I don't give my card for random grocery shopping. Not at all a criticism to our AP, but she is just really haphazard with buying groceries and doesn't think about sale items, cost, size, practicality, etc.

Thanks for posting the chart PP. I am new to this, but we have quite separate accommodation for our Au pair (English basement apt) so while she is welcome to join us for dinner and cook/eat in our kitchen, given our schedule and the fact that she has her own apt,, I anticipate that she'll often just eat and cook for herself in her own kitchen. She's older and has been an AP in other countries so I know she's used to independent living. I am thinking of just adding an extra amount to her pay per week to cover her food items and let her go from there. Do you think this is a good idea? Or I could let her buy what she wants using a card that I give her, but my concern with that is where to draw the line. I'm completely fine with her buying any groceries or take out or whatever she wants but how to distinguish say a pizza takeout from a huge delivery from an expensive restaurant? I don't want to say "you can spend $x on my card every day" so I think perhaps just giving her a sum each week to cover her needs would be best. I had in mind $50/week for this - do you think that is acceptable?

Our first AP would make huge picnic lunches for her and her friends from our groceries. Got pretty salty when we asked her to stop. I said she was welcome to either pack herself a personal picnic lunch or pay for the bags of chips, lunchmeat, etc. that she was contributing to a picnic of 10 girls.

When we go on last-minute overnights (and don't take the AP usually because she has other plans), I generally just leave the kitchen as-is and let her cook whatever she wants to. There's always tons of food and a pretty deep inventory of frozen Trader Joe's items. She actually doesn't cook in general -has dinner with us and leftovers for lunch - but I don't see that as my problem. If she orders pizza, that's her choice. Once I did leave some money and she gave me the receipt for cookies, ice cream and soda, none of which survived our 30-hr trip. I'd rather not know.

Anonymous wrote:But again, I am not going to tell her not to drink milk while she is on a staycation. In my mind, if she is home, she can eat/drink.

Maybe a matter of magnitude. It seems different if she drinks milk or have cereal or other pantry stuff that is in the house anyway versus deliberately stocking a weeks worth of food specifically for her or including her in every single meal during her staycation.

But again, I am not going to tell her not to drink milk while she is on a staycation. In my mind, if she is home, she can eat/drink.

Anonymous wrote:Room and board is for the 52 weeks.
So when the family goes away and the AP stays home, the family has to provide food in the fridge, just like any other time of the year.

If HF do not pay for food when AP goes away for a vacation or eats out, then why would it make any difference where the vacation is (away or at home). If you interpret room and board as food morning, noon and night for the whole year, then every meal would be on the HF, including meals when AP eats out or is away from home. That's not what we do. We do not cover AP meals when out on her own or when she is on vacation regardless where she goes or not goes.

It is different if HF goes away for vacation but the time is not counted as the AP's vacation, just additional time off. Then there should be food for the AP since she did not request the time off but is home for the convenience of the HF who did not want the AP to come along.

Isn't it 51 weeks?

Room and board is for the 52 weeks.
So when the family goes away and the AP stays home, the family has to provide food in the fridge, just like any other time of the year.

I just wouldn't buy anything out of the ordinary on a staycation but I certainly wouldn't say "no, you can't drink any milk during your staycation"

You pay if she comes along. It adds up and is a huge expense.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, if AP chooses to stay home on long weekends, vacation, she can eat whatever is in the house. I never pay for food she chooses to eat out unless she is with us/kids.

Pp here - I should clarify that I was asking because in the other pp's chart it seemed to say that if AP took a staycation then she would be responsible for food even in the host's house

Yes, if AP chooses to stay home on long weekends, vacation, she can eat whatever is in the house. I never pay for food she chooses to eat out unless she is with us/kids.

Can I ask about the food on vacation? Like if AP uses her vacation days but goes nowhere (does this happen), you're not responsible for her food?

Also, on health insurance, don't part of our fees pay for that?

Anonymous wrote:This is so awesome! Thank you for sharing!! Do you put it in your handbook?

Yes, absolutely.
Transparency = success.