Costs

How Should Host Families Respond to the Au Pair Lawsuit?

by cv harquail April 4, 2018

Most Host Families know about the ongoing lawsuit wherein the US Au Pair Agencies are being targeted in a class action lawsuit brought by a law firm “on behalf of” au pairs. This lawsuit has been wending its way through the system with occasional flareups of media attention. Most of us have been assuming that […]

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How to Help Your Au Pair Appreciate the “Au Pair Car”

by cv harquail January 20, 2017

We all want to be generous, and we all want to be appreciated. And, there’s nothing like having a third car for your au pair to use to make you aware of the tension that can exist when you want to be generous and want to be appreciated. When we bought our first Volvo wagon […]

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How to Reduce the Costs of Having an Au Pair

by cv harquail July 23, 2016

Parents who are researching childcare options for the first time invariably experience “sticker shock”. Who knew that a year of childcare in America could cost as much as a year at a good instate university? Whether childcare is provided by a retail day care center, a someone-else’s-home-based childcare center, a nanny, or an au pair, […]

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Car Insurance for Your Au Pair: What do you pay? (Survey)

by cv harquail February 5, 2016

Please join us in finding the best deals by adding your car insurance info to our Google Spreadsheet at this link: Au Pair Mom Car Insurance Survey .

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What are a Host Family’s Responsibilities for Au Pair Medical Claims?

by cv harquail June 13, 2015

Seems like it’s the season for medical and health concerns. Here’s another recent wrinkle of the question– what are a Host Family’s responsibilities for an Au Pair’s medical expenses? I am writing because I find myself in a tough spot and our former au pair in an even tougher spot. Our Au Pair ended her […]

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Grocery Budgets for An Au Pair: What’s a fair amount?

by cv harquail May 12, 2014

Including an Au Pair in your grocery shopping means more than throwing another package of chicken breasts into the cart. For any of us (all of us?) with budgets and cost constraints, including an Au Pair takes more than figuring out ‘how much’ more food we need to nourish an additional adult. It also asks us to gauge […]

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Does Your Extension Au Pair Deserve a Raise?

by cv harquail January 24, 2013

The experience of a happy au pair year is its own reward. And extending this positive experience is a great way to turn this reward into a bonus. When an au pair and a host family extend their contract with each other for an additional 6, 9, or 12 months, everybody gets a bonus. The […]

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Do Host Parents need to buy Workers Compensation Insurance?

by cv harquail February 22, 2012

While we’re on the topic of insurance, MinneMom emiled with a question I’d never considered — Do you have a separate Workers’ Comp Insurance policy for your au pair? In the deep dark recesses of my failing memory, I think I discussed insurance with my DH when we were early into the au pair world. […]

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Contact Congress to Protest Taxes on Au Pairs!

by cv harquail February 11, 2012

Dear AuPairMom Readers- I never thought that I’d be writing a post asking you all to take political action, but there’s an issue that hits the Au Pairing Community right at the heart. Congress is deciding this week whether to impose a 7.65% FICA tax on au pairs. Yes, that’s right. Congress wants to tax […]

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Au Pair Extension Fees: Why so high?

by cv harquail December 15, 2011

Why is it so expensive to extend an Au Pair for an additional year? A reader emailed to raise the concern that it costs almost as much the second year as the first, because there are fewer special discounts. (For one agency, that’s about $5,600). Not only that, but the au pair herself or himself […]

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