Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 23:12     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
I apologize; I didn't realize you meant "finish depleting our savings." Sounds like a stressful and expensive year for your family - here's hoping we are all still being paid tomorrow!
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 22:55     Subject: Re:Shutdown and furlough
Anonymous wrote:You can all rant and rave as much as you want (and of course not getting paid would be a terrible burden for anyone), but I learned at 12, when I opened my first bank account, that I was supposed to keep enough money in savings to cover myself and all bills for 6 months out. This served me well when I got a surprise diagnosis of cancer (no income, lots of bills) and imagine it will help me out if I ever find myself unexpectedly out of a job or paycheck too.

If you have enough savings to barely cover 2-4 weeks of your life you are living beyond your means, I don't care who you are. And in the case of having a nanny, typically the most expensive form of childcare, that's an easy place to make a cut.


We had 6 months of expenses saved.......until maternity leave and an unexpected house repair. Which was just two mnths back, so we are recovering from that. And no, the nanny is not an easy place to make the cut. If it was so easy, I just wouldn't pay her. It's not easy precisely because we care about her and don't want her to suffer but also know there is only so long that we can continue to do this.

Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 22:54     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Everyone can get unemployment, people, even the Fed workers.


Except they won't be unemployed. Just furloughed. So no unemployment.

Seems to be massive confusion out there. Nanny gets unemployment.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 22:51     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
Anonymous wrote:Everyone can get unemployment, people, even the Fed workers.


Except they won't be unemployed. Just furloughed. So no unemployment.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 22:48     Subject: Re:Shutdown and furlough
You can all rant and rave as much as you want (and of course not getting paid would be a terrible burden for anyone), but I learned at 12, when I opened my first bank account, that I was supposed to keep enough money in savings to cover myself and all bills for 6 months out. This served me well when I got a surprise diagnosis of cancer (no income, lots of bills) and imagine it will help me out if I ever find myself unexpectedly out of a job or paycheck too.

If you have enough savings to barely cover 2-4 weeks of your life you are living beyond your means, I don't care who you are. And in the case of having a nanny, typically the most expensive form of childcare, that's an easy place to make a cut.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 22:46     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
Hope you guys have the nanny on the books, 'cause she's getting unemployment to.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 22:45     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
Everyone can get unemployment, people, even the Fed workers.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 22:34     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have done the math and given that we both wont get paid and still have bills to pay, we could just barely afford to pay her for 2 weeks. I suppose we will continue to do so because we have to. But I wish there was a better answer, because this means nearly depleting our savings.


I'm sure I will be flamed for this, but... If two weeks of your nanny's salary will deplete your savings, you can't afford a nanny.

(I am a nanny. After taxes I take home $1200 every two weeks. I can't imagine your nanny makes THAT much more than me...)


PP, it's not just two weeks of the nanny's salary that is the total of the family's savings. A family with two Federal workers will have no income at all and THEY still have bills too. So if this goes on for two weeks, OP is down two paychecks for the month, so her mortgage and whatever bills are coming out of the savings in addition to the nanny's salary. Didn't she also say she just went on maternity leave? Federal workers don't get maternity leave either - they take leave without pay. So even assuming she used all of her annual leave, she probably still just took a month or so without a salary. This whole "you can't afford a nanny" business is really odd to me. She can actually - and has. And if she can't afford to pay her for two weeks when the family has zero income (or she chooses not to because she wants to divert that money elsewhere or just save it), then she terminates the relationship with her nanny. Nanny is free to find another job. It sucks, but it
sucks all around.


Thank you, PP. our nanny makes $834 per week after tax since she works 50 hours and cares for my two kids. Add the fact that we will be down about $5k between our two paychecks, and I didn't get paid for 3 months on maternity leave......there goes our previously plentiful savings. Oh, and we had a major house repair to the tune of $7k this year. Two weeks without any paychecks is a lot for a household on top of all this, and it has nothing to do with not being able to afford a nanny. It has to do with NOT GETTING PAID.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 22:31     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have done the math and given that we both wont get paid and still have bills to pay, we could just barely afford to pay her for 2 weeks. I suppose we will continue to do so because we have to. But I wish there was a better answer, because this means nearly depleting our savings.


I'm sure I will be flamed for this, but... If two weeks of your nanny's salary will deplete your savings, you can't afford a nanny.

(I am a nanny. After taxes I take home $1200 every two weeks. I can't imagine your nanny makes THAT much more than me...)


