Being wasteful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why don't you get a dish towel and have her use that instead of paper towels?

why don't you ask her to put uneaten food in a tupperware?

why don't you explain to her what the sand is? I'm not a wasteful person but if you handed me a bucket of sand and it got everywhere, I would throw it away during clean up thinking that I was being helpful. I've never heard of $40 sand, so maybe she hasn't either

why don't you put a jar aside for broken crayons?

if you want to fire her over this it's your prerogative, but it seems a little silly when there are so many other options

Why?

Yes, I can do these 5 things. Will that fix every problem? No. She is wasteful in general. Like I said, do I have to harp on everything she does, or should I let it go? She's good with the children. Or get someone else?

[Anonymous]

Nannies go through a lot of paper towels. They are trying to keep clean your table, counters, children, and their own hands all day long you know. If the papers towels are the issue then remove paper towels, and replace them with dish rags.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why don't you get a dish towel and have her use that instead of paper towels?

why don't you ask her to put uneaten food in a tupperware?

why don't you explain to her what the sand is? I'm not a wasteful person but if you handed me a bucket of sand and it got everywhere, I would throw it away during clean up thinking that I was being helpful. I've never heard of $40 sand, so maybe she hasn't either

why don't you put a jar aside for broken crayons?

if you want to fire her over this it's your prerogative, but it seems a little silly when there are so many other options

Why?

Yes, I can do these 5 things. Will that fix every problem? No. She is wasteful in general. Like I said, do I have to harp on everything she does, or should I let it go? She's good with the children. Or get someone else?

She's good with your kids? And you wanna bitch? Are you always a control freak? Count your blessings and get a life.

[Anonymous]

We had a similar situation. It was a bad fit and we found someone else. Kids love her and we are thrilled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a similar situation. It was a bad fit and we found someone else. Kids love her and we are thrilled.

She sounds lazy (faster to throw stuff away than figure out what to do with it), and like she has very little sense of how to play with a 2-year-old. I also wonder if she still lives at home. If so, she probably has no idea what people do with their money beyond having fun with it, so what's $40 worth of sand.

That said the most wasteful nanny we had was a mother in her 50s. She just thought cleaning up was not her job. Everything went in the trash instead of being put away for later. We also made a change.

We have had two other nannies, and both have been much more reasonable -- they save what can be saved, and throw out what needs throwing out. So, when these two women tell me we've run out of something, I don't think twice about replacing it. If you're sighing heavily every time she says something is gone (or you notice it), there's a problem. By the way, I've never had to have a conversation with anyone other than the first nanny. Everyone else has been not wasteful with the supplies.

[Anonymous]

I think some of the things you talk about can be dealt with, others do go to her wasteful personality and you don't want to fight that battle.

I really don't like to be wasteful so I see where you are coming from, but of the things you mentioned: in the grand scheme of things paper towels are not a huge deal. Yes, it's wasteful and yes, it does add up over time, but that's something you can presumably deal with.

Wasting the absolutely awesome kinetic sand like that is inexcusable. If you don't want a confrontation, get a tupperware container and tell her that it will be used for storing the sand. Label it, if you feel like it, mention how wonderful it is that it sticks together like that and how handy it is for clean up.

Point blank tell her that broken crayons and scribbled paper are okay - DC is only little and doesn't care, tidy them up for later use.

The key, I think, is to correct the way she treats her job things (aka your supplies) rather than how much tp she uses, because that would never go down well.

At my first nanny job I used to always empty the 4 kids' juice bottles into the sink when they came from school instead of letting them finish them during dinner - it was easier to clean all lunch things straight away and then use glasses that go in the dishwasher. The mom had repeatedly told me not to do it, and to this day I have no idea why this one simple instruction was so difficult for me to use. But only when I myself started paying for my own things fully did I realise how these little things add up. Perhaps your nanny just needs a bit of a reality check.

Whether it's worth it for you to raise these points and try and make things better because she's otherwise excellent, or it's only the tip of the iceberg, only you know that. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

MB here. The funny thing to me is that quite a few of the responses here seem to think that being wasteful isn't that big of a deal while on other posts the responses are always "why would anyone keep a mediocre nanny for x long?". Personally being this wasteful would be a deal-breaker for me. I don't want my children to learn habits like that, but even more so I just know that someone that wasteful wouldn't be a good fit for us anyway. None of our 3 fantastic (and long term) nannies would have ever considered doing any of the things that you listed.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about OP's nanny, but I know that my standards of clean, are much higher than my employers'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why don't you get a dish towel and have her use that instead of paper towels?

why don't you ask her to put uneaten food in a tupperware?

why don't you explain to her what the sand is? I'm not a wasteful person but if you handed me a bucket of sand and it got everywhere, I would throw it away during clean up thinking that I was being helpful. I've never heard of $40 sand, so maybe she hasn't either

why don't you put a jar aside for broken crayons?

if you want to fire her over this it's your prerogative, but it seems a little silly when there are so many other options

+1 I have never heard of kinetic sand. No one knowingly would throw away a $40 toy. I would absolutely try to resolve the situation without firing her. Unless there are other things that you are unhappy with.

[Anonymous]

I would be rather upset about the sand. Did you say anything to her ? Does she not understand its a toy that can last for months and months.

[Anonymous]

Nanny here who has never heard of kinetic sand. With that said, if we pulled it out to play and it acted more like playdoh than beach sand, I would have found a reclosable bag or container to put it in.

[Anonymous]

She probably thought she was being helpful with the sand and crayons to not leave broken crap all over your house. Just tell her. I am sure she didn't know it was expensive sand.

The rest I chalk up to being 24. Put some hand towels out.

The chicken nuggets ... ask her to put them away. I don't know why you would want her to leave meat out to get cold and gross.

[Anonymous]

OP, this is at least worth addressing. It may be worth finding someone else if you can't come to a middle ground on this, but not without at least trying!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be rather upset about the sand. Did you say anything to her ? Does she not understand its a toy that can last for months and months.

I doubt the nanny knew it was a toy at all. If it is natural colored kinetic sand it looks just like beach sand.

[Anonymous]

Dish towels are absolutely filthy, and the best way to spread illnesses throughout a house. I'll continue to dry my hands with 1 paper towel each time I was them.