Back to school

vinne

Just wondering how ye manage with school runs and milking cows . My wife works, gone at 7 in the morning.Have a girl coming at 7;30 she brings them to school and collects them after school.We give her 250 a week , we could do with that money ourselves ,the boys are 5 and 7 .I think i could manage myself . How do ye cope ?

Rovi

Lots of dairy farmers mix the school run and other domestic activities with milking the cows.

Cows don't have to be milked at any PARTICULAR time, just at (approximately) the SAME time every day.
Move your milking times to suit the school run?

vinne

So used of milking at 7;30 i'd feel the day was gone starting at 9 or 9:30 on the other hand i'd think milking at 5:30 would be too early for me.

Rovi

vinne wrote: »

on the other hand i'd think milking at 5:30 would be too early for me.

Is it worth €250/week to you?

vinne

I suppose that is the right way to look at it

td5man

vinne wrote: »

Just wondering how ye manage with school runs and milking cows . My wife works, gone at 7 in the morning.Have a girl coming at 7;30 she brings them to school and collects them after school.We give her 250 a week , we could do with that money ourselves ,the boys are 5 and 7 .I think i could manage myself . How do ye cope ?

My older two are getting the bus this year as there both finished at three.
At least i wont have to take a two hour lunch/babysitting break anymore,biggest problem now is getting away now without the twins
they're standing at the jeep every morning ready to go

joejobrien

Starting at 5.30/6.00 am is great. Alot of basic work is completed before the school run commence. After morning runs, there is still ample time to carry out other chores and very soon you realise that alot, can be acomplished in a days work. When collection from school comes around you can be very satisified with your days work.
Does this girl mind in the kids and do homework aswell?

vinne

No she's gone at 3;15 , she would drop them off at school at 9;15 she come back at 1;45 put on dinner collect one lad at 2 and the other lad at 3 and go away then.I'd dish out the dinner and the two would be with me till milking time .

joejobrien

could you do the 2pm run, come home and get lunch/snack ready for both and yourself,do the 3 oclock run,feed him and do the homwork for an hour. then head to the yard and start the evening jobs with the two lads The 250/ week would be a very good incentive.
However you must be very disiciplined at your work,no yapping to the salepersons, min phone!!!!! Anyone that slows me down gets the road very quick, and very soon they gain your respect. Also if you can balance the work /school situation you would have a nice holiday put away for you and your family. That food for thought.

vinne

That's what i'm thinking myself

blue5000

OP how long will milking take? 250 is a serious wedge every week, could the OH prepare a dinner to go on a timer in the morning before she goes? Maybe you could get the girl to do the morning run only.

Getting up at 5.30 has it's advantages when cows are bulling;)

whelan1

i get up a 6 , haveto be back in house for 8.30am, kids get dropped to school at 9.... they are finished at 1.50 and 2.50.... bit stressful half hour from 8.30 til 9 , but once uniforms etc are left out from the night before it normally goes fine.... your one is doing well at €250 per week... also as your kids are getting older they will be able to look after themselves better

dar31

We have been using au pairs for the last 4/5 year.
Find them very handy as wife works 13 hr shifts and my hours are all over the place. Esp during calving as there is always some one in the house if you need to check cattle
Our girl dose 4 11 hr days and one nights babysitting for £100 plus food and board we also give her use of a car when needed

just do it

dar31 wrote: »

We have been using au pairs for the last 4/5 year.
Find them very handy as wife works 13 hr shifts and my hours are all over the place. Esp during calving as there is always some one in the house if you need to check cattle
Our girl dose 4 11 hr days and one nights babysitting for £100 plus food and board we also give her use of a car when needed

How do you find having someone else full time in the house with ye?

hattoncracker

op I'm not a farmer, but a slow cooker would be a good idea, esp if you want to have dinner ready for the kids when they get home..

If youre making a stew, lob everything in at 7 when you're going to milk your cows, turn it on low and by the time theyre home it will be cooked and would save you loads of time.. You can do loads of stuff in it and it won't go dry or anything, if you're looking to be practical, I think what u are paying that girl is extortionate!

whelan1

The main key is to have everything ready the night before, also make 100% sure all homework has been done, my eldest lad is a fecker for saying at 8.50 i have something to do or faking illness, i have a no tolerance level with them from 8.30 til 9,00 am and they know that now, also second the slow cooker... when they come home from school they only get a snack as main meal is after milking

vinne

I suppose with all the new tax's coming down the line a person would be mad not to save any where they could. If a child was home sick for a day one would just have to manage.

Sam Kade

dar31 wrote: »

We have been using au pairs for the last 4/5 year.
Find them very handy as wife works 13 hr shifts and my hours are all over the place. Esp during calving as there is always some one in the house if you need to check cattle
Our girl dose 4 11 hr days and one nights babysitting for £100 plus food and board we also give her use of a car when needed

Jayus ye must be charging her bed and breakfast rates with that levell of pay :eek:

Arrow in the Knee

Sure isn't €250 only change for a Dairy Farmer!!!

dar31

just do it wrote: »

How do you find having someone else full time in the house with ye?

it take a while to get used to it, but the pro's are better than the cons.
can be a nuicense if eg. you forget your towel when going for a shower, you have to get dressed again to go up the house looking for one.

