Extra Help

[Anonymous]

MB's, do you use your current nanny to babysit for date nights etc. or do you have additional persons (babysitters) for those occasions? Where do you find babysitters?

If your nanny babysits, do you pay them more or stick to their hourly rate? Do you pay cash or personal check for babysitting?

Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

We always use our nanny to put DD to bed and then get another sitter to come after DD is asleep if we are going to be out late.

Our nanny just adds it to her usual monthly time-card/invoice. We pay her her usual rate but time and a half (it is the law - no option).

[Anonymous]

Our nanny stays with our DD on date-nights or when we have a business dinner during the week. We pay her usual rate, of course, plus overtime.

[Anonymous]

Our nanny's OT rate is $30/hr. I know she'd like to babysit for us more, but I only ask her when I need someone to do something that would be best with her familiarity and skills.

I have 3 other people I call, older teens or young college, who charge $15/hr, otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Our agreement when we first hired our nanny was that they work a half day on Fridays and babysit Friday nights. So the afternoon off. Thus, that's part of their salary.

We give them "rights of first refusal" when we need someone on Saturday nights - that gets paid in cash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our agreement when we first hired our nanny was that they work a half day on Fridays and babysit Friday nights. So the afternoon off. Thus, that's part of their salary.

We give them "rights of first refusal" when we need someone on Saturday nights - that gets paid in cash.

Who is they and them? How many nannies do you have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our agreement when we first hired our nanny was that they work a half day on Fridays and babysit Friday nights. So the afternoon off. Thus, that's part of their salary.

We give them "rights of first refusal" when we need someone on Saturday nights - that gets paid in cash.

wow that would suck big time. Afternoon off? Split shifts are the worst. You get nothing done. Barely even enough time to see a matinee or go grocery shoppping and home and then back to work again. Ack. I’d take a hard pass on that schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our agreement when we first hired our nanny was that they work a half day on Fridays and babysit Friday nights. So the afternoon off. Thus, that's part of their salary.

We give them "rights of first refusal" when we need someone on Saturday nights - that gets paid in cash.

wow that would suck big time. Afternoon off? Split shifts are the worst. You get nothing done. Barely even enough time to see a matinee or go grocery shoppping and home and then back to work again. Ack. I’d take a hard pass on that schedule.

+1 The PP with the nanny who will work half day or Friday and then come back for the evening is lucky. As a nanny, I wouldn't do it either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our agreement when we first hired our nanny was that they work a half day on Fridays and babysit Friday nights. So the afternoon off. Thus, that's part of their salary.

We give them "rights of first refusal" when we need someone on Saturday nights - that gets paid in cash.

I love this idea, It gives you one afternoon a week to make appts or get things done that you can only do during the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny's OT rate is $30/hr. I know she'd like to babysit for us more, but I only ask her when I need someone to do something that would be best with her familiarity and skills.

I have 3 other people I call, older teens or young college, who charge $15/hr, otherwise.

So, you screw your nanny for 4-6 hours of OT, which comes to $90? I would rather pay OT to someone I know will always put my children first than a teenager or college student who is just a warm body. Pennywise and pound foolish.

[Anonymous]

I’m a nanny and I get paid OT for babysitting hours, in cash. I have nanny friends who families pay in cash and then I know of others who get paid through payroll (taxes withheld), in which, they don’t receive their babysitting money until their pay day (included in their paycheck).

I’ve had one family who wanted to pay me through payroll and I declined. I know this way helps the families come tax time, but I’ve been babysitting for 15 years, and I’ve never had taxes withheld- to each his own.

My opinion, would be to have your nanny babysit (if she/he wants to), but have an extra person on stand-by. This way, if nanny declines, you can have a backup. Also, be sure to have the extra hands babysit a few times so that the children, and you, can become familiar. Typical babysitting rate is anywhere between $15-$20- just depends on what you want the babysitter to do and how many children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny's OT rate is $30/hr. I know she'd like to babysit for us more, but I only ask her when I need someone to do something that would be best with her familiarity and skills.

I have 3 other people I call, older teens or young college, who charge $15/hr, otherwise.

So, you screw your nanny for 4-6 hours of OT, which comes to $90? I would rather pay OT to someone I know will always put my children first than a teenager or college student who is just a warm body. Pennywise and pound foolish.

I'm glad you have a extra $100 lying around every few weeks. That's not chump change for us. Not to mention, what is going to happen to my kids while I'm out? I'm just not that paranoid, either. The teens I hire are smart and responsible, and can figure out how to call me or 911 if necessary. Not to mention that in the 7 years I've had kids, literally nothing has EVER come up. Otherwise, I'm paying them to sit in my living room and do homework while the kids sleep, or come along with me to the parade to watch the youngest wander around or something. I don't need a $30/hr sitter for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny's OT rate is $30/hr. I know she'd like to babysit for us more, but I only ask her when I need someone to do something that would be best with her familiarity and skills.

I have 3 other people I call, older teens or young college, who charge $15/hr, otherwise.

So, you screw your nanny for 4-6 hours of OT, which comes to $90? I would rather pay OT to someone I know will always put my children first than a teenager or college student who is just a warm body. Pennywise and pound foolish.

I'm glad you have a extra $100 lying around every few weeks. That's not chump change for us. Not to mention, what is going to happen to my kids while I'm out? I'm just not that paranoid, either. The teens I hire are smart and responsible, and can figure out how to call me or 911 if necessary. Not to mention that in the 7 years I've had kids, literally nothing has EVER come up. Otherwise, I'm paying them to sit in my living room and do homework while the kids sleep, or come along with me to the parade to watch the youngest wander around or something. I don't need a $30/hr sitter for that.

Yeah, don’t listen to PP. My OT rates are above $30/hr, plus employer taxes. Since becoming a full-time nanny, all of my families have had sitters. Plus I don’t want to be there 6 days a week! When I do stay late or work a weekend shift, I am paid legally and it cost my employers twice as much than to hire a qualified sitter.

[Anonymous]

Nanny here and I prefer families who hire others for the weekend. I work all I need to during the week and if I do need to pick up weekend work, there are plenty of families who would be happy to have me pretty much whatever rate I want. But if one family is so set on having me be the only person who ever watches their kid, that is a lot of pressure on me and it means that I essentially can’t make weekend plans without checking because they have chosen to have no other options if I am unavailable. That feels very codependent to me and I’m just not interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nanny here and I prefer families who hire others for the weekend. I work all I need to during the week and if I do need to pick up weekend work, there are plenty of families who would be happy to have me pretty much whatever rate I want. But if one family is so set on having me be the only person who ever watches their kid, that is a lot of pressure on me and it means that I essentially can’t make weekend plans without checking because they have chosen to have no other options if I am unavailable. That feels very codependent to me and I’m just not interested.

I always negotiate for right of first refusal. If the family doesn't want the nanny babysitting, I negotiate for something else.