Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

loudounnanny wrote:Yes, this was actually in my job description. BUT. The laundry is sometimes more than I can handle. due to the fact that they( MB & DB) are BOTH slobs! Clothes on the floor EVERYDAY instead of placed in the hamper. Towels, underwear, panties etc. EVERYDAY! Not to mention that she is just plain old DISGUSTING! Eeewww!

Can't they afford a housekeeper?

For many families, the issue is not whether they can afford a housekeeper; the issue is fairness and spending our hard-earned money wisely. Very few parents are comfortable giving the nanny a three hour paid break each day to read magazines and watch tv while the kids nap, just so that we as parents can come home and, instead of spending time with our kids, scurry around doing the kind of tasks that a stay at home parent would do throughout the day. I expect my nanny to take an hour break each day just for herself, but I expect her to spend the other two hours of kids' nap time on things a SAHM would do: child-related food prep and housekeeping tasks (first priority) and non-child-related light housekeeping tasks (second priority, but required because I just don't have ten hours a week of child-related tasks each week). The latter category includes laundry, plant care, ironing, etc., but never heavy cleaning (b/c the cleaning service does that). We negotiate the specific tasks in advance, but some flexibility is required and I would not hire a nanny who had an attitude about this, unless she could suggest other things she would do during naptime that I felt would benefit my household. Resting so that she'll be a better nanny when the kids wake up doesn't cut it. Any health adult should be able to get through an 8-10 hour day without a 3 hour break.

Yes, I could afford to hire a housekeeper (on top of the cleaning service) to come in for ten hours a week to do this kind of light housekeeping, but I would be financially irresponsible to do that for the sole purpose of making my nanny feel like a respected professional because she gets to sit on her rear end for three hours a day while my kids sleep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If DB's laundered underwear is still skid-marked, it's time to throw them out and start over with new ones and a different laundry technique.

I was asked once to do the parents' dirty laundry. DB's undies were skid-marked. I folded them inside-out, tushie out, so the shit-stains showed, blatantly. They never asked me to do their intimates again.

Anonymous wrote:"Do you pay her well? Probably not. "

she makes $800 a week in outside the beltway SS area. it's not exorbitant but relatively high for our near-by area.

Anonymous wrote:our nanny does sheets and all laundry (at her insistence, not our request). even though i did not ask for it and remind her it's not required occassionally, it is a GODSEND and one of the reasons we are continually reminded she is working hard to help us out and make things in our family run smoother - so helping add to the arguments in favor of keeping her vs. going preschool now that we are past the baby stage.[/quote

Are you still paying her $15/hr? For doing what she does for adults she should be laid $45/hr.]