4 Budgeting Tips for Hiring a Household Worker

No one ever gets excited about making budgets, but they help you manage your finances and keep you from buying 500 copies of Die Hard on DVD at the drop of a hat.

When it comes to adding a big expense, like a household worker, your budget may need a bit of extra time and scrutiny to make sure you’ve got everything under control and managed.

No matter what kind of worker you’re going for, whether it be a nanny, personal assistant or at-home nurse, there are a number of considerations to take into account before you hire someone to work in your house.

Do Your Research

While finding out the average salary of a computer programmer or middle school teacher can be pretty easy, finding out the average salary of a household worker can be a bit more complicated. After that though, there are a number of other questions that may pop up in your mind.

Do you pay them hourly or pay them a salary? How often are they paid? What do taxes look like? What about lump sums? Are they paid by bank transfer or good old hard cash?

Unfortunately, there is no blanket answer to all of these questions and the usual response you will find is: it depends. See if you can find others that are in your area who may have had similar experiences or consider going through an agency who may already have set prices. At the end of the day, you may end up negotiating with the individual to find out what best fits your needs.

Speaking of fitting your needs…

Decide How to Hire

There are plenty of ways you can go about looking for someone to hire: through a referral, an online database, an agency or yourself.

While this part isn’t about money necessarily, this is about budgeting your time. Looking for someone by yourself can be a tough task and you’ll have to go through lots of rounds of interviews and resumes. After all, this is someone coming into your house and you don’t want to hire the first person you meet.

An agency or database is usually the most stress-free option, these places have usually done their own background checks on people and screened them, making sure they fit certain parameters.

You might have to pay for their services, but it is a way to lessen the headache and stress. This is another step to think about for budgeting your money as well as your time.

Set their Role

Let’s say, for example, you’re hiring a nanny for your children. When it comes to nannies, there are generally two kinds: live-in and live-out. Live-in is going to be staying with you in your house and old guest bedroom while the live-out is going to be doing just the opposite.

But what is the nanny going to be for? Are they there to pick up your children from school and help them with homework? Are they going to just be there in the morning when one of you is working? Will they simply drive them to soccer practice?

When you’re budgeting, you want to be as exact as possible. This means figuring out the role for your household worker. You don’t want to pay someone for work they’re not going to be doing or for loads of downtime. Make sure you have a solid plan ahead of time and discuss this with any potential employee.

Back to Taxes

Just like any kind of business or job in the country, everything seems to be subject to taxes. That’s why you’ll have to do plenty of research on paying taxes, what kinds of forms to fill out and what else you may need to do.

Sitting down with a professional is a great way to make sure you’ve got all of your bases covered.

Going back to the nanny example, a large majority of nannies are immigrants and that may throw a wrench into your taxes if the person is coming abroad for a short period of time. Once again, it pays to be prepared and ready for any financial obstacles or issues that may eventually arise.