Babysitter Rates

This is what I've done, take it for what it's worth! I have just one 2 yr old girl, who is pretty easy to take care of. If I take her to drop-in-daycare, I pay $4/hr. I figure I should probably pay a little more for a babysitter, as that's one-on-one care and this teenager is inconveniencing herself to come to my home... so I pay $4-5/hr. I have not asked her to clean or to do any other things during the time she sits for my daughter. If I were to be home during the time she was here AND was partially keeping an eye on my dau myself, I would likely pay her less. However, if I were not, I would likely pay her the same. Good luck to you - and if your neighbor is still willing to sit for you again, you probably did a great job paying her last time! :-)

This is just my personal opinion on pay

Teenagers:$5-8 a hour

College age:$7-10 a hour

Adults,Nannies, Stay at home moms' etc... $8-15 a hour

That's basic care of children and cleaning up after themselves. If you want more done like cleaning, or anything extra that should be some extra pay.

My little sister is 14 and watches 2 little girls over night on Saturdays. They pay her $50. I would talk to the girl and work something out with her. You don't want her to feel like she's getting ripped off because then she'll stop doing it for you. Good luck!

I think it also depends on the age of both the kids and the sitter and her responsibilities and when she is coming over.
We have a sitter that is a junior in high school, she usually drives herself over and cleans up the toys and kitchen without my ever telling or asking her to do so, she just does it. We pay her between $6-8 depending on the time of day and for how long. We worked out a mutual agreement with her, and she really loves coming over and babysitting so its not all about the money for her. She has another job so its a side note for her and its fun.
We also have a 12 year old that can come over once in a while but I usually only call her during the day if its just a quick couple of hours, again, super responsible but she doesnt usually clean up. I pay her $4-5. Here's a good analogy on this. Babysitting is fun for teenage girls, they are responsible, its a learning experience for them. And also, its a cash job, no taxes taken out (unless its a regular summer/nanny job, etc.) If your sitter was working at a movie theater or something similar they would be making roughly no more than $8 an hour and than they have to take taxes off of that. I hope this helps!
When you find someone that you like, work out an agreement with her so she isnt diappointed or angry that she got more more money last time, its hard to find good sitters so I like to treat mine like family and take good care of them.

Well, our daycare lady did some "date night" days and charged $6 an hour and it's in their home. If the babysitter depends on the parent that's home then I'd give a bit less. If they are independant then full rate applies.

I think it depends a lot on a few factors:

The ages of your kids (and how many there are!)
The responsibilities of the sitter (like, is most of the time they are there just watching TV while the kids are sleeping?)
The age of the sitter

We have two main sitters we use. One is in college, so we pay her $7-9/hr (5 and 2 yr olds) since I figure she can get jobs elsewhere that pay better than that...and she's uber responsible if there was an emergency, and she drives herself to our house (and sometimes takes the kids places if we put the carseats in her car).

The other sitter is 15. We pay her $5-7/hr depending on her responsibilities for the night. We have to drive from Bloomington to Lakeville to pick her up and drop her off, plus she is a little more inexperienced.

Some friends of ours use the college sitter as well. They pay her mileage since they live quite far away, and their hourly rate is a bit higher because they have a 25 month old and 11 month old. Gets expensive though!

If you find a sitter you like, that's golden! I would error on the side of paying too much, since you want her to return. It took us a long time to find our above two girls...I don't want to do anything to keep them from coming back. :)

Good Luck!