How much do you pay your nanny?? (Houston, Spring: spring break, credit)

[td123]

We have a nanny that comes to our house from 7:30AM-3:30PM during the school year. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old. I am expecting a new baby this Fall.
How much is appropriate to pay for 3 small children??? My 3 year old will go to pre-k MWF, 8:30-2PM. My husband and I will take her.
Our nanny does light house work, and does the kids laundry. She is VERY helpful. I want to compensate her fairly. I am a teacher, so one perk for her is when we are off (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Spring break) she gets paid even though she may not work the whole week.
When we only had 1 child we paid her $250/wk. When our 2nd came around we paid her $350/wk. Now with our 3rd child coming are we suppose to pay her $450 a week?? We are also paying $245 a month for my 3 yr old to go to pre-k 3 days a week.
Any tips would be helpful. THX!

[elnina]

That's a lots of money!!!
Check with craigslist.org what is the common rate.

[LostInHouston]

Originally Posted by elnina

That's a lots of money!!!

Not really... $350 per week is about what you'd pay at a fulltime daycare for 2 kids. The nanny is only making $8.75 / hour. I don't think I could get a 15 year old babysitter for less than $10/hr for 3 kids.

[CanTex]

I've done the Craigslist research thing and interviewed a good number of nannies. There is a distinct difference between in the quality of care when paying someone <$10 / hour for multiple babies and starting at around $12 / hour. For $10 or less, you'll get someone who doesn't have a lot of experience, not infant CPR / first aid certified, not a lot of references, and may not speak a lot of English (and will probably want to be paid in cash...) If you're happy with your nanny, $450 a week is not unreasonable for 1 newborn, 1 toddler and a 3 year old... in fact, that's a great deal.

[td123]

Still doing research, what are people paying for good quality daycare for 3 kids?

[rogerbacon]

Originally Posted by LostInHouston

Not really... $350 per week is about what you'd pay at a fulltime daycare for 2 kids. The nanny is only making $8.75 / hour. I don't think I could get a 15 year old babysitter for less than $10/hr for 3 kids.

First, it is only $8.75 an hour if she is working 40 hours a week. The OP said it was 8:30 - 2:00. That's 27.5 hours a week so the $350 a week comes to $12.72.
Secondly, everyone reading this and seeing an hourly rate is probably comparing it to how they felt when they made that rate. In most of our cases we didn't take home the full amount. We had deductions for taxes, social security, and other things. Somehow I suspect the nanny won't have these deductions. That probably raises the effective coparable rate to $20 an hour.

[CanTex]

Originally Posted by rogerbacon

First, it is only $8.75 an hour if she is working 40 hours a week. The OP said it was 8:30 - 2:00. That's 27.5 hours a week so the $350 a week comes to $12.72.
Secondly, everyone reading this and seeing an hourly rate is probably comparing it to how they felt when they made that rate. In most of our cases we didn't take home the full amount. We had deductions for taxes, social security, and other things. Somehow I suspect the nanny won't have these deductions. That probably raises the effective coparable rate to $20 an hour.

8:30 - 2:00 was the pre-school hours for the 3 year old. The nanny is there for 8 hours a day, so 40 hours a week with a newborn and toddler and about a third of that time with the 3 year old.

[chris_ut]

Originally Posted by rogerbacon

First, it is only $8.75 an hour if she is working 40 hours a week. The OP said it was 8:30 - 2:00. That's 27.5 hours a week so the $350 a week comes to $12.72.
Secondly, everyone reading this and seeing an hourly rate is probably comparing it to how they felt when they made that rate. In most of our cases we didn't take home the full amount. We had deductions for taxes, social security, and other things. Somehow I suspect the nanny won't have these deductions. That probably raises the effective coparable rate to $20 an hour.

12.72 cash is not comparable to $20 taxed. $14 per hour is about what it would equal with taxes. I wonder where it was you worked that they withheld 40 percent of your pay.

[rogerbacon]

Originally Posted by CanTex

8:30 - 2:00 was the pre-school hours for the 3 year old. The nanny is there for 8 hours a day, so 40 hours a week with a newborn and toddler and about a third of that time with the 3 year old.

Yep. Misread that.

Originally Posted by chris_ut

12.72 cash is not comparable to $20 taxed. $14 per hour is about what it would equal with taxes. I wonder where it was you worked that they withheld 40 percent of your pay.

True, at that level of income there would be less withheld and she'd get it all back along with more from the earned income tax credit. OK, so $14 an hour. What does Craig's list say they are asking?

[SteveArmy]

we feed her, bring home dvds she wants to see and take her to vacations with us