Nanny question

RosesRRed

We are currently on two lists for daycares but both are saying they do not know if they will have an available space in January so I was thinking I could hire a nanny until a spot does open up. The problem is I know nothing about hiring nannies so can you help me?

Should I go through an agency or Craigs List? If you go through an agency do they handle the tax deductions for the nanny? What is customary for holiday/vacation for a nanny?

PSU_Texan

We have had a full-time nanny from the time my daughter was 6-months old to now (she's 2).  We got her through Morningside Nanny Agency.  I tried on Craigslist but found it to be too much work to do all the screening myself.  I also don't think it's the same quality of care.  You might find Craigslist or Sittercity ok for a temporary nanny.  One tip, we live in Pearland and Morningside acted like it would be hard to place a nanny since we weren't in Bellaire or West U.  But they sent us 6 well-qualified nannies to interview.

The agency will handle all the tax stuff for an extra fee.  However, I found it easy enough to handle that with the help of our tax accountant.  I can answer any questions relating to "paying on the books" you might have. 

As far as vacation/nanny contract items, the way we structured our contract is that she gets 10 days per year for vaction/sick time.  However, she has to take 5 of those when we take our summer vacation.  The others she can use as she sees fit.  Also, we give her 9 holidays.  The other thing we wrote into the contract is that we could mutually agree to swap time (ie. if she needed time off but didn't want to burn one of her vacation days, she could babysit a few nights to make up the hours).  And if we take a day off and don't need her, we still pay her.  So it works out to paying all 52 weeks of the year.

 Let me know if you have any other questions.

Nephs13

Thanks for the info!  I'm also in the Houston area and debating nanny vs. daycare, so this helps since I am planning to check with Morningside.