Splitting housekeeping/cooking from "nanny" for school-aged kids

[Anonymous]

We are considering changing up our help at home. For years, we have had a weekly housekeeping crew come through for a deep clean. Nanny has been responsible for kid-related cooking and cleaning/laundry. As our kids are now older (6-11) and not picky eaters, i'm thinking that maybe we can transition to more of a regular housekeeper/laundry/cooking prep person, drop the weekly clean, and then have someone who can pick up kids from school, get them to activities, help with homework and keep them entertained.

Both roles probably total part time hours. For moms who have BTDT, is this a reasonable way to break things up? The former's hours could be more flexible than the latter role, which would be more set (like, 2:30-8pm+occasionally). Are these positions with duties that sound reasonable?

[Anonymous]

Just get a full time housekeeper who babysits. Finding an after school nanny is expensive and they are unreliable and never stay with the job. We went through 3 in a year, paying $25 an hour for one easy first grader with no other responsibilities.

[Anonymous]

Nope, keep one person full time as housemanager (NOT housekeeper) and pay for a monthly deep clean from a service that will be in and out in 3 hours.

Schedule the nanny 12-8. 12-3 is grocery shopping, errands, looking up camps, household laundry, prepping your dinner, etc. 3-8 is teaching the kids to tidy up after themselves, cooking and feeding kids, taking them to after school activities, helping with homework, etc.

You REALLY want to keep one person full time. PT has an extremely high turnover, and you want consistency more than anything else.

If you're not concerned with homework help, language barrier, or possibly needing someone willing to slide hours earlier for sick days and scheduled days off school, a housekeeper who can just drive kids after school and otherwise focus on the house could work.

[Anonymous]

Housecleaners don't do a deep clean if they're coming weekly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope, keep one person full time as housemanager (NOT housekeeper) and pay for a monthly deep clean from a service that will be in and out in 3 hours.

Schedule the nanny 12-8. 12-3 is grocery shopping, errands, looking up camps, household laundry, prepping your dinner, etc. 3-8 is teaching the kids to tidy up after themselves, cooking and feeding kids, taking them to after school activities, helping with homework, etc.

You REALLY want to keep one person full time. PT has an extremely high turnover, and you want consistency more than anything else.

If you're not concerned with homework help, language barrier, or possibly needing someone willing to slide hours earlier for sick days and scheduled days off school, a housekeeper who can just drive kids after school and otherwise focus on the house could work.

Can you tell me more about the "housemanager" expected duties? Makes sense to keep the cleaning service. My current nanny will vacuum the kitchen at the end of the day sometimes if they've been really crumby from the kids. She always empties the dishwasher and cleans the stove top after its been used, regardless of who used it. She mainly doing cooking and food prep for the kids, and maybe 1x/wk doing something that could be a family meal (ziti, for example). Is that kind of thing still considered part of the "housemanager" role?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, keep one person full time as housemanager (NOT housekeeper) and pay for a monthly deep clean from a service that will be in and out in 3 hours.

Schedule the nanny 12-8. 12-3 is grocery shopping, errands, looking up camps, household laundry, prepping your dinner, etc. 3-8 is teaching the kids to tidy up after themselves, cooking and feeding kids, taking them to after school activities, helping with homework, etc.

You REALLY want to keep one person full time. PT has an extremely high turnover, and you want consistency more than anything else.

If you're not concerned with homework help, language barrier, or possibly needing someone willing to slide hours earlier for sick days and scheduled days off school, a housekeeper who can just drive kids after school and otherwise focus on the house could work.

Can you tell me more about the "housemanager" expected duties? Makes sense to keep the cleaning service. My current nanny will vacuum the kitchen at the end of the day sometimes if they've been really crumby from the kids. She always empties the dishwasher and cleans the stove top after its been used, regardless of who used it. She mainly doing cooking and food prep for the kids, and maybe 1x/wk doing something that could be a family meal (ziti, for example). Is that kind of thing still considered part of the "housemanager" role?

A house manager can schedule and let in repair personnel. They can take your car in for maintenance. Full dishes, laundry, and cooking every night could be part of it, depending on the person.

A house manager can completely take over all the kids' clothes, your meal contribution when your child's friend's mom is put on bedrest, purchasing and wrapping birthday presents (you'll still take them to the weekend parties), all the camps and activities, all the household ordering, dry cleaning runs, etc.

However, a house manager is not a housekeeper. She can do the normal kid cleaning, but don't ask her to dust the tchotchkes, clean the toilet, or wash the windows.

The whole point is that they manage the household. Anything you are comfortable turning over, do it. But managing a household does not mean cleaning the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, keep one person full time as housemanager (NOT housekeeper) and pay for a monthly deep clean from a service that will be in and out in 3 hours.

Schedule the nanny 12-8. 12-3 is grocery shopping, errands, looking up camps, household laundry, prepping your dinner, etc. 3-8 is teaching the kids to tidy up after themselves, cooking and feeding kids, taking them to after school activities, helping with homework, etc.

You REALLY want to keep one person full time. PT has an extremely high turnover, and you want consistency more than anything else.

If you're not concerned with homework help, language barrier, or possibly needing someone willing to slide hours earlier for sick days and scheduled days off school, a housekeeper who can just drive kids after school and otherwise focus on the house could work.

