Anonymous wrote:You live in Beverly Hills, but you say there are no movie stars?? I find that hard to believe!! Wow!! Plus, you do not have a washing machine either??

Oh sorry.

Well if you live in Beverly Hills then I would say $22/Hr is a good starting rate.

I live in San Diego and a good starting rate for the position you described would be $15/Hr.

Happy Easter!!

I stated there were no movie stars in my neighborhood. And no, we don't have a washer/dryer in our apartment.

You'd never find a college graduate for 15 anywhere in LA.

Happy Easter.

You live in Beverly Hills, but you say there are no movie stars?? I find that hard to believe!! Wow!! Plus, you do not have a washing machine either??

Oh sorry.

Well if you live in Beverly Hills then I would say $22/Hr is a good starting rate.

I live in San Diego and a good starting rate for the position you described would be $15/Hr.

Happy Easter!!

Anonymous wrote:If you hire her, do not let her take your baby's laundry home -- that's just weird considering it's a much shorter walk, carrying laundry, to your laundry room than it is to her apartment.

I would feel like a total ass letting someone walk home carrying my baby's dirty laundry.

Communal washing machines are filthy (according to NYT report they are dirtier than public washroom sinks). I'd rather my baby's laundry be washed in a private (and hopefully clean) private washing machine. But that's just me... But I would feel bad for any nanny who was washing my babies clothes on her own time - I'd compensate her for her time washing my kid's clothes.

If you hire her, do not let her take your baby's laundry home -- that's just weird considering it's a much shorter walk, carrying laundry, to your laundry room than it is to her apartment.

I would feel like a total ass letting someone walk home carrying my baby's dirty laundry.

I'd go for it but the only thing that seems weird to me is taking the laundry home every day. Who washes one or two baby outfits every day? As an adult I don't have a full load or even partial load every day. Have her take it home once a week, or twice if there's a lot. You don't want to be responsible for unnecessary wear and tear on her washing machine and dryer.

Anonymous wrote:I would also wonder why she doesn't want benefits. Will she be taking a lot of time off? That would be a big problem for me, as infants need consistency.

OP here. Any time off she would take would be unpaid so my feeling is that she'll take LESS time off than if she was paid for her time off. Her last employer, who also had this arrangement, said she never missed a day of work.
And to answer an earlier question, we live in Beverly Hills but not the part of BH you see in TV! We live in a nice, older neighborhood of all apartment buildings and condos - no mansions and no movie stars!


ON A DIFFERENT TOPIC: I really wish there was a separate LA Mom's Forum. The issues and problems of an Los Angeles parent/nanny can be very different than a DC parent (not better, not worse, not more serious - just different).

I would also wonder why she doesn't want benefits. Will she be taking a lot of time off? That would be a big problem for me, as infants need consistency.

If a nanny and her employers are willing to forgo benefits (vacation, healthcare, sick days, etc) it makes sense that the salary would be higher. This is a decision up to the nanny and her employer.
As an MB in LA, $22 for a LEGAL, college educated, under 40 hrs a wk, nanny is not outrageous at all.

Maybe she'd be willing to work for $20 but said $22 to leave some haggle room.

Is she leaving the other family? If not, maybe you could do a nanny share with them; you'd get the nanny you want, you could pay her something more affordable for you but she'd still be making a good hourly rate.

PS--Considering that the OP doesn't have a washing machine, I think doing the baby's laundry might be beneficial for the nanny's peace of mind as well as the family's convenience. Nannies, imagine showing up to work and the baby is low on clean clothes or blankets, and you can't do any laundry?!

Most if not all families expect the nanny to do the charges' laundry; maybe she'd just rather do it at her own home than at the "laundromat" with the baby.

That is much too high.

I would start her off at say no more than $17/Hr.

You say you live in LA.

Are we talking Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Calabasas, West Hollywood, etc.? If so, then perhaps $22/Hr. is within your means.

But anything else no.

She sounds like the opposite of desperate to me!

I say go for it!

(Nanny here.)

$22/hr is not a high salary at all for 34-36 hours a week. I'd say it's a little low for the area, lack of benefits, etc.

Hire her.

OP here: we live on the west side...