For those of you with Nanny Experiences

My best friend is pregnant with twins, and my twins are 13 months. I am at home full time, and she works part time. We were hoping to Nanny share. We found a local nanny who put an ad out there, but it we have no idea to tell her what the salary would be!!??? I've gotten through the first year alone, but now that they're mobile, one day a week for me to just run errands and grocery shop and clean house would be AWESOME, and she has a 2 year old, and soon twins...enough said there! Anyway, I know a lot of you have tried this and might have the answers we need. We don't want to insult her but don't want to overpay either. What's a fair rate and are there any other things that are "associated" with the having of a nanny??

 

I asked people at the local Twin club how much they paid nannies, and I asked friends who have a few kids (but not twins). I also posted a question on Craigslist asking how much the going rates were. I found that people in my area paid anywhere from $10 - $14/hour depending on experience and duties. I offered the middle of that range and was willing to negotiate sick days, vacation days, and other perks. We provide all of our nanny's food while she's at our house. We also give her all federal holidays off and pay her for the days that we'll be on vacation and won't need her. We don't pay her for days she chooses to take off.

I expect her to watch my girls, play with them, take care of them, etc. She also makes breakfast and lunch for them, makes bottles for the whole day, plans activities, takes them out to the park or the zoo daily, does their laundry, and keeps their room neat. I found other possible nannies who were willing to do cleaning too, but I decided to go with someone who had nanny experience and seemed a good fit for my family rather than someone who could combine nanny/cleaning lady duties.

Once you hire someone, the other thing to think about is how you'll pay her. Will it be under the table? Will you report it and take taxes out of her salary?

Good luck finding and hiring the right nanny!

 

A lot depends on nanny experience and your needs [including age of children]. We live in Balt and hourly rates range from $10 - $20/hour. For the most part, we found you do get what you paid for. For infant twins, we paid $12.50/hr for someone with ++ experience, but who wanted to work a flexible schedule. It was definitely on the low end for her level of experience and expertise -- she taught me a ton of Mom tricks. Our other nannies were college grads, but early-mid-20s with moderate experience. Hourly rate was lower end, but we paid all taxes, food, vacation/sick days [after a trial period] and offered flexibility. We also wanted the nanny to focus on the kids and did not ask her to do any cleaning or household chores. I would definitely make a list of what exactly what you need and expect and go from there. I would also ask what she charges and negotiate as appropriate. Feel free to email me if you have additional questions. Best of luck!

 

We live in Wisconsin and pay our nanny $7.50 an hour. She is there 3 full days per week and isn't expected to do anything but care for the kids. I do all the prep for lunch for her. I wish I could pay her much more...she is worth every penny. But right now, this is what our budget allows for. We do give her bonuses when we have extra cash or for special occasions. I think it depends on your situation as well as hers.

 

We shook hands on $110/day for our 1-day-a-week nanny and that day could be up to 9 hours (7:30-4:30), but my husband usually comes home earlier than 4:30, so the hourly rate kinda varies. The minimum there is $12.25/hour. We had no idea what to pay her, so we asked her what her other family pays her (she nannies for another set of slightly older twins on other days). Her other family pays her $100/day so we offered a little more because it's a further drive and ours are a little younger.

We have told her we do not expect her to do any housework whatsoever while she is here, but she still does sometimes during their naps.

She is worth every penny! (And a good bit cheaper than the daycare center we were bringing them to at first.)

 

I pay my current nanny $7.50/hour, she's family and this is more than she was making at the mall, so it worked well for all. She was making $300/week when she was here everyday, but now she's just PT 2 days a week, so I went to the hourly rate.

My first nanny I paid $400/week for 45 hours. Check Craigslist for examples of what people are asking for, and also get an idea of daycare costs around your area.

My nanny did/does child-related things only, like their laundry, cleaning up after them and their meals, changing their bedding, stuff like that. No other housework.

 

The going rate in my area is $10-16 per hour depending on experience. We pay $600 per week including taxes. The best way to determine what to pay is to interview a handful of candidates and ask them what they charge... this will give you an idea of what the general rates are in your area. You could also look on a couple of the nanny search websites for your zip code and look at the salary expectation listed for some of the candidates vs. their experience.

Based on my experience over the past 2 years, anything less than $10 per hour tends to be more of a "babysitter" than a "nanny". There is a big difference between the two... good luck with your search!