PP, it's not just two weeks of the nanny's salary that is the total of the family's savings. A family with two Federal workers will have no income at all and THEY still have bills too. So if this goes on for two weeks, OP is down two paychecks for the month, so her mortgage and whatever bills are coming out of the savings in addition to the nanny's salary. Didn't she also say she just went on maternity leave? Federal workers don't get maternity leave either - they take leave without pay. So even assuming she used all of her annual leave, she probably still just took a month or so without a salary. This whole "you can't afford a nanny" business is really odd to me. She can actually - and has. And if she can't afford to pay her for two weeks when the family has zero income (or she chooses not to because she wants to divert that money elsewhere or just save it), then she terminates the relationship with her nanny. Nanny is free to find another job. It sucks, but it sucks all around.

If she needs a nanny again in three days, she can start looking for a new one. Hope the new one can magically start on the day MB needs to go back to work. Some of you are so out to lunch.


We've already said she should pay her as much as she can, but if she can't, what's she going to do?
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 22:25     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have done the math and given that we both wont get paid and still have bills to pay, we could just barely afford to pay her for 2 weeks. I suppose we will continue to do so because we have to. But I wish there was a better answer, because this means nearly depleting our savings.


I'm sure I will be flamed for this, but... If two weeks of your nanny's salary will deplete your savings, you can't afford a nanny.

(I am a nanny. After taxes I take home $1200 every two weeks. I can't imagine your nanny makes THAT much more than me...)


PP, it's not just two weeks of the nanny's salary that is the total of the family's savings. A family with two Federal workers will have no income at all and THEY still have bills too. So if this goes on for two weeks, OP is down two paychecks for the month, so her mortgage and whatever bills are coming out of the savings in addition to the nanny's salary. Didn't she also say she just went on maternity leave? Federal workers don't get maternity leave either - they take leave without pay. So even assuming she used all of her annual leave, she probably still just took a month or so without a salary. This whole "you can't afford a nanny" business is really odd to me. She can actually - and has. And if she can't afford to pay her for two weeks when the family has zero income (or she chooses not to because she wants to divert that money elsewhere or just save it), then she terminates the relationship with her nanny. Nanny is free to find another job. It sucks, but it sucks all around.

If she needs a nanny again in three days, she can start looking for a new one. Hope the new one can magically start on the day MB needs to go back to work. Some of you are so out to lunch.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 22:00     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
And this is why I'm glad both my bosses are in the entertainment business!
There will always be movies and TV.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 21:31     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We have done the math and given that we both wont get paid and still have bills to pay, we could just barely afford to pay her for 2 weeks. I suppose we will continue to do so because we have to. But I wish there was a better answer, because this means nearly depleting our savings.


I'm sure I will be flamed for this, but... If two weeks of your nanny's salary will deplete your savings, you can't afford a nanny.

(I am a nanny. After taxes I take home $1200 every two weeks. I can't imagine your nanny makes THAT much more than me...)


PP, it's not just two weeks of the nanny's salary that is the total of the family's savings. A family with two Federal workers will have no income at all and THEY still have bills too. So if this goes on for two weeks, OP is down two paychecks for the month, so her mortgage and whatever bills are coming out of the savings in addition to the nanny's salary. Didn't she also say she just went on maternity leave? Federal workers don't get maternity leave either - they take leave without pay. So even assuming she used all of her annual leave, she probably still just took a month or so without a salary. This whole "you can't afford a nanny" business is really odd to me. She can actually - and has. And if she can't afford to pay her for two weeks when the family has zero income (or she chooses not to because she wants to divert that money elsewhere or just save it), then she terminates the relationship with her nanny. Nanny is free to find another job. It sucks, but it sucks all around.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 21:19     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
Anonymous wrote:We have done the math and given that we both wont get paid and still have bills to pay, we could just barely afford to pay her for 2 weeks. I suppose we will continue to do so because we have to. But I wish there was a better answer, because this means nearly depleting our savings.


I'm sure I will be flamed for this, but... If two weeks of your nanny's salary will deplete your savings, you can't afford a nanny.

(I am a nanny. After taxes I take home $1200 every two weeks. I can't imagine your nanny makes THAT much more than me...)
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 21:16     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
We will likely do the same. Two weeks will nearly break us for the month but I don't see that we have much choice.
Anonymous
Post 09/30/2013 20:44     Subject: Shutdown and furlough
Anonymous wrote:Never mind the poor kid getting screwed by his own parents!!


Ok, not really sure who wrote this, because I really hope that you get the fact we have a nanny because we work out of the home. And if you don't....well I can't help you.

OP here. I didn't discuss this with her earlier because I wasn't sure what to do, and also didn't know whether myself or my husband would be designated as essential and then it would be a moot point. We have done the math and given that we both wont get paid and still have bills to pay, we could just barely afford to pay her for 2 weeks. I suppose we will continue to do so because we have to. But I wish there was a better answer, because this means nearly depleting our savings.