Babysitting rate question?

Question

I am meeting a lady for the first time tomorrow..she is coming to my house to possibly hire me as a babysitter. her son is 1 and a half months old and will need someone when she goes back to work from maternity leave in 3 weeks from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 5 days a week but she would only pay me $140 a week....is this the norm? i am a 36 yr old mother of a 2 yr old son and a 10 yr old daughter

Answer 1

ya dont expect a whole lot i think that is fair though.

Answer 2

YES THAT SOUNDS FAIR..

Answer 3

wow!  that is cheap.  is she coming to your house or do you go to hers?

is this per child?  if per child okay.. but for both and the kids are babies... they are more work.

I wish I could get someone to babysit my kids for that long for $140 a week.

I paid 1600 a month for 2 kids under school age and then 1200 for school age.  And that was for daycare... and now they are in afterschool for $128 a week for after school and that is from 2:30 - 6:30.  Which we never stay for the entire time since I am picking them up early for afterschool activities all the time.  Or they are in art, chess, dance, etc... during those hours.

I had a live in nanny for a little bit and paid her $700 and I had to supply all the food, etc plus she got to live in one of my spare bedrooms and it was a nice set up for her really.  I didn't even expect dinner from her.

I would definitely charge her more that is cheap. Do you live in my area? :-)  Just kidding.

===============

Wow, I am looking at the postings and I must live in an expensive area.  Also, I looked at some centers that charged less and I would rather sacrifice some of my dinners and clothes just so my kids can be at a better, cleaner and nicer location.  But they weren't that cheap and they were per kid, too.

Make sure you charge her for supplies and food or that is an extra charge for the month, etc... lots of centers do that, too.

Answer 4

you should get paid a whole lot more than that, you're babysitting 10 hours a day! that means you're only getting paid $28 per day and $2.80 per hour. i'm thirteen years old and i babysit for usually the normal time is 5-6 hours sometimes more and i get $20-$30 a day, and i babysit a 2 and a half year old. you should talk to her about that.

Answer 5

that sounds about right....take the job and if the kid is a brat then tell her you can't handle it.

Answer 6

ya 140 week is fair

especially if you are unlicensed, uninsured stay at home provider

if you have a actual day care facility then I could see like 160 to 170 a week tops

Answer 7

well my lil boy is 2 and his daycare is 110 a wk. & my daughter is 10 months & hers  is 130 a week so i would say so.

Answer 8

Sounds fair about 28 dollars a day.  I pay 25 to a family friend for baby sitting

Answer 9

that sounds ok to me!  but i get a really good deal on care for my 1  yr old.  a family friend does it, and she would have done it for free (she stays home with her 2 kids) but we felt we had to give her something.  so we pay her $100 per week, and she has him from 7:30 am till about 4:30 pm.  we also provide food and drinks for him.

daycares in the milwaukee area are about $300 per week for an actual center.  home daycares are usually around $200.  not sure what rates are in your area, but you could check around and try to negotiate with the lady.  that being said, if hers is the only child you will watch, she should expect to pay you more.  if you ran a home daycare, you would charge less money because you have the income coming in from a few different parents, making your work worth the trouble.  but a newborn for that little pay...that's ridiculous!  check on craigslist to see what home daycares in your area are charging.  show the lady the info and tell her how you want to be comparable to those prices, but stay within reason as well.  good luck!

Answer 10

thats a fair price. it works out to 560 a month. that is what you would pay in alot of daycares too.some are higher but remember you are not licenced..make sure you do up a contract of some sort for each of you to sign so there is no confusion later on...make sure its stipulated that you will get paid 140 per week even if the child misses a day here and there throughout the month and when payment is due whether its the begining of the week, every second week of once a month...having an agreement will save you what could be a headache later on.

to those that are bringin up supplying food, im sure since the baby is only a month old, the mother will be bringing bottles and not expecting her to supply formula or breastmilk.

Answer 11

Yes it is normal. Remember you have never taken care of her kids before so if she sees you take care of her kids really well she will raise your pay.

Answer 12

For home care, that's not too bad.  Call daycare centers around your area and find out what they charge for newborns and charge her a little under that so you can be competitive but not underpaid.

Answer 13

She is paying you $28/day, that's $2.8/ hour.  Is that really what your worth?  You should be charging at LEAST $40/day.  Is the mother bringing her food, or are you providing it?  That makes a difference as well.  Don't sell yourself short.

Answer 14

yeah i think that is a good pay, i did the math because when i use to babysit they payed me 400 a month and you get about 420 a month. so i say thats very good. :)

Answer 15

That's $2.80 an hour.  I'd expect more especially for a newborn but i've babysat for less.  I used to get $5 an hour to watch 5 kids.. then when a friend of the lady's moved in and I had to watch 3 more kids plus their friends i told her i couldn't do it without a raise and an understanding that friends couldnt come over.  8 is hard to deal with but if they each had a friend over it was unbelievable.  You could ask if she could do anything more.. since it's a newborn and you'd have to do diapers and more feeding than older kids.  It all comes down to how bad you need the money- if you don't then you can say no.

Answer 16

For a newborn, I would think it isn't enough.  A newborn doesn't require you to chase him around and stuff, but that is a lot of responsibility.  I find it odd that she is willing to have her new baby watched by someone she doesn't know for so little pay. but hey, I am a overprotective mom and my kid is six.  

Answer 17

The rate of 140. per week is in the ballpark of the going rate!  The highest rate I've ever heard of for that age is 185 per week. (It was a center )

Answer 18

Yep that sounds good. I have a co worker who is paying 180$ a week.  There are some others that pay over 200$.

Answer 19

That's $2.80 per hour. I would rethink it, especially if you're the one who would be supplying drinks and snacks and such.