DO YOUR MINDEES COST YOU A FORTUNE?

[OFSTEDoutstanding]

Hi I have just sat down to do my accounts from last week which was the first week of having all mindees full time as half term and I have just realised they cost me a fortune
The amount of fruit juice, fruit and food in general they got through was amazing not including amount I spent on petrol going out.
I think the problem is I also had my ds who loves all fruit and juice and as he is only 20 monmths I don't like to tell him he can't have something when at the mo he is such a good eater. The thing is he doesn't drink water only fruit juice and so I don't feel I can say to mindees you have to have water when ds has juice. Also he loves strawberries but they are quite expensive especially when you end up getting through almost a whole punnet on your mindees, how can I give them to him and not to them though? Sometimes I say they can't have them as there is not enough to share fairly but I don't think it is fair that my ds should have to go without either. Before you all tell me to wait until they go home to give to ds I can't they are here til 6 most days and then he goes straight in the bath and to bed What should I do to stop them costing me so much? Please help

Shop around! I get two punnets of strawberries for a pound at local council estate shooping centre's fruit shop.
I also buy fruit juice from nettos, smartprice apples, heron (frozen foods store) for kids yoghurts. You get the idea. Kids can cost a lot but if you make an effort to shop around you soon know where the good deals are.
Oh and two of my mindees only ever eat brand name foods at home - but happily munch/slurp through the things I buy. One girl mindee said to me 'I only ever drink robinsons' to which I replied, 'well you have been drinking my juice for 3 months now and it's from nettos!'
Think I have opened her eyes to marketing and advertising tactics in a big way!

My ds was a juice addict, a couple of weeks ago I went out for the day and took only water out with me. He now drinks it when it's given to him. Still has a bit of juice but no where near as much! He's 2and a half.

Holidays do cost you tho. I make an effort to keep costs as low as possible without it affectingf the kids. We always take drinks and food out with us. Walk/ride/scoot to places. Go to free museums/parks/etc. I do one activity a week in school hols that costs. If we go on a day out I usually send out a letter to parents for permission, what they will need, etc.

I also try to take the children free places but the problem is I live pretty much in the middle of nowhere so have to drive to get to these places. Parents will pay admission costs and we take picnics to keep costs down that way but I really wanted some advice especially as one mum got quite funny with me last week and said that if I didn't want her ds eating my strawberries she didn't mind sending him with his own named punnet just because I had said that they couldn't have any that day as even though they saw them in the fridge there wasn't enough to share between 5 of them

Mind you this particular child is very spoilt and is the mindee that I have mentioned before that asks me to dust the Playstation controller before he plays it! Funnily enough my answer is usually no its fine just rub it on the carpet!!!

The food in your home is not public property! Unless you let her child go hungry I don't see what the problem is! Not letting them eat them as there wasn't enough to share around is perfectly acceptable. It's not like you let one child have some and another went without!

Why not make them a fruit salad each? That way they have maybe two strawberries (halved), chopped aple, banana, grape halves, etc in a bowl. Goes further and they get as mixture of fruit.

If the issue with this child is that he and his mum don't like him being said no to then I don't think you can change that. All you can do is stand firm, and don't back down. Oh and don't let him have his own punnet of strawberries, that would make the other kids sad as they wouldn't have any.

Some people!

Don't worry Kay there is no way he will be getting his own punnet it is a ridiculous idea he is only with me 2 days a week after school for 2 hours I am sure he can manage without for that period of time! It is a shamethat the mum has gone so funny she was fine until I signed more after schoolies and then her ds wasn't only one but I guess that a whole different thread

I used to pay my CM a dialy amount for food. If you have Mindees longer in the holidays - then you should charge more for the food on those days as they are with you longer - and will eat more. - As a parent I would think that fair.

I don't think i can charge extra for food in holidays as my hourly rate includes all food and drink. I have also worded it like that in the contract

in that case - are you charging enough?

