But my other jobs were 7:30am with 3 little sweethearts till 5:30pm. Mon. and Thurs. Then on Mon. the sister-in-law of the first lady will bring her 1yr old over to me with the other 3 and then on Wed and Fri I will go to her place.
Anyway I would be working Mon. all day, Tues. just from 5pm till 9pm. Wed. just in the morning, Thurs. all day and Fri just in the morning. And then two nights during the wk over night with another lady.
I can see that I would probably be able to make more money staying here but I haven't ever felt close to the doctors here and I like to do things for friends and those other ladies would really appreciate me and show it and I would feel like I was doing it for a friend.

But then the kids here would really appreciate me too and show it and I do love them alot and feel terrible about leaving them.

What ever you decide to do will be the right direction. Just don't look back and question your decision. Look forward and enjoy life. It is so easy to fall into the trap of the what if I would have done something different. I do that a lot and am trying to break the habit.

When do you have to make the decision? do you have time to think it out or are they rushing you?

I know that your best interest is the kids and that is good, but you also have to have what you are worth. They are realizing that they will not find anyone that will do what you do so make them offer more then that.

Mom....they make more than all of your kids do all together...they can afford you and what you offer. Lay it out on paper and that is your final offer! So don't feel bad for denying their offer and counter offer them. Tell them what it will take to get you to stay not what they would want.

I'm not trying to be harsh here, but mom your in high demand and you can make a lot more then those Dr's are giving you. Maybe not right off the bat, but in very little time I know that you would be.

$50/wk more is about $200 more a month. Sheryl, I think your thinking she'll only get $50 a month. Mom, you need to figure out how many hours a week you'll be working for them and times that by what you feel you are worth an hour. If your doing more then taking care of the kids, like cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking ect, you should be thinking that you are doing 3 jobs not one so you should be paid more. If you write down on paper what you do and figure out how much you feel each job is worth, then you can present it to the Doctors. Sometimes people do not realize what all you do until it's on paper. I would also tell them that you will keep track of how many miles you put on your car for them and charge them .345 per mile (that is a standard amount companies pay).

Then you need to figure out what you would do for these ladies your talking about. How much work you would do for them and how much they are willing to pay. If your doing less work for them but getting paid more by the hour. Then that would be the job you would want.

Also write down the pros and cons of each job (or disadvantage & advantages of each job)so you can see what is better.

Writing things down on paper helps you see things better and whats a better deal.

Well I'm not going to say anything to the drs till Mon. But I am thinking that they will be my choice. For one reason I will be making $200 a month more from them then I am now and I have 3 days with 7 hrs that I can do for someone else or do something for myself. And I will be home every night after 6 except for the night I take care of Meda. And if I take the other jobs I will be away from home every night except for one. And then I won't feel like getting up early in the morning to excerise which I feel is important for my future. Also if I stay with the docters I will be able to spend more time with Geneva who is giving me free room and board to be with her and do things for her. And I was a little afraid of what taking care of two real little ones would do to my back. Right now it feels fine only I haven't had to carry little one around either. And even if I tried awful hard not to carry them around that I know is easier said then done. Plus if I stay here i still get 4 wks of paid vacation. And they take care of my taxes.Where if i was to go on my own I would have to file self employed and it use to be 14% of your earnings. I would have to keep books and pay in quarterly.

Then theres the kids who will be both starting new schools and i hated to think of them having to do all this with a new person. I think I have been a little help in the past and would like to be of help till they are more sucure.

Oh there so much to think of now and I don't want to make a decision till I am exactly sure. I will be asking the doctors to pay $11 a month more towards insurance which I have to pay to use my car for their kids. That idea of them not wanting to buy a car for me to use for their kids is something that I am not happy about because I don't see why they would have had any trouble with that other case because if you have insurance you state the main driver and they are the ones who are insured and if there is any accident when they are driving then the insurance should pay for it.

