Advice needed about pricing, simple or complex

[5 Little Monkeys]

Whether math is your strong point or not, it will likely get complicated when you start having multiple children at different rates. It will be a lot more work to keep attendance and rates clear.

In my province (MB) we are restricted to 4 children at any one time. Therefore, at my dc, you are paying for the spot not the hours or days. I keep it simple, $30 for regular days and children's sick days, $20 for stat days that I am closed and for days that they take their child our for holidays or if a family member wants to babysit(this fee is only applied if they tell me before payment is due though) and 0 for my holidays and sick days which I reimburse on the next pay period.

However, I didn't start out this way. I started off with letting part time kids only pay on the days they came. I quickly realized this wasn't going to work as I needed a more stable income. I had a big turn over last summer (3 out of 4 left) so I took that opportunity to change to paying for the spot not the days. Of course though, my one that stayed was a part timer and I have allowed her to stay on that contract. So unfortunately I have 3 full time children and 1 part time child with an opening spot for only Mon/Tues. It can be tricky to fill the opposite days for part timers which was another reason I wanted to eliminate them. I am hoping to eventually have all 4 spots paid for full time whether they are here or not. The only complicated thing I am adding now, is I am raising my fee for the open spot to $35 and any future spots will be this rate too.

It's up to you of course, but IMO, simple is easier! It also gives you a better idea of what to expect for your income.