Babysitter Rates

[DCJenn]

I pay mine 12 bucks an hour which is totally unheard of in Texas- BUT she has a BA in early childhood education, CPS gave her custody of her neices, she has CPR and First Aid and we did a criminal background check on her and she's clean- sparkling clean.

So, I only use her every once in a while but because I pay well, she'll work for me no matter what. I can give her a few hours notice and she'll do whatever she can to come work.

Jenn

A bill for half a fence that had been installed long before the people ever thought of owning the land?? What a freak!

As for the babysitting, the one arrangement I had w/mom as backup I paid $4 or $5/hour, b/c the mom saw it as a favor to HER for me to let her kid get some babysitting experience.

I pay teenaged sitters $6 to $8 / hour depending on if they really play WITH my kids, or if they feel their primary role is sit here in case of emergency.

Adults get $10 to $12.

[peggyfromwastate]

We shared the expense of taking down a sappy tree that was on our property, and then fixing the fence between our properties. But we never asked our neighbor to contribute to anything- this is a strange lady...

As far as sitting, I have no idea. Nothing to contribute. But I like Jenn from DCs approach, and if I weren't so lazy would probably do something like that. Can you take your boys to an "after school care" type place since it looks like those are the hours you are looking for?

As for the babysitting, the one arrangement I had w/mom as backup I paid $4 or $5/hour, b/c the mom saw it as a favor to HER for me to let her kid get some babysitting experience.

Hey, you might be onto something, maybe there's a way to make money on this deal...


And oh yea, I found out that she's not even 10 yet. Can you imagine a 9-year-old asking for $10/hr to babysit?

Can you imagine the parent who asks the 9-year-old to babysit?
I'm a loser. :bummer:

On to Plan B.
Hey, who recently posted about their cat babysitting? Is the cat taking new clients?!

I think this is really regional. I grew up in Westchester, NY, right outside NYC, and when I was 14 (15 years ago) I was making $5 an hour for friends' siblings. For total strangers I got a minimum of $8-10. If I lived in the area now I would fully expect to pay $15 an hour.

9 is much too young to babysit. I cannot imagine even leaving a 9 year old home alone, much less responsible for small children. I cannot believe her mom even suggested that. Money monger.

[planet]

I'm confused about the fence. The neighbor built a fence bordering the sold porperty and hers? And then billed the new owners of that property? Why would you send a bill (aside from why on earth she would...nutcase)?

[SuzySunshine]

We share one side of our fence with our neighbors. Its technically their fence - they fenced their whole yard before the previous owners fenced the other three sides of ours. If our neighbors on the other side ever decided to put up a fence they would use a side we have put up. What does she expect people to do, double fence in areas when they overlap? RIDICULOUS!

[Flynn]

I'm confused about the fence. The neighbor built a fence bordering the sold porperty and hers? And then billed the new owners of that property? Why would you send a bill (aside from why on earth she would...nutcase)?

See the last part of your quote.

YES there ARE people in this world who believe that IF they choose to fence their property, the owners in the next lot should pony up even if they don't want a fence.

TWisted I know.

[Amiens]

So we pay $6-$8 an hour-

$6: if you do a crappy job: basically sit there and make sure the house doesn't burn down

$8: if you do a phenomenal job: house looks better than when we left it, the kids beg and plead for the sitter to come back, and we hear all of the fun stuff the sitter did WITH the kids (watching a movie doesn't count). We have a sitter who consistently does this, but it's been hard to have come and sit this summer as she has summer job.

We actually had two sisters baby sit, one was 13 and the other 14 or 15, on separate occasions. The 15 yr old did bare minimum and got paid $6, and the next day when the 13 yr old watched the kids she did a better job and got paid $7. I told dh what do you think 15 yr old sis is going to say when the younger one goes home with more money for the same amount of time spent? He said "hopefully she is thinking 'Man I better not do a crappy job if they have me sit again.'"