NOT cheap childcare
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Anonymous
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Honestly I think its silly to think there is one answer to why AP's come and why Host Families need them.
We joined because we need some back up care for random emergencies and school pick up. We have no family around so having another adult in the mix is really helpful. And there is no argument that we could hire an American for the same hours without paying someone full time. We also wanted Spanish language skills to help our kids at school. We have had an au pair from Spain and she took full advantage of travelling the U.S. and having a blast. She likely went home with no money but says it was the best year of her life. Our last au pair was from Mexico and managed to save money and send money home to her parents. She also says it was the best year of her life. Not all HF's are the same and not all Au Pairs are the same. |
Anonymous
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Interesting. We're in Canada and our base cost for pay for around 27 hours a week is C$32,000 or $24,000 a year (we have to pay min wage and deduct room and board). Add in the food, higher utilities, extra linens, perks such as annual passes to local attractions, subsidized winter clothes and cell phone, plus dinners out, skiing trips, etc., I'd guess it's around US$35,000 a year. Gulp, I'd never looked at it that way before. I don't consider it cheap as I can't afford to hire a cleaning service so I have to do most of the cleaning myself either in the morning before work or after the kids go to bed at night. I do get annoyed when I find her sitting around during working hours looking at her phone, I feel like saying "Find something to do, you're costing me a fortune!".
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Anonymous
Wow, that sounds expensive! can you break down the costs? I am really curious. I did a quick google search and I see some agencies with fees around $1000/family and AP gets between $265-290/week which all come to less than C$18000. Where are the extra fees coming from or my information is outdated? |
Anonymous
This. We just moved from a 44 hr a week nanny (4 10s, plus commute) and paid $23/hr, which was $920/week, we paid 52 weeks a year, then 6% in taxes. It was $50,714 just in wages. I then paid .54 per mile driven, plus gifted, lunch/snacks, I was about 54k/yr in the hole for a 40hr a week nanny. Our AP for the same amount of hours is AT MOST with all expenses 25k/yr. For us an AP is spectacular cheaper., even taking her on vacation and all the extras. |
Anonymous
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Also, you can't compare OP's full cost of AP with just the salary of a nanny.
You also need to add into the nanny's salary the extras of the AP --- Like we get our nanny end of year and birthday gifts, she uses water and eats food, etc. It's not as much but it's also not zero. So AP is still less expensive. |
Anonymous
I may have miscalculated, let me think ... you're right, it's actually more like C$21,000 gross (salary @ $14 an hour before tax and before room and board deductions). Apologies ... and it makes me feel better about the cost, thank you for pointing that out!!!! I'd say we probably easily do another C$2000 in additional expenses per year. Also the room and board deduction is not high ($85 a week) for the quality/amount of food, new linens, utilities, etc. |
Anonymous
Cool, I much prefer your system, here most of the cost goes to the agency not to the AuPair, we pay $9000 agency fees and there is no clear value for room and boarding, so there is a lot of confusion about that . The cheapest you will get here is about US $20k (not counting the extra) which is more like C$25k. So you get it cheaper but pay AuPair better! |
Anonymous
Extra linens ? Once you pay for a pair, she can wash them and they can last for years (if you buy good quality). Annual passes to local attractions ? There are many FREE things to do in most towns/cities. You don't have to pay to have fun. Winter clothes ? She should have brought hers, you don't need to pay for these. Dinners out ? You can eat at home or not bring her. Skiing trips = luxury. Your kids "cost you a fortune", not her. |
Anonymous
Well, linens get worn, we just had to buy a new set. Indeed, many of the things we pay for are our choice, such as an amusement park pass so she can go with us (and she can also go on her own with friends). We pay for her to come skiing a couple of days a year when the kids have a day off school so that she can have a 'Canadian' experience. We also help pay for good winter boots and a warm coat as so far our au pairs have not had ones that were suitable for our climate. We also do invite her on the rare occasion we go out to eat as she is meant to be part of the family. Yes, it adds to the expense and means we do cut back on other things like a cleaning service, but it's our choice and I wasn't really asking to be judged (also I miscalculated so it's not as much as I thought). I didn't meant to complain about the expense, just pointing out that it's not cheap for us. |
Anonymous
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Come on people— two things can be true at once:
Au pairs are expensive. Nannies are more expensive. |
Anonymous
| Au pairs are expensive (ours is about 35k/year) - this is more expensive for ONE kid than a day care or a nanny share. It is cheaper than a full-time live-out nanny in DC for sure - and the nannies that we could afford were non-drivers, who did not speak a target language of interest, and did not want to take DD out of the house to enrichment activities. |