A frugal nanny?

[SootyTheCat]

I'm soon going to be returning to work and we've decided a nanny would be the best childcare option for us for a number of reasons (3 DCs, so its going to be expensive whatever we do).

We're intending to offer a reasonable salary for our area (up to £10 per hour gross). But it will be really stretching our budget, i.e. pretty much all my salary. We live quite frugally anyway but will have to really start counting the pennies.

Would it be unreasonable to ask the nanny to be as frugal as possible too? e.g. avoiding expensive days out, going to free activities where possible, not buying chocolate / treats for the kids from the shop??

Can I ask her to bring her own lunch and snacks? I don't want to add £5 - £10 to the weekly food budget to have extra food in, it will really add up and I'll feel like I have to buy naice ham & yummy gourmet stuff rather than the cheapo things I make do with!

We tend to keeping the heating on low and wear extra clothes and slippers. I suffer from cold hands so its never that low (min 20), but it isn't on all day, I just put it on for an hour when I feel nippy. I don't want her to freeze but at the same time we can't afford the heating bill to go up loads. Would this be unacceptable?

I will be honest about all this in the interview - but would this put you off accepting the job? Thanks for your honest thoughts.

I think the heating is a non-issue. I (fortunately) don't have any worries about heating bills, but our thermostat is set for 19 degrees, and comes on whenever necessary to maintain that. On a very cold winters evening we might turn it up to 20 for a short burst, but otherwise that's where it stays. 19 degrees is plenty warm enough for room temperature.

Lunch is generally provided and I would think that might be a sticking point. I don't think you should worry about naice ham or similar - whatever you are happy to feed your children should be fine for the nanny too (obviously not talking jars of baby food here ). I certainly don't bother getting anything 'nicer' for our nanny - she is more than welcome to help herself to anything in the fridge/cupboards (if I want to keep something for a specific meal then I say so), and generally will have a portion of whatever the children are having, so if sandwiches then she has the same, or if a hot meal then she has a portion too. She is also welcome to have tea with us if she wants, and she does roughly half the time. I always offer (I am at home, so generally making the tea), and sometimes she does, other times she has plans. I don't think it would be so odd not to offer, but again, it isn't something that would make a huge difference to us financially, so I am happy to offer.

Kitty wise I think you will get a huge split of opinion. I don't think a nanny should be spending anymore than I would in a week for trips/extras (although I have had previous nannies who disagreed and wanted a substantial kitty) and I don't take the children to a farm/soft play/costlier outing every week. I think this one is in how you present it, and what kind of setup you have. We have a garden full of toys, and a house full of games and activities and craft. There is so much for everyone to do, and as a family we prefer to concentrate on activities (like craft and projects and gardening) rather than constant entertaining so look for a nanny with a similar outlook.

We've had a FT nanny for about 5 yrs and there was a huge dip in our heating bill [set to come on at 20 deg] when our first nanny left. I think she'd been whacking it up as soon as we left the house while refusing to wear slippers or even a light jumper. Now we have the heating set to come on first thing in the morning, at lunchtime for two hours, and again at 5pm for bathtime. We have a couple of oil filled radiators which we leave to be plugged in if it gets chilly rather than heat the whole house unnecessarily. They are generally in the kitchen or the living room if indoors anyway. To be honest though if the weather is absolutely perishing you have to suck up the cost of it.

We live in London so there's a ton of free stuff incl farms to do within a short walk so kitty has never really been an issue. If we sign the kids up to a paid activity then that's paid for up front and generally I put £20 in a wallet which can last up to a month but maybe I've had a series of frugal nannies. In the summer though there are more trips to farms, ice-creams and sandwich lunches out so £20 a week isn't unusual.

When you interview, simply ask the question [assuming the nanny is experienced and has worked locally] which is "what would you consider a reasonable weekly budget for entertainment?"

A six month old doesn't want or need lots of expensive stuff though soft play can be invaluable in the winter when they start crawling. Think of the £2 charge as money that would have been spent on heating! The 4yo will be shattered after a morning at nursery so afternoons with a school run for your oldest will probably take care of themselves to be honest.

