anyone have a nanny housekeeper?

[friendlyedjit]

think this may be where I am heading! Anyone any experience tips, know re salary expectations.
Will have 2 in 3/4 time nursery otherwise next year with 2 school going children also to cater for. We have an au pair at moment for my older dd's but have found the whole process too difficult and beginning to realise perhaps am just better off not having someone living in the house. We have been a little unlucky with our choices- what seems good on paper doesn;t alway equate. So although no 3 isn't too bad- I think she may have OCD and a possible anxiety disorder. Unfortunately the OCD doesn't entail copious cleaning of the house, only copious cleaning of the hands and body and avoiding our dirty grill pan at all times!!

I do..........but I also have a cleaner as well.

We had au pairs too and got increasingly frustated with how lazy and demanding they had become over the years. In the end it was like having a further child to look after.The standard of driving was also questionable and we are very rural. It was just too stressful for me.

Our nanny/ housekeeper does before and after school care , all the house washing and ironing apart from towels and bed changing. She runs errands and does the bulk of the family shopping. the rest is internet. She also steps in if the kids are ill and can't go to school.The cleaner does the cleaning.

She does live in though ( we have a sep annexe so she is not in the house with us )and because she has 20 years nanny exp and english is her native language she is paid 270 a week net and that will go up to about 290 at christmas. Its an expensice do. We run a car too and all the extra cost of feeding 3 adults instaed of 2.

But he children are happier healthier and the whole thing just works better. I can recommend it.

Uh oh you have two identical threads.

I have tried everything, with no lasting success.

I have recently hired what is billed as a person to help at home, who is first and foremost a cleaner. Generally I have found it easier to get cleaners to help with the children than childcarers to help with the house.

The big difference with this one is I decided to give her as many hours each week as I can afford, but to suit me so that means coming at 4:30 to 7:30, 4 to 5 evenings a week. Mostly she does the housework, including prepping fresh fruit and veg, and I can pay more attention to dds. Sometimes I get her to collect dds from afterschool club (a short walk), or to read with one of them while I take the other to an activity, or to just be in the house ironing while they watch tv. tonight we are trying her to collect them and reheat a pizza, so that I can go straight to a meeting after work.

So far so good. But she hasn't found any other jobs, so is unlikely to stay long.

sorry have posted twice- am going through that pregancy phase of waking up really early!! but not being completely with it!!

I haven't followed your AP story very well, if it's discussed on other threads-but OCD sounds pretty bad. I had one with mental issues-nightmare.

IME NO AP has been much use at cleaning, they have to be told exactly what to do, EACH TIME, and often then make a face as well. It takes almost as much time, and more energy, than doing it yourself.

My new lady has a typical flaw-Day 1: shown how to wash a lettuce. Day 2: left note to wash a lettuce UNSUPERVISED oh the responsibility! Did she do it? Did she heck. There were 2 lettuces in fridge. Her solution- do neither, as I did not specify which one to do.

Will my dds get anything to eat tonight? There are 2 pizzas in the fridge. Place your bets!

DH is under orders to get home on time to step in!

I haven't posted about number three really as number two exhausted me sooo much!

She screamed when she was shown how to use hoove rwhen it was switched on!
DH showed her how to use a cloth and wipe down work surfaces-but she continued to leave trails of crumbs around during her toast eating feasts. She sued to walk around things that the children had dropped.. as they do!

This one is a bit better but spends a lot of time washing and getting ready. Hand washing is excessive, and she seems awfully axious and sometimes on a different planet. She was meant to be doing a bit of tidying on wednesday- other days at college so gets to do school pick ups and keep an eye on gals.
But was able to walk past soaking grill pan and ignore all day. Doesn't like "dirty things". Who does but we all get on with it!
Despite being a teacher, she doesn't seem to like playing with children.
As usual I feel guilty being a busy working mum, but think that I need to find someone who's focus will be my children and not just them being around so that their needs are met. Someone who has chosen to be a child carer, because thats what they want to do.
Now i feel like a complete wingy minnie

I tried this and TBH I think it is very difficult to get right... anyone who is qualified will not want to do housework, those that aren't qualified and are willing to do housework may be enthusiastic but may not be the best at looking after children. we had a live-in Nanny-H and it was a disaster: although she was enthusiastic at first she was out of her depth as she only had her own experience as a mother to go on.... it all ended in tears. Unless you are really lucky (and MP I do so you here, I think you will find that a NH will be much 'better' at either nannying OR housekeeping, and worse at the other role; you may then end up forever compromising in much the same way that you do with au-pairs...

I think much better to split the two tasks and give them to two different people TBH.

what a lovely thought................

Major stress,Issy and squiffy many thanks. I'm going to step back again. No 4 not due until April, so have a little time to think of what we need.
I'll try and find a cleaner- we did have one of those- but she wasn't too useful, and stressed me out!Felt I was paying over the odds for work that was lacking in everything. I think I'm just useless and hiring people despite lists etc. Perhaps this is something I could try and pass over to DH....
Laughs out long and hard as this would be preferable but unlikely to happen!!!

I think it works if, like Issy, you have school age children and are less bothered about the housekeeping stuff in the school holidays (although I can see how the au pair couple thingmight work really well here).

We have nanny and cleaner because I have 1 DS2.4 and am 6 months pregnant with No 2 and work full time in the City. Plan is, when all our children are at school, to drop down to something akin to Issy's arrangement.

I'm pants at hiring people and telling them what to do-but often you really have no choice, and it does get a bit better the more you do it.

I've had lots of cleaners over the years and most have taken some of the burden off me and DH at a reasonable price. You still have to manage them, and replace them when they leave. I think they are worth it.

