My hubby and I are leaving our two kids (5 year old and one year old) with our neighbor this weekend for about 8 hours to attend a wedding. I don't know how much to pay her. I told her she can either keep the kids at our house or take them to hers (we are next door to each other) for eating, naps, etc. She is also having her teen daughter help out. I'm not sure how to pay her or her daughter or how much for that matter. Any advice?
Thanks for all the advice. I cannot ask my neighbor how much she'll charge because she would say, "nothing." I always pay her $7 per hour per each child when she does watch them for a few hours. Since this is the longest I have ever left my children with her, I want to make sure that she and her daughter are compensated well and I wasn't sure what the proper way to go about that was...now I know:) Thank you so much for your responses.
i would do one flat rate. My old babysitter used to get paid $25. per day.
for one child. I also used to supply the food. or if they ate out i would give her alittle extra for that.
M.,
These are your children, I would hope that you would pay someone at least for the convenience of taking care of them all day. Keep in mind, this is not the teen next door either. It doens't matter to me if it's her daughter whom is going ot help her, thats alot of responsibility to ask someone to take on. I charge personally $10/hour for regular babysitting, but for a day like that, I would ask for $100. It's a flat rate, and she can take it or leave it.
Keep in mind too that when you pay a little amount of money, you get what you pay for too. Your neighbor is obviously a mother, with a teen daughter, giving up her whole day to care for your kids. Cook, play, clean up after them, no matter if it's in your home or her own, she is still responsible for them. I live in your city too, so I know what the pay-range is for sitters...
My daughter babysits. SHe is almost 16. She averages $10-$12 an hour. She does not set a fee.
When we had our weekly high school sitter, we paid $60-$80 per week for sdate night.
If you want them to help out again sometime, I would do more vs less. If the neighbor mom is doing it out of the goodness in her heart...... gift card for dinner somewhere
I just read the responses.... GEES... if my daughter got paid $20-$30 for babysitting a WHOLE day or 8+ hour and got that money she would NEVER babysit for that person again.
Good sitters = Good money
OMG -I cannot believe people get away with $25 or $28 bucks a day -a whole DAY? $28 bucks a day is nothing -especially for 9.5 hours of daycare! For 8 hours I would pay a flat rate. We have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, so you have to take two small kids into account, plus an entire day. At the very least they should be making $10 an hour -so $80. I always pay $100 for a day like that, so it gives them $50 a piece. Have you asked how much she charges?
For a full day like that I would agree up front on a flat rate, probably around $50 or $60. We normally pay $5 an hour with $5 for showing up, so 2 hours is $15, and 8 would be $45, but to commit to a full day deserves a little extra.
Wow! What do you normall y pay for an evening out? For my two kids 5.5mo, and 2.5 yo, we pay about $8-10/hour....multiply by 8 hours. If you know that it will be 8 hours solid, per hour or flat rate doesn't matter. If you are "supposed" to be back at X:00, then definitely per hour incase it runs over.
Well, there are obviously some different ways to look at this. :)
I am an in home care provider and charge $45/day per child = $90
If a teenager is watching my kids I pay an hourly rate of $8/hour = $64
Is the neighbor doing this as a favor? A gift card to their favorite restaurant would suffice. = $50
Is the neighbor doing this as a learning experience for the teenage daughter? = $30 for the teenager and a gift of appreciation for the mom. (homebaked cookies, a card)
My two cents. :)
Have fun at the wedding and just ASK the neighbor about compensation.
I agree with the pp's. A Flat rate for 8 hours would be totally sufficient. For us, our sitter (who is in high school) would watch DS (1 child) at our home for $20 for 8 hours. I would submit that if she was watching your kids from the comfort of her home, then the $$ would be a bit less. Just my opinion. Good luck & have fun at the wedding!
Is she expecting to be paid? When my neighbor asked me to watch her daughter so she could attend her divorce hearing, I had ZERO expectation of payment. As for the teen helping, I would pay her if she's there the whole time.
If it's more of a "we'll keep her with us for the day" and you are close, I would do a gift card to a family style restaurant with a thank you note ($50 would be plenty). You could also do a thank you note for the teen with cash in it ($30 or so).
If the neighbor is expecting to be paid, our daycare provider charges $45 per day. Considering an 8 hour day with an "aide", I would give them $50-$75 and let them divide it accordingly!
Here are some suggestions for paying the babysitter, should really help:
http://www.theskinnyscoop.com/search/pay+babysitter?utm_c...
When my 24 month old son went to a day care from 7am to 430 pm i would have to pay her 28 dollars a day. That is 9.5 hours and i think the $28 is a lot.
I would ask what she thinks is fair, so you have a clear understanding. She may try to be neighborly and say it's a favor. In that case I would probably give the daughter $20 and the mom a $20 gift card or make a small gift basket or something.
I usually pay $50 for both mine when I leave them 5 or 6 hours in the evening. I pay a little more at night, when I will be picking them up late, just for the inconvneince.
Maybe give her her going rate and a small thank you gift as well? Or just make sure that you give extra to her daughter. What a nice setup to have a neighbor who sits and a daughter who helps!
