What is a good amount to pay my daughters aunt to baby sit?

Question

Ok here is what me and my boyfriend keep talking about. last year he paid for his sister to go to school, it was about $1000 dollars and we baby sat once a week for 5 months and I guess he has helped her with a few things (bill wise) here and there and she would not have such a good paying job if it was not for us helping her out, but her is my problem....

I went back to work in June 10. She has watched her 1 to 2 times a week since then, well my bf went on leave for a torn knee so she did not have her from july 10th until this comming friday. So she is going to contiune to watch her 1 to 2 times a week. (most the time only once) until January. In January we were going to put her in day car since I will be going back to collage. My thing is maybe we can have her aunt watch my daughter instead of putting her in daycare. I would like to wait until she is a little over a year to put her in daycare if i can. Right now we are not paying her becaise she owes us. I think by Jan she would have paid us back with all the baby sitting she will do by then but my bf seems to think its not enough. I think we should pay her 70 a week, i will be back to school full time and hopefully working at times so she will have her 3 to 4 times a week but he thinks 120 a month. I think thats paying her too little but he refuses to pay more.

I have not even talked to her about it yet and i watch her child from time to time and never ask for a penny but I still feel like I should pay her more then 120 a month, esp when we would be paying daycare 150 a week most likely. What do you think? Is 120 a month enough when we have done so much? Or should we pay weekly? Or should i just put her in dayare and forget all about asking his sister?

Answer 1

i think that is way too much to pay. your child is an infant, they are not hard to take care of. eat, sleep, p**p. eat, sleep, p**p. i'd say 80 a week is definitely enough!!! 120 is way too much. i used to babysit for children all the time. i would get 85 for two children a week.  

Answer 2

In my opinion, you shouldn't have to pay family to look after your kids. They should do it because they enjoy spending time with them. You have already done a lot to help her out.

If you choose to pay her, I think that $70 a week is more than enough. $120 a week is far too much no matter how much she looks after your daughter. You should ask her what she thinks is an appropriate amount, and try to come to a compromise.

Answer 3

We have a deal worked out with the lady who lives below us for 20 bucks a day.  That is the LOWEST we would pay anybody.  She's an RN and she suggested it.  If you can avoid daycare expense until the price drops when she's a toddler...YES.  Do it.  And if you are good with accounting and follow tax law, you can still deduct whatever you pay the sister in law.

Answer 4

I would pay her at least $50 per week.  You can't pay only $120 a month that would be ripping her off.  You have to pay her fairly.  Best of luck!

Answer 5

You should most likley just stick with the 120 ok!

Answer 6

pay her weekly, $35/day sounds about right.

Answer 7

You are in a tough situation because doing business with family is never good.

If she is already watching her own, and is willing to watch yours, o.k.

You also said that you watch hers. Can you work out a schedule where you reciprocate hour for hour and pay the difference?

Ask her what she is willing to accept for compensation.

Daycare can be your last resort if it all goes bad.

Answer 8

If she is putting aside her time for you and watching her all day, you need to compensate her.  I pay $50 a day for our daycare partime - all day.  So he goes 2 times per week and I pay $100 a week.  If you want to help someone in your family, why are you worrying about her "paying you back"?  It sounds like you help EACH OTHER out, so why make a big deal out of who owes who?  Even if you just take the cash and want her to pay back (I wouldn't worry about the babysitting and stuff) it would be about 20 days of watching her if you paid her $50 a day.  That's the going rate in our area.

On the other hand, I think daycare is great for kids - it helps them learn to socialize with others and makes them not so clingy with mom and dad.  If you are only going to try to pay her about $24 a day (that's if it's once a week with one extra day thrown in), it's not worth it to her and you are ripping her off.  It will only cause problems.  If you really want her to watch her full time then sit her down and talk to her about how much she thinks is fair.