Babysitting Fee?

Question

I'm a twenty one year old responsible college student in a wealthy suburban area. I had previous experience baby-sitting when I was in junior high and high school, but now have the opportunity to babysit during the summer.

I have a background in Psychology and I am great with kids.

I was wondering how much I should charge per hour for two kids: one is two years old and is not potty trained and a little boy who is six.

Should I charge by kid by hour or give a flat rate? I'm thinking of twelve per hour, but am not sure if this is appropriate since I haven't done babysitting in so long. Any suggestions? I'll probably be doing this long term all summer about five days a week while the couple is at work. Thanks!

Answer 1

10 per hour. You don't want to start out to high, and if your services are worth more and they're a nice family, they'll probably tip you, or say something like "You're so cheap." obviously, wait till the next job to raise you price if that happens.

Answer 2

It depends on whether you are doing babysitting or day care.  If you are caring for the child while the parent is going to work or to school, it is daycare and you have to pay social security taxes on this money. You DON'T have a choice because you better be sure that they will file for their child care credit. Daycare REQUIRES tax reporting, babysitting does not. So, if you are doing daycare, you need to find out what the local rates are. You don't want to short change yourself.

Answer 3

$12 an hour is reasonable for your age and experience- add on $2 an hour for each extra child. You get what you pay for.  If they want to pay $5 an hour, they can find an 11 year old.

Answer 4

I would say $10 and hour this way if you work over you can get paid for it instead of a flat rate for the week. And then add ons such as gas, food, etc, or ask for $10/hr and then $25-50/week left at the house on Mondays for activities and outings, expenses, you can keep the change for your personal expenses, and this will cover you and the children if you go anywhere.  You can ask for $12 but this is quite a bit for not doing this type of work in a long time.  If you have an extra $10 in the outing money then it will up your pay to around 11-12 dollars/hr anyways.  I've been a nanny for 6 years and a lot depends on what area you live in and what types of things you can bring to the table and do with the kids.

Answer 5

on normal days charge $10-$12 dollars per hour since its a rich people area, heck, you could even charge $15 since you're not a highschooler looking for mall money.

on special occasions or whatsoever holidays that they choose to let you sit, i recommend charging double.

Answer 6

Because he is un potty trained you can charge 15-20 an hour for both kids together since one is unable to take care of himself in a lot of ways and the other needs supervised guidance.