That is one disadvantage in staying with them is that I will still be putting alot of miles on my car that I wouldn't be otherwise but then theres the thought that with the extra money I can buy a new one. But I don't want kids riding in it on a regular bases. They are hard on cars as I am sure you all know and when I get some thing new at my age I like to keep it looking new and when I take my elderly ladies someplace in my car I like it to be clean.

I don't want to tell those other ladies I can't come I hate to hurt any one but what ever I decide I'm going to have to hurt someone.

Cleaning people in the Willmar area get $20 and hour. You're in a bigger city so you'd get more per hour then here.

Like Sheryl & Stacy have said writing things down on paper really does help. Not only for you but even for the others involved.

I think there needs to be better communication on the Mrs part. Have her write down on paper what jobs she wants done and when then if she comes with why you didn't do something a certain day you'll have proof why it wasn't done.

Remember to make the best decision for yourself not for others. You have to do the work and you need to do what you like best or you'll not be happy with your decision.

We all understand your wanting your car to stay nice at your age but if your going to be in the business with children then you can't expect them to stay out of it. Maybe you better just stay with older cars then. Not only that, Brice & Emile are getting older so they won't be quite so hard on your car as younger ones.

You also might want to think about the fact that you have alot more children to care for with these other women which means more work and harder to keep up with. You won't be able to go place much with them without the hassles of hauling them places.

I can't see why you can't just ask for more money to cover your insurance on your car and charge milage. You'll be surprised how much .345 cents can add up to. It puts in consideration to wear & tear of your car, milage & gas.

Sounds like a good idea to think it all over for a few days. Might help you think of something you would over look in a fast & hasty decision.

And I also noticed that when I patiently wait and let time work things out that it turns out to be the best.

I will have Tues and Wed. free to clean someone elses house to make some more money and she is even calling and talking to people whom she knows and recommending me highly. She has already gotten me a job right next door for Wed. and all I have to fill now is Tues. That will give me $120 more a week.

It might sound like I'm really greedy about making money. But I have all of a sudden realized that my time for making money is running out and I need another car soon. I need to put $4000 in a savings for medical expenses since I have raised my deductable on my insurance policy because they were raised the cost of my $1500 deductable by $50 a month and I didn't think it worth it. Plus I need a savings account for trips I want to take with my grandchildren. And my health products that I take to save on medical bills. It all counts up and it isn't cheap living now days and enjoy your time.

Anyway that is the decision to continue to work for Deschamps and live at Genevas and clean two other houses a wk.

I will be cleaning for Seagates for the last time this Friday and will keep my nights for my self.

I will have alot more time for my self now with this new schedule for the winter months anyway. But I am afraid that the summer months will be busy again as they are now but with the way she has acted towards me lately I feel I owe it to her.

I can't get over how the kids are acting since they found out that I am staying with them. Emilie espically. She seemed to be really disturbed about everything before now she seems so calm and content. I really didn't know what was the matter with her till now. It must have been what was the matter. When I told them that I was staying Brice gave me a big hug as usual and told me he loved me. And Emilie came and gave me a hug which she doesn't usually do I think she thinks shes to big for that or something but she hugged me now and told me Thank you for staying. So that also made me sure I had made the right decision.

Something tells me that maybe all this was for a reason for alot of reasons. Anyway I'm glad its all over now and also glad how it has all turned out.

Thanks all again for all your input. It was interesting to see what you all was thinking. And I think it did help me think it all out.

Oh, yes, about the car she is going to pay me the $11 a month I have to pay my insurance agency in order to protect me from being suid if any thing should happen to their children in my car. And shes going to try and cut the trips down as much as she can. It was as Stacy said that because of three other nannys accidents it made their insurance higher and they didn't want to go through that again. So I will some day when I can afford it buy myself a new car for my use and keep this car for here in Rochester. I runs so good now that I hate to think of getting another car. Might not be as lucky and don't know what kind of car I will go to now since Olds. have stopped making them.

Now with having your evening free you can enjoy life and still are able to make more money.