What chores does your nanny do?

[megs193]

We have an amazing nanny who we love but my youngest will be going to preschool for four hours a day starting in September. She needs us to guarantee 32 hours a week. We only need her for childcare for 24 hours a week so she will have 8 child-free hours during a normal week. Are there any chores that you have your nanny do? She already does my kids laundry but I was considering asking her to go grocery shopping or do some meal prep. We have a cleaning service so there would be no heavy cleaning but I usually sweep/vacuum a few times a week and was considering asking her to do this. Does that seem like a reasonable amount for 8 hours?

[rupertpenny]

I think adding some sweeping and vacuuming is a good idea. Can she do your laundry too? Or iron? I grocery shopping isn't a bad idea.

To be perfectly honest I wouldn't mind paying my nanny for a little downtime (as in I wouldn't worry about giving her 8 hours worth of chores) if it meant keeping an amazing nanny.

I know this might not be possible due to her schedule, but could you allocate some hours to a biweekly or monthly date night?

[6fsn]

Wash bedding and towels (I wouldn't want her doing my own laundry), sweep/vacuum, grocery and leave other things open to weekly needs.

[muppetinma]

My brother and his family have had a "house helper" for thirteen years now. They have three boys (13, 11, and 8), so their needs have been constantly evolving, but they've always kept this woman on. The scope of her job has just changed. They have her for a set number of hours a week. (Ten, I think?) What she does during that time changes week to week. Some weeks, she grocery shops and cleans. Some weeks, she cooks freezer meals. Whenever we get together for vacation, my brother brings giant trays of baked goods that she makes. She can pick the kids up from soccer practice, take them to playdates, and lots of other things.

Long anecdotal story short, if you like this woman and want to keep her on, you can find ways to make it work. You can just keep a running list of things you need to have done from week to week that she can work from.

[muppetinma]

You know what I would love to have somebody else do for me? Clean and chop up fruit. I would love to have berries, melon, and other fruit snack-ready in my fridge for me and my kid. Once or twice a week, I do this after he goes to bed, just to make my life easier, but I would love it if somebody else did that for me.

[SJ]

LAUNDRY for sure!

[SJ]

Also I would have her in charge of packaging and shipping stuff. Then I might actually sell some clothes via BST instead of always buying.

[leonard131]

We don't have our nanny do any chores now but soon will be in the same boat as you. I would say laundry, grocery shopping, some basic errands. Also, can you count some of the "extra" towards evening babysitting if you need it so you and H can have a night out every couple weeks?

[Deleted]

We used to have a cleaning person and a nanny but we got rid of the cleaning lady when L went to preschool 3 mornings a week.
What about dropping your cleaning person to once a month?

[namasteak]

We have only used babysitters in the past but 2 of them will now be mothers helper/nannies for us a few hours a day. They normally do dishes & tidy the play room when they babysit and agreed to do the same when they start coming daily. They will also throw heat up freezer meals for me.

[halfpint]

Ours doesn't have kid-free time, but she has two hours at the end of every day when B is napping. We don't ask a lot, but she picks up toys, dusts the toy room shelves, cleans up after meals, and does diaper laundry. Sometimes she'll run errands with kids if we need something done.

[londoncalling]

I would say a weekly grocery shop, meal prep, and maybe a load of sheets and towels should be sufficient.

I had an amazing nanny from 6 weeks - 16 years old. Her role changed as I aged: when I was in school full time she started changing our beds and washing the sheets for us every week. She was also the one that was "on call" if I was sick and needed to be picked up from school and/or taken to doctor's appointments during school hours. She also came as a chaperone on a whole bunch of school field trips.

I love her so much and she's like my second mom and her kids are my brothers. I strongly urge anyone who has someone that they adore caring for their kids to make it work if it's feasible to do so.

[loskadoodle]

Ours does a lot. Everyone's laundry, irons, changes sheets, vacuums and dusts.