eat meals I go through a forest of fruit every day!

Thanks for the feedback.

[margimum]

Charging for food can be quite complicated when it comesto doing your books.
Food and drink is an expense which you claim against taxes, so if you charge separately, you cannot claim again ifswim.
If you earn enough to pay tax I don't think it's worth charging separately.

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I have never charged for food, rather doing an all-inclusive fee. However, food prices are just going up and up and up and shopping more expensive every week as I do tend to buy the 'good' stuff for meals.

The food charge will be difficult to introduce because some families have been with me 4 years and so this will be a shock to the system. That's why I thought a set monthly fee would be easier to swallow than a per meal charge.

However, some children only eat tea 1 day /week, some 2 days/week, some 4 days week, some have only breakfast and lunch and some have lunch and dinner.

Therefore, my question is, do you think that a per meal charge is the only way round this?

I was thinking different levels of fees which would include all drinks and other snacks i.e.

£5/month - breakfasts
£5/month - lunches
£10/month - dinner more than 3 times week
£5/month - dinner less than 3 times week

This would certainly help with my shopping bills adding up to around £60 or £70/month as I have 11 children in and out on different days, and, hopefully, wouldn't be too onerous in terms of extra costs for parents.

Honest opinions please!

Sorry I couldn't feed mine for this. My food rates have just increased by .50p per meal and are now

Breakfast £1.00 per day
Lunch and Tea/Dinner/Supper £2.50 per meal

Snacks and drinks included in my price

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Charging for food can be quite complicated when it comesto doing your books.
Food and drink is an expense which you claim against taxes, so if you charge separately, you cannot claim again ifswim.
If you earn enough to pay tax I don't think it's worth charging separately.

Sorry to disagree but you can claim either way. if you put the food in your income, then you put the cost against your expenses.

If the cost is built into your fees you still put it in your expenses.

[miffy]

I include lunch and tea in my daily rate for pre-schoolers.

After-schoolers pay £1.25 per day for tea.

I agree with you about the cost of food and have been thinking about changing my prices too.

The amounts you're suggesting sound very reasonable

Miffy xx

[Tinglesnark]

sounds good but what if you had a newbie that required breakfast, lunch AND dinner? what would you do in that instance?

[Goatgirl]

HI, I charge quite a high rate for my area but include all food.
I think your charges are just about right for your situation; if anything, overgenerous (!) but if that will cover the costs, go for it :-)

bws,
wendy :-)

[The Juggler]

sounds good but what if you had a newbie that required breakfast, lunch AND dinner? what would you do in that instance?

If they have all three meals I would charge a monthly fee for each, if you see what I mean. Does that make sense. That would make it £17/month.

[The Juggler]

Sorry to disagree but you can claim either way. if you put the food in your income, then you put the cost against your expenses.

If the cost is built into your fees you still put it in your expenses.

That's what I though Debbie, i.e. I would put it into my income column first as additional payment from parents and then continue to take the food costs off my expenses as I've always done.

I know it is quite a low cost per meal/per child but I figure I can manage by just having this an extra £15-20/per week to go towards the shopping money.

Thanks

[oldtimer]

Sorry I couldn't feed mine for this. My food rates have just increased by .50p per meal and are now

Breakfast £1.00 per day
Lunch and Tea/Dinner/Supper £2.50 per meal

Snacks and drinks included in my price

I would agree with these costs as a bare minimum....food is expensive as is gas/electric to cook it....hot water to wash pots/pans/plates...laundry costs....

the list goes on and on

[Pauline]

I would agree with these costs as a bare minimum....food is expensive as is gas/electric to cook it....hot water to wash pots/pans/plates...laundry costs....

the list goes on and on

I don't think you can add the cost of gas/electric for cooking food into the calculation as you already claim those as a % in your expenses. Same with laundry costs, they should be in your general expenses for wash power etc. :)

[oldtimer]

I don't think you can add the cost of gas/electric for cooking food into the calculation as you already claim those as a % in your expenses. Same with laundry costs, they should be in your general expenses for wash power etc. :)

Pauline,
I will have to disagree with you on this matter.

The percentage that we claim for is to do with tax calculations....

if I cook a meal specifically for my minded children, then I would think that the cost of the gas that I use is 100%.........

when I run my dishwasher to clean their plates, the cost of the electricity and water to run the dishwasher is 100%....

