Using Care4Hire.com for Childcare Help

Having trouble finding childcare? As busy parents sometime we need a little help going thru this difficult task.

A few months back I was invited to review Care4Hire.com. At the time I was too busy juggling life as a return to work mom. But I kept having childcare issues on and off for months. I'd respond to and place online ads and then interview many babysitters. But still ended up frustared. It was alot of work for little results. I decided maybe the Care4Hire service would get me better results.

About Care4hire

Candi Wingate, President of Care4hire.com, a mother herself, knows first-hand how hard it can be to find the perfect caregiver. We put a great deal of effort into making Care4hire.com as easy to use as possible. Our database is designed to assist families in finding a quality babysitter, housekeeper, tutor, companion/eldercare, pet sitter and Miscellaneous care such as a personal assistant, gardener, party planner, etc. for their specific needs and requirements and offer caregivers an enjoyable employment experience.

My Review

Setting up an account was simple and straight forward. They have 3 levels of membership to chose from including a FREE membership for 14 days. Then you set up your profile and describe your family and the kind of care your seeking. Based on your basic profile you'll start to received emails from care providers.

If you don't want care providers contacting you then you can make your profile private and do your own search. There is also an option for special advertising for any family that needs extra help find the right caregiver. Care4hire will not charge extra for that service.

PROS

Many things impressed me on the Care4hire site least of which is their CareMatch. In CareMatch you can set up a search for caregivers based on different requirements like price per hour, location, language and special needs (twins/disabilities/etc).

Care4Hire Sample Interview Questions, Contract and Reference Check questions is a good thing to have already on site for some parents. Some of us don't know the key questions to ask a caregiver much less have a employment contract.

Caregivers can have their references and background check available for your viewing. Love that! Saves so much time and makes it easy when sorting thru caregivers to find the right one.

CONS

Having the care providers contact me directly with their profiles was nice. Having to go thru 2 extra steps of clicking on their member id to see their profile, photo, background qualification, and contact info wasn't nice. When you have over 90 emails to check, it would be a time saver to view all you need on one screen or have a preview of key info.

Having a way to sort caregiver based on location would also be helpful. Even though I said I was looking for someone in the brooklyn area, after checking thru profiles I saw responses from caregivers in outer boroughs.

While I didn't follow thru and directly contact any of the caregivers...I recently was accepted in a neighborhood daycare...The service of Care4hire is very useful and I would definitely use them if I run into childcare issue again.

Are interested in this service? Right now Care4hire is offering my readers a 10% discount using this code: 339914-16b

Disclosure: My free membership was upgraded for the purpose of reviewing this site. No other compensation was received. This review is based on my experience while using this site.

Personalized MJM Books Review & Giveaway

Review for MJMBooks.com

Designer Toni Tierney First Blasian Model

I meet Toni Tierney while hanging out on twitter. We shared tweets about the fashion industry, being positive influences in life and hey what you doing today mgs. Just two women chatting it up. Why didn't someone tell me Toni Tierney is the creative force behind the designer baby clothes company Toni Tierney Designs?!

For being a famous person Toni is very down to earth, warm and friendly. She's so friendly that during one of our tweeting sessions I mentioned I'd be happy to do a review of one of her baby outfits to spread the work about her company. Toni sent a tweet back that I should email her my address along with Daniel’s size and she'll send one right out. Imagine my surprise while surfing her website when I found out

(1) Toni's designer baby clothes are featured in many stores and on-line boutiques everywhere.

(2) Toni's designer baby clothes have been spotted on the famous little bodies of Tori Spelling and Jamie-Lynn Spears babies.

Clearly after being in business for over 17 years, Toni did not need my review to "spread the word" about her company. LOL. But being Toni, she sent an outfit for Daniel to wear and for me to review.

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So with excitement I waited for the outfit and when it arrived I was surprised once again. Now alot of people don't know two things about me.

(1) I'm a Buddhist

(2) I've worked in different areas of the fashion industry, so I know a bit about clothing quality.

I could see right away that Toni's clothes are made in the USA of 100% quality cotton knit for a child's comfort and wearability. Then I noticed the theme of the outfit... Peace, Love, Truth. I don't know if Toni chose this outfit specifically for me but it was a perfect theme for Daniel to wear cause his mommy truly believes in those themes.

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What I also noticed are the little details like the peace sign decorating one of the pants leg. How sweet! Of course I dressed Daniel and took him outside for my very own baby photo shoot. He's clearly a natural in front the camera. He even gave my sexy over the shoulder looks. I swear I didn’t teach him that. LOL.

I think he's the first blasian baby to model a Toni Tierney outfit. But since I'm have a giveaway of this exact 2 piece outfit in size 12 months, now your baby has a chance to sport this look and be just as adorable as Daniel. Hurry over and enter my Toni Tierney giveaway =)

How Hard is Buying a Stroller?

After doing some online research I went back to Target and bought the Cosco Umbria Stroller with Canopy based on price and the fancy description on the box. I can't understand why Target didn't have a display model for me to try out. Since the local target is just a 10 min bus ride I figured I can bring home, try it out and then decide to keep or return. The verdict?

What a disappointment that stroller turnout out to be. As I set it up I my first thought was...Daniel can't fit in this! The seating area was way to short for my son's chunky tush and legs. What will happen in a few months when he goes thru another growth spurt? He'll be standing! I dunno what child they think will fit in there! So I packed it back up and put it aside to be returned. Not happy that I have to go back stroller shopping

Today I went back to Target, returned the stroller and promptly went over to Babies R Us. I did a quick check thru to see if anything has changed or gone on sale. I took another look at the umbrella strollers but still didn't like them. My son is a solid baby and needs support not just canvas wrapped on a frame. So I finally decided to buy the Especially for Kids TrendSport Stroller I was eyeing the day before.

After a quick check over everything one last time, I sped thru check out and was on the way back home excited to test it out. Once home my testing stage started with having to put the stroller together...sorta. But again a quick and easy setup to attached wheels, stroller tray and canopy and it was ready. Snapping Daniel into the stroller worked simple enough with no immediate issues or tantrums.

So we headed off to the supermarket where we squeezed into narrow isles, made sharp turns to avoid shopping carts, used the basket to hold a variety of food goodies and finally after check out we exited thru the bars. Side note about this...my other stroller was to big to fit and I would always have to tip the stroller back so I could wheel it under and thru. Not something enjoyable when you have a stroller full of grociews. Not anymore...this stroller was the right width to just roll through. Woot, woot!

As Daniel and I did the smooth and easy return stroll back home, we were both pleased...him with more room to wiggle around as he took in the sites...me with finding something within my budget that is lighweight and portable but still sturdy enough to survive the brooklyn streets.