Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Hello


I am looking for some help with my home and children but a little apprehensive with having someone living with us 24/7. My husband works full time and I work 4 days a week. Ideally we would like someone living with us Mon - Thursday to:

- help get the children ready in the morning, give them breakfast ready for us to drop at nursery (from September this will include one child being dropped off and pick up from school)

- 3-3.5 hours daily domestic chores - cleaning, washing, ironing, cooking for the children

- pick up children from nursery at 5.30 feed and bath ready for bed (giving us flexibility to be late home)

- one nights babysitting (mon or Tue or Wed)

- Typically I think we need 5-6 hours a day mon - thurs although I am flexible on times and duration


I am happy to provide board, food, expenses etc. in addition to salary during this time. I need to flexibility of having someone around in case we are late so structured daily hours are difficult.


Does anyone have an arrangement like this and know how I can find this help or am I being unrealistic and I should try an au pair who would fit most of the criteria above.


Thanks

Anita

Link to comment
https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/30062-au-pair-home-help-advice/
Share on other sites

I think it's a bit of a long shot, as it sounds au pairy, and people wanting to fill that kind of position normally want/need to live in full time.

As long as you are happy to do your own due diligence on candidates (which is mostly about telephoning their references and asking sensible questions) it would be worth posting a highly specific advert on findababysitter.com and seeing what you get. I have had a lot of luck with this. (The site is not simply for babysitters, but nannies, au pairs...)

You do tend to get a lot of answers from people who want you to change the job to suit them. And as your requirements are likely to be hard to fill, I think you'll get more of that than most. But as long as you ruthlessly screen out those that don't fit (don't even reply) and as long as you have a bit of time (say, 2-4 weeks) to wait for the right reply to come in, I have found this only a little more hassle, a lot cheaper and a lot more flexible (in terms of what you get) than the average agency.

If you do go ahead with this kind of advert, use a secondary email address: you might be inundated!

With the job market how it is, you never know, you may get lucky.

Good luck!

You sound like you are looking for a nanny/ housekeeper. Their pay is similar to nannies but they do the job as you describe.

Au pairs should only really do light domestic chores - i.e. a bit of washing ironing, not full house cleaning and it is also quite a lot of sole charge as well. I agree posting on findababysitter or gumtree is a good place to start and if you google nanny/ housekeeper you'll find a lot of e.g. job ads and descriptions

Just to add to the mix - I was apprehensive about sharing the house - but it has been really easy with both au pairs. They tend to develop busy social lives and so aren't around on weekends much anyway - and the huge benefits of having an extra pair of hands around far far outweighs any negatives. But it is all about finding someone you like and treating them really fairly. It does sound like you want a bit more work from someone than would be fair to ask an au pair - so might need to go for nanny/ housekeeper - but don't let the sharing the house thing put you off - it really is fine.

Echo what Reren says about sharing the house.

Au pairs do not generally want to sit around watching tv with you in the evenings. We never saw ours at the weekend at all. Everyone is apprehensive about sharing, and then everyone says its fine, or even enjoy it.

I also do not think your job description would be too much for an "au pair plus" (?100 a week). But you might need to be a bit flexible with the cleaning - au pairs normally want to attend language classes in the day. A dedicated cleaner for a few hours per week might fill the gap?

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Big recommendation for Stephen Viccary who has created a magnificent bathroom for us. Quality of work is absolutely top notch. We couldn't be happier - see pics.  Stephen is considerate and tidy meaning working from home during the work was fine (some noise - obviously, it is a demo and installation after all. He does not work on multiple jobs, does a full days work and does ALL the work himself - Tiling, plumbing, lighting (including lighting on a motion sensor under the vanity and in the shower niche - for night time visits 😉), he even changed the door architraves, sorted the badly cracked ceiling and did all the paint work. A full end to end service. Stephen's number - 07941 266 145
    • Highly recommend Dulwich Eco Gardening.  When he came to quote Saied said he’d give our garden back so we could decide what we do next.  Under two weeks of hard work from Saied and Mo and we have the garden back and can see paving I’d forgotten about. Not only did Saied remove our very overgrown greenery. Nature had taken over. He also took back to our fence line overgrown ivy, apple and pear trees and and dealt with a neighbours bamboo that had invaded our garden.  We are now going to get quotes for what we do next so those quoting will be able to see the space.  Saied has suggested someone to quote and will be coming back when he does in case he has any questions or they can work together.  I thought Saied would be a good choice and he was. Quotes from others didn’t leave me with confidence for the end result. That was never a concern with Saied.
    • Having a BBQ (fingers crossed) in 2 weeks and need a small BBQ for veggie bits and any spare benches or garden tables and chairs to borrow to add to mine. Any going? Thanks in advance...
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...