Less Hours for nanny or other ideas for when DD starts pre-school

[travellingtime]

I'm sure this has been done to death, so apololgies but looking for fresh ideas.
DS (6yo) adn DD (3yo) looked after by nanny at our house.
DS at school all day. DD due to start pre-school in Sept.
Nanny currently works 42 hrs per week over 4 days. Ideally i would like to reduce that slightly (say by 6 hours / week) by myself and DH each doign one days dropping off at school and nanny's day starting just before pre-school pick up.
She is not keen on droppign any hours BUT I dont think i can come up with enough jobs around the house that (a) she would want to do and (b) I would be confident she would do well. The obvious solution is that she does household tasks that currently are not in her remit, such as kids laundry, changing of beds, cleaning their bedrooms etc btu i dont think this would fill 3 hours each 4 days a week.
My issue is I have been longing for the day that our childcare costs start to go down...and maybe I am just going to have to hold on for another year but would be interested in how other folks have managed in this type of situation.

Kids laundry and beds are a normal duty for many nannies. I am endelesly doing laundry.

How about changing hours of work, such as 12-7 or whatever will work out as nearly same weekly hours?

How many hours per week do they currently do?

What happens in the school holidays, or if one of the children is sick? If you need the nanny to be available then, then I think you may have to continue your current arrangement. Maybe have a talk with her and see what jobs she thinks she could do in the child-free hours. She may come up with other things that you haven't thought of.

Thanks, We have a meeting scheduled and I have asked her to come up with some ideas.
One thing I thought was that if she was doign a later start a couple of days a week and still finishing at the same time we might be able to ask for an evenings baby sitting once a fortnight or something.
She currently does 42 hours, over 4 days.
only laundry she does at the moment is to put their clothes away when they are clean and dry.

I think if you want to cut her hours then be prepared to find a new nanny. Assuming a wage of £10ph, that's a £60 a week paycut you're asking her to take and it's not as though she'll be able to easily find someone else for those hours.

What happens when the school closes because snow etc or one of the children is ill or the school holidays? If you want her to be on call for those times then you need to continue to pay her because she won't be able to take on another job.

I appreciate its money that seems to be wasted as effectively your nanny has free time during her working day. However as a nanny myself, I couldn't afford the drop in income. Not even when my partner andi pool incomes. I still have the same bills.
I would be willing to take on the housework/ cooking for parents term time in order to keep my hours though

Kids laundry, sort clothes out, toys, sew labels in, clean room, cook and stock freezer.

Tons more things that my nanny did before dd2 appeared that didn't come under heading of cleaning but were general errands. But nanny has to be willing to do those jobs .

My boss wanted to drop my salary as I wouldn't have my charge during their time at school - however I argued that I would have to be on call for snow days/inset days/sick days and as such could not gain other employment during those hours. I have tried to find a nanny share - would this be something you would be interested in?

Jobs I do whilst my charge is at school are : Sorting out toys, doing basic groceries, washing/ironing, batch cooking (as needed) running errands (taking books to library/pick up birthday gifts) Name label items as nesscesary, Keep the general bathroom clean, hoover the main rooms, wait in for deliveries/repairmen, do a general sort of clothes/toys on a monthly basis, load/unload dishwasher, attend activities at the school - drop in sessions/see plays/assemballies etc.

Wouldn't you have to make your nanny redundant if you wanted to make the job shorter hours and pay less?

We had this situation in September when DS1 started morning preschool - we kept our nanny on her normal hours and her normal pay. She does loads aroudn the house - tidying and sorting kids rooms and toys, laundry, preparing meals, getting activities ready for the boys after school, running errands for us (e.g. dry cleaning etc) and also helping out with the general ironing which she was happy to do. Those 2 hours go by really rather quickly and really do make our lives easier.

