Babble

Wondering what others are paying their nannies by the hour and / or babysitters? And what sort of bonuses, if any, should be given and when? And what sort of raise is expected if / when a second baby comes into the picture?

We live in Portland, OR, and pay a nanny 10/hr. When we looked on craigslist originally, $10-14 seemed to be the going rate, and agencies charge more like 16/hr. We got a great nanny who is young (22) and was somewhat starting out --  however she had had previous nanny jobs with several rambunctious kids, so i think to her, 10/hr for taking care of one baby (starting at 3 months, when he was mostly sleeping!) was a pretty easy job. She also loads/unloads the dishwasher during the day, and does  the baby's laundry.

At some point, we'll transition him to daycare, which seems to run anywhere from 700/1500 a month for full-time, depending on the quality of the place, I guess. If we do have a 2nd  kid, we'll probably go back to a nanny situation, since one in daycare is cheaper than a nanny, but two in daycare becomes way more expensive. I figured with 2 we would offer 12/hr for a nanny.

 Am quite curious what others in other areas are paying, so I hope others post here.
 

Wow. We live in mid-size-town Indiana, where Nannies aren't very common except among the rillyrillyrilly well-to-do. Otherwise they're called "sitters" and range from $5 - $10 an hour.

Our 21-month-old daughter goes to a nice church-run, state-regulation-following daycare that she loves and has attended since she was 7 weeks old (she cried the other day when I drove by the main entrance because she thought she wasn't going!). That runs us $90/week, which is pretty much the median going rate for daycare here.

Oh and we splurged and hired a once-a-week cleaning lady that costs me about $40 - $60 a week. So we don't eat out much anymore. Totally totally TOTALLY worth it to me.

My sister has two Amish nanny-type girls in to take care of her 3 children (a 4-yr-old and 16-mo-old twins) and the two of them together run about $8/hr I think. But you have to drive all the way to their farm to pick up/ take home. And they don't believe in antibiotics, so if they have strep throat or something, they're out of commission for quite a while.

 

This is my last week with my nanny for my 6-month old baby.  We've been paying nanny $350/week, plus $10/hour for every hour she stays over 40 hours/week.  I've also probably spent another $30/week to buy the cheeses, fruits and coldcuts my nanny enjoys.  (Happy nanny = happy baby!)

The daycare baby will start on Monday, at $210/week, will be MUCH less expensive.  Day care in my area of Dallas (nice area, not RICH, but upper middle class) for infants runs from $200 to $330 per week. 

The $330/week place is Creme dela Cerme.  It a franchise but I don't know if they have them outside of Texas.  Its like Vegas for kids; built out like a Disney-type French village on the inside.  It reminded me of being in Hotel Paris or the Bellagio in Vegas--with a sky painted on the ceiling; idyllic French storefronts for each classroom, water park outdoors themed as a French mill, and indoor goldfish pond, gazebo, bakery, etc.  I thought that CdelaC would be great for a 3 y/o or older--but how could an infant possibly appreciate it?  Also, even though CdelaC is  more than the other places, the ratio of babies to teachers/adults is the same: 4:1.  So what is my extra tuition money buying?  Franchise fees to the parent company.

 

I pay my nanny $10 per hour. It would by less expensive to send my daughter to daycare ($650 per month in my area), but I work from home (to be nearer the kids) so I have the nanny here to help me out. I can stay on top of things at home and get me work done at the same time.

I haven't given her a raise in the 16 months she has worked here, partially because she really needs prodding to get things done (I always have to ask her to do the same things day after day) and she has other perks - she brings her son with her and I sub-let an apartment to her at 1/2 market value. She spends an awful lot of time sending text messages, making phone calls and watching TV. So I think $10 per hour is a good wage for watching TV (even if it is on my sofa rather than hers). If she ever starts taking initiative ... I might give her more $.

I have three other other children, two of whom occassionally need care and I made it clear in the interview process that this would be part of the job. I also pay her as a contract position ... she submits an hourly invoice, essentially she runs her own small business.

Bonuses - none really - I gave her $150 for Christmas and bought her son several gifts. I also frequently treat her to lunch and buy her and her son gifts from vacations etc.

