Babysitter

[karinbelle]

My DH and I have decided to start going out at least once a month. We have a neighborhood girl who will sit for us, but she would not give an hourly rate. She said "I don't have any bills so anything would be fine."

What is the hourly rate for your area? We are in the midwest - KY, IN area.

I have two children - 10 years and almost 3 years.

I was thinking $5/hour.

Is this enough?

 

[mjkacmom]

How old is the sitter? Here in NJ, teen sitters get $10 an hour, but might get less if they are younger. I've payed friends' dds $8 at the age of 13. $5 seems a little cheap. Why don't you ask around?

 

[Hannathy]

I'm also in the Midwest and $5 is very low especially if they are awake. If you want to keep a sitter you need to be around $10. And rounding up. My DD recently sat for 2 kids who were sound asleep when she got there and never made a peep and she used the family's lap top while there for about 2.5 hours she got $20. and this was actually low for her.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I watch a 5 and 9yo 2 nights a week and get $5 an hour... but this is while the parent are at work I know they cant afford much more. Teenagers seem to get more that me lolol

 

[mward73]

We pay ours $10/hr - she's 14yo. That was when we combined with our neighbor (so she watched all our kids - 6yo and 2 3yo's). It's what she asks for - we do round up and give a little extra because the boys can be wild. lol She's wonderful. We're talking about getting her for our kids (3yo and now a 6mo) and she still wants $10/hr, which is good with us - she's really great.

 

[maddiesmom0116]

My DH and I have decided to start going out at least once a month. We have a neighborhood girl who will sit for us, but she would not give an hourly rate. She said "I don't have any bills so anything would be fine."

What is the hourly rate for your area? We are in the midwest - KY, IN area.

I have two children - 10 years and almost 3 years.

I was thinking $5/hour.

Is this enough?

I am in Indiana and my babysitter gets $7 an hour for DD6. My DNiece gets $10 - $12 an hour depending on the family. One family is a girl and a boy and it is $10, the other is 2 boys and it is $12 as they are very active.

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

My 17 y/o babysitter that lives in my neighborhood watches my 2 DS's (8 & 5)for $8 an hour. But I always "round up". If she watches them for say, 4 hours and 5 minutes, I'll pay her $35.

 

[minniebeth]

My DD12 soon to be 13 (she's really responsible and great with kids!) gets $7 an hour. She loves the money and works hard playing with the kids, has a great knack of getting them to sleep and cleans up after they go to bed. The kids always ask for her!

 

[usandthem]

Our kids are 11 & 6 and really pretty much watch themselves, they just need someone older in the house in case of emergencies. We usually pay $20 for an evening. We've never had a complaint, have had great sitters, and they have always agreed to sit for us again. I think it really depends on the sitter and kids they're watching.

 

[disneymom3]

How old is the sitter? Here in NJ, teen sitters get $10 an hour, but might get less if they are younger. I've payed friends' dds $8 at the age of 13. $5 seems a little cheap. Why don't you ask around?

Holy cow. DD would faint if she got paid that much. She generally gets about $5 an hour and is quite happy with it. She babysits regularly for two familes and they both pay about the same. She is 13.

Heck for $10 an hour, I would babysit!! In a heartbeat!

 

[4Seasons]

We live in MD, my daughter is 17 and has been babysitting for over 3 years.
The going rate here is $10/hour. If she spends the night (going to the parents house around 6 pm, kids going to bed 10-11 pm) she gets $50-60 for the overnight.

 

[disfan07]

I live in california now but in virginia as well I was charging $12/hour for 1-2 kids, $15 for 3 and $18 for 4 kids.

Im 20 and I have been babysitting for 8 years. Where I have lived youd be lucky to get someone to babysit for $5/hour adn mor elikely than not, they would not come back.
Even 8 years ago when I was 12 I was getting $8/hour. No parent ever offered less than $8/hour. By the time i was 15/16 I was never making less than $10/hour. I started charging $12/hour when I was 17.

