looking for an au pair in n.ireland

smilermckeyler

I am a single mum who works part time shift work( 2 days per week), and I am looking for an au pair to live in. The agencies I have checked out are charging £100s in fees. I cannot afford this and wonder has anyone any ideas. My kids are all schoolgoing age and I do not require housework duties.

george_2

smilermckeyler wrote: »

I am a single mum who works part time shift work( 2 days per week), and I am looking for an au pair to live in. The agencies I have checked out are charging £100s in fees. I cannot afford this and wonder has anyone any ideas. My kids are all schoolgoing age and I do not require housework duties.

for two days a week why need an au pair? Surely all you are looking for is after school care?

smilermckeyler

No I leave at 6am and find it difficult to find someone willing to come into my home at that time of the morning. But yes you are right, the majority of the work is after school until 9pm. I thought it would be easier to have someone to live in.

Milko

Wouldn't mind 1 myself ... but the wife might object :eek:

thetope

depending on where you live you might have some luck with the eastern european contingent? I am in east belfast and there is a little polish shop that seems to serve as a hub for the EE community, they have a notice board and it is always full of ads for people offering their services, looking for work or local people looking for cleaners/labourers etc. it seems to work very well.

with someone like that it would be a win win - they'd have board and lodgings so could save all the spare cash, improve their english, and you have someone to look after the kids and do odd housekeeping jobs round the house.

smilermckeyler

thanks so much. I'll try this out. Please keep suggestions coming though incase i've no joy with this route.

Irishmummyof2

Would there not be a childminder who would be willing to do this for you or even someone you know who is looking abit of extra cash.
Do you want them to be registered etc?

Greentea

You could put an advert in your local job centre, its free and they forward you the applications, then you can take it from there.

smilermckeyler

Irishmummyof2 wrote: »

Would there not be a childminder who would be willing to do this for you or even someone you know who is looking abit of extra cash.
Do you want them to be registered etc?

No, Irishmummyof2, I don't mind if they are not registered as long as they are good to my children, are reliable and trustworthy, thats good enough for me.
Thanks also greentea for your suggestion to try the job centre. Guess where I'll be on Monday morning.

halia

If you are in a city try advertising in your local university or college. You may find a student looking for accomodation who is willing to do some childcare in return for room. A friend did this, she didn't need the full 25 hrs most au pairs work.
She worked out that rent of a room in a shared house cost about £35 (bills inc) in her area. She needed 5-10 hrs of childcare for one 7yr old, so she advertised for a student to rent the room in return for 7 hrs childcare a week. (£5/hr)

Worked great for her as she then also had a builtin babysitter for extra occasions! She found a slightly older student worked better (I think she got a 22 yr old)

smilermckeyler

brilliant idea. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. There is in fact a college in our town so I'll try that route too. I'll let you all know how I get on.