How much does an au pair cost & general questions......

[npg1]

Ok, thinking about this. DH lives away all week, I find it hard with kids on my own and we have a spare room and bathroom. My kids are 5yrs and nearly 2yrs. How much do people pay for an au pair and what is expected of them and you? We are in Essex. Any advice would be great please. I know we can not afford a nanny!

hiya - we have just got an au pair to help out with childcare and a bit of light housework (nothing too major).. she has her own room and bathroom and we pay her £70 per week for 30 hrs (approx - usually less than this).
obviously you need to factor in food, elec and anything else you need to buy in for her. We've bought her a freeview box for her tv, a mobile and new bedding/towels etc...

there are lots of threads about au pairs on here if you do a search, lots of helpful info. I used aupairworld.net to find my Danish au pair.

We have just got an au pair mainly to supervise my school age children before school (for about 30mins) and afterschool (for a max on 1hr 30min sole charge). She also walks our dog, and does a few jobs (empties dishwasher each morning, wipes table, puts breakfast bowls into dishwasher), and babysits up to twice a week. Her total working hours come to 17.5, not including babysitting. She gets £65 per week plus £10 a month credit on a PAYG mobile we have given her, plus a 16-25 railcard, use of my car during the week (and weekends by arrangement) and gym membership. (I'm in rural essex). She also had the choice of eating with us or having her own food budget - she's eating with us for now.
I have given her the choice to do more cleaning if she wishes (dusting and hoovering, not bathrooms) for an extra £20 per week.
Then as nvj said there are the 'set up' costs - we had a spare room with ensuite shower room but it was furnished for overnight guests so we ended up buying different furniture for it (large wardrobe, drawers, desk etc), also computer and tv for her room, new linen, laundry bin and airer etc..it's set up like a student room to give her her own space to relax in.

I also used aupair-world.net..and recommend searching the mumsnet archives for lots of advice.