nanny / housekeeper services

[LingoLaine]

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I've got two kids who will be 8 and 5 when school starts next fall (plus a working husband who travels from time to time), so I'm starting to think about what kinds of child care/extra support we're going to need. Ideally we'd have someone who could pick up the kids from school and drive them to their various activities, help with homework, clean the house, do a few loads of laundry, prepare meals, etc. I don't know my schedule yet so don't know whether we'll really need help with all of these things during first year or not.

Has anybody here with kids hired this kind of help while in medical school? Do you have any advice to offer both in terms of finding the right person and what kind of help would be most useful/appropriate during medical school?

 

[theseeker4]

I’ve got two kids who will be 8 and 5 when school starts next fall (plus a working husband who travels from time to time), so I’m starting to think about what kinds of child care/extra support we’re going to need. Ideally we’d have someone who could pick up the kids from school and drive them to their various activities, help with homework, clean the house, do a few loads of laundry, prepare meals, etc. I don't know my schedule yet so don't know whether we'll really need help with all of these things during first year or not.

Has anybody here with kids hired this kind of help while in medical school? Do you have any advice to offer both in terms of finding the right person and what kind of help would be most useful/appropriate during medical school?

Don't have personal experience with hiring someone, but my wife was a nanny for a couple families during college. Look at the local university (assuming you will be near one during med school 😉 ) , especially the school's daycare center if they have one with student employees, for a student (or two) who is responsible and wants the extra money. A part time job doing a little cleaning along with child care after school may be just what a student or two at the university want to earn a little extra money.

 

[FightinUruKai]

you want a wife! I worked as one over the summers during college, but usually for families I had babysat for in high school. I would suggest looking to see if there are any nanny agencies nearby in addition to posting the job on nearby college campuses. Post the job on craigslist as a last resort. I would suggest meeting with anybody you expect to hire and check with their references.

Going into looking for someone, make a reasonable list of what you would need them to do, if you would ever need them to stay overnight/come in early morning, when you need them, and what level of dedication you need (do you/your children have special diets? Do you insist on specific detergents/cleaning agents? Are you going to reliably be home when you say you are going to be home?). Be honest about what you need/expect.

 

[ejw5075]

I’ve got two kids who will be 8 and 5 when school starts next fall (plus a working husband who travels from time to time), so I’m starting to think about what kinds of child care/extra support we’re going to need. Ideally we’d have someone who could pick up the kids from school and drive them to their various activities, help with homework, clean the house, do a few loads of laundry, prepare meals, etc. I don't know my schedule yet so don't know whether we'll really need help with all of these things during first year or not.

Has anybody here with kids hired this kind of help while in medical school? Do you have any advice to offer both in terms of finding the right person and what kind of help would be most useful/appropriate during medical school?

My classmate has 3 kids, 2 of which are in school and she has a full-time live-in nanny who takes the kids to/from school, takes care of the little one during the day and basically does all the mom and dad stuff 9-6 M-F. It ain't cheap though, they pay for her to live in their home, groceries, healthcare, and $15ish an hour on top of it and she doesn't clean or do laundry.

You will be much better off asking current students at whatever school you are going to. At my school none of this is really necessary, if both your kids are in school you could do it with little/no help here. The woman I described above has been utilizing the nanny long before med school. The current students w/families would be able to tell you more what first year is like and how necessary help would be.

Having someone clean your house would probably help out if you are financially comfortable with it. Why spend the free time you have cleaning? No fun.

 

[ejw5075]

you want a wife! I worked as one over the summers during college, .

You worked as a wife? Is that legal? 😉

 

[sirenomelia]

you want a wife! I worked as one over the summers during college, but usually for families I had babysat for in high school. I would suggest looking to see if there are any nanny agencies nearby in addition to posting the job on nearby college campuses. Post the job on craigslist as a last resort. I would suggest meeting with anybody you expect to hire and check with their references.

Going into looking for someone, make a reasonable list of what you would need them to do, if you would ever need them to stay overnight/come in early morning, when you need them, and what level of dedication you need (do you/your children have special diets? Do you insist on specific detergents/cleaning agents? Are you going to reliably be home when you say you are going to be home?). Be honest about what you need/expect.

So the lady with a husband should go find her own wife? 😕

 

[dmf2682]

If you don't go with an actual company I'd suggest getting some sort of security system with cameras. My fiancee and I got a housecleaning service that got pretty good reviews on Yelp, but we started finding stuff going missing. Money out of a change jar for example. We let them know and someone went back to jail, but still, disconcerting. Call me paranoid but I'd like to see what they do when we're not home.

Anyway. Be cautious.

