Money Saving Tips in Family Child Care

All family child care providers can take steps to save a little more money, regardless of your current income. With the extra money you save it's a good idea to earmark it for specific goals such as retirement, vacation, college fund, emergency fund, etc.

Here are some ideas submitted by family child care providers.

DyLynn Robertson, Portland, Oregon:
"I use the type of 'dishrags' that come in packs of a dozen instead of paper towels in the kitchen. With a group of 4-6 children I use about three-dozen each week and just wash them with the regular laundry. I do the same to wipe the diaper table after it has been sanitized, but has not dried in time for the next change...I purchased a different color/pattern than the ones I use in the kitchen and wash these separately."

Jenelle Sampson:
"I used to spend a lot of time planning, shopping, and organizing a preschool curriculum for my in home child care that was costing me a lot of money. Then I found a pre-made monthly curriculum complete kit from the website Funshine Express. Not only do I save a lot of money I also [save] time and I gave myself a raise! P.S. For the pay raise I informed my childcare parents if they liked the new curriculum (which was a one month trial) then I would adopt it and raise tuition by $12. Everyone was fine with it."

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Comments

[Elizabeth]

I have started using coupons to save money on the children's food and cleaning supplies. I am finding I can save almost 90% on cleaning supplies if I stock up with they are on sale and I use a coupon. I also have found great savings on healthy food using this website: http://savingsangel.com/amember/go.php?r=36668 Please use affiliate #36668 if you sign up. (Disclaimer, I do save some $ on my membership if you sign up under my #) But with the site I have cut my grocery bill in half! I feed healthy fresh foods to the kids that cost less than what I get reimbursed with the food program so that has become a money maker for me too!

[Hollee Saville]

www.123learncurriculum.com is an EXTREMELY inexpensive curriculum for you childcare at only $25/year! It is infinitely better than the "cookie-cutter" curriculums and saves you (and your families) a lot of money. You can also make your own cleaners with water, vinegar, and baking soda (depending on the use) or buy natural products. Budgeting helps tremendously, as does tracking your income and expenses in a financial-tracking program like Quicken or MS Money. Being organized means you won't be buying duplicates of items and will save time and stress. It's the little things that help!

[Jacob Sandys]

Make sure to ask about sibling discounts if you are trying to find care for more than one children. A lot of dayhome providers I spoke to were willing to offer a bit of a discount for multiple children. And as we all know – every little bit counts!