How much do you budget beyond agency fee and stipend?

[Anonymous]

Gifts, extra food, welcome basket, metro card fees, gas, extra pay/overtime, gym membership, etc., all in what does hosting end up costing?

Not interested in lost rental value for the space your AP lives in.

[Anonymous]

I budget $500/week all in. Considering the base stipend and program fees are about $360 (varies of course for repeat families/extension/etc) that is $140/week extra = $7.3k annually to cover the following: car (we bought a used one our first year hosting 5 years ago, so that cost has been spread out pretty well), insurance, gas, cell phone (we make it last for at least 2 APs) and service, extra food/utilities/etc, vacations with us, bonuses, raises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I budget $500/week all in. Considering the base stipend and program fees are about $360 (varies of course for repeat families/extension/etc) that is $140/week extra = $7.3k annually to cover the following: car (we bought a used one our first year hosting 5 years ago, so that cost has been spread out pretty well), insurance, gas, cell phone (we make it last for at least 2 APs) and service, extra food/utilities/etc, vacations with us, bonuses, raises.

+1
Very consistent with my budget for hosting APs.

[Anonymous]

We don't have au pairs who drive (live in NYC) but we pay for their total cell phone, food, travel with family, ski pass & rentals, $100 bonus every couple of months before they go on vacations or for an extra helpful week, etc. I don't budget (it's terrible, I totally should) but it doesn't seem overly burdensome..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't have au pairs who drive (live in NYC) but we pay for their total cell phone, food, travel with family, ski pass & rentals, $100 bonus every couple of months before they go on vacations or for an extra helpful week, etc. I don't budget (it's terrible, I totally should) but it doesn't seem overly burdensome..

Sure, when money is not an object, expenses rarely seem burdensome

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't have au pairs who drive (live in NYC) but we pay for their total cell phone, food, travel with family, ski pass & rentals, $100 bonus every couple of months before they go on vacations or for an extra helpful week, etc. I don't budget (it's terrible, I totally should) but it doesn't seem overly burdensome..

I try never to post snarky comments and try always to be helpful. This bolded comment is challenging that resolution.

[Anonymous]

So, I have been hosting for two years only, and I tried adding up our approximate expenses per year over that time. Here is what I got:

Agency fees $8,000
Pay to Au Pair $10,400 (We round up and pay 52 weeks, though need only 51)
Educational requirement $500
Extra car insurance $750
APs phone $840 ($300 phone and $45/month service)
Extra food in house $2,600 (Don’t know really, assume $50/week)
Going out $1,800 ($150/month to invite out, when we go out, too many times)
Taking AP on vacation 1 $1,000
Taking AP on vacation 2 $2,000 (did not need to invite, but felt right thing to do)
1-2 Weekend trips $1,000
Xmas, bday gifts, gym membership, going out for her bday $3,000
bonuses for great work $1,000
Fees for AP on family outings (prof sport events, food there, museums) $500

Total $33,390

It is more than I thought when getting into it. Before AP I had a nanny and I think it was about $42K/year including taxes. But that was when I needed “normal” 9-5 coverage. The problem is that now I need coverage 3:30 PM - 8 pm most days, including driving to activities , and I just don’t know where to find consistent baby sitters that would do that with a smile, and then provide coverage when child is sick, snow day when I need this. Morning coverage is an added bonus. And getting to know great young people around the world and learn from each other, is an added bonus that at least will keep us in the program for one more year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't have au pairs who drive (live in NYC) but we pay for their total cell phone, food, travel with family, ski pass & rentals, $100 bonus every couple of months before they go on vacations or for an extra helpful week, etc. I don't budget (it's terrible, I totally should) but it doesn't seem overly burdensome..

Sure, when money is not an object, expenses rarely seem burdensome

I never said money isn’t an object, just that the extra expenses we pay in the program aren’t a huge deal. Let’s see, it’s:
200/week
600/year for ski pass & rentals
Probably an extra $5000 over the year to go on vacations with us (mostly flights and extra room)
$50/month for her phone (family unlimited plan)
$40/month gym membership
$1000/year for bonuses, holiday and birthday gifts

I wouldn’t include extra food or utilities in there because our au pairs tend to eat what we have on hand with a few exceptions and I haven’t noticed a significant increase in our food budget or other bills. There was probably some but we’ve been hosting for 4 years and I don’t recall the exact difference, but it was negligible.

Considering this vs a full time nanny the cost is much lower.

[Anonymous]

In my mind the program costs us 25k in actual dollars. So, driving the extra car we already own doesn't count, but food, gifts, gas, phone ... all that does
By rule of thumb, our AP does not get more for birthday or Christmas gifts than do our children.

[Anonymous]

We are around 27k, which is far below what we paid for a nanny (50k) and below what SACC plus summer camps would be (30k).

