Babysitter cost?

[kate1482]

I'm excited that we may have found a date night babysitter! I mentioned it to my coworkers and they were side eyeing how much I was anticipating paying. (Have not discussed pay details yet. I was just guessing how much it would cost)

How much would you pay a babysitter for the following situation:

-15yr old who lives next door. Her parents would be home.
-2 hours (8-10pm)
-We would put 14 month old dd down at 7:15pm and she would be sleeping the whole time. (And we would only be a 5-10 minute drive away)
-somewhat HCOL. Suburbs maybe 30 mins away from Seattle.
-we would expect her to do homework, read, watch tv, eat provided snacks, or play on her phone/iPad. Just ask that she would have the video monitor with her. If dd wakes up for some reason we would come home. (Haven't had this happen in 10months)

I fully admit I may be out of touch but I thought $20-25 would be fair. Is this too little?

[wanderingenough]

I was going to say $25

[SJ]

That sounds fine to me. How much did they expect you to pay?

We pay high school sitters $10/hour and adult "nanny" sitters $15/hour.

I prefer the high schoolers, but we honestly usually use family/friends for free.

[kate1482]

Eta- coworkers said at least $15 an hour and preferably $20.

[whitemerlot]

$10-12 per hour is normal here.

[soozy87]

$20 sounds good to me

[Deleted]

We pay $12 per hour here. For a kid I think $25 is fine.

[Jalapeñomel]

$20 an hour here.

[t]

I'd pay $20-25 for a teenager. Hell my adult babysitters charge $10/hr for one kid. I pay them $15/hr for two kids.

[huskymom]

$12-$15/hr, so that seems fair.

I would let her handle a wakeup though...earn that money!

[rbp]

Apr 28, 2016 18:38:41 GMT -5 kate1482 said:

Eta- coworkers said at least $15 an hour and preferably $20.

WTF. We pay adults $12/hour. $20? Just no.

ETA: Babysitters have always been exempt from minimum wage. Regardless, it will be several years before anyone has a $15 minimum wage, so I don't really understand this argument. 

[cgpm]

I agree that $20 is plenty. $25 if you're feeling generous.

[anna7602]

Apr 28, 2016 18:38:41 GMT -5 kate1482 said:

Eta- coworkers said at least $15 an hour and preferably $20.

For a high schooler? I pay $20/hour for an evening sitter with tons of experience who cooks dinner AND can put DS to bed.

For reference, I pay the high schooler who walks DD to music class and sits there doing her own homework during the lesson $15. Music class is 1 hour long and it takes about ten minutes to walk there each way.

[zarapipe]

A 15 year old?

$20 is fine. I pay my 20yo sitter $10 an hour and round up. I think even paying $8 for a 15 year old would be fair.

She can't even drive! I'm sure she would be thrilled for $20.

Apparently I'm the minority though.

[kershnic]

$20 for that gig is fine and she's lucky to have it. Yiu do want to keep her on your good side because a good babysitter next door is awesome! But for this particular job $20 is lovely.

[bugandbibs]

I'd do $20 because it's easy (one bill).

[kate1482]

Apr 28, 2016 19:28:00 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

A 15 year old?

$20 is fine. I pay my 20yo sitter $10 an hour and round up. I think even paying $8 for a 15 year old would be fair.

She can't even drive! I'm sure she would be thrilled for $20.

Apparently I'm the minority though.

Lol I originally thought $20-25 was umm generous for a 15yr to hang with a baby monitor/sleeping kid and do homework for 2hrs. (With her parents 20 feet away next door & us coming home if dd wakes up)

I think we will plan for $25.

anna
Yes, one of my coworkers goes to chuch with her family so he knows that she is a highschool kid.

We have 3 au pairs in our caldesac so that is another option. I know one who sits for the person across the street occasionally as a side job. Although I would expect she charges more.

[hocus2]

Apr 28, 2016 19:26:35 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

Apr 28, 2016 18:38:41 GMT -5 kate1482 said:

Eta- coworkers said at least $15 an hour and preferably $20.

