Need advice: Is this part-time nanny scenario do-able?

[Anonymous]

So, I have kind of a unique day-care situation coming up. I work full-time, but my hours are pretty flexible as are my husband’s. Right now, our son (3 years old) is in full-time daycare, but with baby #2 on the way, we won’t be able to afford having 2 children at the center, especially since we only need care for about 25 hours each week, but we pay for full-time spots.

We would need someone starting in either September OR January (depending on what I do with my fall teaching semester – I have some flexibility there), and would like to have a nanny work for about 25 hours a week. I was thinking about a nanny split, perhaps with a family with older children who are in school all day but still need after-school care. (Do people do this? It was just an idea.) The 25 hours would be fixed and guaranteed, but I have a fair amount of flexibility, so I could make my hours around the nanny’s/other family’s schedule, to some degree – ie, I could do three 8 hour days or four 6 hour days, or some other option.

A few questions:
First, does this even sound possible? How likely is it that I will be able to find someone willing to work 25 hours a week?

Second, what would the expectations for pay be? We were thinking $18/hr.; is that reasonable?

Third, if I wanted someone to start in September, how many weeks in advance would you suggest advertising? (I could also have someone start in January – but I thought September might be better, given that that’s when school starts and some people might be decreasing their nannies’ hours. I could be wrong about this, though!)

Last, are there any places you’d suggest I look? I’ve heard of both sittercity and care.com; would these be good resources?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice. I really appreciate it!

[Anonymous]

Sounds totally doable and your price sounds reasonable. This is basically what our family has done for the past 5 years: same nanny, shifting arrangement of kids and hours.

If you belong to a neighborhood listserv or a local moms' yahoo group, start there. Ask your mom friends, etc. Then, if you can't find anything here or there, maybe check out sittercity. Good luck! Our wonderful nanny share situation has been one of the things that has made our two-working-parent, not terribly high-income lifestyle possible.

[Anonymous]

you can also post on dcum too.

I think its totally doable especially with your flexibility.