Household / daily expenses - how does it work?

[warthog]

i have a nanny starting in 2 weeks and i have no experience of what is expected etc.

say she wants to take the kids out for the day / a meal or needs to buy groceries / fill up car with petrol. how do you sort out reimbursement? would you have a pot with cash in the house that she can use or would you reimburse her at the end of the day / week?

what's the norm?

tia

When I worked as a nanny I had an expenses book. I used to break it down into daily expenditure - mainly paying for various toddler groups, buying essential groceries. I charged 40p per mile and kept a log of how many miles I had driven that week. Then my employer would reimburse me at the end of each week. Other nannies have petty cash/kitty. It just depends upon what you and your nanny feel comfortable with.

School holidays could work out quite expensive so it might be an idea to talk to your nanny beforehand about what she intends to do with the children and what expenses might be incurred.

Nanny has a kitty- she flls out record in her diary and keeps receipts and I top it up every so often

A kitty has always worked best for me- to avoid the embarresment of asking for money to be reimbersed, and worse to avoid the parents who don't pay on time leaving me out of pocket. In my current job I have a jar with about £40 in, I take out what I spend each day (mostly busfare, snacks afterschool etc) and either leave a receipt or a note in the diary. In the past I've had a nanny purse, which I carry in my bag and leave all receipts in and use solely for work expenses. I'd leave it each Friday for the parents to look in, and add more money to. And once I had a job where the parents would just give me money every now and then and I would keep my own note of what I spent and ask if more were needed.

I get a fixed amount every week for childrens activities. If it's not all spent I keep the remainder. If we overspend I pay the excess. That works quite well as it enables me to budget for things. We also have annual pass cards for local theme park.

May take a little while to get the right level of funding based on what activities are done and local costs.

If significant food topups are necessary, then pay those separately and add to your regular grocery order for future weeks if appropriate.

Fuel for car - depends whose car it is. If nanny provides the car, then 40p per mile is the approved mileage rate, after which point it becomes a taxable benefit. Mileage needs to be logged, max mileage 10000 miles a year, then rate drops.

Kitty, usually a fixed amount a week put on which rolls over so expensive weeks in the holidays can be balanced with cheaper ones. It also means older DC have some idea of budgeting and appreciate that you can't necessarily do 3 or 4 very expensive activities in a week.

I keep receipts and tickets at first then note down what was spent in the diary once a pattern emerges.

If you're expecting them to use your car amd do significant amounts of shopping/errands then a debit/credit card with a limit and then a small cash float for toddler groups may be appropriate.

thanks so much. very helpful.

nanny will mostly use my car, but very occasionally her own.

i think i will go with the kitty approach, although also like the purse that she can carry around and leave receipts in. it's also her first nanny job so we're both a bit clueless. now i have an idea of where to start though, and we can find a way that works for us both.

If she uses her own make sure she has business class insurance (not be confused with her nanny insurance) and that the car seats fit safely. And make sure you insure her properly on your car making it clear what she's using it for.

While we're talking insurance check your household policy to see whether it covers employers liability for a domestic employee too!

if she uses her car sometimes make sure she is insured for buisness class 1 use. (some companies do this free, others charge a small sum

I've always put cash in a kitty at the start of the week for our nanny to spend. She takes out what she needs and leaves the rest so it gets topped up by however much is needed.

I pay for classes like Monkey Music direct by DD, but for toddler groups and things like that, that you pay for on the day, she uses the kitty. Other things that the kitty is used for - supermarket shopping if nanny is preparing soemthing for thejm to eat, trips out and food whilst they're out, parking, sometimes she''ll top our car up with petrol (she drives our family car) etc.

Yes, we use the kitty method too. It works well and we just get receipts too.

i have a credit card, (have for last few jobs) makes life easier if food shopping needs picked up/dry cleaning/parcels to po/petrol in car (costs over £100 to fill up) haircuts

i used to give all receipts, but boss' never check them, db said,if we trust you with our children, we trust you with our money

though i still leave all receipts in the jug, and what they do with them, is up to them iyswim - and obv everything is on the monthly statement

also have a cash kitty for car parks/ice creams at park etc

thanks for the tip about car insurance. i didn't know she'd have to have special cover too...

I have a two kittys now working in a share i generally put the money in a purse and work it out at the end of the week. Weekly classes are paid for by cheque at the start of the term. Use the kitty to find the few errands that i do as well. Mine are all in education now so the term times its only errands and the odd bit for tea and cakes at school. Holidays do cost slightly more we have season tickets for a couple of places. Mine are all happy to go swimming the park museum etc
In my last job i had both they never asked for receips although i did keep them the credit card was handy as i would often do the weekly shop i was in full charge of uniform shoes

Echo what others have said. My nanny has a kitty and keeps an expenses book. Puts receipts in the jar. I top it up every Monday so she starts each monday with £40. All her activities are paid for by DD so the kitty funds the extra little things. Our system works well.