All of our nannies have brought their own food for the most part or made a sandwich with what's in the fridge. Raiding naice biscuits received as gifts and kept for guests was our only really issue with one nanny who was always on a diet and would then crack !

My nanny eats whatevers in the cupboards/ fridge/ freezer. One person stated that you should ask what they consider to be a good daily/ weekly budget for activities. This is a fab idea.
Dont do what i do and just go along with whatever the nanny suggests as my one has expensive tastes. She spends £40 a day on my 6 & 8 yr old. Reading this thread has made me realise that this is not the norm.

£40 a day? Is she taking taxi's everywhere?

No Tread. Softplay, lunch. Im such a wuss i feel embarrassed to say its too much money.

Wow though. £200 a week on unbooked activities and eating out even in the holidays is pretty steep. They must spend v little time at home at all.

Presumably they are back to school this week though so the actual opportunity to spank so much cash is reduced

Sit her down and simply say "Mr Wizzy and I have reviewed our current spending and we need you to start to work within a budget for entertaining cost centres A & B. Then state what that is, and what are the exceptions if any for which she/he should ask for more cash.

Everyone lives within some sort of budget, even the Beckhams.

To work out costs, you need to find out about activities in your area and How much they charge

Wow @ £40 per day

Yes on a day trip out as a treat - not as an average daily spend !!!!!

Thank god they are back at school this /next week

Op - what will you do?

We haven't had a nanny since 2009 so maybe out of touch. Kitty and mileage were huge issues at the time though, she didn't really cook,didn't like taking sandwiches, basically wanted to eat out most days-which I simply wouldn't do. We eventually agreed on £20 per week,she would have liked £100 (dcs were 3-5 and 1-3) and got an old fuel efficient car for her use. I ended up buying more convince foods than I might have and paid up front for gym membership (with soft play) so she always had somewhere to take them for "free" on cold winter days. She could also put the baby in the creche and go for a swim for free.

She could also put the baby in the creche and go for a swim for free.

on your time?!

Yup,
She worked up to 13 hour days, the creche was free to members, I used it on my days off. As others have said nanny's don't get a lunch break. I'm sorry I don't see the problem here.

with our nanny (before she left home and had to pay heating) i often used to come downstairs with ajumper for her, as no way was i paying to heat the house warm enough for "that" outfit, bare midrift in january up north.

You have to provide meals, but only the same as you would normally eat. If she/he doesn't like what is on offer they can choose to bring their own.

Just wanted to come back and update on this (as I always hate threads where the OP doesn't come back!). Thanks again for everyone's comments on this, which I've taken on board. Heating will be on and up to the nanny to judge how to manage it! They can eat the same as the kids or bring their own. Weekly kitty and typical term time / holiday activities have been discussed at interview.

We've gone for someone with less experience for a slightly lower salary (we are not in London), to give a bit more breathing space financially, but she seems lovely. So fingers crossed it will all work out well.

We also worked through various tax credits / childcare vouchers calculators and realised that we can get a fairly respectable amount of money saved through that, so that helps relax things a bit too.

Thanks again for all the input and varying viewpoints, much appreciated.

Thanks for reporting back :)

Glad you have found a slightly cheaper nanny and yes you can use ofsted /wtc to help ease costs

My nanny spends less than £20 a week for two kids for a full five days. She's happy with cheap activities and takes snacks and drinks out with her I let her have lunch though - she only has a sandwich and it's cheap!
I think you have to offer her lunch but tell her you're on a budget regarding activities.
As for heating, just set your thermostat low. But yes, you can't freeze her ass off.
I am sure you can find somebody

You also need to factor in the odd cup of coffee if they're in softplay ect.

I nannied and was very frugal. The only thing I did that was paid for was swimming (and bus fares). Will the Nanny live in? I did a whole load of research locally and did free things at the library, local mother and toddlers, the park etc. I lived in, had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, the same as the kids for lunch (so egg on toast, homemade soup etc) and I made the evening meal for us all (homemade curries, spag bol and the likes). It can be done but some nannies may be put off somewhat if they think you are "struggling financially". As for the heating, it sort of depends if we have a really harsh winter but if you set the timers and say they are set for a reason then see how that goes.