Petty Cash Allowance / Budget

[Guest]

HI

 

i work in a private day nursery our numbers (of children) at present are (per day)

 

Monday 25

Tuesday 34

Wednesday 38

Thursday 28

Friday 27

 

weekly we get given a petty cash allowance of £50 occasionally if we ask for it we may get £100 but that is not that often.

 

petty cash covers

Nursery shopping (food and baking stuff) (weekly)

Baby wipes (weekly) and sudocrem (fortnightly)

Window cleaner (who comes once a month)

Paper and ink for printer (of which we use loads thanks to the new digital camera) (once a month)

Batteries for toys (once amonth)

envelopes and stamps. (monthly)

 

for all toys we want we have to take money out of funds, which is also rapidly depleating.

 

do you think we get enough petty cash?, i know im struggiling with it.... some weeks if we need lots of wipes etc normal shop can cost £45...

some weeks we may have a few pounds left over which obvioulsy gets added to the next week but it never seems much.

 

we don't have a yearly budget or anything,

 

what do other nurseries do.

 

our craft materials and cleaning materials are ordered through head office (and they pay for them) so we have enough craft and cleaning stuff.

 

but very little money left for toys, which is a shame really

 

Dawn

[narnia]

I don't know how you do it all on £50.............for 152 children......I used to get that at my old playgroup, which was mornings only, with a maximum of 20 children and I left there 4 years ago! admittedly, we occasionally went over the petty cash, but the committee always coughed up, no questions.I would not have been expected to buy the envelopes etc, or the ink, and certainly not to pay the the window cleaner! My new group is much, much smaller and I spend probably the same amount now as I did then.I reckon you need to ask for a bigger amount and a definate "toy budget" per month, so you can update/replace/replenish old toys.Good luck!

[hali]

we have £50 petty cash but that is just for bits staff but throughout the term for cooking etc, all paper, ink toys etc get paaid seperatly

[Alison]

We have a seperate budget for toys and also apply for grants and do fundraising for toys

 

our parents provide their child with a nappy changing bag with their own wipes and creams we use the excuse that because of sencitive skin not all children may suit the brand of wipes we use, most parents dont have a problem with this arrangement.

 

we are on a very tight buget so we tend to go to car boots charity shops an the local £1 shops for a wide variety of resources and toys

[narnia]

Our parents are expected to bring a bag of items their own child uses..nappies, wipes, nappy sacks and creams etc.If they don't, I charge a fairly hefty amount, to "encourage" them to remember!! (Currently, £1.50p per nappy............it's amazing how quickly they remember when that's added to the bills).I also give them the used nappies back, to dispose of at home at the end of the session.I also charge if we lend an item of clothing, which isn't returned by the following week.........i got tired of having children turn up without spares and then seeing them come in week after week with my spare clothes on (all with our name across them too!!)so, £5 per item and again, they now tend to come back fairly rapidly, after all, who wants to pay a fiver for a pair of pants??

[Inge]

we too have parents supply items for changing etc, petty cash not used for inks, envelopes stationary but will supply batteries food etc separate budget for toys as tight always check boot sales etc.

 

Like the idea about charging for clothes we have the same thing and they never get returned, perhaps worth a try!

 

Inge

[Marion]

Like the idea about charging for clothes we have the same thing and they never get returned, perhaps worth a try!

 

Inge

 

 

Might be worth a try we have one child who has every pair of our trousers (he soils 2-3 times a day) and his mother just keeps promising to return them tomorrow

[Guest]

I don't think thats enough for what your expected to do with it!

 

We have £100 per month - it was per week for the first year.

 

All our food costs and cleaning equipment is picked up by head office monthly, and art and equipment (toys) 3 times a year.

 

perhaps if you do a breakdown of how much you're spending in what e.g keeping seperate logs of all food costs/art costs etc etc on a monthly basis then present findings to your line manager - see what she thinks?

 

Just a thought but I know can be time consuming!

 

Jayde

[Guest]

hi Dawn,

 

Our attendance is much the same as yours. I've secured our weekly budget at about 130 a week, through lots of 'contructive debate'

 

I agree with Jayde..maintain a log of all your expediture and go to your line manager. Perhaps it would be easier to be given your petty cash monthly, also.

 

Good luck

 

 

Michele

[Guest]

I have £400 per half term, so about £66 per week and I have 18 children a session and run 10 sessions a week.

This covers snack, day to day resources, baking, day to day cleaning materials. I always run out by half term so goodness knows how you are coping Dawn.

Well done and would you help me manage my bank account.

 

Net xx

[Guest]

We struggle with this aspect badly. Our nursery food is provided for us but we never have any petty cash or money for new toys. I am always owed money for simple resources and sometimes never get it back. I have pointed out to the owner that the nursery looks shabby and the toys need replacing but as usual this interfers with their profit margin and I get a rant about how poor they are and when they get some money we will see.