Is £500 a month a reasonable earning goal?

[peckarollover]

£500 a month would make a huge difference to our family (it will cover paying off my huge debt and let DH's good salary deal with bills and life). Is this achievable? Roughly how many hours/children does this equate to? Our going rate round here is about 3.50 an hour

Is anyone prepared to say ROUGHLY what they earn and how many children they look after to earn that amount. Trying to work out how budget will look but obviously its an unkown entity until I see what business I get!

Very nosy question I know

I'll answer that,From setpember I will be looking after 5 children (I 1year old and 4 schoolies- all different hours) Work for approx 30 hours and will earn approx £400 per 4 weeks. It has taken me approx 18months to get my business up to this level.

HTH

Thanks Katymac & Theprisoner - I think I will go with mileage then as it seems better in the long run!

Peckarollover - I became registered at the very end of May and at the moment, have a 2 year old (30 hours a day, Mon - Wed) and an 18 month old (6½ hrs a day on Tues & Thurs). I don't have any school runs yet as I haven't really got my name round those area's yet. I also have another 2 kiddies over the school holidays but I count that as extra income as it wouldn't be part of my monthly income. For my 2 yr old I get £409.50 a month (includes £1.50 each day for cooked evening meal) and £182 every 4 weeks for the 18 month old (no meals included).

HTH

By the way, that's what I get but doesn't take into consideration the expenses or any tax as I'm not at that stage yet.

Hi, hope you don't mind me joining in.

It's really interesting to see how many children you all have and how much can be earnt. At the moment I am only looking after 2 after school children during term time. I earn £68 per week but I have 13 weeks without pay, which I really cannot afford. Can I ask, HellyBelly did you find the children you are minding now through your own advertising or was it through children's information service?

I have two children, for 30 hours a week (3 10 hour days) and I get £192 a week so it works out at 800 a month before any deductions or tax etc.

mum2akebk - my children are ALL through my own advertising where I have my website link (or details on poster). They all said that they contacted me after seeing my website and wanted to meet me. The first one was through my advert on mumsnet and was within 24 hrs of advertising (although I've only had one more from mumsnet since so was just lucky that time). I've had more enquiries too but ones I couldn't accept due to being full on those days.

I had my one and only call through CIS last week which was regarding a possible additional needs child. In my area I was told that the average wait for CIS related calls was 4-6 months which is why I built the website whilst waiting for my certificate. It's certainly helped! Market yourself as much as possible!!

HTH

If I were to have just my 3 F/T children (2 termtime only + 1 all year) it would be about £1500 pcm (but the all year one starts nursery in sept - haven't worked out how much I'll lose)

I charge £3 phr going up to £3.20 in September
I also have 3 x 2 days each and one for just 3 hrs plus some other bits & pieces. They all add up

Thanks for letting me know HellyBelly. I guess I need to get on the advertising trail then.

Definitely worth it! Actually, it's helped me in 2 ways as I've also had loads and loads of emails from people wanting a website building cheaply so it's boosted both my businesses!!

Good luck with yours!