Nanny questions

JulyMomma2U2 · January 2014

How did you find your nanny? A website, agency, friend? Also, what do you think a reasonable price would be for 2 days, 10hrs a day, 2 kids (will be 3 in the fall).. I'd consider my area a medium income area? Also, do you pay per day or per month? Ie say 800 a month, but some months may have had more days they has to work than others..

mae0111 · January 2014

I'd look on sittercity.com or care.com. You can see average rates for your area, and we've had good luck finding nannies on both sites.

Good luck!

Lilly&Co · January 2014

We went through an agency.

bethann3181 · January 2014

We went through care.com, and had a very good experience. You'll need to be prepared to have the process take some time - it took about a month of phone screens, and then in person interviews for us to find our right fit for a nanny. As for pay, we pay about $11 an hour, which is low for two kids, but we also compensate with a decent amount of paid days off. Put together a "package" that works well for your family to offer.

MickeyM04 · January 2014

I think pay depends on the area. It also depends on who you go through. If you go through an agency it will likely cost more than if you hire someone completely off the books. I know $15/hr is about average for 2 kids in our area. 3 would presumably be more. But I'm in the Chicago area so everything is more expensive here. We pay on the 15th and 30th and we and pay X per pay period. We get our nanny at a steal because she brings her kids with her to work so it sort of offsets what she would pay for childcare. She used to teach at our son's daycare, which is how we found her. Obviously that was a fluke and is not how most people find their nannies.

A lot of times word of mouth is a great way to find a nanny. Put out word that you are looking for one and all of a sudden you will hear about so and so looking to leave daycare and become a nanny, or so and so who doesn't need their anymore, etc. I suggest figuring out what you can afford to pay first, because, for example, an agency might not even be an option for you depending on what you can afford to pay (they have placement fees usually and I'm pretty sure you have to pay on the books).

Options for affordability are to do a nanny share with another family (which is hard when you have 3 kids, because probably no one is going to want to have their one child watched with there of yours) or to look for a nanny that wants to bring her own child. They will sometimes work for a lower wage because they are saving on the cost of childcare for their own kid. Our nanny brings her 4 year old and 1 month old and DS has a built in playmate in the 4 year old and they get along swimmingly. And it was pretty much the only way we could afford a nanny (we need someone 55 hours a week). At $15/hr for two kids, that's like, what, $2800 a month for childcare. No way Jose.

rockychryslerb2010 · January 2014

We got our nanny through an agency. We started with care.com, but didn't like the quality of applicants we were getting.

We pay $13/hr plus overtime for our nanny, for one child. We live in a med COL area. She started with us when E was 3 months, she started at $12/hr.

jf198400 · January 2014

I had a PT nanny for a while that I found on care.com. We paid $12/hr for 2 kids in a MCOLA.

emberlee3 · January 2014

I know people in my area who pay $10 per hour for one kid. I plan to offer $10 per hour for just DD and $12 for both kids. I will pay hourly. Any hours over 40 in a week are overtime, so she would time and a half. I would love to find a nanny who would bring her LO for reduced salary and playmate for kiddos.