Moms, I need advice!

I want to hire a nanny but need help with pricing! I have a 7 week old and an almost 2 year old and go back to work when the baby is 4 months old. Currently we have the 2 year old in the CDC on base they don't have an infant spot so I am looking at hiring an in-home nanny for both kids since we don't have an FCC provider with an infant spot open either. We currently pay $700/month at the base daycare for one kid but they provide three meals everyday so I was thinking of offering $1200 or $1300 a month plus I would buy all meals/snacks and have most of them cooked ready to go (unless it's something like Mac and cheese). Is this lowballing?? Since we pay less than normal for daycare on a military base I was unsure but don't think we can afford much more. But I would hate to have to put the infant off base and have them in two separate places. Want to add: I work an odd job where I get random days off so they would work mostly full (730-430) days but also have days where they are off completely and other days where they only work until like 2/3pm

Show your support

I would compare that to the going rate in your area. It certainly sounds like a good rate to me.

@Anna so in town daycare for two kiddos would be almost $3000/month. But I feel like that's not an accurate representation because each worker is in charge of up to 5 kids and they certainly aren't getting paid $3000 each. That's why I was really unsure and didn't want to post a job offer on base and find out I'm insulting people cause it's too low 😅

Correct, a nanny should not be that much. What are other nannies in your area charging/ being paid? I know where we live 1,200-1,500 would competitive. But it really is location dependent.

@Anna I'll look into that, thank you!

You gotta remember if you want a full time nanny you’re going to be “responsible” for their full monthly pay/living expenses. If it was a live in nanny $1200/1300 would be appropriate because all their living expenses would be covered living with you. If you don’t want them living with you it’s not a fair amount. Now if you find a SAHM for example that doesn’t need to fully provide for herself then I can see the $1200 range being ok with them. When I was a nanny 2010-2015 the lowest I got paid as a non live in was $19 an hour. And when I was a live in it was $500 a week. This was in Seattle so higher cost of living out there. I’m not sure where you live if it’s a high or “low” cost of living area. Just things to think about