Childcare is more complex and I have been convinced the hard way that it should be kept separate from cooking and cleaning for paid workers. For our family, the main way that nannies etc HAVEN'T replaced mummy and daddy has not been the affection or stimulation, but the day to day necessities like fresh food and organisation of school supplies, that sort of nonsense, -I hate that that is what I end up doing all my waking time at homeand that's why I'm trying a home help.

I don't know if a PROPER trained nanny who has English as a first language (which we never had) would have made a difference. With hindsight, I would have tried one out from an agency despite the expense! But we don't live in a posh house in a nice area, and now dds are in school so they don't want to do the job anyway. So the struggle goes on....

It is difficult isn't it? I also commute to London and we currently have an au pair (who does little or no cleaning), a cleaner (who comes twice a week) and a nursery place for my youngest dd - I have 4 children and thought that this was too much for the ap.The older 3 are all at school.

My salary (in the voluntary sector) doesn't extend to a nanny.

I am pregnant with my 5th

I don't know what the solution is - I haven't ever found a nanny who is happy to clean the house/do everything that is required, and my ap does language school every morning, so doesn't have the time (or the inclination) to clean. (I was happy to pay her extra to do the cleaning)

My house is so messy that I need a cleaner every day - but can't afford this sadly.

Isn't a mother's help one step up from an ap and meant to help with cleaning etc? (I don't know if mother's helps can live in).

I have a nanny housekeeper who currenly does 2days a week and will go full time in February when DS2 is born.

It suits me because what I was really looking for was a housekeeper who can entertain DS for 2-3 hours each time, and can keep an eye on him if I have to run to an appointment or do an errand. As i am a SAHM, I have principle care of my kids, and just needed someone do do the housework, and fill in babysitting. The person I have is great for that, but would be pants if I actually really relied on her to be a nanny. She is a great housekeeper, though. I guess her true title would be is a mothers help/housekeeper.

Mothers Helps can live in, and will do general household chores as well as childcare.

Personally as a nanny I don't mind doing some lgiht cleaning - especially if I'm working with a newborn and sterilising stuff every 5 minutes anyway the kitchen HAS to be clean. I've always had at least nursery duties included in my contract and don't mind putting on/hanging out the odd load of laundry for parents either, but I guess I'm a rarity!

Have you thought about hiring a nanny with their own child?My son was at nursery 3 morning a week which worked out really well.
I was a nanny/housekeeper for 2 school aged children 10+12,my hours were 9-12 then 3.30-6.30 £10phr net
They also had a cleaner once a week.
Duties included:
changing all bedding once a week
All washing & ironing
Changing all bathroom towels
Daily dog walk
Preparing evening meals
Running Errands
Weekly shop
Hoover and mop floor twice a week (DOG)
Afternoon school run
Organising Cupboards(Love This)
Organising appointments
Full-time care in holidays less pay

Have been a qualified/experienced nanny for over 10 years and can honestly say that this was the best job that i had ever had suited me and my son really welland the family were really lovely to work for.

ooh I was just wondering how to get someone to organise cupboards. But my heart sank at explaining this complex task to my latest "find".

My dds DID get fed a little bit last night, while I was working late at a meeting, but the lady had to phone me to ask how to switch on the oven.

The lady I was meeting with was very , especially when she heard my explanation (1)turn the on/off knob to "on"; 2) turn the temperature to whatever it says on the pizza packet.)

She has also been unable to switch on the dishwasher, which only has ONE button.

So phoning me is actually a step forward, usually she just opts out and doesn't do the task if there is any shred of doubt. Do you think it is deliberate?

But I did feel a mug in front of my colleague, who has had to hire (and fire) several carers for herself-she has a brain tumour and copes better than I!

lounan what do you mean about holidays less pay?

i have a similar arrangement to Lounan - my nanny is qualified but brings her own son who is now 3. It works well for us. She does 1pm - 7pm in term time but starts at 8am if the children are off school for a y reason.

She does housekeeping duties (including all laundry) from 1-3 and then collects the youngest from school. It is working well for us but will end next summer as her child starts school in sept and she can't do two school pick ups from different schools - but I'm determined not to worry about it until much nearer the time.

i think one of the reasons it works so well is because she runs her own family and house and thus knows what needs doing/keeping an eye on eg she knows that toilet paper doesn't appear in the house by magic abd when stocks start to run low you need to get some more. It's all the stuff that my au pairs never managed to get on top of - and it makes life an awful lot easier for me.

Because of longer hours i.e 9-6.30 in the holidays my pay was £7phr net.I wouldn't have expected to have been paid £10phr, Plus the girls would take the dog for a walk, come shopping and generally help out alot more and were great with my son so i guess it was all about comphremise.oh and i had about 14 weeks paid holiday at the full weekly rate so i defo wasn't going to complain about less money in the holidays when i did work.

I have a housekeeper, who keeps the house, and does a bit of childcare too, and one of the pick ups, plus an au pair who does most of the after school stuff and the other pick up. It works OK - the house is clean and the children are all accounted for when I get home from the office. They do plenty of things wrong, but I think it's usually like that with domestic staff - everyone moans about them. You have to be crystal clear in setting tasks, say so every time there's something you don't like, and just put up with the rest really. In my experience it's always been better than not having people.

Yes there is just no substitute for experience of responsibility-for example, if a mother crams the dc's clothes in the drawers in a single central pile (!) so that they are jammed shut on Friday night, SHE is going to have to sort it out on Saturday morning when dcs can't get dressed. If you are staff, you don't work on Saturdays, so you don't learn not to do such things, because you don't suffer any consequences.

I've had the happy experience of having several common-sensical people, but mostly they are too young and inexperienced.

It would be great to get an experienced household manger, but they are either doing their own or blissfully and deservedly retired!