I know how quickly those couple of hours go, I remember from when DS was at pre-school.
Perhaps you are all right and I just need to try and make best use of that time in terms of jobs she has to do.
I also appreciate that it is hugely convenient to have someone there to cover whent he kids are ill, during the hols etc. And would not want to be without that.
I guess where we might make the (slight) saving is that if nanny is picking up some of the household chores, our cleaner wont have as much to do

to begin with im assuming dd will do 2 days at pre school though you did say 4days - 3hrs generally a day - but by the time add travel each way, you are looking at maybe 2.5hrs a day child free unless live next door to school :)

tbh most nannies do nursery duties so get her to start doing the kids washing/ironing/changing beds etc

once my charges are at nursery/school im happy to put on the parents washing/dry it but i dont iron their stuff or clean the house - thats the cleaners job

2.5hrs a day goes quickly esp if one day you change beds, another tidy playroom, 3rd day wash, 4th iron- and thats not including any extras like cooking meals for freezer

or maybe one day your nanny can do the weekly food shop for you,saves you doing it and gives you more time with your children when you are not at work

as others have said you need to think about if your dc are ill/snow days (now) or general holidays - yes great you can take kids and drop off but if they fall over/are sick can you pick them up or are you expecting your nanny to keep the morning free even though you are not paying her incase you need her

childcare is a huge expense for parents and i know many begrudge paying their nanny when have no children, but you are paying for the stability of what if ............

thanks all.
blondes, yes, DD will do 5 mornings a week.
I know really we are paying for convenience and for stability for the kids.
I wondered whether food shopping was a reasonable task for nanny but it seems that it is...so good news for me, no more supermarket shopping!

i love doing the familys food shop, then i can plan what the kiddiwinks can eat, plus get healthy salad lunch for me :)

have also taken car to garage for mot/service/new tyres etc

ours takes the recycling once a week which is something i'm thrilled not to have to do. She'll also stick our bedding in the wash once cleaners have changed bed. We've also exchanged a late start one morning a week (she starts at pick up time from nursery) for two nights' babysitting a month. it means we're effectively paying a huge rate + tax for babysitting but at least we're (in theory) getting some value from otherwise "dead" time (in practice, she's often booked up / not free and so we're not even getting 2 nights / month). ours however already does all the children's laundry including beds. If she could sew it would be a massive bonus, & probably worth sending her to a couple of lessons to learn - am slightly that she can't sew a name tape / button.

Since charge has started at school - we have had 3 inset days; 2 sick days and 2 school closure days; so 7 days that would have needed to be covered by someone if I hadn't been paid/kept on for these eventualities - I have also been able to go see the school show, go in to participation sessions where everyone had some sort of adult there which all adds up if you're going to then have to pay overtime/find someone else to cover etc

bobbi - she cant sew?????????? im not the best sewer, but quite capable of sewing a button or name tags on - or get iron ones

depending how long your nanny gets off, say goes into work/nursery at 12pm-so possibly 4hrs off if starts at 8, then 2 nights babysitting sounds a bargain for you

travellingtime, I may be wrong but the thing that strikes me about your posts is that your nanny doesn't appear to either do the nursery duties that come withe job (such as children's laundry, ironing, tidy playroom, cooking etc) nor the extra favours that nannies do such as run errands for the family. Our nanny does all these things for us, and so when dc2 starts nursery later on this year, I think she will (after 4 years) finally be able to do these things without rushing around, and, at least have a cup of tea. I think if your nanny was doing the child related extra things (as most nannies do) then you wouldn't feel worried about how she is going to fill her time, nor resent paying for time that's "wasted". I would probably look at the nursery duties first?

Sewing lessons... hmm, I can sew but I have no experience of using a machine, wonder if there are sewing machine courses - guess there must be somewhere. Then I can mend the pockets of my trousers (rant: they don't make trouser pockets as thick as they used to).

Stick-in labels (Stikins) are even easier... work really quite well.

Having some flexibility with what hours they will work (whilst keeping total paid hours per week the same) can work well for all concerned. Not all nannies will want to work flexible hours though.

BLondes - it's a morning off each week for 2 nights baby sitting - so about 6 hrs babysitting for a little over 16 hrs off / month. She's doing very nicely out of it (& still fines me £2 for every 10 minutes I'm late. Which I find q annoying).
the sewing thing is bizarre - she says she's tried but just can't. I on the other hand have never got to grips with iron on name tapes; they've always just shrivelled up.

Iron on tapes - steam needs to be off, and you press down, but don't move the iron.

Oic bobbi. Then yes nanny does well as tbh a tad cheeky to charge overtime for odd ten minutes late - unless you are always late