Anonymous wrote:Op where are you located and looking to hire?

I live in upper middle class section of the DMV.

Baby is due in the summer, so if I do this, I wouldn't be looking for someone until the fall. As someone pointed out above, the timing is lousy, because I'll need to decide before it's reasonable to start looking for someone.

If I decide to do this, I'll advertise here, but people have pretty much convinced me a nanny isn't an option.

Op where are you located and looking to hire?

Anonymous wrote:OP, there is no harm in posting ads and then making a final decision based on the responses you get. I can think of several types of people who might very well fit your needs. The caveat is that you will likely need to do a good bit of training and be a manager for those folks without current experience.

1) A college age person taking a gap year. There are mature students out there, and the rate you can afford might work for them if they are still living at home.

2) A mom of older kids, seeking a second income. You would need to be open to her kids coming along if they are too young to SAH alone when there isn’t school, but that’s how it goes when your budget is lower.

3) A grandma type, who is looking for a secondary income. Again, lots of coaching about current infant care standards, but this person might be happy for a 10 month position.

So don’t surrender just yet. Explore your options.

OP here,

The nice thing about working for us would be that there just wouldn't be that many days that a mom of school aged kids would need to bring them. The person would have the same Christmas break, same snow days etc . . . , and I realize I'd need to pay for those days. So, while I'm not necessarily opposed to someone bringing their kids, it probably wouldn't come up that often.

I can also imagine a grandparent who cares for their grandkids in the summer being interested in this position.

OP, there is no harm in posting ads and then making a final decision based on the responses you get. I can think of several types of people who might very well fit your needs. The caveat is that you will likely need to do a good bit of training and be a manager for those folks without current experience.

1) A college age person taking a gap year. There are mature students out there, and the rate you can afford might work for them if they are still living at home.

2) A mom of older kids, seeking a second income. You would need to be open to her kids coming along if they are too young to SAH alone when there isn’t school, but that’s how it goes when your budget is lower.

3) A grandma type, who is looking for a secondary income. Again, lots of coaching about current infant care standards, but this person might be happy for a 10 month position.

So don’t surrender just yet. Explore your options.

Anonymous wrote:$17-25/hr before taxes? I’m sorry but unless the nanny lives at home with their parents or has a husband with a high paying job no one can afford to take summers off when they’re only earning $14-20/hr net.

I'm the OP here. I was pretty specific that I was expecting the nanny to look for other employment for the summer. I'm a position to be helpful in finding other employment. I work for a school that is always looking for staff for their summer programs. As the parent of school aged kids, I have lots of friends who are parents with school aged kids. People are constantly complaining to me that they can't find summer nannies. So, my assumption is that a good nanny would be able to transition to another position, with or without my hep.

Given that, my thought was that if someone has a choice between the following:

Situation A: $20 an hour for 10 months, with guaranteed pay for 2 weeks of leave at Christmas, 1 week in spring, and all federal holidays and snow days, and a little extra for the older kids (about 35K total), plus $20 an hour for 2 months in the summer at a different job (about $7K), plus the 25% bonus for returning (about $1.7K) for an annual total of $43.7K.

or

Situation B: $17 an hour for 12 months, with less leave for an annual total of $37.5K

That there would be some people who would be willing to put up with looking for a summer job for the extra $6.2K. Would that be everyone? No. I am sure there are some people who would prefer the security of one job year round. And that's fine. But it's possible that there might be some people who would be willing to make that trade off.

Or there might be people who already have a job in the summer that they like, or who have their own kids at home who are off in the summer, or who are in school part time, and would want to transition to full time for the summer, and would rather make the same amount of money and also be able to use their summers as they please.

Or maybe not, maybe I'm wrong about that.

$17-25/hr before taxes? I’m sorry but unless the nanny lives at home with their parents or has a husband with a high paying job no one can afford to take summers off when they’re only earning $14-20/hr net.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t know what you will find until you look. Personally I would love to have summers off .

I’m pretty sure everyone would love summers off. Most people (especially those only making $17-25/hr) can’t afford to take two months off with no pay.

You don’t know everyone’s financial situation though. I make very little money as a nanny. I don’t even make that 17 per hr. But I have a very high networth . I would like summer off.

Anonymous wrote:You don’t know what you will find until you look. Personally I would love to have summers off .

I’m pretty sure everyone would love summers off. Most people (especially those only making $17-25/hr) can’t afford to take two months off with no pay.

You don’t know what you will find until you look. Personally I would love to have summers off .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So doing the math - 25/hour * 40 is 1000 a week plus 224 for the one day a month that is all kids (plus there are bound to be days when a kid is sniffles but not sick sick and so you don't stay home but the nanny is in charge of the baby and the sniffly kid so you have to pay the extended rate or schools do what they have been saying and go virtual on snow days so you are working all day nanny needs to help other kids) but even at your calculations, it would be closer to 42,000 for 10 months at those rates.

It would be nominally more expensive to have a year round nanny and infinitely easier to find someone. You could pay 22 an hour always - sometimes the nanny only has one kid and sometimes all kids for the entire year at 45,000.

Also, there are other costs - taxes, unemployment insurance, workers comp in some states. So there is nanny pay plus some additional expenses to factor in, just fyi

So, unfortunately $22 an hour year round, or $25 during the school year, is past the point where I break even. I'd love to keep my job, but I'm not in a position to spend more on childcare than I earn in order to do so.

If that's really what the market says, that I need to pay $25 an hour for one kid, then I won't get a nanny.

A nanny is the most expensive form of childcare. Not everyone is entitled to a nanny, but a nanny is entitled to a living wage. Maybe put your kid in daycare?

