Smart career nannies do this

[Anonymous]

I've heard too much ... uh... spirited debate on the pay for nannies.

I know nanny pay is low. There is always need for more money.

On the part of the families, mother's job has to pay at least a certain amount to make the nanny worth while. It doesn't matter what the household income is, only what the lowest earner income is. Because if nanny costs more than that, one of the parents can stay home and do everything their way. It really doesn't make sense for us to pay the nanny $20 or $25 if the mom is not earning much more than that. Added with the benefit of raising your own children, basically the MB has to make at least a 100k for any nanny to be worthwhile.

I'm not talking about the $7 dollar nannies here. Those nannies' next step should be to find the $15+ job. I'm talking about the $18 nannies who need more to start a family, but want to have a life of taking care of children.

So, what is a nanny who just absolutely loves children and make this her life's work? Be satisfied making 50k year with no room for growth?

As an MB, it is really hard for me to find the smart, loving, nannies who are motivated to work hard because those people find another career. I don't want these people to be discouraged and leave the nanny profession. We do need good nannies working for the future of our children.


What is the answer? The nannies who need a pay jump from the $18 pay range need to think about opening their own home daycares. You must be smart enough to do it. You must work some as a nanny or whatever else to buy a house in the right zone that allows this. Research what you need to do and plan. One of the requirements is a house in the right zone. Another is for everyone living in the house to get a background check. There are other requirements.

A home daycare can have up to 12-13 kids. If you charge 300/week per child, and have 5 children, that is 52*300 *5 or $78k. Subtract some costs for the house you need to have, some helpers, etc. You need to know how to run a business. Manage your workers, not go bankrupt. People will be complaining about you the way nannies on this board complain about MBs. ("My boss says I can't look at my phone during work!") Are you smart enough to do this? Are you smart enough to run a business?


Now stop complaining about your pay. It's the competitive rate. If you are not smart or savvy enough to do this, then you really shouldn't be making more money.

[Anonymous]

Sounds good. That's a big upfront cost though. I always think that if they want to get paid more, career nannies should lobby for their wages to be a write off in two income households. It's pretty easy to argue that it's a business expense. And it would change the market pay quickly and dramatically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds good. That's a big upfront cost though. I always think that if they want to get paid more, career nannies should lobby for their wages to be a write off in two income households. It's pretty easy to argue that it's a business expense. And it would change the market pay quickly and dramatically.

Good idea.

Doesn't help families in the AMT zone though. Maybe get rid of that too.

[Anonymous]

PP here. nevermind AMT. I need coffee.

[Anonymous]

yes, but then that smart nanny will be paying minimum wage to the helpers who watch our children? She'll need at least 1 per 2-3 kids, depending on the age. So herself + 4 helpers. How is she going to make a profit off that fabulous 78K? Math, people, math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yes, but then that smart nanny will be paying minimum wage to the helpers who watch our children? She'll need at least 1 per 2-3 kids, depending on the age. So herself + 4 helpers. How is she going to make a profit off that fabulous 78K? Math, people, math.

You don't need a helper for every 2-3 kids. Ratios in DC are 1:5 for home based care, max of 2 under 2. In MD you can have up to 8 kids, 2 under 2, and no helper. There's plenty of profit to be had, if you are business savvy and hard working.

[Anonymous]

You can get less qualified workers (cheap workers who would otherwise be working retail) if you are willing to supervise and direct them. If they are not good with kids, just give them clean up duty only or preparing lunch duty only. You can spend all your time playing with kids, if that is what you want, if you plan it right.

[Anonymous]

DCAP I guess does this but the cap is super low-- only up to 5k. Need to raise the DCAP cap about 10 times higher. Why was this so low in the first place?

[nannydebsays]

I've heard too much ... uh... spirited debate on the pay for nannies.

I know nanny pay is low. There is always need for more money.

On the part of the families, mother's job has to pay at least a certain amount to make the nanny worth while. It doesn't matter what the household income is, only what the lowest earner income is. Because if nanny costs more than that, one of the parents can stay home and do everything their way. It really doesn't make sense for us to pay the nanny $20 or $25 if the mom is not earning much more than that. Added with the benefit of raising your own children, basically the MB has to make at least a 100k for any nanny to be worthwhile.

I'm not talking about the $7 dollar nannies here. Those nannies' next step should be to find the $15+ job. I'm talking about the $18 nannies who need more to start a family, but want to have a life of taking care of children.

So, what is a nanny who just absolutely loves children and make this her life's work? Be satisfied making 50k year with no room for growth?