The parents always round up. So i make the same if Im there for 4 hours and 5 minutes as I would if Im there for 5 hours.
Also, If I am babysitting on holidays (NYE, christmas, school days off, etc) I get paid more than usual.
If I'm there overnight I get double pay. for the hours between 11PM and 7AM

 

[abcboys]

I'm around your neck of the wood. I live in southeastern IL on the IN border. I knew as soon as I read your post people would think that would be cheap. I keep reading about people paying teenage babysitters $10/hour. I never heard of anyone paying that high around these neck of the woods. Honestly around here I think $5/hour sounds just fine.

 

[clh2]

We didn't go out too often when DD was little, but we always paid $5.00 per hour. Now that DD is 15 (almost 16...almost driving) for the a weekend night, she makes about $10 per hour. Now - on the other hand, she will be babysitting a family for 2 days a week in the summer, while the mom works, she will be making $60/day, 3 very easy boys to watch, from 7am to 5 pm, so this will average out to about $6/hr.

DD is way OK with this, since it is a steady job, and it won't interfere with her busy social life. She will be b-sitting on M and W. AND - the mom is OK with the specific weeks that DD has conflicts (she goes to a leadership.student council camp 1 week, and volunteers at a week-long girl scout camp.)

FWIW - we live NW of Milwaukee about 15 miles.

 

[runwad]

I have a DD14 who babysits and she gets 7/hr, she didn't ask for that much and honestly would be happy for anything. She watches a 2 & 4 yr old. I don't think 5/hour is cheap, I think it's a lot of money for a little kid. But I do always stress to my daughter to make sure the house is clean and the dishes done. Nothing ticked me off more then to leave my house clean and come home to a tornado. I would never have those sitters back to my house.

 

[deerhart]

here in MO (STL area) we would pay $5-$7 an hour for a teenager.

Part of it is going to be what other options you have. For us, we can take the kids to the Y every other Saturday for 3.5-4 hours for $25 total ($15 first kid $10 the second). So look around at what your other options would be and at least match or surpass that.

 

[disfan07]

But I do always stress to my daughter to make sure the house is clean and the dishes done. Nothing ticked me off more then to leave my house clean and come home to a tornado. I would never have those sitters back to my house.

And thats the difference between parents as well. What do you expect from the babysitter? Every family I have sat for has always said that they dont care if the dishes are done. They dont care if there are toys on teh floor, etc.
Basically, I just made sure that the dishes were in teh sink. I would only clean up if I was babysitting at night and the kids were asleep.
I cleaned more the longer I was with them and the more comfortable I got with the family. By the time I moved, I was doing dishes, picking up every room in the house, making lunches for school if I was sitting during the week or sunday night, etc.
I always got paid more if I did any cleaning whatsoever.

If you expect the house to be clean and dishes to be done, be sure to tell them that before you leave. Dont expect them to know that it should be done

 

[ceecee]

I'm in the Midwest (Ohio) and teens do not get paid that much in our area. $4.00 is the max I've heard of, maybe more if it's multiple kids. My DD is now babysitting age and has taken the American Red Cross Babysitting Class. I only paid her sitter (a grown women with a daycare in her home) $2.50 an hour (including snacks and lunch if not a school day).

 

[IDoDis]

We never paid an hourly rate either. If we went to dinner and a movie and were gone 3 hours, we'd pay around $15. If we didn't have change, we'd give the sitter a $20.

DD is at the age where she's going to start babysitting. She asked her friends what they make and the average seems to be $5 or $6 an hour. I think $10 an hour is outrageous. Many adults don't even make that much earning minimum wage.

 

[ChickieToo]

Just some commentary here: I live in Connecticut and we pay $10/hour for our DD11. I just wonder when the shift in pay came for babysittters. Back in the stone age when I babysat, I got less than half the minimum wage. Now these kids are getting more than the minimum wage. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to pay the going rate for someone good to take care of the thing most precious to me, but I always wonder when did this shift happen? I don't know how people with three kids can go out very often at $20/hour for babysitting.