 

[FightinUruKai]

http://www.cwluherstory.org/why-i-want-a-wife.html

I was referencing this (I read it years ago and it just stuck with me), but it's also what my aunt calls the woman who was her daughter's nanny and then her role evolved over the years to become more of a housekeeper/babysitter since her daughter didn't need a full time nanny.

 

[The right Path]

So the lady with a husband should go find her own wife? 😕

Ah yeah 😉

J/K. But seriously, how do med students afford a nanny let alone housekeeper services?

 

[MedPR]

Ah yeah 😉

J/K. But seriously, how do med students afford a nanny let alone housekeeper services?

I'd like to know the answer to this as well. I won't be needing either of them, but getting more money for other things will be nice.

 

[ejw5075]

Ah yeah 😉

J/K. But seriously, how do med students afford a nanny let alone housekeeper services?

I'd like to know the answer to this as well. I won't be needing either of them, but getting more money for other things will be nice.

They have rich husbands. And savings accounts.

 

[LingoLaine]

I could definitely use a "wife" to run the show when I'm in school but would settle for an employee! 😉

My husband has a very demanding job. He works for a company and in a position where most of his peers are men, they are well compensated, and most of them have stay-at-home wives to run their households. I haven't been employed since our 8-year-old was born, so although I've been taking my pre-med classes and volunteering the past few years, I've also handled the bulk of the child and household stuff.

Once I start medical school, my "cush" lifestyle will change and I'll obviously need to make school my focus. My husband is extremely supportive of my med school endeavor and very helpful around the house when he's here, but given his work and travel schedule, he won't realistically be able to pick up all the loose ends that I'm going to need to drop. Having someone else who could step in, get familiar with our schedules, and handle some of those necessary tasks like driving kids to activities, helping them with homework, sorting laundry, cleaning the house, walking the dog, meal shopping and planning, etc., would enable both my husband and me to spend more quality time with the kids. That's something we're willing to pay for, so the question is how best to make it happen.

 

[MedPR]

They have rich husbands. And savings accounts.

Two things I do not have. Crap.

 

[LingoLaine]

I guess what I'm wondering is if others have done something similar, and if so, did you hire one person to do all of these things? I think it would be more convenient to have one person "running the show" for me, but recognize that it might be easier to hire with the tasks broken down. For example, a college student to handle the kid transport and homework, a cleaning service to come in every other week, a neighborhood kid to walk the dog a few times a week, etc. That way if/when somebody quits, it's not as big of a scramble.

If you're currently a med student with kids, what do you think is/would be the most helpful to farm out?

 

[StudyShy]

This conversation makes me wish that I was a lesbian so that I would have all my housekeeping and child rearing duties handled while I be the "man" of the household.

 

[tantacles]

This conversation makes me wish that I was a lesbian so that I would have all my housekeeping and child rearing duties handled while I be the "man" of the household.

Yeah, except there's a good chance you'd end up dating another doctor and you'd both be equally busy.

 

[Teach4us2MD]

You can post the job at local colleges as suggested before. At my school there is a degree program for early childhood education and a lot of my friends have found their nannies from this program. Most of them are willing to do light cleaning, cooking and dog walking while the kids are at school and don't charge more than 15/hour. I think it would be easier to keep up after 1 maybe 2 people tops, hiring out for each tasks takes more work to manage each employee.

 

[StudyShy]

Yeah, except there's a good chance you'd end up dating another doctor and you'd both be equally busy.

That would be hot, lol! 😉

 

[tantacles]

That would be hot, lol! 😉

Definitely hot! Wonder if I'll end up dating a doctor...

If I do, he'd better be cute. If I can't show off pictures of him, imma be pissed!

 

[Ellipsis1104]

If you can afford to outsource some of the heavy lifting at home, you will have more time for more important things. I say go for it 🙂

 

[Quizlet04]

This conversation makes me wish that I was a lesbian so that I would have all my housekeeping and child rearing duties handled while I be the "man" of the household.

Think again, m'dear. As a married lesbian (yay MA!) I can say that chores are split based on who can deal with what; I hate laundry but she hates vacuuming and cleaning the tub. That's actually the case with most gay couples: the split is close to 50/50 except when there's a differing workload.

Also, most lesbian couples don't have a man and a woman. That's TV and the internet pretending they know WTF they're talking about.

 

[tantacles]

Think again, m'dear. As a married lesbian (yay MA!) I can say that chores are split based on who can deal with what; I hate laundry but she hates vacuuming and cleaning the tub. That's actually the case with most gay couples: the split is close to 50/50 except when there's a differing workload.

Also, most lesbian couples don't have a man and a woman. That's TV and the internet pretending they know WTF they're talking about.

