watching a friends child-what to charge?

[daughtersrus]

As others have said, the rate will depend on the area that you live in. Even here in the Chicago suburbs, it can be $10-$40 per day different within a few miles of each other. $40 would be about right in the middle.

The other thing that I wanted to add is that it doesn't matter whether you are licensed or not, legally you should be claiming all of the income that you make.

Many states don't require a licenses depending on how many children you watch but you still need to report your income to the IRS and State. Many people don't realize how many bills they are paying already (mortgage, property taxes, utilities...) that a percent of which can be written of as a day care business expense.

Not claiming day care income is no different than any other business paying under the table for services. Not trying to judge but most people would not be happy if they knew that the cashier at the store or the hygienist at the dentist were being paid cash.

 

[lady_bug_888]

I pay my babysitter an hourly rate of $5/hour. I pay teenagers who come to my home the same amount (but they have two kids as opposed to my babysitter who just watches DD) but I also add a tip. The reason I pay hourly is because sometimes I need her for 2 hours and sometimes 9 hours so it works out better overall. I am also accommodating to her schedule so she can do things with her family so it's a trade-off and very fair IMHO.

I would say charge $35/day. I would also ask up front to have a slight raise every year if that is something you would like. That's about a 17% pay increase since the last time you babysat for her and I think that's very reasonable.

 

[Evi]

my niece gets paid $10 for 1 child and $15 for 2 an hour she won't watch 3 she says its just to much for her. Shes 17 and has about 4 families that call her on a regular basis.

 

[DebMcDonald]

I don't think this is a good question to pose to the boards, only because I did daycare for 5 years and prices vary from town to town, let alone state to state. I heard from a neighbor last night that her sister who lives in NYC will be paying a daycare center $150 a day for infant care, where most of us would find that unreasonable, but that's what NY brings. I was licenced and used to charge $35 for toddler and $40 for infant and a friend 15 minutes away would charge $50 and $60.

I do recommend that you call both centers and homes in your area and find what they charge and then lower your amount as I assume this will be "under the table".

To the person that made a comment about her DD being paid $10 an hour for babysitting - that's the norm here, so my daughter could make my daily income in 4 hrs whereas I was open for 10 hrs....

 

[jjj444]

OP here,
I asked for $40 a day and they agreed to that. With her being a newborn, I feel she is taking time away from my kids because we all know how much it takes to watch a newborn. Maybe when she gets older and it is not as demanding I will offer to take less. I am trying to help a friend out, but I am also taking precious time awa y from my kids as well so I feel the amount is fair. Thanks for all of your opinions, it really helped.