Can you tell me more about the "housemanager" expected duties? Makes sense to keep the cleaning service. My current nanny will vacuum the kitchen at the end of the day sometimes if they've been really crumby from the kids. She always empties the dishwasher and cleans the stove top after its been used, regardless of who used it. She mainly doing cooking and food prep for the kids, and maybe 1x/wk doing something that could be a family meal (ziti, for example). Is that kind of thing still considered part of the "housemanager" role?

A house manager can schedule and let in repair personnel. They can take your car in for maintenance. Full dishes, laundry, and cooking every night could be part of it, depending on the person.

A house manager can completely take over all the kids' clothes, your meal contribution when your child's friend's mom is put on bedrest, purchasing and wrapping birthday presents (you'll still take them to the weekend parties), all the camps and activities, all the household ordering, dry cleaning runs, etc.

However, a house manager is not a housekeeper. She can do the normal kid cleaning, but don't ask her to dust the tchotchkes, clean the toilet, or wash the windows.

The whole point is that they manage the household. Anything you are comfortable turning over, do it. But managing a household does not mean cleaning the house.

Perfect. This is what I need. Thank you so much for this helpful thread!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, keep one person full time as housemanager (NOT housekeeper) and pay for a monthly deep clean from a service that will be in and out in 3 hours.

Schedule the nanny 12-8. 12-3 is grocery shopping, errands, looking up camps, household laundry, prepping your dinner, etc. 3-8 is teaching the kids to tidy up after themselves, cooking and feeding kids, taking them to after school activities, helping with homework, etc.

You REALLY want to keep one person full time. PT has an extremely high turnover, and you want consistency more than anything else.

If you're not concerned with homework help, language barrier, or possibly needing someone willing to slide hours earlier for sick days and scheduled days off school, a housekeeper who can just drive kids after school and otherwise focus on the house could work.

Can you tell me more about the "housemanager" expected duties? Makes sense to keep the cleaning service. My current nanny will vacuum the kitchen at the end of the day sometimes if they've been really crumby from the kids. She always empties the dishwasher and cleans the stove top after its been used, regardless of who used it. She mainly doing cooking and food prep for the kids, and maybe 1x/wk doing something that could be a family meal (ziti, for example). Is that kind of thing still considered part of the "housemanager" role?

A house manager can schedule and let in repair personnel. They can take your car in for maintenance. Full dishes, laundry, and cooking every night could be part of it, depending on the person.

A house manager can completely take over all the kids' clothes, your meal contribution when your child's friend's mom is put on bedrest, purchasing and wrapping birthday presents (you'll still take them to the weekend parties), all the camps and activities, all the household ordering, dry cleaning runs, etc.

However, a house manager is not a housekeeper. She can do the normal kid cleaning, but don't ask her to dust the tchotchkes, clean the toilet, or wash the windows.

The whole point is that they manage the household. Anything you are comfortable turning over, do it. But managing a household does not mean cleaning the house.

Perfect. This is what I need. Thank you so much for this helpful thread!

We also have a housemanager/nanny and then a separate cleaning person.

Our nanny (she started when our kids were younger and only in part-time school and now they're in full-time school but we still consider her a nanny over everything) does all the kids' laundry, including beds and towels. She also does grocery shopping or pick up, whichever makes more sense. Errands such as Amazon or other returns - she has access to our Amazon account and can print out the return label for the item and will choose where to take it and how to package it (or not if needed). As PP mentioned, she helps with the kids' clothes - pulling items that are too small and prepping them for donation or consignment. She also helps keep up on household items like toilet paper in the kids' and guest bathroom (we do our master bathroom), paper towels under the kitchen sink, keeping the hand soap in the kitchen, kids' bathrooms, and guest bathroom full, etc. She'll write down items on the grocery list as they are used up and helps keep the pantry in order (i.e. putting away the items and making sure it stays stocked).

Basically I think of her as my assistant when the kids are at school. We pay her full-time so she knows she has a steady paycheck regardless of hours worked, and we know we have childcare coverage for sick days, snow days, etc. When the kids are home for summer, she does less around the house unless they're at camp or something. So it ebbs and flows in line with what her available non-childcare hours are.

Finally, for what it's worth, we always ask her about a new task and never assume that she will be on board with it. And we change things up as needed and listen to feedback from her because we want her to be happy!

[Anonymous]

THIS! Great feedback

[Anonymous]

We are just turning a corner with school-aged kids and this house manager sounds like a dream. How do I find someone like this? What do you pay them? This sounds like absolute heaven.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are just turning a corner with school-aged kids and this house manager sounds like a dream. How do I find someone like this? What do you pay them? This sounds like absolute heaven.

I would love to know too! Our nanny is moving on as the kids start school because she prefers working with infants and toddlers and isn’t interested in doing any house chores (totally understandable). A house manager sounds pretty amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are just turning a corner with school-aged kids and this house manager sounds like a dream. How do I find someone like this? What do you pay them? This sounds like absolute heaven.

I would love to know too! Our nanny is moving on as the kids start school because she prefers working with infants and toddlers and isn’t interested in doing any house chores (totally understandable). A house manager sounds pretty amazing.

Call Susan at Nannypoppinz. Describe precisely what you want, and she’ll help you find it.