how much to pay babysitter??

[gr8mommy]

And that is just wrong on your part for so many reasons. That is taking advantage of the situation. A good babysitter is worth their weight in gold.
Here, if you dont want to pay AT LEAST $10/hour for 1 child, you will not find a babysitter. I won't babysit for less than $12/hour for 1 child. I have 9 years of babysitting experience, a year of preschool/daycare experience plus infant/child CPR certification.

This will probably make me sound bad but when it comes to babysitting, I am worth more than $3/hour and I have the experience and 6 references to prove it.

Our babysitter is an in-home private babysitter. Our daughter is not the only child who goes to her. However, her rates are going to be high come September, especially for this area.

If your child is not the only one in her care, you need to add up what you each pay her for her hourly rate. Just because you aren't personally paying her $10/hour doesn't mean she isn't charging that much.

Also, as was mentioned by a PP, daily in-home care is often a bit less per hour, namely because 1)all the kids going are in effect subsidizing one another, 2) the income for the sitter is fairly regular, unlike booking someone for a random weekend evening, and 3) you often must pay the sitter whether or not your child goes that day.

 

[mjkacmom]

I definitely would have had to be a stay at home mom for that price--that's nuts!!! First year teachers make about $30K...and you all are talking $15K/yr. for daycare!!!
I heard $175/wk for babies (most expensive age) at a "top" daycare here...so $700/month. And we are city of 225K in the midwest...
Those are some crazy prices!

First year teachers here make $45,999.

 

[mjkacmom]

Our babysitter is an in-home private babysitter. Our daughter is not the only child who goes to her. However, her rates are going to be high come September, especially for this area.

And like I said, I would never pay a teenager more then I pay my regular day care provider. If they want to make $7.25 flipping burgers then be my guest. They won't be making it in my house! And good luck to them finding a burger flipping job around here. When there are jobs to be had, there are hundreds if not thousands of people applying. We just had a new arena open last fall. There were 200 SEASONAL jobs available. Close to 5000 people showed up to apply. For SEASONAL jobs! The economy here sucks. Teenagers around here babysit for whatever people pay them because it's money in their pockets that they aren't able to get someplace else.

You do realize, across the whole country, that in home sitters make a fraction of what sitters who come to your house make. Apples and oranges.

 

[DeniseinNS]

$10 an hour???? wow, I need to take up babysitting lol. Noone around my area charges that much, my kids are starting at an afterschool sitter 2 days a week soon and she is charging me $20 a day for 2 kids, she'll have one at 1:45 and the other at 2:15 and she will keep them until as late as 5:30.

 

[Monte Cristo]

I really think it just depends on the situation. I nanny for my full-time job. I drive the kids to their pre-k program every day and pick them up. I am only reimbursed for gas $$ in the summer when my driving doubles b/c of driving them to activities. I get paid $10/hour. I also take the girls to one activitiy during the school year. It comes out to about $1200/month. I need that money. $3-$4/hour around here just wouldn't cut it.

This sounds exactly like our scenario. We have a woman come to our house to take care of our daughter. She drives her to pre school, picks her up, takes her to any activities, etc. She will also about once a week do some laundry and light picking up of the kitchen. We pay her $10 per hour and it's about 30 hours per week. She is the best thing going...

 

[mjkacmom]

$10 an hour???? wow, I need to take up babysitting lol. Noone around my area charges that much, my kids are starting at an afterschool sitter 2 days a week soon and she is charging me $20 a day for 2 kids, she'll have one at 1:45 and the other at 2:15 and she will keep them until as late as 5:30.

Again, although sitters who come to your home get $10 an hour, you can drop your kid off at a sitter for $25 a day here.

 

[marcemc]

Another one on $10 per hour. She babysits our 2 boys and we always make it so she has to do nothing but play with them, because that alone is enough!

 

[patsal]

10 years ago I paid out half of my salary to daycare. I was grateful for the peace of mind I had knowing my children were well taken care of. If I looked at the short term cost and said I'm not going back to work I would have hurt myself in the long run with lower social security benefits and a lower pension at retirement time. Daycare for children is the price you pay when you have to go back to work. It is short term, just like most other things that we do for our children--diapers, formula, dance lessons, sports, etc.

These expenses will pass, it is worth paying for quality care knowing you can safely go to work and your children will be well taken care of. For $4 an hour who would want the aggrivation of anyone elses children!

 

[LaDonna]

Well I think it totally depends on the situation. Some are willing to do for less money than others, and some are fine with less money too. I've babysit off and on over the years. I really would never charge $10 an hr, unless I was traveling to their house and helping them keep their house tidy perhaps. Like I said depends on the situation.

If an older lady who isn't depending on the income and just wants a lil' extra money then I can totally see it going from anywhere from $2-$7 hr I live around a fairly large city and yes there are those that pay $10+ an hr but there are quite a few that also take as low as $2 hr. I myself charge my best friend $2 hr to watch her almost 1 yr old for 11 hrs a day (I honestly would charge someone else $1-$3 more) I also watch a 1st and 4th grader afterschool the bus drops them off at my house and they are here from 3pm-8pm and I charge $8hr for that, mainly because of dinner, I take her son 1-2times a week to Taekwando, and the "night time" rate.

I do agree you "get" what you pay for. If someone is paying me $10+ hr then YES I am going to be much more interactive with that child, but hey for a few bucks an hr I'm gonna treat them like one of my own kids, not gonna spend every second playing games with them. I don't think that means they are taken care of any less, they are still loved and taken care of.

I really never understood why paying more then minimum wage for a weekend teenage babysitter is such the norm now????? When I was a teenager this was never heard of, and we didn't treat the kids bad or not play with them. I'm more than happy with paying less than minimum wage and have the babysitter sit and watch tv part of the time, I mean gee I sit and watch tv and can still take care of my kids lol

 

[AZMermaid]

First year teachers here make $45,999.

Wow! I need to move there. I am a 5th year teacher and I make $35,000!