Weekly babysitter pay question

[lg28]

DH and I are looking at paying someone to watch our kids for a week in February or March while we do a trip with friends.

We would be gone 7-8 days.

Kids would be 1.5 and 3.5.

Babysitting would most likely be in our home. Obviously we would stock up on food, leave $ for activities, etc.

this person would most likely be a relative (cousin or aunt) who is currently unemployed and looking for work, has offered to do it.

What is reasonable either per day or for the week? We are a LCOL city and normally babysitting rate is $8/hour for two kids, if that's relevant.

Thanks!

[lg28]

Also / kids would have 1-2 days of daycare in there so the person would at least get some rest. I don't think this should factor into pay. Just adding some info.

[Deleted]

I would pay at least the weekly daycare rate. Or whatever going salary would be for them at whatever job they had. I don't know if hourly would work in the case.

[cricketwife]

I was paid $100 /night In MCOL for overnight babysitting of school aged kids, ie, they were gone all day.

[Deleted]

I've been told $100 per night is the going rate around here. We have only left the kids for one night so I don't know if this is the going rate for everyone or just the person that watched our kids.

[tulips]

I was paid $80 night for overnight sitting for kids in the 8-10 age range.

Your kids are the age of needing pretty much constant supervision and interaction. I think you need to pay daycare level rates, not the rate you'd pay omeone for a few hours while you catch a movie.

[thebreakfastclub]

I think I would pay $1000 for that gig.

[underwaterrhymes]

I would pay at least $1,000.

[CloudBee]

Yeah, I agree with a flat rate. $1k'ish sounds reasonable.

[sunshineandpinot]

I had a friend that just did this. She paid $1K for the week. She was gone 8/9 days but kids were in activities every week day. She has 3, similar ages to yours.

[sjh722]

I would do a flat rate too.

We are fairly LCOL. I sat for relatives a few times pre-kids and they paid $100/day and left $ for food/activities. It was usually only 3-4 days though.

Given that it's a longer stretch I might add an extra $100 or so on top of the per diem. Watching someone else's kids is exhausting.

[lg28]

That's pretty much what we thought - around $1k. We want to make sure we offer enough. I would hate to underpay.

Thanks!

[snipsnsnails]

Hourly rate for awake hours ($8/hr or whatever you pay for 12 hours) & flat rate of anywhere from $75-$125 for sleeping hours (12 hours)

I think it works out to a little over $1k, but nice to have a "formula" to use.