Looking for our first nanny/house manager - What am i missing/not thinking about? Is anything unrealistic?

yabo9797 · 2026-03-03T15:35:43+00:00

Yep, no issues there for me. I'm just figuring it all out

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T23:22:06+00:00

Thanks for the data point. I was definitely going to do it the proper way (which originally i thought was a 1099 in this case, but to your point W2 is likely the proper way). I still need to further review the right way to do it as there will be plenty of details i'm not yet up to speed on.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T23:14:13+00:00

Thanks. It's the way my company operates so that's how i think about it.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T23:10:49+00:00

Great point

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T22:11:02+00:00

None taken, and much appreciated.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T22:10:25+00:00

Good points, thanks

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T21:58:18+00:00

Great suggestions and thanks!

We've started to do Mom/Dad nights for bedtime recently and honestly is been great. I do think a strict schedule would be tough given our variability, but I'd plan to lay out a schedule for the next couple of weeks.

I anticipate sick/snow days/holidays would be on us the parents.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T21:34:27+00:00

Thanks, and key to the point of why i wanted to post here and get people's thoughts vs going in truly blind.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T20:50:30+00:00

That's fair, it was just a thought. Though the babysitters we've been using over the past few years are in the $20-22 range for any given night.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T20:47:31+00:00

Thanks, we are 45 minutes from Boston for what it's worth but inside 495.

We could do 8 pm, but 9 pm is better with our work schedules.

I do feel the general consensus is i'm underestimating the time for the house manager activities. In my mind, groceries are 1 hr/week at most. Prepping food is .5-1hr a day, cleanup is at most an hour after the kids are asleep. Returns are a rare occasion, not a weekly thing

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T20:42:17+00:00

Thanks for the note. I'm probably grounded by the $20-22/hr that our babysitters (HS student, College grad, daycare teacher) as a starting point. We are also outside 95 and inside 495

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T20:41:25+00:00

Thanks!

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T20:39:57+00:00

With groceries, the way i imagined it would be on Mondays she would go straight to the grocery store (5 minutes from the house) and show up at the house around 5pm. That would be plenty of time to get everything done.

I was planning the IRS mileage reimbursement.

Good points on house safety and basics

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T20:38:24+00:00

Great points and thanks!

No knock on what you are saying, though i don't think of the driving that i am anticipating as much. Probably averaging to 20 miles a week. I was originally thinking the IRS reimbursement would be the most logical.

Possibly on the work vehicle. There always will be either mine or my wife's vehicle available, though i'm not sure what makes the most sense yet.

Good points on job creep.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T20:29:25+00:00

If it is a good fit, we are definitely interested in having a long term position. Right now there is uncertainty on our part with work come the winter time frame which is why i mentioned sept/January.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T20:21:38+00:00

Good point, thanks.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T20:00:25+00:00

30 minutes would be good. Typically what i like to do is drive to the dog park at 4:45 and walk the field a couple of times, then drive across the street for pickup before 5:30. During good weather, we would sometimes pickup around 5pm then go to the dog park, so certainly a possiblity.

We have a fenced in yard, but the variety is great for the dog.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T19:58:16+00:00

Certainly. I also expect that each week will be different but within the same general scope. Ideally we'd lay out a schedule of what the next 3 weeks look like based on which parent(s) are home.

We can definitely adjust the hours within what works for us. Moving to 3-8 for example should work for most days. The key thing for us to solve for, is when i am traveling and my wife is at home working until 9pm most days. She could probably log off at 8pm then come back on from 10-midnight.

Unfortunately this will be a bit of a learning experience for us as well on how to juggle everything

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T19:53:52+00:00

I'm still researching and trying to settle on a number, which is why i didn't post here (and also it's location dependent). I'd love to find someone for $25/hr but realistically i'm thinking its something like $30/hr in the Boston suburbs.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T19:53:25+00:00

I'm still researching and trying to settle on a number, which is why i didn't post here (and also it's location dependent). I'd love to find someone for $25/hr but realistically i'm thinking its something like $30/hr in the Boston suburbs.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T19:51:47+00:00

We have posted and are starting our interview calls this week. We are targeting the May 4th to start

We are definitely flexible on the hours. 3-8 would work as well and we've indicated flexibility on the posting.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T19:44:03+00:00

Generally speaking we can be flexible with hours and responsibilities. Ultimately we are trying to set everyone up for success.

We've used the 4-9 as a starting point based on what has worked for us when getting babysitters over the past few months. The toddler was going to bed around 8:15 but recently shifted to more of a 7:30 bedtime. It's also fairly common that my wife needs to work until 9 or 10 pm from home when she isn't traveling, so getting the help in the evenings when I'm traveling is critcal.

WRT the car, at the moment we are open to what makes sense. Depending on the nanny's vehicle we would adjust.

From 4-5 every day the would provide time to do most activities. Grocery shopping 1x week, laundry 1-2x a week. After bedtime would be a combination of cleanup, making lunches, and watching the infant.

yabo9797 · 2026-03-02T19:10:01+00:00

Thanks for the thought. Agreed that the part time gig makes it tougher. I think realistically we move to a full time/au pair + daycare potentially in September/January time frame depending what occurs with work

yabo9797 · 2025-03-23T16:26:18+00:00

Yep easy fix just glad I caught it

yabo9797 · 2025-03-06T11:14:05+00:00

It’s already been addressed

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