Program fees: 8100
Stipend: 10400
Taxes/bonus: 1040
Gifts, other: 400
Courses: 500
Car insurance: 600
Cell phone plan: 120
Gym: 570
Travel: 2000
Food, activities: 3500

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
So, I have been hosting for two years only, and I tried adding up our approximate expenses per year over that time. Here is what I got:

Agency fees $8,000
Pay to Au Pair $10,400 (We round up and pay 52 weeks, though need only 51)
Educational requirement $500
Extra car insurance $750
APs phone $840 ($300 phone and $45/month service)
Extra food in house $2,600 (Don’t know really, assume $50/week)
Going out $1,800 ($150/month to invite out, when we go out, too many times)
Taking AP on vacation 1 $1,000
Taking AP on vacation 2 $2,000 (did not need to invite, but felt right thing to do)
1-2 Weekend trips $1,000
Xmas, bday gifts, gym membership, going out for her bday $3,000
bonuses for great work $1,000
Fees for AP on family outings (prof sport events, food there, museums) $500

Total $33,390

It is more than I thought when getting into it. Before AP I had a nanny and I think it was about $42K/year including taxes. But that was when I needed “normal” 9-5 coverage. The problem is that now I need coverage 3:30 PM - 8 pm most days, including driving to activities , and I just don’t know where to find consistent baby sitters that would do that with a smile, and then provide coverage when child is sick, snow day when I need this. Morning coverage is an added bonus. And getting to know great young people around the world and learn from each other, is an added bonus that at least will keep us in the program for one more year.

Wow - $3K on gifts and a gym membership??? $3K on vacations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So, I have been hosting for two years only, and I tried adding up our approximate expenses per year over that time. Here is what I got:

Agency fees $8,000
Pay to Au Pair $10,400 (We round up and pay 52 weeks, though need only 51)
Educational requirement $500
Extra car insurance $750
APs phone $840 ($300 phone and $45/month service)
Extra food in house $2,600 (Don’t know really, assume $50/week)
Going out $1,800 ($150/month to invite out, when we go out, too many times)
Taking AP on vacation 1 $1,000
Taking AP on vacation 2 $2,000 (did not need to invite, but felt right thing to do)
1-2 Weekend trips $1,000
Xmas, bday gifts, gym membership, going out for her bday $3,000
bonuses for great work $1,000
Fees for AP on family outings (prof sport events, food there, museums) $500

Total $33,390

It is more than I thought when getting into it. Before AP I had a nanny and I think it was about $42K/year including taxes. But that was when I needed “normal” 9-5 coverage. The problem is that now I need coverage 3:30 PM - 8 pm most days, including driving to activities , and I just don’t know where to find consistent baby sitters that would do that with a smile, and then provide coverage when child is sick, snow day when I need this. Morning coverage is an added bonus. And getting to know great young people around the world and learn from each other, is an added bonus that at least will keep us in the program for one more year.

Wow - $3K on gifts and a gym membership??? $3K on vacations?

NP. While we do not spend $3k on on gym membership and b-day presents, vacation expenses add up quickly. For us, taking AP on vacation entails: extra plane ticket, bigger rental place, bigger rental car. That's easily $2k right there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So, I have been hosting for two years only, and I tried adding up our approximate expenses per year over that time. Here is what I got:

Agency fees $8,000
Pay to Au Pair $10,400 (We round up and pay 52 weeks, though need only 51)
Educational requirement $500
Extra car insurance $750
APs phone $840 ($300 phone and $45/month service)
Extra food in house $2,600 (Don’t know really, assume $50/week)
Going out $1,800 ($150/month to invite out, when we go out, too many times)
Taking AP on vacation 1 $1,000
Taking AP on vacation 2 $2,000 (did not need to invite, but felt right thing to do)
1-2 Weekend trips $1,000
Xmas, bday gifts, gym membership, going out for her bday $3,000
bonuses for great work $1,000
Fees for AP on family outings (prof sport events, food there, museums) $500

Total $33,390

It is more than I thought when getting into it. Before AP I had a nanny and I think it was about $42K/year including taxes. But that was when I needed “normal” 9-5 coverage. The problem is that now I need coverage 3:30 PM - 8 pm most days, including driving to activities , and I just don’t know where to find consistent baby sitters that would do that with a smile, and then provide coverage when child is sick, snow day when I need this. Morning coverage is an added bonus. And getting to know great young people around the world and learn from each other, is an added bonus that at least will keep us in the program for one more year.

Wow - $3K on gifts and a gym membership??? $3K on vacations?

NP. While we do not spend $3k on on gym membership and b-day presents, vacation expenses add up quickly. For us, taking AP on vacation entails: extra plane ticket, bigger rental place, bigger rental car. That's easily $2k right there.

Call us cheap, but we don't have time or energy to take vacations with young kids. We also don't spend $3k a year on gifts and bonuses, likely about $1k total: maybe $200 for Christmas, $200 birthday, and $350 year end gift (combo of gift plus money) plus a $250 in gift certificates throughout the year (in small increments like $10 to Starbucks or $40 to Target).

We do definitely spend more than $1,500 for going out/takeout for dinner. Family outings probably looks about right at $500/year because it's only a few times but each event adds up (ticket, food, souvenirs).

So, more like the $26k range. It's a bit expensive for us because our kids go to private school, not public, and still go to summer camps (but not full time), so some care is redundant.