Lois Compton wrote:I'm due in September with my first and planning ahead...I'm wondering anyone has had experience hiring a mother's helper - someone to be at home when you are on maternity leave and provide general help - could be light cleaning / tidying, meal prep, possibly shopping...or just watching the baby for a while as you pay a few bills or attend to something else that only you can do.  Anyone tried this?  I am thinking of finding someone to come to my house a couple of days a week for a few hours...maybe a student or something...but not sure where to find such a person, what to pay, etc..  Any experience stories welcome!

Hmmm... I've never actually even tried to search for such a person. I'd be interested to know about such services. You can always keep a running list of family members who can help you out from time to time :-)

Some ideas:
- Hiring a cleaning lady/service to come regularly

- There are personal concierge services who will run errands for you or house-sit. I've never tried one although I've thought about it.
Here is an example: http://www.runmyerrand.ca/services.php

- There are short-term nanny services like http://www.inapinch.ca/ -- Again, I've never tried them although I keep such services in mind.

- Nothing like getting the word out to friends and family (neighbours, even?) that you are looking for a "helper" and are willing to pay. I'm sure there are lots of young ones looking for part-time work.

Keep us posted! :-)

Just to update from my original post, I have placed multiple ads for help, but with no luck!  I actually even paid to register with a babysitter database to advertise the work, but no luck.  I'm really surprised.  Maybe when school is back in there will be more kids looking to babysit, but right now people are not even returning emails or phone calls.  If I still have any energy, I may try to put up a poster at a couple of local high schools in September, but once baby actually arrives I think I'll be grounded.  Hoping it works out soon!

I was a mothers helper when I was in highschool during the summers...but if you re willing to wait until the evening a highschools student may work. You could also try an ECE student in college who is looking for part time work around their class schedule. I also had full time mothers helper jobs with some families after college...the woman had twins and a 2 year old so she needed extra hands.

If you get a highschool student you are going to be able to pay less than you would a college student or adult. Depending who you hire, for how may hours and what you want them to do I would say you're looking at aying between $8-$15/hr