5 answers

How Much to Pay an Occasional Babysitter

I am pretty new again to the occasional babysitter and am wondering really how much I should pay ours. In the past its always been family members who have watched the girls and would prefer us not to pay them but gladly accept giftcards for gas or a resturant as a token for our appreciation.
We send our 2 DD to daycare Monday - Friday but occasionally we would like to go out on a weekend. We have been living in our neighborhood for a year now and have gotten to know our neighbor girls quite well. The oldest is 13, and her sisters are 10 & 7. (the oldest has taken a cpr class & been to babysitting training)
We have asked the oldest to babysit for us and she will be for the first time on Saturday when we go away for about 5.5 hours. I invited her to bring her sisters with (for help, and for play, etc). Their parents will be home right next door, and we will be close, (within a 20 minute drive). My question is how much does a babysitter get paid these days? I want to be know I'm not being "cheap" because I would like them to WANT to come back and babysit again. I was considering $30 for the babysitter and $10/each for her sisters? Am I being cheap? Maybe I am worrying about this too much.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

**On a side note - last summer I had 2 sisters (junior in highschool & freshman in highschool)babysit on occasion in the summer when I didn't have daycare. I honestly felt I over paid them for the time they were always here (I came home to such a mess everytime and they were always in front of the tv; even after I asked them not to turn the tv on till nap time), but think they felt I underpaid them. For a full day 7:15 - 4:15 I paid them $100 and gave them a gas gift card for $35 for driving to our house. So in total paid them $135 a day. However they quit returning phone calls for babysitting jobs. Which lead me to think I underpaid them, or maybe they just weren't interested. I currently pay $115/child per week at our daycare. I also look at it as I paid those 2 girls 1 full week worth of daycare - EEEeeeeekkkkkkkk

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we pay ours $7 an hour and we have 2 kids (4.5 and 13 months). I have asked a few other people what they pay and they said $5 an hour, but we wanted to pay a little more so she would want to sit for us. I definitely don't think $100 a day is underpaying, although that was for 2 babysitters. I say just find someone maybe a little older and you only have to pay one person. Our sitter is 16 and very dependable and mature.

Hope that helps,
L.

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WOW!!! I totally think you overpaid those girls! We pay our babysitters $5/hour and are happy to round up or to it if they did a little extra. We haven't had a problem with any of them not wanting to come back.

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I usually pay $5/hour for sitters. Maybe a litte more if they are making AND cleaning up a meal or putting kids to bed ON TIME.
Did you really pay them $35 each day for gas? Last summer I paid $25/week to fill up the tank of my car.
$30-40 for 5.5 hours sounds fine. I wouldn't pay the little sisters though. I think $10/hr for anyone under the age of 18 is paying them too much. Consider that if they were to go out and get a job at a store or restaurant they would only be making minimum wage which is $6.25/hr.

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We pay $10 and hour for our two kids, 3 years and 7 months. We had a sitter for the first time a couple weeks ago so I didn't know howmuch to pay either. I asked her how much is "normal" and she said $10 is pretty much the going rate for two kids. She also picks up after herself and even does the laundry and dishes if both girls are sleeping, so I'm happy to pay her whatever she wants. Good luck!

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Teenagers $5-8 hour

College/Nanny/Adult $8-15 hour

This is for babysitting and cleaning up afterthemselves, I would put more money on the table if they go beyond that and clean or do laundry etc.

I wouldn't pay this babysitter's little sisters though. I would just concentrate on the 13 year old.

I can't believe the teenagers last summer weren't happy with that pay. WOW! I'm a mom in my upper 20's and would have watched your girls for that or cheaper and you would have come home to a clean house.

When I was a single mom/ with just my daughter I did alot of babysitting for extra cash and I was willing to go down to around $8/10 hour. If the teenage thing doesn't work out for you there are alot of single mom's or even college students are very dependable and mature. I did alot that just brought my daughter with me and appreciated the money. The parents came home to a clean house and usually happy children who I had entertained without tv.

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