I charge £3 per child per hour not much for you London people but here in Norfolk I am one of the more expensive cm around! Don't think I can get away with charging much more

I don;t generally give DS juice as he's quite happy with water but could you water it down and share it out. Also agree that you could chop up the more expensive fruit into samll pieces and use in fruit salad or just a little bowl of chopped fruit each. I do think you cant give your DS stuff wihtout giving some to the others, but is it such a problem to give your DS the more expensive food he likes at the weekend and the cheaper stuff in the week?

it hols all mindees bring a packed lunch each as we are normally out and about
they also bring £1 towards an ice-cream

i do feed them snacks like fruit and crisps but mostly they eat what their parents send them

Starting to think maybe I should've said bring your own food but the childminders round here that say that only charge about £2 hour so wouldn't be worth looking after them for such little money as only do 25 hours during term time and then 50 in hols. So even at £3 hour am only getting £115 a week total before take outs though in holidays it is much better

I certainly don't think it is right that you give your DS juice and the others water, or your DS strawberries and the others apples. But I think that just because they see something in the fridge does not mean they can have it. I think the fruit salad idea is good. It might also encourage your DS to diversify his tastes.

Truble is if you ask for food to be brought in you cant then put it against your expenses, same with asking for admision prices. I pay all outgoings, put them on expenses and then dont pay tax

I pay my c/minder £2 an hour & send ds's food with him, though the c/minder often tells me he hasn't had what I sent as she likes to give all her mindees the same foods.

Today I sent my own home made soup, I sent enough for the 3 mindees. Tomorrow the other little boys mam will send something & include enough for the 3 of them, it's just the way we have worked it out among ourselves.

I think you must treat them all the same, not complain that you can't feed your ds in front of the mindees I'd hate to think my c/minder thought like this Buy cheaper versions & let them all eat happily.

i charge £3 per hour term time but in the holidays they bring their own food and i charge £20 for the day
works out well they also bring pocket money to use while we are out

Does anyone know whether or not childminders can qualify for a cash and carry card?
It would save a lot if we could bulk buy certain items.
My mindees help themselves to water only and if we go out I take water. We share a large carton of fresh juice at our sit down mealtime, and they may have some warm milk at quiet time if they would like it.
Morning snack time is always fruit and pm snacktime is mostly something cheaply home baked eg scones, flapjack, weetabix cake.
My mindees are positively cheap compared to what I spend trying to keep my teenage boys re-fuelled.

I'm not complaining that I can't feed my ds in front of the mindees firefly. hat I meant was that I understand that I can't and wont treat them differently but some of my mindees have become very demanding and seem to think if it is in the fridge then it is theirs.I never offer my ds something that is differet to everyione else when mindees are in the house I treat all children equally.

I have a Makro cash and carry card, you can join on line, saves a fortune

I charge £25 per day which includes food although the baby's Mum still puts his lunch in for him.

The 4 yr old has lunch at nursery and I charge him £50 per week as he is only here Tues, Wed, Thurs and Fri afternoons, but he has snacks here which are usually fruit, toast, sandwiches and drinks of milk, juice or water.
It would help if parents paid me at the beginning of the week so that i can put money in the bank. I have tried to be patient now that is running out, soon it'll be no money, no minding!

I think they forget we take them to the park and I always buy an ice cream there, I also take crisps, fruit and drinks for them, it all costs us and we are not the greatest paid are we?

M2L I always get paid in advance, I have it as part of my contract, in the aerly days was caught out once to often.

For makro it says you need two receipts for over £50 don't spend more than £50 all that often I have to say! Do they make allowances?

I get paid on the Friday for the week I have worked. It is a PITA, I seem to just be living week to week, it's Wednesday and I have scraped copper together to get the bus to bank as I need to pay a cheque in.

We don't have macro near us so wont be able to go to them. I get paid the first day of the week the child is with me for the week ahead but I still end up living week to week as they all pay cheque even the small amounts