All I can say is WOW!!  I live in South Dakota and pay $75/week for daycare.  And she is the best in town! 

I live in London, we pay our nanny £350/week (which equals around $700) but something definitely gets lost in translation from the pound to the dollar.

This seems to be the going rate for nannies in my area, but my nanny is Fílipino and her English is pretty bad so I probaby pay her a bit less than I would someone with excellent English (we have to pantomine a lot), considering that she works a lot and spends the night at our house 3 nights a week while I travel on business. 

She is so loving with my son and takes such good care of him, I will most definitely consider a raise when she has been with us a year (coming right up).  

She has her own kids in the Philipenes and I have a lot of liberal-affluent guilt about her taking care of my kids instead of  her own so I am just overboard nice to her.  She probably thinks I'm pathetic. 

This is actually part of the reason I became a stay-at-home mom.  Nannies in Seattle get paid about $14-16/hr.  Full time daycare for infants is at least $1000/month often more.

we live in los angeles. we pay $400 a week for 5 days a week which includes one sleep over a week so we can go out.

I live in Costa Rica.  We have a nanny/cook/housekeeper that earns $300 a month and has health insurance.  Nope that is not a typo, 75 bucks a week.  She works 7 hours a day, 6 days a week, and is awesome.  I know some people are probably thinking that isn't much $, but acctually we over pay her.  Most ladies in her position only make $180 a month.  We didn't feel comfortable with that amount, and adjusted it accordingly.  We love her, and she loves us.  She says it is the best job she ever had, and my quality of life is the best I've ever experienced.  We are home with her 75% of the time and contribute in all areas.  She always tells me she could do more, but I tell her I don't need her to be the mommy, I only need her to help the mommy. lol 

 

Fortunecookies

Wow. Totally jealous. I'd love to have live-in help! (Of course, our two-bedroom apt. isn't big enough!) I think your post is a selling point to move to Costa Rica!!

Quiero mover a Costa Rica!

But seriously, is it more difficult to make money in Costa Rica/is the cost of living cheaper in CR than in the USA, such that the $300/month you pay your nanny is a liveable wage?

I've been meaning to get back over here to answer this, sorry for the delay.  Yes, $300 is a livable wage for her.  In fact for the first time she has moved her family into a small house, instead of living in a one room rental with her family.  She gets 8 days of paid holidays, two weeks paid Christmas bonus, and women receive 4 months paid maternity leave (1 before birth and 3 after)   We also pay for any medicine she needs for her family that costs over $10, but this was our own idea.

FYI we pay $1600 to live beachfront in a furnished 2 bedroom 1 bath condo about 800 square feet and this include water and cable bills.  We couldn't afford to live this well in California.  I would say generally the cost of food is equal, taxi's are cheaper, the labor force is cheaper (construction, mechanics, gardeners, handymen), but imported goods can be double.  The people with money pay high taxes on the luxuries- cars, electronics, household goods (ex-sheets, towels, cd's, dvd's).  There is no tax on non imported foods in the supermarket, and fresh fruit and vegis are cheap.  Two kilos of mangos is a dollar, a pineapple in 75 cents, 25 cents for a nice head of lettuce...

There's a great daycare in my office building in midtown NYC, and my husband and I really liked them when we took a tour.  But it turns out it's $2250 a month, which is more than our rent!  I don't want to be a total cheapskate, but this isn't some fancy Montessori school or anything, just a chain (Bright Horizons) that's in a building where I guess they assume we're all rich.  Sadly, we're not.

Anyone have a good link to find out what you lawfully need to do to pay for a nanny/caretaker?  I'm wondering about paying Social Security and stuff like that.

PS: In Brooklyn, the going rate for babysitting seems to be $15/hr with a minimum of 4 hours.

"Our 21-month-old daughter goes to a nice church-run, state-regulation-following daycare that she loves and has attended since she was 7 weeks old (she cried the other day when I drove by the main entrance because she thought she wasn't going!). That runs us $90/week, which is pretty much the median going rate for daycare here."

 

!!!

Where in Indiana ARE you? Just curious, we're in Indianapolis and pay $1185/mo for our 14mo. old.. however, it's a nice daycare compared to a lot of the others in the area (that were charging close to the same amt., give or take $200), but still, that's amazing!