How much to pay a babysitter?

**monkeywrangler71** · 11-14-2009, 12:16 PM

We have a young girl coming for an evening while my husband and I go to a concert. We've never hired a babysitter before and don't know how much to pay. She doesn't know what to charge. We want to be fair but have zero idea what is normal.

She's coming at 6:30, I suspect we'll be home around midnight. Kids will be fed, she will put them to bed. We live in an urban area, relatively high income neighbourhood (dual income 80-100k each I think would be normal). She's in grade 10.

I don't know what else would factor in. What does everyone think is reasonable?

**monkeywrangler71** · 11-14-2009, 12:34 PM

Minimum wage is $9.50, should we just pay that?

**kittykatstrong** · 11-14-2009, 01:32 PM

Wow, min wage here is $7.25. Hourly is prob. fine. I tend to pay for the whole night. If its for 5 hours maybe $40.

**stinkbug** · 11-14-2009, 02:55 PM

Depends a lot on how many kids you have and their ages.

**monkeywrangler71** · 11-14-2009, 03:43 PM

2 kids, age 4 & 5. It would be two hours of active duty and three hours of them sleeping.

**mmandjsmom** · 11-14-2009, 04:22 PM

I know it depends upon what part of the country you live in & I forgot to look at where you are. Here in suburban MN, I pay $5/ hr plus another $5 for making dinner + $5 for bathing (before they could bathe themselves) + $5 for putting the kids to bed. Just the way I do it. Hope that helps!

**mauimagic** · 11-14-2009, 06:34 PM

Sitters here in Hawaii get a minimum of $10/hr. Glad you asked the question just to see what's happening everywhere else.

**lisaflex** · 11-14-2009, 08:52 PM

have always paid $10/hr since my 7 yr old was in infant. gets pricey, but, i like the college girls that have their own car....

**mom2bobsarah** · 11-14-2009, 09:08 PM

We pay $10 an hour here for our 3 children and I feed the sitter dinner, but, that is a family member. I have a family friend that I will pay $12 an hour (which makes it worth her while to drive 1/2 hour to my house). That is in South Jersey, middle class type area. Same deal as you though, we usually have a sitter from 6 ish to around midnight and my kids are in bed at 7:30 (unless she allows them to stay up later, which is fine with me as long as it is ok with her

so she has a good deal of time that is quiet (unless of course the baby is up a lot, which he usually isn't too much trouble).

**NikoSan999** · 11-14-2009, 09:25 PM

Dang, I need to go into the babysitting business. My youngest just turned 18 but the last time I paid a sitter it was $2 an hour.

**AnW819** · 11-14-2009, 11:36 PM

I use to do babysitting. I only charged $25 a day for 3 kids for 10 hours a day. Ugh.

I WISHED I got paid $9 an hour!!!

If you can afford $9 it would be wonderful!!! I was going to suggest $7 an hour though..but I am not sure whats the going rate now.

**2ndGenGranola** · 11-15-2009, 03:32 AM

We would pay about $50 for an evening like that.

**lisaflex** · 11-15-2009, 08:09 AM

also, a tip helps w/ the college students and keeps them coming back

**monkeywrangler71** · 11-15-2009, 10:34 AM

Thank you for all the responses, I guess $50 is the consensus, we'll go with that.

She's a really nice girl and we'll likely want her back, we don't know anyone else in the area. Also, her aunt works with my husband, so we need to make sure that both she and her family are pleased.