*cleaning

In Seattle we call that Household Management and it's good money, at least 20$ an hour. I've had a handful of these jobs and I like them. Best scenario is when you have a charge in school while you do some errands, cooking, cleanr- varies from family to family- and then it's all nanny when preschooler or child is out of class.

Anonymous wrote:You want a housekeeper who can watch the kids occasionally. That is not a nanny. So get off the nanny site!!!

This is exactly right.
A warm body housekeeper is NOT a Nanny.

You want a housekeeper who can watch the kids occasionally. That is not a nanny. So get off the nanny site!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just say you're looking for Alice.

"Professional nannies need not apply."

Not the OP, but nothing on this site makes me want to hire a "professional nanny." I used to get an image of Mary Poppins, but now I get an image of someone middle-aged and bitter with totally unrealistic expectations of me as an employer. More Patty and Selma Bouvier than Julie Andrews.

LOL

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just say you're looking for Alice.

"Professional nannies need not apply."

Not the OP, but nothing on this site makes me want to hire a "professional nanny." I used to get an image of Mary Poppins, but now I get an image of someone middle-aged and bitter with totally unrealistic expectations of me as an employer. More Patty and Selma Bouvier than Julie Andrews.

What expectation might be unrealistic?

Anonymous wrote:Just say you're looking for Alice.

"Professional nannies need not apply."

Not the OP, but nothing on this site makes me want to hire a "professional nanny." I used to get an image of Mary Poppins, but now I get an image of someone middle-aged and bitter with totally unrealistic expectations of me as an employer. More Patty and Selma Bouvier than Julie Andrews.

Just say you're looking for Alice.

"Professional nannies need not apply."

I agree with 14:39 - this isn't so rare. Advertise for a Nanny/Housekeeper, and be very clear about the duties. Or look for ads placed by employers for their nannies. Many of them do combo of nanny and housekeeping. That's how we found ours.

Take this forum with a grain of salt. The employers I know in real life have nannies who also do housekeeping (except for nanny shares).

You need Housekeeper so put a Ad that says NEED HOUSEKEEPER.

You want a babysitter and not a nanny. You want a housekeeper who will babysit. Be clear in your "advertising" and you can find a great person who wants and understands the job you are listing.

I have such a unicorn right now . She's leaving in March to get married, and I'm hoping we'll be able to replace her.

We found her on Care. My suggestions are to really think about what the person will do -- what would a typical day look like? How often would she do childcare vs. errands and housekeeping?

The more clarity you can have in your ad and in your initial conversations with people, the happier you'll be.

In my case, we have a full time nanny, so I was hiring someone mostly to help with housekeeping and errands, to help me in the mornings before the nanny gets here, and to fill in sometimes. My unicorn is part time, and I pay her more if she does a nanny shift instead of a mother's helper shift. I was really clear with her that the job was mostly housekeeping and not child care. Anyway, she's fabulous, and I often wish she was our full time person!

Care.com, sittercity, listservs. Same place you can find someone who limits themselves to childcare. I'm not sure why a nanny/housekeeper is treated as such a rare unicorn around here.

Haha

Where's a good place to look for someone who can do a variety of things, namely childcare, light housekeeping, and errands? Is that appropriate to post on the nanny forum? I'd like someone who can watch the kids - or if I have the kids, then help with laundry, picking up the house, or running errands.