Babysitter Base Pay Calculator

[MrsK]

I came across this Babysitter Base Pay Calculator on line. Perhaps it would be helpful? http://www.care.com/child-care-babys...tor-p1140.html

[Deebs]

I'm guessing this is for full-time childcare, not evening-out type babysitting? If it is for evening out, it's about 2/3 of the actual cost.

[ladymoreta]

Thanks! Have you used that site to find a sitter? We need to find one. The hourly child care we've been using for date nights isn't very good, and they don't take babies under one anymore, so we'll need someone after DD is born and is old enough to leave with a sitter.

[alison]

Hmm... I give mine $18/hour and tip for 3-4 hours at a time. That is almost double the amount the calculator says to be giving her, but I want her to be reliable... And I also knowingly overpay, because I'm a freaking paranoid basketcase.

[Deebs]

We do $5/hour per child, which is pretty standard around here. We do a tip which typically ends up being really generous because we want to keep our sitter and she's older. I think the least I've heard of people paying here is $4/hr/child, which would still be more than the calculator.

MrsK - I don't know if you care, but the link comes up w/your zip code already populated in it (and I think this is a public forum).

Jeez, Alison - I want to come work for you. $18/hr for one kid? I pay $10/hr for high school aged sitters for all 3 of mine. $10/hr for my adult sitter for Mattie (the one that is like a mini-preschool goddess), and $12/$15 hr for my college age sitters. The ones that clean up after themselves and the kids get the most $.

[alison]

I'm clearly an idiot.
She's German, and is a nanny for other families. She leaves the house cleaner than the way she found it. She alphabetized my spices with M the other day.

[scrub-jay]

I'm clearly an idiot.
She's German, and is a nanny for other families. She leaves the house cleaner than the way she found it. She alphabetized my spices with M the other day.

Money well spent IMHO. The PNW is way more $$ for babysitting. I made $15/HR in college for the occasional job, and that doesn't count tip.

[SuzySunshine]

I pay mine $10/hour for both and found mine from sittercity.com - its also what we paid in Rochester and we ALWAYS use college kids.

[L.Jane]

Thanks! Have you used that site to find a sitter? We need to find one. The hourly child care we've been using for date nights isn't very good, and they don't take babies under one anymore, so we'll need someone after DD is born and is old enough to leave with a sitter.

I used the site to find jobs. I found two great families through it. I definitely went through a few interviews before I found the right families... Its a bit of a two sided interview where you are both interviewing each other. The best thing to do if you use it is to be very specific and then when you find someone who looks good online, get their references and meet in a public place. Oh and google them.

[poky]

MrsK - I don't know if you care, but the link comes up w/your zip code already populated in it (and I think this is a public forum).

Actually, I'm not sure it does; when I clicked on the link, it came up with a ZIP near mine, but not exactly mine...definitely not where MrsK lives...

[Auspicious]

We found ours through sittercity, as well ( which also has a pay calculator, if you want a second opinion) and we love her. She and my second-choice girl--both college students--both listed $7-12 as their rates, and both calculators gave a number within that range.

Also, however, I feel that "years of experience" is kind of a hinky criterion to use for occasional sitting, or any part-time, irregular job.

Sittercity and care.com seem really similar to me, and I only went with sittercity because a lot of people on my parenting board had good experiences with them, where care.com seemed unmentioned.

[ladymoreta]

Thanks, L.Jane! Also, my own zip code was pre-populated when I went to the site.

[Vanquisher]

Thank goodness I now have a responsible teenager at home, and that when he was little his dad was too busy and we were too broke to go out! I got paid between $1-$3/hour to babysit when I was a teenager. Usually, it was closer to $1 than $3. I cannot believe how much that it is now!!!

[MrsK]

We are grateful for a drive in movie theatre. We can bring our kids to the movies with us and they sleep in the backseat. No sitter needed.