[nannymcflea]

At the moment I do not charge for food, when I move and if I carry on cm then I will do things differently,either charge an all inclusive at a higher rate OR charge for food.

My parents at the moment are just recieving their nursery bills for when they start in September, they are telling me just how much more its going to cost them to send them to nursery....I think they are realising just what good value I am! :D

[Pauline]

Pauline,
I will have to disagree with you on this matter.

The percentage that we claim for is to do with tax calculations....

if I cook a meal specifically for my minded children, then I would think that the cost of the gas that I use is 100%.........

when I run my dishwasher to clean their plates, the cost of the electricity and water to run the dishwasher is 100%....

Not sure the tax man would agree with that, if you are heating your home to warm the children you wouldn't claim the full 100% that is also part of the % you can claim.

I've never come across it done that way, but of course I am happy to bow to superior knowledge if that is what the tax office agree to. :)

[rickysmiths]

Pauline,
I will have to disagree with you on this matter.

The percentage that we claim for is to do with tax calculations....

if I cook a meal specifically for my minded children, then I would think that the cost of the gas that I use is 100%.........

when I run my dishwasher to clean their plates, the cost of the electricity and water to run the dishwasher is 100%....


I have to agree with Pauline on this one. Wether we cook meals or not, we have an agreed percentage we are allowed to claim on our whole gas and electric bills. As I work full time my percentage is 33% of my total fuel bill for the year so £440 per year I think that is more than generous.

By all means do it your way but be prepared if they do a spot check or an investigation on your accounts. I have gone through this, though no fault of my own and believe me it is not pretty I wish you luck.


The Juggler-will you come to mine to prepare my meals for 25p each? I would rethink your figures. Like Debbie, I couldn't provide the quality of meals I do for the amounts you are suggesting.
I produce 40-45 meals a week plus all the fruit, snacks and juice and milk. My bills per week for this are £85-90 per week. So I would have to allow an average of £2 per meal to cover my costs.

Like you I have always charged and inclusive hourly rate. I have found food, fuel etc costs rising, I have not raised my fees for 4 years now so I am considering a fee increase at the end of this year. I must say i couldn't be bothered to work out and charge for seperate meals, but thats just my way I guess.

[Chimps Childminding]

How on earth would you work out how much gas/electric you used to cook and clean up after cooking a meal for the mindees???? do you check your gas and electric meter before and after??? and what about water for the dishwasher :panic: Think I will stick to the old way!!:D

[The Juggler]

The Juggler-will you come to mine to prepare my meals for 25p each? I would rethink your figures. Like Debbie, I couldn't provide the quality of meals I do for the amounts you are suggesting.
I produce 40-45 meals a week plus all the fruit, snacks and juice and milk. My bills per week for this are £85-90 per week. So I would have to allow an average of £2 per meal to cover my costs.

Like you I have always charged and inclusive hourly rate. I have found food, fuel etc costs rising, I have not raised my fees for 4 years now so I am considering a fee increase at the end of this year. I must say i couldn't be bothered to work out and charge for seperate meals, but thats just my way I guess.


Hi Rickysmiths. It's not that this is the cost per meal (I wish! then I would be a genius and could write my own books!) it's just that the shopping bill is stretching me big-time with the mindee food but I don't need to make a per meal charge to make ends meet, IYSWIM. I don't want to scare the parents by suddenly introducing a charge that might mean up to £20 per week in some cases. That's a lot per month extra. All of my parents are sooo nice and sooo flexible for me.

I just needed to find a charge that helped me with my monthly shopping bill but did not make it unmanageable for the parents. Another £60-£80/month towards food will make a big difference to me but not such a big difference to each parent.

Still haven't decided what to do though!

[The Juggler]

Pauline,
I will have to disagree with you on this matter.

The percentage that we claim for is to do with tax calculations....

if I cook a meal specifically for my minded children, then I would think that the cost of the gas that I use is 100%.........

when I run my dishwasher to clean their plates, the cost of the electricity and water to run the dishwasher is 100%....

but my understanding is that the 30% per year we claim is roughly meant to cover the 100% usage for these sort of occasions?

[Minstrel]

Sorry to interupt!

I think you are both talking anout different thing so techically all right!

