What do you pay your baby sitter?

[canwegosoon]

Wondering what you would pay a babysitter (non-family member). I have 2c 6yrs old. Thanks for sharing

 

[purplebelle]

In my neighborhood, families pay no less than $10 an hour.

1 child = $10/hr.
More kids can lead to more pay ($12 or so) but sometimes it's just $10. (I babysit for several families regularly)

 

[rockin_rep]

Our dd (16) is a babysitter and recently (this summer) has recieved between $5 -$10 an hour, depending on how many children and ages. For one 5 y/o, she rec'd $5 - $6 but for infants and if there are more than 2 children, she receives between $7-10.

 

[pearlieq]

Wow! Inflation rears its ugly head.

Back in my babysitting days, (8-10 years ago) I made $5 an hour and I was expensive. My mom still goes on about how she made $.50 per hour back in the early 60's.

$10 an hour! Yikes!

 

[Strings]

We have 1 4yo. I pay $7/hr. She told me up front, if I want New Year's Eve, it would be $20/hr. No thanks. I love her,. She is so good with my DD.

 

[Ozymoe]

Originally posted by pearlieq
...My mom still goes on about how she made $.50 per hour back in the early 60's.

In 1963 in Sioux City, Iowa I was paid 25 cents an hour to babysit a 5 and a 3 year old next door...after a year I got 35 cents an hour.

I once babysat for 3 days (aged 16) for a 4, 3 and less than a year old. I received $25 and a souvenier bracelet with pretty rocks in it.

 

[imsayin]

I once babysat for 3 days (aged 16) for a 4, 3 and less than a year old. I received $25 and a souvenier bracelet with pretty rocks in it.

Are you still available at this rate?

 

[WishingOnAStar]

We pay $7/hour. We have 6,7, and 8 year olds. Our baby sitter is in her 2nd year of college - going for early childhood.
Our neighbors all think we pay WAY too much. She's willing to accept whatever we give her- but we pay $7 and then usually round up when counting it out.

 

[ceecee]

I pay my sitter $2.00 an hour (a lady) she babysits for my DD age 8 after school 2 days a week. During the summer it is $18.00 a day. We don't normally use a teenage sitter in the evenings, but my neighbor pays $3.00 an hour for her sitters.
I used to make $1.00 an hour in the late 70's as a teen. $1.50 for 2 kids. I had one family that paid $1.00 per child and provided dinner! My girlfriend & I loved getting called for them.

 

[ilovediznee]

Our babysitter and neighbor Kristen is paid $5.00 an hour, unless I have already bought something for her and our daughter for lunch or i am ordering pizza, then it is $3.00.

We also do a swap with her during the USC football games. She babysits for three games ( approx. 10 hours with tailgating, the game and the trip home) and we take her to three games with us (we pay for her ticket). This works out great because if we paid her, it would cost a fortune but her ticket is only $25.00 per game.

Dianedisney

 

[Jasminesmommy]

I am a sitter and it $100 a week. If its a night time thing it $10hr. This one lady I sit is very nice I sat yesterday from 6pm to 11pm and got $80 this is usually what she gives me if i watch 4 or 6 hours. She has 2 kids ages 3 and 10 months.

 

[georgina]

My DD gets between $7-10 per hour. I paid $5 per hour when my kids were little, so I think $7-8 is probably fair.

 

[canwegosoon]

I am paying $10 an hour...and our sitter is great. The question came up because my husband thinks I should also give her something extra (like a tip). I (always in budget mode) begin to think, well, then why don't I pay her $11 an hour? And then I just began to get crazy. I think $10 is good, for the Capital District of NY, I know other areas get similar or more/less depending on many things.

Jamiesmommy...thats a good salary $16 an hour....I just can not go that high. But I did take the sitter out to lunch last week .

It does bring back memories of when I got $.50 an hour too...but I had a minimum of $4.00 for at night...the 70's....

Thanks everyone!!

 

[momxx5]

We have 5 children, ages 10, 9, 7, 5 and 2 yrs old. We pay our sitter $10 per hour and always round up. Three hours and 15 minutes = $40.

Of course we do not get a sitter that often because $40 sitter, plus $40 ordering pizza for the gang(I feed sitter and her daughter too) and then our dinner out....it easily turns into an expensive evening.

When little DD was born we payed sitter $100 to come to our house at 5:30am, get children ready for school, watch 3yr old, be here for when kids get off school bus, etc. Basically watch the children while DH was at the hospital with me. The price was arranged ahead of time.

She is a single mom, with one daughter and teaches 2yr olds preschool so she is highly qualified. She is very grateful for the money.

 

[cadburysmom]

I have an excellent babysitter and don't mind one bit paying $10 per hour for her to babysit my 10 yr old. Others may balk at that amount, but you can't put a price on "peace of mind"

 

[DianaPrincessofWales]

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

This is an interesting thread. My 11 yr old daughter just starting baby-sitting. She gets paid about $2 an hour!! She's not mature enough to watch babies, she watches 3 kids ages 3,7 and 8. I know she doesn't wash windows and is not red cross trained but............is she being taken advantage of? She doesn't get meals or transportation - she walks about 2 or 3 blocks of a length to the neighbors.

Should she ask for a raise?

Maybe it's location, but I think you are paying your babysitters generously. Good for you.

 

[georgina]

Three children, only $2 per hour? I think that's really low. Did you ever pay a sitter to watch her? What did you pay?

I did think it was a little high when someone paid DD $10 an hour, and I told the mother so, but she said she got $5 an hour when she babysat many years ago, (and she's 40).

 

[2minnies]

We pay $5/hour for DD 10 and DD 7 to high school neighbor girl. I always round up...I remember babysitting for people when I was young and they would get out the calculator and pay me to the penny!

We also remember her bday and xmas with gift cards to the mall!

 

[steen995]

Wow. I'm shocked at $10 an hour. I'm a bookkeeper for a detail shop and most of those guys make less than $10 an hour. It's a good thing I've got family or I'd never go out. I think I better call my sister-in-law and tell her how wonderful she is. I pay her around $5 an hour give or take for two kids.

 

[ceecee]

I think $10.00 is a lot to pay a pre teen or teen. How do people working at minimum wage afford to pay a sitter? Our local daycare centers only charge $30.00 a day!!!