Money

Gift, Bonus or Tip: Call it what you want, but keep in mind….

by cv harquail December 17, 2008
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I’m intrigued by the comments in the previous post about a Christmas/ Holiday tip for your au pair… it seems that some readers are taken aback by the idea that one would tip ones au pair. As a trained social scientist, I see these reactions as "data" — but what is the data telling me? […]

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Advice wanted: How to Keep Track of Au Pair’s personal car use?

by cv harquail December 17, 2008
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How do you and your au pair keep track of her personal use of your shared car, so that she pays for her own gas while you pay for the gas used when she’s on duty? I must admit, I’ve had the luxury of (most times) having a third car that was pretty much only […]

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How much should you tip your Au Pair at Christmas?

by cv harquail December 12, 2008
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If you celebrate Christmas and if you don’t, the quote-unquote Holidays are a time of year when many people think about giving, some people think about getting, and most of us think about both. If you were to search for information about Christmas Tips for au pairs, you’d discover that the commonly-advised amount is "one […]

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Food and your Au Pair: Label it if you don’t want her to eat it

by cv harquail December 9, 2008
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Do you know what it feels like to spend two precious hours baking several dozen homemade cookies for your daughter’s class party, only to discover the next day, when you go to wrap them, that your au pair and her friends have eaten all but 6? That’s about how I felt last week, when an […]

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When your Au Pair has a Fender-Bender — Who pays, and what, and how?

by cv harquail September 24, 2008
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I have dreaded writing about au pairs and car accidents, because fear of accidents is one of the scariest things about having children, and even scarier when you are entrusting your children to someone else’s driving. Even the best of au pairs can have car accidents. (Heck, even the best of drivers can have accidents!) […]

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Au Pairs: Still "low-cost" childcare?

by cv harquail September 15, 2008
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One of the biggest selling points for having an au pair rather than other kinds of childcare is its relative cost.  For years, having an Au Pair was less expensive for me than employing a full time professional nanny, and (especially for people with more than one child) less expensive than using an out of […]

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Goodbye Gifts for Your Au Pair

by cv harquail September 4, 2008
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Every year about a week before our au pair is set to depart, I realize that the scrapbook/ iMovie/ slideshow/ MixCD that I’d been fantasizing about making her will remain just that– a fantasy. I think that, because I dread saying goodbye to our au pairs, I put off until the last minute getting her […]

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Advice: Increase your Au Pair’s gas allowance

by cv harquail June 12, 2008

The price of gas has gone up by more that $1 in the last year. That price increase hurts everyone, and it especially pains an Au Pair, since it eats up more of her already modest weekly pocket money. It has gotten much more expensive for your Au Pair to use the car for her […]

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