anyone have a nanny

[sschro3]

I just had baby #4 on 1/22 and am thinking of going back to work. My DH is in construction and work has not been very steady. That is really hurting us financially. If I also have a job that will help to offset the times he is not working. Atleast we would still have money coming in. The obvious problem is daycare for for kids. It will eat up most of what I make. A friend of mine suggested trying to find a nanny. She said that it would probably be cheaper then daycare...especially this summer when all 4 would need to go a full day. Would appreciate any advice on the subject.
Sharon

 

[brymolmom]

Wow. I would ask your friend for some names of people she heard that from. Where I am...it is mostly not the case at all. Nannies are considerably more expensive than many daycares. Just think of the convenience of it - a nanny coming to your home instead of you having to get 4 kids dressed and into the car and drive to someplace else - and reverse that on the way home. It is a huge convenience to have someone come to your own home and here you pay for that convenience big time.

In my considerable daycare research - near me BY FAR the least expensive option is an in-home babysitter (who does it at her own home). It can be about half as expensive as a day care center. Again, this varies by region - but near me you can find good in home sitters for $25 per day per child (with a slight discount for weekly and maybe discount for 4 kids - I only have 2 so I have no idea). So I would guess unless your area is vastly different than mine - that you should expect at LEAST $75 per day for good day care - that's $375 per week. After you add in your transportation to/from work costs AND any $ on other work-related things (new clothes, lunches out) - I would say you want to make at least $550 or so TAKE HOME (after taxes) in order to make it close to worth while (unless you get a lot of good health care benefits or something - that might factor in to make it worth it to take less take home $).

Of course, maybe my calculations are way off for your area. But I would start by asking everyone you know who is in your area what they are paying (if they don't mind you asking - most won't if you say you are researching getting some sort of child care) and WHERE they go (day care center, in home, etc) - that way you'll have a real basis to begin to compute the numbers and what is necessary for you to make to make it worth while. And THEN - find out what you COULD make.

Keep in mind the 'unforeseen' issues with working out of the house...if one of your 4 children is sick....you will need a backup to daycare or you or DH take the day off. Scheduling doctor appointments gets a LOT more difficult. With 4 kids - I would imagine this would amount to a lot of needed days off...

Good luck with your decision.

 

[U2_rocks!]

I have absolutely loved having a nanny for the past 7 years! She works weekdays only, around 7.30 - 4 or so (we've had various schedules over the years depending on our needs), but she will also babysit for us at night or on weekends for overtime pay. We hired her when my oldest was 3 months old, so she's always been in our family (she's like a second mom to the kids).

In the beginning I loved not having to organize anything in the morning - I just got ready for work and went! Now of course I have kids to take to school and lunches to pack etc. She keeps their clothes clean and ironed (the uniforms in particular) and the house sort of picked up (I say sort of b/c housekeeping is NOT her strong point!). She is so good with reading to them, doing art and projects with them and sitting for ages on the floor playing games like Animal Dominoes - she has way more patience for that sort of thing than I do! And she has 3 older kids of her own and has worked in a daycare cneter, plus she has CPR training - so, she knows what she's doing better than I do!

I found her through an agency at first, then I hired her away from the agency a year later. I have no idea how her salary compares to daycare center costs, as I never researched daycare. I was lucky to have my mom living and working next door - she used to pay random visits to DS throughout the day, and she'd observe things. Knowing that Mum was checking up and that I had trusted neighbours in case of emergency made me feel better about leaving the kids alone at home with just her. I'm not sure if I could have done it in under different circumstances.

ETA: a nanny at home is invaluable when kids are sick and daycare won't accept them! I always made the medication decisions (our nanny would call and check with me first about any meds) and if I was ever worried about how a kid sounded, I'd ask my Mum to go check on them and let me know what she thought. I didn't want to rush home unless both our nanny and Mum had a bad feeling about how a sick kid was looking and thought he/she should see a doctor. In 7 years we never had any problems with this.

 

[write2caro]

I have been doing some research on this recently as well. In my area, a good, reputable daycare for 4 kids would be more expensive than a nanny. I think it varies an awful lot by where you live. You might try this site: http://www.nannies4hire.com/search.asp?action=nanny. You can search for nannies in your area, and many of them show salary expectations which may help you get a general idea.

I just looked quickly at a few in OH and found $300-$400 weekly. Just looked at a few, so I don't know that this is a representative sample, or anything! Good luck with your decision - I know the whole thing is not easy.

 

[almburr]

what about a high school girl, or college student for the summer?