Pauline is talking about the figures you put through your books as expenses for the taxman. Rightly so you cannot claim for the gas/electric/hot water used for the meal as they will already be accounted for in your utilities %.

Oldtimer I think is talking about the amount you can charge the parents and the reasonable rate this should be. My understanding is you can charge them whatever you feel necessary to cover it as long as it goes thorugh the books as income.

I hope i've understood all this correctly. :)

[oldtimer]

Sorry to interupt!

I think you are both talking anout different thing so techically all right!

Pauline is talking about the figures you put through your books as expenses for the taxman. Rightly so you cannot claim for the gas/electric/hot water used for the meal as they will already be accounted for in your utilities %.

Oldtimer I think is talking about the amount you can charge the parents and the reasonable rate this should be. My understanding is you can charge them whatever you feel necessary to cover it as long as it goes thorugh the books as income.

I hope i've understood all this correctly. :)

Minstrel,
you have hit the nail on the head.....the method I choose to work out what I charge my parents has nothing whatsoever to do with arrangements made with the taxman.

When I work out my costs, there are many things that I take into account.
I may only work 50 hours a week minding the children, but I also have to take into account the time needed for administration, preparation for the day, cleaning away after the day etc etc....

as for the comments by carolyn about checking the gas and electric meter...no I do not do that, but I estimate a notional figure of £1 per day per child to cook/clean etc plus the costs of the food. I know that £1 is probably more than the real cost...but hey, I am not a charity and would rather overcharge by a little than subsidise the parents

[Pauline]

Minstrel,
you have hit the nail on the head.....the method I choose to work out what I charge my parents has nothing whatsoever to do with arrangements made with the taxman.

oh well in that case yes, do as you like. :thumbsup:

I was worried that people would think you can include gas and electric in a 'resonable estimate' when calculating food costs to the tax man! :)

Well done Minstral for working that out :)

[Minstrel]

Well done Minstral for working that out :)

:blush: :blush: :blush:

[Chimps Childminding]

Sorry Oldtimer, I thought you were on about what you put through for tax purposes!!!!!! Thanks Minstrel for putting me straight!!!:blush:

[The Juggler]

Minstrel,

I may only work 50 hours a week minding the children:eek: :eek: :eek:

how many did you used to work!!? you're a better woman than me!

[margimum]

Sorry to be dim but when charging for meals etc. do you put this amount separately through your books as income for food, or just add it to your total income from each parent?

Do parents prefer to pay for individual things? or isn't it just easier to have an inclusive rate?:)

[Tired]

I dont put the charge through as a separate income, just add it to the income from each parent.
I don't charge for breakfast, I reason that a small bowl of cereal and some milk is too small a cost to bother about.

I charge 1 pound (sorry, pound sign on my keyboard does not work) for lunch.
Saying that, I dont provide such good meals as some of you seem to, just a jacket potato and tuna, or omelette, beans on toast etc.

I don't serve dinner. I strongly encourage parents to collect their children before then. My family doesn't eat until 7pm, so I really don't want to be cooking 2 lots of meals.

[debbie]

hi, i charge a daily fee of £1.50 per child towards their meals as food is getting expensive. i live in an area they say is deprived, but i have found that most parents are willing to pay for this to know their child/ren are eating healthy meals through the day. school holidays this price goes up to £2.00 a day for the over 4's as i fnd they eat alot more than the little ones and sometimes waste alot more. i like your idea of charging a monthly fee though. my fees go down in my books as weekly makes working out alot easier. doing it on a daily basis doesnt seem much but when you get a weekly costing it seems fair and covers the cost of the food

[The Juggler]

hi, i charge a daily fee of £1.50 per child towards their meals as food is getting expensive. i live in an area they say is deprived, but i have found that most parents are willing to pay for this to know their child/ren are eating healthy meals through the day. school holidays this price goes up to £2.00 a day for the over 4's as i fnd they eat alot more than the little ones and sometimes waste alot more. i like your idea of charging a monthly fee though. my fees go down in my books as weekly makes working out alot easier. doing it on a daily basis doesnt seem much but when you get a weekly costing it seems fair and covers the cost of the food

Hi, thanks Debbie. I am still undecided about this so it was good to hear another different way again for charging. I may do something similar as I don't want to be unfair to parents whose children who eat only twice per week to be paying not much more than those who eat five days per week. But, I am charging so little anyhow I think it is not unreasonable.