OP here,

I'm the one who said I wasn't comfortable paying $17 an hour because I don't think it's a living wage. I also said that ethically I'm not willing to hire a nanny without contributing to health insurance. I've been clear that if I hire a nanny to pay for winter break, spring break, snow days etc . . . Given that, I don't think that it's fair to accuse me of being cheap, or not committed to a living wage.

However, it seems like the choices on the table are

1) Pay an individual nanny more than 100% of my salary

2) Pay 100% of my salary for a nanny share, and add the complications of a second drop off and pick up, and the need for another form of childcare for my other kids to my life.

3) Become a SAHM

I was hoping that there was a fourth option of finding someone who would like a ten month position, either because they'd like summers off, perhaps due to their own children, or because they'd like the change of pace and extra income from working at a camp or nannying for a different age group. It sounds like there isn't such an option, so I'll probably become a SAHM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, OP that you are getting some nasty responses here. I am a pp who posted the math for you. The hard thing about finding a nanny is that you can't hire them too early, so you are looking at making a decision without really knowing all the facts.

You "might" be able to find someone who is willing to work for 20 and hour and wants summers off. Someone doing a gap year but wants summer to travel. Someone who just graduated from college and is waiting a year to go to grad school and lives at home.... Someone who is getting married next summer so wants to be free all summer..... But you won't find that person until June-ish for a September start. But I imagine you have to tell your job in March / April. So if you commit to your job and can't find someone, you are in a bigger mess than if you just quit.

More likely to find someone you are comfortable with and how can handle a newborn AND older kids, you will have to pay more. Is it something you would consider stretching for for one year and then using a share or daycare when baby is a little older? It does not seem like it is that much past your break even point and it does give you more help and flexibility but it is a huge expense. Good luck with whatever you decide.

OP isn’t getting nasty responses she’s getting honest truth responses. The truth is she can’t afford a nanny no matter the math or just because she wants one. She can’t afford it so either do a share -which she doesn’t want to do or do daycare- again an option she doesn’t want to consider. Her best bet is to stay home with her own children not Nicole and dime someone so she breaks even and can continue working.

I don’t think the replies were nasty at all. I think they were honest and good feedback. My bills don’t take summers off, do yours? An extra $2 an hour isn’t going to get me through a summer with no pay. $2x40 = $80hrs a week. Ummmm no. Not worth having no job for the summer!

I think op will have a lot of luck finding nannies who will agree to this arrangement with the higher pay with summers off, but then every nanny will quit in June once summers are off.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, OP that you are getting some nasty responses here. I am a pp who posted the math for you. The hard thing about finding a nanny is that you can't hire them too early, so you are looking at making a decision without really knowing all the facts.

You "might" be able to find someone who is willing to work for 20 and hour and wants summers off. Someone doing a gap year but wants summer to travel. Someone who just graduated from college and is waiting a year to go to grad school and lives at home.... Someone who is getting married next summer so wants to be free all summer..... But you won't find that person until June-ish for a September start. But I imagine you have to tell your job in March / April. So if you commit to your job and can't find someone, you are in a bigger mess than if you just quit.

More likely to find someone you are comfortable with and how can handle a newborn AND older kids, you will have to pay more. Is it something you would consider stretching for for one year and then using a share or daycare when baby is a little older? It does not seem like it is that much past your break even point and it does give you more help and flexibility but it is a huge expense. Good luck with whatever you decide.

OP isn’t getting nasty responses she’s getting honest truth responses. The truth is she can’t afford a nanny no matter the math or just because she wants one. She can’t afford it so either do a share -which she doesn’t want to do or do daycare- again an option she doesn’t want to consider. Her best bet is to stay home with her own children not Nicole and dime someone so she breaks even and can continue working.

Sorry, OP that you are getting some nasty responses here. I am a pp who posted the math for you. The hard thing about finding a nanny is that you can't hire them too early, so you are looking at making a decision without really knowing all the facts.

You "might" be able to find someone who is willing to work for 20 and hour and wants summers off. Someone doing a gap year but wants summer to travel. Someone who just graduated from college and is waiting a year to go to grad school and lives at home.... Someone who is getting married next summer so wants to be free all summer..... But you won't find that person until June-ish for a September start. But I imagine you have to tell your job in March / April. So if you commit to your job and can't find someone, you are in a bigger mess than if you just quit.

More likely to find someone you are comfortable with and how can handle a newborn AND older kids, you will have to pay more. Is it something you would consider stretching for for one year and then using a share or daycare when baby is a little older? It does not seem like it is that much past your break even point and it does give you more help and flexibility but it is a huge expense. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So doing the math - 25/hour * 40 is 1000 a week plus 224 for the one day a month that is all kids (plus there are bound to be days when a kid is sniffles but not sick sick and so you don't stay home but the nanny is in charge of the baby and the sniffly kid so you have to pay the extended rate or schools do what they have been saying and go virtual on snow days so you are working all day nanny needs to help other kids) but even at your calculations, it would be closer to 42,000 for 10 months at those rates.

It would be nominally more expensive to have a year round nanny and infinitely easier to find someone. You could pay 22 an hour always - sometimes the nanny only has one kid and sometimes all kids for the entire year at 45,000.

Also, there are other costs - taxes, unemployment insurance, workers comp in some states. So there is nanny pay plus some additional expenses to factor in, just fyi

So, unfortunately $22 an hour year round, or $25 during the school year, is past the point where I break even. I'd love to keep my job, but I'm not in a position to spend more on childcare than I earn in order to do so.

If that's really what the market says, that I need to pay $25 an hour for one kid, then I won't get a nanny.

A nanny is the most expensive form of childcare. Not everyone is entitled to a nanny, but a nanny is entitled to a living wage. Maybe put your kid in daycare?