WAS I RIGHT OR WAS I DUMB ????

[Summerfruit]

Hi !

I have signed a contract with a lovely mum who wants me to start mid-July looking after her dd...Until the starting, I'm going to have her for some settling hours, lets say 2 hours today, 4 tomorrow, 5 next week...I have charged her for that but my question is : As this mum wants 3 days a week, should I have asked her for some kind of retainer or some money in advance ? She already paid for the settling hours.

I mean some kind of retainer for the hours she is not using ?

You probably could have negotiated that before you signed the contract. But, I would think at this point it would be really cheecky to ask for it now. Also, I think one month is not that long. If she wanted you in six months then a retainer would be in order. But one month seems a normal period to wait/organise care.

You were right not dumb! She's starting next month and you have no one else taking the space so there's no call for a retainer. Especially as you're charging for settling in, which not all CMs do, so you're not really out of pocket.

Hi thank you all..I kind of tought I was being fair..Well I'm charging some of the settling, as it's about 40 hours and different times etc..