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MH & Housecleaning (advice)
DH and I just posted on sittercity and we're looking for someone to be a combined mother's helper and housekeeper. We've asked for them to come M-F 8-1 and help with the morning routine/playtime so that DH can always make it to work on time (and I can brush my teeth and have some breakfast and coffee in a timely manner) and then they'd do some house cleaning while Frankie naps from ~10:30-12. Then get her up, and they'd be out by 1. We're offering between $200 and $300 for this. Is this a reasonable amount to pay someone to be 1/2 MH, 1/2 housekeeper?
Basically, we want to really get to know this person and bring them in as basically another part of our family. Our ultimate goal is to have them available also as a babysitter and to go with us on family vacations to help wrangle the kids.
Are we going about this the right way or should we just skip trying to combine the two, keep the cleaning service we have, and just find a mother's helper that we can get to know and trust?
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Re: MH & Housecleaning (advice)
Clearly if cost were no issue, then we would have both. Why not. And a Chauffer, and a Helicopter, and our own Au Pair.
But to be real, we have to cut cost by lowing the amount of 'house keeping' cost to cover the nanny role.
Just an addition to this post. (by the way, I am her DH)
Is the $200-$300 per month or week?
I've often dreamed of getting to hire someone like this : ) It seems like live-in nanny (without the live in part, of course). I've often thought of them as not only taking care of the children, but helping out around the house too. I think that sounds like a great set-up and if you can find the right person, then it'll be perfect.
Per week. Yes, pretty much a helper to me (mostly) and someone to help take care of DD, too. We almost used the word "Au Pair" in our ad, but then I googled to make sure we would be using the correct word and saw "live in." lol I immediately told DH that we couldn't use that word because I didn't want them to live with us!
We have a nanny who come to our house (as you stated, not an au pair since she doesn't live with us). We pay her $11.38/hr (I know, odd number but she just got a raise based on a % increase) for watching the two girls. When it was just DD#1, she was making $10/hr. Although I don't have her do housework unrelated to the girls, she does the girls' laundry and dishes, cleans the toys, picks up after them, and sometimes does their ironing. She's offered to do more housecleaning but I want her to focus on time with the girls (and honestly, with two, she rarely has more than 1 hour to do other things given their nap schedules). I think what you're offering sounds reasonable.
As another option, we found our nanny on Craigs List and love her! She's been with us 2 years and even stayed with the girls over the weekend a few weeks ago when DH and I went to a wedding in IN. We fully trust her and she's one of the family now.
Good luck.
I think that amount per week is very reasonable. I hope you find someone that fits into what you need/want and with your family. I would LOVE that set-up.
Is this pay on a full time basis (how many hours if not) and what felt / feels like a good amount of time to have her there?
This, all of this. Will they be doing heavy cleaning (baseboards, scrubbing toilets etc) or just light stuff (laundry, cleaning up after breakfast)? What will you do when your LO drops their morning nap? Will they still be expected to clean? IDK, it seems like a weird situation to me.
I had a friend who had a MH M/W/F, but only for a short time - I think it ended up being less than 2 months. In theory it sounded great, but when it came down to it - there just wasn't enough for her MH's to do - cleaning doesn't take as long as you think when you can actually dedicate some time to it and she's a SAHM and she said it was just odd.
Now - when she had her 2nd child she had a MH some in T/Th, and the committment was only for 3 months - so the gal knew that out of the gate and it was a completely different situation. She was very happy to have someone to help out with everyday things like loading the dishwasher, washing bottles, laundry, etc. Also - I think for her - it was just nice to have someone around her to talk to (her DH traveled a lot at this point in his career) so she was pretty much a single mom.
I would just think about what you truly need help with and go from there.
I work from home (telecommute for a company) and so our nanny is here full-time during the week while I'm working. 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. -- 40hr/wk; sometimes more. If more than 40 hr/wk, she gets overtime pay (time and half). I only have her come because I'm working.
So, in response to both of you, it'd be more to get to the point that cate1119 was talking about. I know I'll be needing her once Lorelei is here, and we really want to get to know her and have her get to know Frankie before all the chaos of Lorelei begins. Also, with the holidays in the mix, I think now is the best time to get this started. We'd prefer to find someone that will do all the cleaning required in a house so that we can just have that one person and get rid of the cleaning service we currently use. I know it seems like a weird situation but I'm really a slow-goer in the mornings and with DH trying to get out the door to be on time to work and my migraines and such, it would just be nice for my mornings to not be so demanding and then some cleaning would get done. I haven't thought about what to do once the LO drops her first nap, but I'm hoping by then we'll have a relationship with our MH and can discuss with her how she'd like to do it.
We have discussed that if we can't find the perfect person for this job then we'll just find a MH and have her start coming over on a weekly basis (once a week) to get the "relationship" started before Lorelei gets here and keep the cleaning service we have.
That's exactly how I thought it would be for you. I would love to have that situation if we could afford it. We don't have any family around us (right now) and it would just be really helpful. GL in finding someone!
I suppose I don't really need help, but more like it's a luxury we can afford. Right now, DH and I already use a cleaning service. It would also be nice to have someone around in the morning to entertain DD and allow me some time to have coffee and eat breakfast and get going without making DH late to work. I've also had horrible migraines this pregnancy and it would be nice to know on the mornings I wake up with them, someone will be here to help relieve some of the stresses. The MH wouldn't be doing the "easy" housework like loading the dishwasher, or that sort of stuff but the housework that our cleaning ladies already do. We don't really have to combine the MH with the cleaning lady but it would be 1 person in our house to meet our needs vs multiple.
However, the real reason we're doing all of this is to find someone we know and trust to have around as a mother's helper once DD2 is born and my mom and his mom have both come and visited. We also want to know this person really well so that later down the road we can take vacations with our children (and her!) and have some help when we go. We know our life will be crazy then, and I'd rather find this person sooner than later to go ahead and begin building that relationship.
I don't think anyone really needs a mother's helper or a cleaning person, IMO they're always a luxury. I'm just asking how to go about doing it.
In reading all your replies, I don't see how you can combine the two. You're basically looking for a nanny and a cleaner. If you were asking for help with the "easy" cleaning, then a nanny would easily cover those tasks - I (i'm a nanny, btw) help my family run a load of laundry, do the dishwasher routine, pick up toys, etc. However, you have specifically said this person will NOT be doing the "easy" stuff - meaning you want them spending a devoted amount of time on your home. I don't see that getting done during just a naptime. And I certainly wouldn't want someone who's really going to concentrate on the cleaning aspect of my home to take care of my kids because I couldn't expect them to devote a proper amount of time to my children. First and foremost, especially when #2 arrives, you should really have someone who's going to devote their attention to only the children.
Like you said, it's a luxury, but since you already have the cleaning lady I would just as much wake up 30 mins earlier to give myself time for coffee and knocking out a migraine before the LO wakes up and put that money towards maybe a savings fund. I have very little time to myself these days between school, part-time work, and homework. I would LOVE to be able to afford someone to clean my house. But I envy your ability to SAH since I often crave extra time with my daughter.
I often find the SAHM's with newborns and older children look into Mom's Morning Out programs a few days a week for the older kids. This allows socialization for the older child, much needed one-on-one time with the newborn, and even some rest/quiet for the mom every few days. But it also allows some quality time at home the other days of the week for the older children and the mom to spend with the newborn. It's a good compromise between extended care/nanny and 100% at-home with mommy all day.