Sam Kade wrote: »

Jayus ye must be charging her bed and breakfast rates with that levell of pay :eek:

they don't actually work for us, they help with minding the children and they are give pocket money in return, well that's the official line any how.
they are treated as one of the family, and brought most places with us.
most of them are just finished school and need to live abroad for a duration in order to become fluent in English for collage, don't know why as most have better English than most of the native, funny they all speak with an american accent..

another one for the slow cooker, esp in the winter, hot meal ready to serve as soon as you get in the door.
know how to empty it, a bit slow figuring out how to fill it though..!

Juniorhurler

dar31 wrote: »

it take a while to get used to it, but the pro's are better than the cons.
can be a nuicense if eg. you forget your towel when going for a shower, you have to get dressed again to go up the house looking for one.




they don't actually work for us, they help with minding the children and they are give pocket money in return, well that's the official line any how.
they are treated as one of the family, and brought most places with us.
most of them are just finished school and need to live abroad for a duration in order to become fluent in English for collage, don't know why as most have better English than most of the native, funny they all speak with an american accent..

another one for the slow cooker, esp in the winter, hot meal ready to serve as soon as you get in the door.
know how to empty it, a bit slow figuring out how to fill it though..!

I'm a dab hand at the bold bit too.:D

49801

Sounds like your girl is doing 5hrs a day mon-fri.
At 10e/hr comes to 250e for the week. Is that abour right OP?

Think some are being a bit harsh on what the girl is being paid. Good help is hard got and if you want to keep them they need to be rewarded.

reilig

49801 wrote: »

Sounds like your girl is doing 5hrs a day mon-fri.
At 10e/hr comes to 250e for the week. Is that abour right OP?

Think some are being a bit harsh on what the girl is being paid. Good help is hard got and if you want to keep them they need to be rewarded.

Yes, and if you are paying a stamp for her or if she is doing tax returns on it, she is not getting much more than minimum wage!!

muirsin

Yea E250 a week might seem alot now but really its not in the overall scheme of things.I did the early morning rises for years workin late at night before I saw sense.You will be stressed and liable to accidents bringin kids out where they shouldnt be.Its better to spend quality time in evening with family.
if you can i would advise get her another half hour a day to get homework done.Believe me your kids will be gone too fast and time spent now enjoying them and being with them and not being tired exhausted and cross maybe is what life is really all about.

pms7

I moved to milking after school bus @ 8.40. Just moved it out in evening also. I would have been big into finishing early, but you get used to it. With the kids most evenings 'til milking again, but get someone to help me one day a week when busy. Dinner in oven on timer, spuds in microwave on timer also. At least this way I get to see my kids, they don't be long growing up.

just do it

muirsin wrote: »

Yea E250 a week might seem alot now but really its not in the overall scheme of things.I did the early morning rises for years workin late at night before I saw sense.You will be stressed and liable to accidents bringin kids out where they shouldnt be.Its better to spend quality time in evening with family.
if you can i would advise get her another half hour a day to get homework done. Believe me your kids will be gone too fast and time spent now enjoying them and being with them and not being tired exhausted and cross maybe is what life is really all about.

An honest assessment muirsin. We were doing fine but now that my wife is back at work it's a lot trickier, and I'm not even milking! We're giving having an au pair serious consideration. Burning the candle at both ends in order to have time with them is no good if your tired and cranky during that time with them. And your time as a couple is important too or else what is the point?!

whelan1

really stretched myself this morning and its only day 2:o not helped by the fact i busted 2 of my fingers when finishing up milking , but all kids arrived at school on time and alive:D husband away in lorry for a few days so under pressure,also lad that works for me on 3 day week so not in today... should have it all perfected by next week

manjou

When school is on get up at 6 and get jobs done.But they are only at school for 180 days in year maybe less. so start later those days they are off.Will just have to manage.As for the 250 a week we are paying 300 a week to send 2 of them to a creche so 250 not to bad.

Cathyht

49801 wrote: »

Sounds like your girl is doing 5hrs a day mon-fri.
At 10e/hr comes to 250e for the week. Is that abour right OP?

Think some are being a bit harsh on what the girl is being paid. Good help is hard got and if you want to keep them they need to be rewarded.

Also this 'girl' is not getting petrol money, am I right presuming?

We also don't know the distance of the school run, so a little one or 2 mile run is quite different from, say, over 10 miles. And we don't know how far SHE lives from the farm house, MORE driving.

Sounds to me like she is like a blue-assed fly, only paid to the minute she is working, not a second more. The kids are collected safely dinner is on, ready to go. Does she do any other housework? Does she make sure the kids are dressed and feed the children before she sets off? Maybe she is doing a fair bit all in all. I'd say you could deduct a few bob her 250 if she is paying her own petrol. And it isn't every week she even has this job, school is really only on about 27 weeks in the year when you take away the holidays.

People are sitting in jobs, with less running around, paid for sitting there during the off peak as well as peak times, paid 52 weeks of the year, and still get almost double what she gets. Plus, if they DID do some driving for their job, they'd get a mileage allowance. I suppose pension, stamp, tax are all sub judice.

Aupairs are, in very many cases exploited to being almost slave labour, working well over 40 hours for a pittance (PLUS the hugely benevolent B&B). They usually do a lot of cleaning, cooking and other jobs, apart from child minding, which is pretty full on in itself. Domestic help in general is notoriously underpaid.

I had a Lith lady who in 3 hours could make my home immaculate, I was delighted, for the price of a lunch, once a week I came home and had no housework to do. Unfortunately I recommended her to a friend, with a much bigger house, who rarely does housework and needed a good weekly help. I was very embarrassed to find that my friend told the cleaner that she 'didn't need 3 hours to clean the house, she'd only pay her for 2 hours to clean it!!!!'