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Chickenhauler 12:11 PM 12-01-2009
Originally Posted by mac60:
My days are 10.75 hours long. On a good week, I make $116 per day. That comes out to $10.79 per hour, minus groceries, electricity, heat, daycare insurance, homeowners insurance which I have to have before I can get dc insurance, supplies for daycare and preschool, wear and tear on my home, replacing things that are broken, my taxes come out of this too. I do an average of 4 to 6 loads of laundry per week that is daycare laundry (blankets, crib bedding, nap stuff, kitchen towels). On my own time after work hours, I do my grocery and supply shopping, cleaning, preschool curriculum planning, organizing and cleaning of daycare area, daycare books, etc. I feed these dc kids 2 of their 3 meals each day.

My utilities, food and home expenses are much higher than if I worked out of the home, and even though I can deduct 40% of my electric bill, that does not cover my useage, and that goes for my heat too, which I keep my home comfortable for my dc.

And I don't wear sweats and T's to work, I am a business and I dress accordingly. So really, how much do I really make in the end after all these expenses are deducted from my $10.79 per hour??????
I'm sure you change diapers in pants suits! My MIL probably spends more annually on her wardrobe for the office than I have invested in every piece of clothing I own (and I bet we could add in the wife's wardrobe and still come up short).

Let's not forget that all your DC expenses are tax deductible. If you quit doing DC and worked outside of the home, do you think your utilities would drop by 40%?

Whether you do DC or work in an office, you still have to have heat, electricity, homeowners insurance, and you'd probably pay ALOT more income taxes. One thing you'd miss out on greatly is mileage deductions.....being no longer self employed would mean that you could no longer deduct mileage, which if you keep an accurate accounting of it, is HUGE write-offs.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again....if you're self employed and using your home as a business location and are paying much of anything in income taxes, you're either rolling some serious dough, or you need to find a new CPA.


We're on the food program, which recoups a large chunk of change every month (about 2/3 of the grocery bill).

If you really feel that you're getting the short end of the financial stick, go find another line of work. I know a few who have quit DC and gone into the workplace, and every last one of them thought it was going to be "oh so great" and now they terribly regret doing it.

Where I'm going with this is, it's not the gross that counts, but the net (the amount that's yours to spend on non-business things).
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