Reply to How many hours per week of childcare and light housework is fair in exchange for room&board?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. She was an au pair before for 2 years (not mine) and she babysat for us for 2 weeks last year (paid $1600) while I was out of town and she was finished with her aupair year. While working here, she mentioned she wanted to come back to study and needed a place to stay. We talked and offered her to stay here in exchange for a few hours of childcare per week - like I said, if I needed to go to the doctor, do groceries and a couple of hours on weekends. I really don't need much. But as it stands, she isn't being able to help at all with childcare. So, in essence, she is living here for free. Honestly, I wouldn't mind that if she gave a hand loading/ unloading the dishwasher, taking the trash out and the like.

You know, even my relatives and friends when come to visit do this kind of stuff without being asked or prompted.

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Then you need to talk to her ASAP. She has rights as a tenant now, so formalize your arrangement.

FWIW, I have had much better luck with more "formal" agreements, even though the flexible ones seem like they'd benefit everyone. If you know you're expected to do x, y, z, or to be home from 6-9 on Thursday, say, you can plan around it. Otherwise, life has a way of expanding to fill the available space.

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So, that is why I came here - to gauge how many hours per week is a fair exchange for her room&aboard and amenities. I was thinking 7 hours per week. What do you think?[/quote]

The IRS says that room and board has an actual, monetary value. Why not start there? Room = percent of space of your house x mortgage (so, $2K x .10 (if 10% of your home's area) = $200/month, for example); board = food costs, maybe something for utilities, though is she's sharing some things with you, like the bathroom, you need to discount that.

Come up with a number per month, multiply by 12, divide by 52, and you have an amount of money your room and board are worth per week. Take that amount and divide it by what you used to pay her to babysit per hour, and there you have your number of hours per week.[/quote]

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