nanny wants to takeover maid's job

TheBorg7of9 · January 2015

So, we have a nanny who watches our two sons (1 and 3) and the neighbor (1). The two little ones nap in the morning and the afternoon. The older one is in preschool in the morning and naps 2-3 hours in the afternoon. We currently have a maid who comes 6 hours every two weeks, $19.50 per hour. The nanny proposed a 2-week "trial period" where she does the cleaning instead. She did not say how much she wants to get paid. I would make a list I guess for what she would do.

So, here are my questions:

1.) would you do this and why or why not?

2.) would it be crazy of me to ask the nanny to keep track of her time spent cleaning? Like with a iPhone timer?

3.) would you pay her the same as the maid?

4.) what if I don't like the job she does, how weird would it be to tell her it didn't work out?

Thanks for your input!

2chatter · January 2015

I think it would work for now - but two naps could disappear inside of 6 months. And how much longer with the three year old nap? So let's say all three kids are down for naps for two hours in the afternoon. Is that likely?

If it is, I would say go for it, prefacing the arrangement with "I am really picky about some things so as we start out I might have feedback" so you can be particular without feeling weird about it.

And I would figure out money up front. Not having to schedule another person and having someone in theory cleaning throughout the week sounds nice.

VOR · January 2015

As for as timing her- just ask her to track her time. Don't tell her exactly how. She's an adult who you trust to watch your kids. Trust that she'll keep track of the time she cleans. But - I agree, naps in kids change. What if any one of them stops napping (more likely the 3 year old). What happens then? At least initially, I woudln't pay her the same as you pay your cleaner. I'd want to see how she does. But talk to her about what she was expecting.

banks81 · January 2015

I don't have a nanny, so others might have better advice for this part. The fact that she is watching a neighbors' child as well jumped out at me. I think it's only fair if you mention the potential new arrangement with the parents of that child. If you are paying her extra for this work (i.e. no extra cost to that family obviously) and her child is really sleeping, they probably won't care. But, I could see them being concerned that she will focus more energy on "clocking" cleaning time so she can get paid more, even if the kids are awake. But, in the end, you and the other parents know your nanny and if it's something you think she can handle.

minirella · January 2015

I would give it a trial period but withhold payment until you make a decision and then negotiate. Does she know how much you pay the maid?

I don't know if I would have her track time, I'm thinking just pay an extra $200 a month or something like that. That is what I'd do only cause it seems simple to me.

limechiffon · January 2015

If I were to do this I would just pay her more per hour, or let her pick up extra "housekeeping only" hours, after you come home. I wouldn't want to deal with paying maid service rates on top of/instead of nanny rates, that sounds complicated and somewhat of a conflict, the kids should be her main priority, ie, she shouldn't take home *less* pay at the end of the week if the kids happen to demand *more* of her time.

That said, if you are happy with your maid service then I would leave well enough alone. I agree that I would prefer to keep deep housecleaning separate from childcare, I would not want to tell my nanny that I don't like how she washes the baseboards. But if the nanny wants extra hours/pay then like @grace said, you could find tasks that the maid does not do, like cooking or daily vacuuming.

dashofreality · January 2015

Unless your maid focuses mainly on really deep cleaning, I would be tempted. Having someone do that 30 min - an hour of cleaning a day focusing on different parts of the house that I think we all want to have time for sounds fantastic. I think keeping track of the time would be stressful for both of you. I would make a list of every day tasks (toys, dishes, kids laundry if she isn't already doing this) and tasks to be completed 1x every 2 weeks (bathrooms etc). I would do a flat amount. If she can get it in during naps, great, if not she would need to finish after working hours.

I do acknowledge that there is a potential for awkwardness/hard feelings though. My opinion would also be swayed by how much of a cleaner I thought she was. I'm not good at cleaning, and wouldn't do a good job. My MIL enjoys cleaning and it is a stress reliever for her. She would prefer to clean then sit around, and would do an excellent job. I would have no problem paying her to do so. So it would depend.

mae0111 · January 2015

Our nanny has hinted at this as well. We let our cleaning lady go because 1. we got hit with a huge year end tax bill that put us in a real $$ crunch, so we cut all extras, and 2. because she wasn't doing a good job. We used her for years, but we noticed mold in the bathroom (that came right up when I cleaned), dust, etc.

Our nanny does a lot of picking/tidying up, but rarely will clean up food thrown on the floor by DD2, spills remain sticky until I get home, etc.

Even if she were super neat, I'd have concerns. I wouldn't want her to focus on cleaning over the kids, as others have said. Even during nap time, she should have some down time as well. 7:30-5 is a long day! I don't want her to burn out. So she continues to tidy up, and once in a while she'll do more as a favor if I've had a particularly busy week, but that's about it.

groovygrl · January 2015

I guess I'm curious as to what she does when they're all napping/at preschool currently and don't you already pay her for that time? I think many nannies do laundry, straightening & meal prep during that type of down time, is she already doing that and you're talking about more deep cleaning (bathrooms, kitchen, floors) type of thing so she'd want her hourly rate to go up for the hours spent doing that or what?
I think I'd hold off for all the reasons listed by others.

Mustardseed2007 · January 2015

I don't really see an upside for you unless you are going to pay her less.

groovygrl · January 2015

Mustardseed2007 said:

I don't really see an upside for you unless you are going to pay her less.

I think the upside would be paying the nanny a little more but less than the amount that the maid is getting so saving money? Not sure.
Now that I think about it, if we're talking about fitting in 6 hrs of cleaning over a 2 week period (assuming she is with you M-F) it maybe isnt that bad but if you'd probably prefer to have it all done at once to have a totally clean house rather than piecemeal, how would that work? Also think about the times when you want to have your house really clean b/c of visitors or entertaining or something- that would be tough for her to do unless she is doing it outside of her nannying time? just some additional thoughts...

TheBorg7of9 · January 2015

Stuck in a box----
Thanks for your thoughts everyone!
The upside would be that I would pay less overall, that I would make my nanny happy by giving her more money and that I could also ask her to do things that the maid doesn't do.
We use a maid service, so it would be no big deal to ask them to send someone over once in a while to do a complete job.
Still thinking about what I want to do. I am not sure if she remembers how much I pay the maid.

Mustardseed2007 · January 2015

groovygrl said:

Mustardseed2007 said:

I don't really see an upside for you unless you are going to pay her less.

I think the upside would be paying the nanny a little more but less than the amount that the maid is getting so saving money? Not sure.
Now that I think about it, if we're talking about fitting in 6 hrs of cleaning over a 2 week period (assuming she is with you M-F) it maybe isnt that bad but if you'd probably prefer to have it all done at once to have a totally clean house rather than piecemeal, how would that work? Also think about the times when you want to have your house really clean b/c of visitors or entertaining or something- that would be tough for her to do unless she is doing it outside of her nannying time? just some additional thoughts...

Yeah that's what I meant, and I mean...I don't see any upside really b/c you probably won't be paying her significantly less and I think the impact of any cleaning would definitely be less.

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