I think it also has to do with why you started into home daycare in the first place. Was it because of issues in your other job making you want to leave, suffered a job loss so job was no longer an option, had a baby and didn't want to leave them to return to work, moved to a new area and still looking for an outside the home job, etc. That might then give you a timeline in your mind of how long you might want to stick it out such as till your own child has weaned off breastfeeding, reached a certain age or milestone, your child has started school.

It is important to assess if you started home daycare for the right reasons or if it just seemed like an easy out at the time. Not saying some don't start that way and then just hang in there because that is in a sense what I did in that I was looking for a job with my teaching degree after we moved but in the interm agreed to provide care for a neighbour's child, and then another one asked due to care breakdown, etc..... that was 27 years ago and I discovered I loved home daycare as much if not more than the type of job I was looking for.

I was also going to post along the same lines as what Reggio posted - a good sit down with a cup of tea and a clipboard for some brainstorming might help a lot. Write down why you started home daycare, what you like about your current situation, what you don't like about your current situation. Then look at the why and see if it still applies. Look at the what you like because it will make you feel good. Then look at the what you don't like and see if there is anything on the list that is changeable. Maybe after you have made your list you could even share some of it here and we could give you ideas on things to try that might address the situation - is there a certain child that seems to upset the day then let them go, is clean up an issue - then look at ways to eliminate how the mess is made in the first place, do you crave adult interaction - then visit playgroups, join a class, choir, gym, club of some sort in the evening. Look at ways to steamline your day by realizing what is important and what is not. Steamline your routines in terms of things like diaper changing so they take less time - hence more free time for you and a feeling of more relaxed moments. This is not something that comes naturally in the first year or even second or third. It is an ongoing process even for those of us that have been in daycare awhile because each group of children changes the dynamics and needs.

I think once you have done your needs assessment you will have a better idea of how long is long enough. Once you know for sure that you are not happy and want to do something different then it is long enough because that will rub off on the children and then no one is happy and their discontent will make yours worse. Once you know you love what you do just not some aspects of it and that they are changeable for the better then you will know.