For a high schooler? I pay $20/hour for an evening sitter with tons of experience who cooks dinner AND can put DS to bed.

For reference, I pay the high schooler who walks DD to music class and sits there doing her own homework during the lesson $15. Music class is 1 hour long and it takes about ten minutes to walk there each way.

  Agreed. I'd pay a HS student $12 to $14 a hour. 

[jorja]

$25 is good. I made $12 an hour as a college student nannying (in 2004-2008).

We pay our college sitter $15/hr, but she's often here when DD is awake/puts her down occasionally and we really love her.

[stealthmom]

Apr 28, 2016 19:21:43 GMT -5 rbp said:

Apr 28, 2016 18:38:41 GMT -5 kate1482 said:

Eta- coworkers said at least $15 an hour and preferably $20.

WTF. We pay adults $12/hour. $20? Just no.

ETA: Babysitters have always been exempt from minimum wage. Regardless, it will be several years before anyone has a $15 minimum wage, so I don't really understand this argument. 

lucky! My adult babysitter charges $20/hrs. But teens tend to make about $12-15/hr here.

[speckledfrog]

I pay our teenage sitter $10 an hour. To me it doesn't matter if the kids are up or asleep already when she gets there. Since you are HCOL, it might be $15, but I would not pay more than that.

[lilac05]

Our 15 year old neighbor watches our kids for $10/HR. I never asked her what she charges, but she seems really happy with it. We're lower COL, but I think with a sleeping baby, $20-25 for the evening is great for everyone!

[Deleted]

Um no. Yours sounds about right. I was paid $10 an hour 30 minutes outside of Seattle for a 7 year old who ignored me the whole time. Lol

Are you North or South (Or East?). I've found people IN Seattle pay a lot more than in the burbs.

Eta: they always rounded up too.

[kate1482]

Apr 28, 2016 20:48:19 GMT -5 speckledfrog said:

I pay our teenage sitter $10 an hour. To me it doesn't matter if the kids are up or asleep already when she gets there. Since you are HCOL, it might be $15, but I would not pay more than that.

Really? I would expect to pay more if she had to change diapers, feed dinner, bath time & deal with bedtime vs a sleeping baby.

[kate1482]

@roseyposey

Without being super specific we are east of Bellevue

[speckledfrog]

Apr 28, 2016 21:04:32 GMT -5 kate1482 said:

Apr 28, 2016 20:48:19 GMT -5 speckledfrog said:

I pay our teenage sitter $10 an hour. To me it doesn't matter if the kids are up or asleep already when she gets there. Since you are HCOL, it might be $15, but I would not pay more than that.

Really? I would expect to pay more if she had to change diapers, feed dinner, bath time & deal with bedtime vs a sleeping baby.

Nope. A rate is a rate. You get her in on the easy days to make up for the screaming toddler days!

[kate1482]

Apr 28, 2016 21:08:47 GMT -5 speckledfrog said:

Apr 28, 2016 21:04:32 GMT -5 kate1482 said:

Really? I would expect to pay more if she had to change diapers, feed dinner, bath time & deal with bedtime vs a sleeping baby.

Nope. A rate is a rate. You get her in on the easy days to make up for the screaming toddler days!

Lol good to know. I feel so out of touch since my baby sitting days I'm referencing were in like 1994 when I was 13. Love this board

[Deleted]

Apr 28, 2016 21:06:37 GMT -5 kate1482 said:

@roseyposey

Without being super specific we are east of Bellevue

We were just south of you and I think $10 was pretty normal.

[erbear]

Apr 28, 2016 18:38:41 GMT -5 kate1482 said:

Eta- coworkers said at least $15 an hour and preferably $20.

No way. 

I live in a HCOL area, 2 older kids with our babysitter puts to bed and I pay our HS sitter $10-12/hour

[quesyrah]

$20 is totally is fair