When do you start advertising?

[Lou]

I will have 2 openings for September...when do you personally begin advertising for a spot so far away and why? Thanks :)

[monkeymama]

I also have 2 spots open for sept, one pt and one ft, i have already started advertising. the reason being is i am hoping to only fill with pre-schooler which may be harder for me to find. all the inquiries i have gotten lately are for little ones (12 months) I already have 3 under 2 so I really need an slightly older child to balance things out.

[cfred]

I'm getting requests for August and September now, so it seems like a good time. Lots of people start looking early and want all their ducks in a row. I'm one of those people who likes to have everything sorted early - I tend to think lots of people are like that.

[playfelt]

I start advertising as soon as I know I will have an opening. I started getting contacts for Sept in January so if you are looking to fill for sept worth advertising now. Especially put ads up on things like daycarebear, godaycare, etc that are kept as a data base. When you list on something like kijiji you have to keep on top of your ad or it will disappear into the multiple of pages so you need to remove and repost frequently.

[BlueRose]

I have spots for September and I started advertising a month ago. I have two interviews set up for this weekend.

[Spixie33]

I would advertise now for September. I actually thought I was going to have two spots for September and put an ad up in November and I had inquiries.

It turned out that I didn't actually have those spots available after all and now I have people on a waiting list.

I think a lot of parents look 6 months in advance and more.

[sunnydays]

I advertise as soon as I know I have a spot. I have been advertising for August for the past couple of months. I had a family come for an interview this past December who were looking for care for the coming November (their child will be 2 by then)...so many people do look way in advance!

[Momof4]

I learned a lesson about this a few years back when my first group of 5 had 2 children graduating to JK and I started advertising and interviewing in January. NEVER DO THAT!!! I got all the shoppers and that's when I perfected my prescreening techniques.

But April/May is a good time to start. If you sign them up too early then you're just stressed that they will actually show up in Sept. Also, I came up with the policy of writing Non Refundable on the deposit and don't allow it to be applied to fees when I'm holding a space in the future.