Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Tippin Tuesday

how much is too much for these kiddos?

today i am asking the question, and i really need some help!

how much should i pay a babysitter?

we have 4 kids, and usually they are already asleep when we go out. we have a 10 year old, an 8, a 5 and a 2 year old. i know that we usually overpay, sometimes $60 for the night, but i am paranoid that we will get blacklisted for underpaying and never be able to find a good sitter again. help me please! how much is enough? and how do i figure that out?

5 comments:

Lizzy @ The Tip Spot said...

I found the sitter calculator http://babysitters.sittercity.com/rate_calculator.html

Steph said...

My general rule is $2 per child per hour, then I round down to the nearest 5 or 10 or whatever I have in my wallet. It's worked so far!

amy said...

i pay $5/per child per hour. if they are asleep i cut it in half. when i babysat 20 years ago, the good payers paid that much, so it's got to be at least that much now. i'm pretty sure i pay more than most. also, i expect my house to be picked up and my kids to have had a great time!

Heidi Boos said...

All this talk about babysitters makes me want to actually find one, so I can enjoy some "out and about" time. I think $3-$5/child sounds reasonable (if they're awake).

Allison said...

Depends on where you live. I've lived in NYC, London, and now LA. big cities seem to require more. London was most expensive as we had to factor in paying for their travel as well.

I've got 3 monkeys under the age of 5 and we pay $10-$15 per hour depending on who is watching.

As a kid, I moved Heaven and Earth when the high paying families asked me to babysit. I want my babysitters to want to do the same.