My New Town Not So Fruitful?

So as many of you know, we are moving in about 6 weeks to a much smaller town, but still with a population of about 60k. I have been posting my ad everywhere, and even trolling "childcare wanted" ads and responding to a few.

Here are some of the replies I've received so far:

a) Please care for my three school aged children for ten hours a day. Oh, I can offer you $50 per day total, but if you ask for $70 which is well under the standard rate for our town, you'll never hear from me again.

b) Please care for my two children under three years old for four days per week. I will give you $20. For BOTH of them.

Ugh...I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope for something to happen before September.

I did actually get a pretty good reply from a mama who wants three days a week for her almost 2 yo, knows my rate, and seems excited to meet with me once we are settled.

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Originally Posted by Alphaghetti

So as many of you know, we are moving in about 6 weeks to a much smaller town, but still with a population of about 60k. I have been posting my ad everywhere, and even trolling "childcare wanted" ads and responding to a few.

Here are some of the replies I've received so far:

a) Please care for my three school aged children for ten hours a day. Oh, I can offer you $50 per day total, but if you ask for $70 which is well under the standard rate for our town, you'll never hear from me again.

b) Please care for my two children under three years old for four days per week. I will give you $20. For BOTH of them.

Ugh...I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope for something to happen before September.

I did actually get a pretty good reply from a mama who wants three days a week for her almost 2 yo, knows my rate, and seems excited to meet with me once we are settled.

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Sounds like once people see you offer "QUALITY" care in a beautiful environment and not "CHEAP" Daycare people will be lining up to get into your space! Trust me!

How far from Toronto are you going? I know TO has a very high demand and well 'centre' care is so expensive there that people would hardly complain about home childcare rates ... however in the small suburbs people tend to want more for less IME ... I have friends who live in small towns and they have people who want 'centre like programming' but they want to pay only a $20 a day fee ... good luck on that one :roll:

It's about 50k away from Toronto...yeah. I am NOT going do keep doing daycare if I am paid $20 per day. Like I said before, I know I am not going to get what I get here. I am not expecting any more than the going rate in my new town.

I am looking at jobs outside the home now. :crying:

Oh hang in there hon - how long of a 'buffer' do you have to get some clients signed on?


I live on a street with two $20 a day providers and I am able to stay full with 5 kids at $35 plus a day .... it took me a while when I started out almost 4 months to get full ... but now I am ALWAYS full unless I choose NOT to be .... aka do not want another infant at the time or want to hold off on starting another newbie cause I had two kids leave at once or something.

It takes a bit to get that established sense of footing again - and in the meantime people smell 'newbie' and think they can take advantage of some sort of sense of desperation to get the spaces filled and will offer that wonky cheap fee or want a long extended hours and so forth ... just keep to your plan and the people you want to attract will find you !!!!

Oh I know exactly what your going through.
I had no problem filing my spots in our last town but, this new one has taken me a while.
Hang in there...it's tough starting up again :(

Maybe you can find something part time to not interfear with daycare hrs until you get full??
I know your pain, just went through it and only got my 3rd this month!!

You're not asking for anything above&beyond...it's the going rate and stick to it!

I've had to send out a few of the "check out www.daycarebear.com and you will see I am in par with other H.daycares in a 5km radius..." replies. I was lucky to get 2 spots filled quickly...now that I'm looking for 2 more there are NO bites but lots of views at my adds? Very frustrating indeed.

:glomp:

Oh Alpha, I'm sorry to hear this. I seem to remember you are moving to a city where there are a lot of blue collar workers and I'm wondering if there is a high unemployment rate there? They used to have a big GM plant, but is it up and running right now? Too bad you have only heard from the nuts so far, but the real clients are out there. This is a slow time of year but in the summer people start looking for fall spaces. You'll find them, keep your chin up.

Thanks for all the support guys. I am going to need more nudges, and "don't give up"'s from you guys before this ordeal is over, I am sure.

I have a bit of a buffer in the way that we were living on dh's salary for a long time, and we can make do. I have also saved a couple of thousand, plus we haven't touched dh's income tax return yet. I'd rather not spend that on every day living, as I wanted to go away with our whole family, or buy a pool, or put it toward finishing our basment in the new place, but you gotta do what you gotta do. We have become very accustomed to having two incomes in this last year.

Is it possible that you don't have pictures available of your new space? Not sure but if you gave a picture of the outside of the house and of the back yard that may be a good start to give your future parents a visualization of where there kids will be placed.