As an MB, it is really hard for me to find the smart, loving, nannies who are motivated to work hard because those people find another career. I don't want these people to be discouraged and leave the nanny profession. We do need good nannies working for the future of our children.


What is the answer? The nannies who need a pay jump from the $18 pay range need to think about opening their own home daycares. You must be smart enough to do it. You must work some as a nanny or whatever else to buy a house in the right zone that allows this. Research what you need to do and plan. One of the requirements is a house in the right zone. Another is for everyone living in the house to get a background check. There are other requirements.

How much HHI would nanny need to buy a home in the "Right Zone"? If nanny (and spouse if one exists) is not able to afford such a home, then what?

A home daycare can have up to 12-13 kids. If you charge 300/week per child, and have 5 children, that is 52*300 *5 or $78k. Subtract some costs for the house you need to have, some helpers, etc. You need to know how to run a business. Manage your workers, not go bankrupt. People will be complaining about you the way nannies on this board complain about MBs. ("My boss says I can't look at my phone during work!") Are you smart enough to do this? Are you smart enough to run a business?

Well, 12 - 13 kids is only feasible if the home one is able to afford in the right zone is large enough to allow 12 - 13 kids to attend said daycare. I would guess there are square footage regulations - the 60 page booklet on family daycare for my state says there must be a minimum of 35 sq ft of space per child, so 13 kids would need at least 455 sq ft, or a room 20 x 23. Frankly, I wouldn't leave my kid in a 20 x 23 room with 12 other kids and 3 - 4 adults. EVER. (Oh, and in my state, family daycare is limited to 6 kids unrelated to the owner.)

So let's look at your math now. 300 x 5 = 1500 a week. I have 1 FT helper, and pay her 8/hour for 40 hours/week, and one PT helper, paid 8/hr for 20 hours/week.. I am open from 7a - 7p, which I had to do to find 5 clients willing to pay $300/week. Food costs for the 5 kids I have are about $200/week, because I offer more than the bare minimum required food - I get clients that way as well, who prefer their kids eat healthy food that isn't pre-packaged, and I offer 3 meals and 2 snacks per day. My 1500 sq ft home costs me $250/week, and the only rooms large enough to use for my daycare are the main living room and the largest secondary bedroom. That means a bit of stress, since I have to maintain those rooms for inspection at any time - NO FUN! Plus, my fairly small kitchen has to hold my groceries and all the dc food. And taxes are also an issue - I pay 15.3% SS/Med taxes because I am self employed, and I also lose another 10% in fed/state taxes even with all my deductions. I have to also pay employment taxes of 10% for my employees on their weekly combined wages of $480.

Earnings = $1500/week

Expenses = 480 + 200 + 250 + 229.5 + 150 + 48 = $1357.50

So now I have earned $142.50 for a 70+ hour work week, and I haven't paid my car note, my insurance bills, my food costs, or pretty much anything else except my mortgage. I have earned a grand total of around $2 an hour, and I have to live at work. Sign me the hell up NOW, because that's just exactly the life I aspire to!

Oh hell, I forgot the $50/week for the 5 year loan I had to take out to fully equip my home day care.


Now stop complaining about your pay. It's the competitive rate. If you are not smart or savvy enough to do this, then you really shouldn't be making more money.

Right. If this is such a great idea, maybe you should do it!

[Anonymous]

GREAT response nanny deb!!! as a nanny I have looked into opening my own home daycare and honestly it is just not feasible. I would lose so much money for the first five years and I would never be able to afford a home large enough to accommodate all these children nor pay for all of the renovations required to put the home up to code. people that told me to open a daycare like it was no big deal were SO annoying

[Anonymous]

I'm in the process to open my own day care. Small daycare in CA is 6 kids only. 3 under 2. 3 above 2. Meanwhile I'm helping a friend with her daycare. She charge $300 a week full time including diapers, wipes and fresh food.

Yesterday we had a visitor with 9 months old baby. She asking $200 a week. She told us another daycare with 9 kids can give her 170 a week. My friend told her "how much is the value of your baby?"

[Anonymous]

OP, you have got to be kidding! Full time, career nannying is one of those jobs where there are a few high-paying gigs, and everyone else will make a middle wage, and not a middle wage for DC.

There are a lot of careers like this. If you love it, and don't care that much about the biggest house, the best car, etc., it can be a good life.

