Low enrollment, unexpected repairs, and family emergencies can put daycare owners under an enormous amount of financial stress. Even when times are tough employee payroll, monthly bills, and the cost of food and supplies still have to be met. When money is tight the best thing to do is reduce your expenses until things improve. Here are some ways to scale back and get your daycare center through a financial slump.

Encourage Employees to Reduce Waste

Be honest with your employees about the financial stress the center is facing, and enlist their help to reduce supply waste. You’d be surprised at how much construction paper, glitter, and glue gets thrown away on a daily basis. Teachers can also help reduce utility waste by not allowing kids to run water unnecessarily, and turning off indoor lights before they take the children outside.

Ask Parents to Donate Supplies

Post a notice on the bulletin board of your daycare center asking parents to donate hand soap, paper towels, and Kleenex. Most parents are happy to donate these types of items to their kids’ daycare center.

Serve Meals on Reusable Dishes

Instead of serving meals on disposable plates, use dishes that can be washed and reused. Nobody likes the idea of washing extra dishes. But when finances are pinched, paper plates are a luxury you can’t afford.

Charge a Yearly Supply Fee

Update your policies to include a yearly supply fee. When parents pay the fee, put it aside and use it to buy learning supplies for the children in the daycare. If you have 50 kids enrolled in your childcare center and you charge a yearly supply fee of $25 dollars, it will help ease the cost of replacing worn furniture, and buying other supplies such as glue, paint, and glitter.

Take Advantage of Free Resources

Save on the cost of books for lesson plans by going to the library and checking them out. Also, check to see if your area has a childcare resource center where daycare providers can borrow learning materials, laminate classroom materials, and run copies free of charge.Choose from the most used tags in Post Tags

When financial stress hits your daycare, you can save a hundreds of dollars a month by reducing waste, eliminating unnecessary expenses, asking for supply donations, using free resources, and charging parents a yearly supply fee.