Does your ad say booking interviews for July 13th? (Just throwing out a date) I’m not sure when you plan on opening your doors?

Skysue, I did put pics up of the front of my house and my yard on my listings.

I didn't mention when I'd be doing interviews, but did say in the ad that I am moving to town at the end of June and accepting now for July. Incidentally, July 13th is my birthday!

Alphagetti, did you buy in the Durham Region? Oshawa?

Mom4-GM in Oshawa is up and running, there is still a lot of unemployment due to job loss from a couple of years ago, but it has not affected anything in the North End of Oshawa. The daycare associated w CAW closed and the one at the Community College closed. Although I"m having trouble filling my spots as well, the daycares around me, and there are lots, are full. And they are not charging 20/day... more like 35-40/day. I think its the time of year, you may start getting calls in a few weeks when people want to line up their care for Sept... that's what I'm banking on anyways!

Ishould say it hasnt affected anything interms of daycare in the N. Oshawa, it for sure has affected people who live here as well with losing their jobs, being layed off on and off (my hubby)

Bowmanville.

I was there over last weekend, chatting with some friends, and they said that the going rate for home daycare there is $35-$40 dollars, and these places are all full. However, I see a tonne of advertisments on kijiji and here, and they all have spaces for $30-$35 per day.

One of the women who replied to my ad said that she pays $25 a day where she is now, for a part time spot, so she won't pay any more than that. She's looking for a new daycare, as her current one won't do school runs for fall.

wow Alphagetti $25.00 is what I charge for four hours of care what a rip :(

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Originally Posted by lilac

I think its the time of year, you may start getting calls in a few weeks when people want to line up their care for Sept... that's what I'm banking on anyways!

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I consider myself "south Whitby" but Im right off the 401....I've also been posting for spots and I would normally get 2-3 email request at least, now not a single one but 20+ views! ::Filling dust to us ALL::

Alpha your moving to bowmanville? My dad lived there for 30 years .... Sadly he passed away dec 2007. His wife and my step sister live there and my sister lived and ran a business there briefly about 20 yrs ago .... I know bowmanville quite well ..... It's a nice town!

Yes, it is a nice town! DH's mom lived there for a number of years, plus we have a ready made group of friends there, as DH's best friend from high school has lived there for about 7 years, and all of his friends are awesome, and we've already met all of them several times.

I am actually looking very much forward to the move, the smallness of the town, and the change of pace from the city. I do love the city, always will, but there's a lot to be said for lower mortgages and fewer sirens at night. :rolleyes:

Mama mia-I have had a million people look at my ads and very few inquiries and so far only 1 that has led to a client since Dec. When I first started up, same thing, but I was full and turning away people for a Sept start. I have had people try to bully my rates down to 20 and 25 but I just say sorry, cant do it. I grew up in the South part of Whitby Blair Park, RA Hutchison, Wheelies?!! :)

I'm not sure but I dont think Bowmanville is all that different in terms of daycare than Oshawa... its also growing! Hold out for people who arent going to bully you for rates, 20-25 isnt the norm for 2 full time kids, not these days. I'll bet Sept will be a good time for you!

Hi Alphaghetti, just curious what area you lived in last and where you relocated. I am in Calgary now but at some point would like to go back to toronto and was wondering what the average rates were and what you might have heard of being as good areas to live in for having a busy dayhome?

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Originally Posted by Dayhome Mamma

Hi Alphaghetti, just curious what area you lived in last and where you relocated. I am in Calgary now but at some point would like to go back to toronto and was wondering what the average rates were and what you might have heard of being as good areas to live in for having a busy dayhome?

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Hiya! I am in Toronto West, meaning Bloor/Lansdowne Area, aka Bloordale, Junction Triangle, High Park area.

The going rate here is $50-$55 dollars per day for full time, and $60-$65 for three days per week or less. I know that Sarah and Cadillac on these boards are also in Toronto, but in the east end, and the rates are the same there. In fact, when I do a daycare search for most areas of Toronto, this rate is the norm.

In my neighbourhood currently, you just can't find daycare. The centres and any ones who accept subsidy have a 2 year waiting list, so everyone is going with private day homes out of necessity. Everyone I know is full, and most of them have wait lists too. Someone told me a few weeks back that parents are actually forbidding their nannies to go out with their kids, because people are poaching them at parks and playgroups.