[Anonymous]

With that kind of attitude, you'll be a nanny complaining about wages until old age. Look around you. Within a 3 mile radius of me, there are 2 home daycares. They have been in business for years, way before I moved in. They are successful. How are they doing it? If you make excuses for yourself, you'll get no where, except find yourself complaining about wages on DCUM.

nannydebsays wrote:

I've heard too much ... uh... spirited debate on the pay for nannies.

How much HHI would nanny need to buy a home in the "Right Zone"? If nanny (and spouse if one exists) is not able to afford such a home, then what?
You may be in the right zone already. It may be a residential area, I'm not sure. All the daycares around me are in residential areas so you may be in the right zone already. I'm sure it depends what county or city you live in. It's not that hard to find out, instead of criticizing what a bad idea this is and saying it is too hard without even finding out.


Well, 12 - 13 kids is only feasible if the home one is able to afford in the right zone is large enough to allow 12 - 13 kids to attend said daycare. I would guess there are square footage regulations - the 60 page booklet on family daycare for my state says there must be a minimum of 35 sq ft of space per child, so 13 kids would need at least 455 sq ft, or a room 20 x 23. Frankly, I wouldn't leave my kid in a 20 x 23 room with 12 other kids and 3 - 4 adults. EVER. (Oh, and in my state, family daycare is limited to 6 kids unrelated to the owner.)

So let's look at your math now. 300 x 5 = 1500 a week. I have 1 FT helper, and pay her 8/hour for 40 hours/week, and one PT helper, paid 8/hr for 20 hours/week.. I am open from 7a - 7p, which I had to do to find 5 clients willing to pay $300/week. Food costs for the 5 kids I have are about $200/week, because I offer more than the bare minimum required food - I get clients that way as well, who prefer their kids eat healthy food that isn't pre-packaged, and I offer 3 meals and 2 snacks per day. My 1500 sq ft home costs me $250/week, and the only rooms large enough to use for my daycare are the main living room and the largest secondary bedroom. That means a bit of stress, since I have to maintain those rooms for inspection at any time - NO FUN! Plus, my fairly small kitchen has to hold my groceries and all the dc food. And taxes are also an issue - I pay 15.3% SS/Med taxes because I am self employed, and I also lose another 10% in fed/state taxes even with all my deductions. I have to also pay employment taxes of 10% for my employees on their weekly combined wages of $480.

Earnings = $1500/week

Expenses = 480 + 200 + 250 + 229.5 + 150 + 48 = $1357.50

So now I have earned $142.50 for a 70+ hour work week, and I haven't paid my car note, my insurance bills, my food costs, or pretty much anything else except my mortgage. I have earned a grand total of around $2 an hour, and I have to live at work. Sign me the hell up NOW, because that's just exactly the life I aspire to!

Oh hell, I forgot the $50/week for the 5 year loan I had to take out to fully equip my home day care

Do you not live in any kind of home already or are you going to tell me you are homeless now so you have no housing expenses? Only the amount of house that you would otherwise not buy if you were not having daycare should be counted in this calculation.

Before you hire anyone, you should get children first, and build up the staff as you get children. So, don't worry about the staff. You do not have to incur that expense unless you have the income to support it.

Anyway, nannydeb really sounds unmotivated and anyone with that kind of attitude would surely fail. But for others smart and motivated enough, they should look into it. Many others have. Some even grow it into a center.


Right. If this is such a great idea, maybe you should do it!

I'll keep it in mind, if I ever want to do it. I'm just trying to help the nannies here who are complaining about low wages. I already have my salaried job that will pay me enough to pay for my house, nanny, etc. I got that through hard work, putting myself through engineering school and getting my masters degree through night school. Not finding everyone else in the world to blame for me not having money and targeting those around me and thinking they should just give it to me for the sake of humanity.

[Anonymous]

Move to LA. I make $29/hr for one child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
A home daycare can have up to 12-13 kids. If you charge 300/week per child, and have 5 children, that is 52*300 *5 or $78k. Subtract some costs for the house you need to have, some helpers, etc. You need to know how to run a business. Manage your workers, not go bankrupt. People will be complaining about you the way nannies on this board complain about MBs. ("My boss says I can't look at my phone during work!") Are you smart enough to do this? Are you smart enough to run a business?


Now stop complaining about your pay. It's the competitive rate. If you are not smart or savvy enough to do this, then you really shouldn't be making more money.

13 kids isn't a 1 person job, it's at least 3 unless you just plan to leave them in cribs all day and watch tv while they cry. $78k divided amongst 3 people is $26,000... hardly a good paying job. And out of your $26,000 you need to pay for your house and other costs of running a business. Sounds like shit advice.