What's a reasonable weekly rate to offer for this situation?

[Anonymous]

nannydebsays wrote:

The benefits are good, and the only change I would make there is giving your LI free access to everything in the kitchen within certain set house rules, and if she wants to drink pellegrino or eat brie and drink lots of wine that's on her $.

I agree, OP, that as you said, it would be completely fine and normal to say to the live-in that she's welcome to anything in your (presumably well-stocked) kitchen, but anything she wants other what's there is on her. In reality, you'll probably learn what she likes and stock a few extras. But don't go down the "add anything to our grocery list" thing unless you're prepared to be buying literally anything she wants.

We had an au pair that preferred to drink mineral water and would drink two of the big bottles every single day. I would buy these cases of it for $15.99, and it would be gone in a few days. Drove me crazy, particularly since she was a pretty terrible au pair anyway. We now say free access to anything in the kitchen and we'll buy additional staples, but special drinks, alcohol, and junk food are on her.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thank you for your insights. This is very helpful and the feedback is more promising than I anticipated. It certainly would make our lives a lot easier to not have to do daycare drop offs, pick ups, and daily packing of the bottles, lunch boxes, shoving toys back in the bin, so I was hoping to hear that this would be appealing to at least some candidates out there.

And of course, I hope this could be a good opportunity for some one in a transition year of sorts or just trying to finish up their degree and reduce their own living costs. There certainly were years when I had less than $1600/month to live off of and still had to pay to rent. It never occurred to me to look for a position like this, but it would have helped me out a lot and I hope I can offer a win-win situation for whoever we bring on.

[Anonymous]

Op when do you need someone to start by. I've been a live in nanny for years amd my current position is ending in a few months.

[Anonymous]

I'm very interested in your position op and have experience Please call me 301-325-1132, so I can learn more about your position. Thank you

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for the interest! We'd be looking for an Oct start date so it's pretty far out. Right now we're just trying to budget for childcare for 2 and sort out what's possible for us but I'll come back when we're recruiting and post the position for those interested.