Paying an in Home Babysitter

Here's how we came to our figure.

How much is daycare for 3 kids in your area per week?

Calculate the daily rate.

We used that number as a guide. You might adjust lower b/c your kids are older and likely won't need as much supervision.

You might also adjust lower b/c she can bring her child with - meaning that instead of paying for 100% of her attention on 3 children (33% each), she now has to pay attention to four (25% each) - so the total percentage paid to your children went from 100% to 75%.

I don't know, but the fact is, she will be spending most of her time watching/taking care of her infant vs "baby sitting" your kids.

Sherry, to be clear, I DO appreciate her. She lives in an aparment complex with nowhere for the kids to play. I ALLOW her to bring her child to ny home. She also has to be a caretaker for her child whom requires much more attention then my 3 self sufficient kids. I am only asking this to other mothers because during the school year in the event there is a full day of care needed, I pay her $50, and suddenly she has jumped the price up $75 more. I do not require her do do any housework. In fact, she does her laundry at my home so she doesn't have to pay for it at her apartments. $100/day is absurd. She doesn't take them anywhere or anything. My LIVE In NANNEY was paid $500 per week. She did much more. All I require of my current sitter is to ensure they are safe and have lunch during the day.

I live in the chicagoland area (a western suburb not the actual city) I can tell you that no way would I do a long day like you have described for $14 a day. I work from 7:30 to 6 pm every day. I make $12 an hour. Regardless of whether she brings her kid with her or not she is still at your house taking up her time. I am assuming you feel that she is taking good care of your children. I think that a minimum of $100 a day. I personally would not do it for less. It sounds like you think your doing her a favor for her to do it in your house when in reality it would be much easier for her if you brought them to her house. I just think that if you appreciate a good caregiver you pay them accordingly.

In Oklahoma, if the state is paying for the child's care, I can give you what you would be paying for your children.

For school aged children it is the same year round if you get a blended rate. If you do the Daily Rates you get paid for the amount of hours they are present.

Daily rates, if they come in from school at 3:30 and mom is there by 4 you get $XXX, if school is out and they are there for 10 hours, a normal day in child care, then you get $XXX.

Most child care centers do the blended rate so they can do a budget and know about how much they will be getting year round. I think you actually get more money for the entire year if you do the blended rate. They are there less than 4 hours after school. You still get the full amount of the blended rate. Then you may only feed them a snack and they are gone home.

SO, here goes.

In a 1 1/2 STAR facility the 3 school aged children would pay $11.75 per day each. Most facilities would also give you a discount for siblings so it would actually be a bit less. That would be the rate year round, the blended rate.

If you did the daily rate they would pay $15 for a full day, 4 hours or more, and $10 for days that are less than 4 hours.

If they were in a 2 STAR the pay would go up to $13.50 for a blended rate or for the daily rate it would be $16.50 full day and
$12 for less than 4 hours.

A 3 STAR facility would pay $14 for the blended rate and $18.25 for a full day or $12 for less than 4 hours.

So I think if you can't pay this much to the nanny then you may want to think about taking the kids to a program like Y Camp so they will have fun and still be supervised very well.

All in all, the state of Oklahoma would pay $45 per day for all 3 in a standard 1+ STAR child care facility and up to the full daily price up to $54.75 in the highest rated child care facility, 3 STAR.

If they were paying a blended rate, the same amount daily whether they were in school or not, then they would pay for all 3 in a standard 1+ STAR facility $33.75 and up to $42 per day for all 3 in a 3 STAR facility.

Oklahoma pay rate scale for child care:

http://www.okdhs.org/NR/rdonlyres/2E81F###-###-####-487B-...

We had a sitter supervise our 11 yr olds plus care for our 2 1/2 yr old (ages at the time). The 11 yr olds were pretty much self sufficient, just needed to be told "no" when appropriate. :) We paid her $10 an hour and then raised it to $12 when we could because she was awesome. She also had a little one that we let her bring with when she needed to. Since this will be all day, you might be able to work out a weekly rate instead, with additional $$ is you are late.

Contact a nanny service and find out what the going rate might be.

I would pay $180 a week. That breaks down to $20 per day per child, or $60 a week per child.

I agree w/Dad on Purpose. 1/4 of whatever you'd pay a daycare service. Although your children are older, she still has to stay on your premises and be responsible for your children's care. Plus, infants sleep a fair amout; I'm not sure how much I'd really factor her child into it. Will your kids be allowed to have any friends visit during those times? If so, you her workload and responsibility increases with each visiting friend. Will she be expected to drive your kids to activities or take them on outings? If so, that also is additional expense and resonsibility to consider.

Assuming you would pay a nanny $15/hour (which is low, by the way), that would relate to $405 a week. She'll be watching 4 kiddos, 1 of which is hers. So, basically, 3/4 of the work is for your kiddos. So, approximately $300/week. Since her infant might take up more time/responsibility than the older boys, drop it down to $250/week and call it good.

How did you answer your own question?