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[quote=Anonymous]Nanny here. A nanny share is something I always advise parents to consider when they have concerns about budgeting for a nanny. However, a nanny share is NOT a good option for part time. There are SO many factors to consider when trying to find both another family to do the share with, and also a good nanny who is willing to do it. Having to factor in finding another family looking for the exact same (or very similar) part time hours as you, on top of all the other things you must consider (ages of the children, location, parenting styles, etc) is going to be EXTREMELY difficult. Also, as I'm going to explain further below, qualified nannies who do part time work generally make a little more per hour; PPs estimate of $18-22/hr is honestly a little low even for full time in DC, for a part time share to retain a qualified nanny you should expect to pay no less than $12/hr each ($24/hr total).

In the DC area, the estimate PP gave of $15-20/hr for one child is (maybe slightly low, but more or less) accurate in a FULL TIME scenario. You have to offer more money to make the part time hours seem attractive (if a nanny can work M-F 8:30-5:30 and make $20/hr which works out to $950/week with OT, you have to offer higher hourly wages to make your job offer competitive). It does depend on what hours exactly you are looking for (is it 5 hours per day M-F? Or is it going to be three 8.5 hour days? Will the schedule be the same every week? Are you expecting nanny to be available to be on call on other days/ at other times if something comes up?), but the bottom line is it is VERY hard for a nanny to live off those hours, and she will likely need to take a second job to support herself. And if she works two 25 hour per week jobs, she is going to be dealing with two different MBs (or more, if one or both of the jobs is a share), AND lose out on earning OT wages, which she would be getting in the one full time job scenario, and she would also likely miss out on some of the better benefits usually offered to full time nannies, but not part time nannies (like health insurance premium assistance, etc).

If you have a set schedule, and it's something consistent and easy (like, 9-5:30 M,W,F, or 8am-1pm M-F), and you don't expect nanny to be on call at other times, you might be able to find a qualified nanny, because it would be slightly easier for her to find a family looking for someone full days T,Th, or a family to work with for after school hours. In that case, I would advise offering no less than $16/hr, or if you want an educated, very experienced nanny, no less than $22/hr (and I'd offer even more if you want this nanny to commit to the job and stay with you long term; maybe start with $16-22 depending on experience, but tell her you'll do a review with a performance based raise at 6 months). Now that I think about it, you might also be able to find a college student with some babysitting experience if the hours you need don't conflict with her classes. But if you do go that route, A) $16/hr is still the absolute minimum you should offer, B) know that when her classes change next semester she may not be available for the hours you need, and C) she's unlikely to have much nanny experience and so might not be as good as budgeting her time when it comes to nap time tidying up, laundry, etc, and might not know many things you'd expect an experienced nanny to, like how to get your child on a good sleep schedule, how to make baby food, etc, so lower your standards accordingly.

In addition to competitive wages, your total package must include guaranteed hours, and at least a few days of PTO per year (one week of paid vacation and 2-3 paid sick days; probably best to allow this to accrue instead of having it all available from day one). I agree your total nanny budget should be about 15% higher than nanny's actual wages.

So, if you're hiring an inexperienced college student, you're doing 25 hours at $16/hr (minimum!), so that's $400/wk, $20,800/yr, adding in the 15% for taxes, etc, it comes to about 24k for the year.

If you're hiring an experienced, educated nanny, it's 25 hours at $20/hr (minimum!), which is $500/wk, $26,000/yr, with taxes, it comes to about 30k for the year.

Also, if you want to keep nanny happy, don't forget about a decent Christmas bonus, and a small birthday present. Those go a long way for a nanny, and happy nanny = happy baby, which usually = happy mom and dad.[/quote]

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