Same with most gay male couples on all of your points, especially the last one, just so all of our bases are covered.

Though I'm pretty certain that I will not do any cleaning; I'd rather just pay each month to hire someone. My current housemates and I split the cost of a cleaning person and have cheap rent, so it's pretty affordable. Also, cleaning stinks, just in case that wasn't abundantly clear.

 

[ptie]

I guess what I'm wondering is if others have done something similar, and if so, did you hire one person to do all of these things? I think it would be more convenient to have one person "running the show" for me, but recognize that it might be easier to hire with the tasks broken down. For example, a college student to handle the kid transport and homework, a cleaning service to come in every other week, a neighborhood kid to walk the dog a few times a week, etc. That way if/when somebody quits, it's not as big of a scramble.

If you're currently a med student with kids, what do you think is/would be the most helpful to farm out?

No, separate the duties with different people, unless you want someone FT and highly compensated.

We have a "mother's helper" (sexist, I know), PT cook and a housekeeper. A friend recommended our housekeeper (who comes once a week) and we found the mother's helper through a referral organization. We found the cook on Craigslist (every weekend he drops off cooked meals or prepares the meals, with instructions, for us to cook).

Of course, we also have a regular babysitter and two non-regulars we keep in touch with case of emergencies. We found our regular through a referral service and the non-regulars through care.com.

We did our due diligence carefully (of the referral organization and the candidates themselves). Demand a background check and google the candidate's names. Make your goals/priorities known and hire the oldest candidates you can afford (experience matters and older candidates aren't texting 24/7 and not watching your children).

We are considering an au pair from Western Europe (specifically German) because it may turn out cheaper in the long run (at the very least, we'll break even) and we'd like our children to learn a foreign language with a native speaker.

I hope this helps. Sorry that most of the posts on this thread were not helpful.

 

[dotdash]

Tough to have two demanding careers in one family.

My husband and I made a list of what we wanted to keep vs. farm out. We tried to keep as much childcare as we could, that being important to our hearts. Cleaning, laundry, cooking -- that can be farmed out, unless you have a particular fondness for some part of it. I think the issue about hiring one person vs. many hinges on whether you can manage the process. If you won't have the time or energy to coordinate schedules, find backups, train people, and have a stable of replacements -- then you'd better have a live-in housekeeper who can drive and handle whatever comes up. You may not get to this point until residency, however. Med school shouldn't be too bad.

Also handy is a grandparent or two. Or any other family member who can be pressed into loving and long-term service.

 

[ptie]

The above has some good tips. You may want to consider an au pair if you want a nanny/housekeeper that is available more than 3-4 hours a day. You're going to pay, at the least, $20/hr for a local American, which is more than an au pair after year 1. There are benefits for your kids to be around a foreign adult constantly. For every horror story about an au pair story you can give me, I'll give you one horror story about a local nanny/housekeeper.

You would think living in a non-major, super expensive city (e.g. NYC, San Fran, Boston etc) would lower the salary for these positions, but it does not significantly, because there is less competition.

Ask specifics when interviewing: e.g. "Do you cook?" will always yield a yes even if all they know is heating up spaghetti.

Figure this problem out as soon as possible so you can have more than enough time to find the right people. I highly suggest you find someone for your first year at the beginning of your first year, not in November when you are behind in school because you took on too much.

If you'll be in the Boston area (or anybody else who finds this thread) and want some recommendations, I can try to help.

 

[paeony]

I will be starting medical school this fall with a kid who will be ~1 year old. I am also looking into this and would love to keep exchanging ideas.

For now, I am thinking of a full-time nanny (we have one right now as I'm working full-time) until I decide to put my child into full-time daycare/pre-school at the age of 2 or 3. Your kids are older and I think you can do with a part-time nanny who can help with after school activities till dinne/bedr time. You or your husband can split duties of getting your children to school, if your school schedule/husband's work schedule allows. My husband also has a demanding career. While he is very helpful and supportive, I know he can't be a full-time parent after "typical" work hours (6pm-ish).

I am thinking of getting a housekeeper to come once every two weeks to do heavy cleaning, i.e., scrubbing down the bathroom, kitchen, etc while my husband and I split maintenance (vacuuming, light dusting, picking up clutter etc).

Lastly, I am considering getting someone to do some meal planning/grocery shopping/cooking once a week. $$ wise, I think it will be similar to doing take-out all the time and I would prefer having my kids eating some home cooked meals rather than frozen/take out all the time.

I haven't decided which school I'm going to attend, yet. Still waiting to hear back from a few schools. Once I hear back, I plan on trying to get in touch with other student parents to hear how they manage with school specific class schedules, etc.