I charge $2.50 per hour for babysitting, is that not enough?

Question

If I charged $2.50 per hour for babysitting would you feel obligated to pay me more. Am I not charging enough?

Answer 1

Is that per kid?

Are you a part time sitter on weekends?

My son's sitter charges me $120 a week, and she has him M-F from 7am to 2pm.  That's cheaper than daycare centers, but still bleeds me dry!  (I love her though and she's totally worth it)

If you are a teenager, I think $2.50 is pretty cheap!  If you were to watch my son for an evening for like 5 hours, I'd pay you at least $5 an hour.  

Answer 2

when i babysit it's 5-7$ an hour. :D

Answer 3

that is pretty cheap. well depending on how many babies and there age. usually its 5-10 dollars and hour. i have never baby sat because i have a job but many of my friends do and they get paid around $20 . Good luck.

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Answer 4

$2.50 is a good deal.  Yes I would pay you more.  If you are under 12 then I think $2.50 and hour for less than 3 hours total is fine.  If you are older than 12 and actually do something with the child or children then you should get paid more.  Like $5-$10 per hour especially if there is more than 1 child and he/she is not a baby that sleeps all the time.  But even that is critical and should be paid more than $2.50.  Minimum wage is $6.75 I think now.  So $5.00 is good for babysitting.

Answer 5

Charge minimum wage. You are doing a JOB, you deserve the minimum pay the govt deems worthy of any job. If anything you should make more than minimum wage since caring for children is such an important job.

You are worth much more.

Answer 6

yea thats kinda cheap-- not even minimum wage

one time i got paid 20 dollars and hour haha!

Answer 7

omg where are you id pay that  i have neer been quoted under $10-$20 per hr thats for 2 girls charge a bit more (depending on if the family can affored it) but its up to you if you just enjoy doing it and are not really doing it for the money than keep on doing it its up to you

Answer 8

Depending on the kids, the times, a the # of kids, I'd charge AT LEAST $5. When I babysat, I charged like $7-$10 but when I was like 12 I watched 3 girls, put them to bed, ordered them pizza, and was there from about 6pm-12am. They were family friends and I got $30. $2.50 is too cheap.

Answer 9

charge at least minimum wage which is around 7 dollars or so. i usually charge 8-10, depending on how many kids there are.  

Answer 10

I would charge MINIMUN WAGE!!! 7 to 8 dollars an hour  

Answer 11

That's not a lot at all. It's not even worth it. make them pay more.

Answer 12

thats nothing!

you should charge 7.25 thats minimum wage

Answer 13

It depends on where you live and what the prevailing wage is; it sounds like most of the above posters must live in larger cities where people are well paid.  

I live in the Midwest where unemployment is rampant and people make $8-$10 and hour and there is no way they can afford to be paying regular sitter that much per hour when they are not making that themselves.

The going rate for licensed daycare here is $75 week for a child and $100 a week for an infant under 1 yr.   You can find unlicensed sitter for $50 a week or less.

Answer 14

Well, it depends on the age of the child, and hhow their behavior is.

I babysit a 7 month old, and i charge $7 an hour for her.. (a big responsibility!)

and i also babysit a 5 yr old, and charge $3 an hour.. ( shes not too much to handle)

its your own choice.. if you would like to raise the price, then have at it! =)

good luck, and hope i helped? =)

Answer 15

You should at least charge 5.

Answer 16

That is super cheap the cheapest ive ever heard is $5 a hour

Answer 17

Minimum wage seems to be fairly common, although it can be altered depending on the amount of work (how many kids, ages, how much time they will be awake, etc).

When I babysat a few years ago I was offered $7 an hour, and the parents felt they weren't paying me enough. That was for 2 kids aged 4 and 6.

Answer 18

cheap......want to watch mine  

Answer 19

I don't know where you live but I get 10 bucks an hour...

Answer 20

That doesn't seem like much nowadays...Ask around to see what other babysitters are getting paid in your area.

Answer 21

h**l no you're not charging enough! I'm almost 25 and when I was 13-15 I baby-sat and got at least $5-6 an hour! Whoever ur babysitting for is getting a good deal! lol  

Answer 22

You should be charging more. As a parent I'd be worried that you're only charging $2.50 because that's all you're worth. You don't want to charge so much that you aren't able to get anyone to pay your rate, but at the same time if you don't charge enough people will wonder why you aren't worth more. Does that make sense?  

Answer 23

Let me tell you something, you are getting jipped. 2.50 an hour if i had kids I'd hire you every day for 8 hours a day.

Answer 24

I usually charge 10, but if its like 5 children, then more like 15 dollars, unless they were really good. But I'm sure that you are good, so they will be willing to pay you more. I would.