 

[MSSANDRA]

Also remember that the term 'nanny" is used to cover a huge range of people. I can mean a trained professional with a degree or a 18 year old school drop out that just likes kids. The cost will very much reflect your education , experence and perhaps your quality of care.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I just read the previous post AFTER I posted. Did not mean to imply there was any thing wrong with a school age summer sitter. I did that when I was in school and it might be a great choice for you. Just was reminding that "nanny" is a VERY broad term.

 

[write2caro]

I just read the previous post AFTER I posted. Did not mean to imply there was any thing wrong with a school age summer sitter. I did that when I was in school and it might be a great choice for you. Just was reminding that "nanny" is a VERY broad term.

Very true in my experience as well. I use a very reputable agency for temporary child care here and there. They are very thorough and require certification and a good deal of experience. However, even within that group, I've paid different rates depending on whether the person has things like a degree in early childhood education vs. not. I must say that the most important thing to me has ended up being the fit for my kids/family vs. whether they have a degree or not. This of course assumes a certain amount of experience and a caring approach.

 

[FinallyBoughtDVC]

We have an Au Pair from Germany. We went through Cultural Care Agency and filled out a lengthy application, interviewed her over the phone, received copies of her very lengthy application, references, etc. She had to be cleared by the agency. She lives in our house and the flexibility just can't be beat.

She goes with us on vacation, takes my kids to their activities, out to the park, etc. She keeps them so busy, it's amazing.

The initial outlay is about $7000 - then you pay the au pair a weekly stipend of $139.05 - the whole thing averages out to about $350 a week (plus the added expense of having someone live with you).

They are to provide up to 45 hours a week in childcare in exchange for room&board, their stipend and a $500 education allowance.

Cultural Care has a local care coordinator who meets with all the au pairs in the area monthly, is there 24/7 with any support issues and helps make the entire process painful for the girls (and sometimes guys) and the host families.

When they send you a "match" - you can reject that match and move on to the next one. Even if they come here and you meet her and you feel it's just not going to work out, they will place her with a different family and you can choose another.

Many people in my area have au pairs (one mother has 3 young ones and doesn't work and has an au pair as an extra set of hands in the house).

 

[DISNEYFOS]

I've employed a nanny for my daughter while I work from home.

She's here about 6 hours a day. Cost does vary considerably from area to area. You can call a few agencies and they can give you a range. You can also have them do the search and background checks for you.

There are many many websites to search for nannys. We did the search ourselves via ads on websites and then ran background checks thru US Search.

Be sure to review nanny tax laws as you would be considered an employer and need to withhold employment taxes etc.

PM Me if you have any questions. It was kinda a large learning curve when we started.

We paid about $14-15 an hour in MA. Depending on the hours and how many kids, this can be considerablly less than daycare situations.

If you are just looking for a Summer nanny, thats a bit easier as they are mostly college students!

 

[shelly3girls]

We have had 3 nannies including our current nanny. We have 3 children and a nanny is more affordable than daycare and way more convenient. The big difference is that I do not have to call out of work when one of them is sick. We found two of our nannies on internet nanny sites and one through a friend. On the sites nannies and families post profiles. After phone and personal interviews we then arranged full background checks through the website. Please feel free to ask any questions you have as we have been through the process several times.

 

[shelly3girls]

In my considerable daycare research - near me BY FAR the least expensive option is an in-home babysitter (who does it at her own home). It can be about half as expensive as a day care center. Again, this varies by region - but near me you can find good in home sitters for $25 per day per child (with a slight discount for weekly and maybe discount for 4 kids - I only have 2 so I have no idea). So I would guess unless your area is vastly different than mine - that you should expect at LEAST $75 per day for good day care - that's $375 per week. After you add in your transportation to/from work costs AND any $ on other work-related things (new clothes, lunches out) - I would say you want to make at least $550 or so TAKE HOME (after taxes) in order to make it close to worth while (unless you get a lot of good health care benefits or something - that might factor in to make it worth it to take less take home $).

Of course, maybe my calculations are way off for your area. But I would start by asking everyone you know who is in your area what they are paying (if they don't mind you asking - most won't if you say you are researching getting some sort of child care) and WHERE they go (day care center, in home, etc) - that way you'll have a real basis to begin to compute the numbers and what is necessary for you to make to make it worth while. And THEN - find out what you COULD make.

I believe the OP said she has 4 children. Your numbers make sense for 3. Her cost would be atleast $100/day or $500/week using your numbers. In many areas you can find a nanny for less than this.