Setting Up Recurring Invoices in MMK Pro

Recurring Invoices

Okay so I have to admit, I had a hard time understanding how to set-up recurring invoices in Minute Menu Kids Pro.  After a little snooping around and with the help of a very helpful forum member on the Daycare.com Forum here's the scoop on how to get it to work for you.  

To get to the recurring invoice section in MMK Pro from the main menu:

Accounting>Bill Parent's and Record Payments>Recurring Invoices.

Click on the parent that you want to create a recurring invoice for (sorry, you can only choose one parent for each child) and click the Setup button.  Now choose how often you want to automatically create an invoice (weekly, every other week, monthly, twice per month) and click Next.

*For the purposes of this explanation we will assume that we are creating weekly invoices. 

Here's where it got confusing for me.  The next screen should look like a calendar like shown in the screenshot below.  Near the top it says "What date do you want to start automatically creating invoices?"  This date should be the day before your payment due date for your family.  For example if your payment due date is Friday then the invoice creation date should be on a Thursday. 

Once you set your date the star on the calendar will reflect what date the invoice will be created on and the following day will say "Money Withdrawn from Parent".  Make sure that these days are correct.  The next step is to get the black ribbon with the arrows to reflect the dates that the invoice will cover.  

If you provide child care service first and require payment at the end of the week then you will want to left click on the Sunday before the invoice is created.  Your screen should then look like this:

If you are like me and require payments before you provide child care then you will want to left click on the Sunday following after the invoice is created.  Your screen should then look like this:

The next screen is where you will select the child(ren) you want to apply to this invoice.  You can choose to only add one child or several children (such as siblings) but you can only choose one parent to invoice.  Select the child(ren) and click Next.   If you have filled out the child's information beforehand then the amount to bill weekly will already be filled out.  Check it and make sure it is correct.  This amount will be invoiced each week.  

The last step is where you can add notes.  Whatever you type in this section will show up on all invoices created after this point.  When you are finished you can click Done and that's it!  You are done.  I hope this helps someone as much as it has helped me.  

Record Keeping Program for Daycare

MMK Pro-Love It

So maybe you're a new provider that is just getting started or maybe you're a veteran that has been in the business for many years.  Either way Minute Menu Kids Pro is, in my opinion, the best program out there that can meet the record keeping needs of a family child care provider (child care in the child care provider's home).  

What is Minute Menu Kids Pro?

"It is the premier child care management software for home-based family child care businesses"

It is a full accounting system that is specifically made for family child care.  

What does it do?

Oh wow, it literally almost does everything when it comes to record keeping.  Once you set it all up, add your daycare info (such as hours and square footage), add all of your daycare children's and parent information you can:

• Keep track of meals
• Keep track of attendance
• Create invoices
• Record payments
• Record food program, subsidy and other payments
• Record your expenses
• Record your mileage
• Keep track of your time doing business related things when daycare children aren't present
• Print out reports
• Print end of year statements and W-2's for clients
• Accept electronic payments from clients through ChildCarePay.com ($1 per transaction, well worth it.  Trust me.).

It really does make my life much easier.  The list above is what I love and use most about the program but there are a few other things that it also has that I either don't use ever or don't use much:

• Create certificates: Personally I just don't use this feature unless it's someone birthday.  
• Create charts:  I've never used this but you can make charts for attendance, perfect clean up, terrific taster, sharing club, taking turns, washing hands, taking turns or create your own custom chart. 
• Plan your meals:  Personally for me it was just faster to write my meal plans out in Excel. 
• Plan activities:  I plan my weeks a little funny by using a lesson plan book a whole bunch of stickies.  That's just how my creative process works so that's the reason I don't use MMK Pro's activity planner.  

What I wish it did:

Accepted Credit/Debit:  Although it's pretty neat that parent's can go online to view and pay their invoices payments are in the form of electronic payments which are transferred from their bank to yours.  That's great and I love the convenience and all but I just wish that it gave my clients the option to pay with a credit or debit card too.  

Also, if you ever run into a problem when using MMK Pro and you need customer support it is EXTREMELY difficult to get someone to pick up the phone and return your call.  You're better off going to the Daycare.com forum and asking your questions there, the members there are extremely helpful and many have been using this program for years.  MMK should be paying those gals for tech support.  

The Verdict:

All in all even with the cons I listed this is a great product.  It is well worth the money.  It is a yearly subscription that you'll end of paying but in the end you'll be thankful.  Oh and your tax preparer will love you for it since all you'll have to do is print off the tax reports and hand them over ... everyone knows that family child care has a lot of deductions and if you don't have a good tax preparer it's still pretty hard to goof things up if you use MMK Pro.