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Fair rate for overnight babysitter


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I have a chance to tag along on my dh's business trip, and I wanted to ask a college age student to watch my children. They are in school during the day so it would be from 3PM to 8AM daily, starting Tues. through Sat. morning. She would handle school drop off/pick up and driving to after school activities.

 

Any ideas how much to expect to pay?

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Well, given their older ages, I am assumign that they are pretty self - sufficient over night and with dressing/bathing/etc. So long as that is the case, I'd come up with an hourly rate that you would ordinarily pay for a sitter, and pay that amount for the hours you expect the kids to be awake, plus about an extra two hours for the overnight obligation of being on site.

 

So, 3PM - 8AM, if I expected the kids to be asleep by 10 and awake at 6:30, I'd pay 7 hrs (PM) + 1.5 hrs (AM) + 2 hrs (sleeping bonus), so that'd be 10.5 hrs/day. So, if I usually pay $10/hr, I'd pay $105/day, or, for a round number, I'd offer $100/night. For the weekends, I'd do the same, adding up the waking hours, and adding a couple bonus hours for the overnight shift.

 

Heck, we pay $50/night for someone to stay here with our DOGS, and we even have a fenced yard, lol.

 

I'd also be sure the house was well stocked with tasty and easy to prepare foods and plenty of treats (pop/chips/etc).

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I have a chance to tag along on my dh's business trip, and I wanted to ask a college age student to watch my children. They are in school during the day so it would be from 3PM to 8AM daily, starting Tues. through Sat. morning. She would handle school drop off/pick up and driving to after school activities.

 

Any ideas how much to expect to pay?

.

Edited by LibraryLover
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Here a friend pays $10 an hour for every hour the kids are awake. She pays half that during sleeping hours because she allows the sitter to sleep as well. She leaves additional money for gas expenses, essentially one tank of gas or 2 tanks depending on time away, and if the sitter is using the family car or her own.

 

She also has the house full of easy to prepare meals, like frozen lasagna, bagged salads, instant oatmeal, etc. Sometimes she will leave money to pay for the pizza buffet one night.

 

During that time, the school and/or neighbors are notified in case of problems.

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Thanks for the feedback and great ideas!

 

$100 per night for 4 nights = $400. That seems like alot to me. Does that sound right? It is about 70 hours total, (3Pm-8AM X 4 days).

 

That seems reasonable. I doubt you could find someone to do it for less. Not where I live.... And you need to leave easy to prepare food, as well as gas money if the sitter will be driving your kids places.

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Thanks for the feedback and great ideas!

 

$100 per night for 4 nights = $400. That seems like alot to me. Does that sound right? It is about 70 hours total, (3Pm-8AM X 4 days).

20ish years ago a family would pay me $25 a night to do this for 1 child. This is when minimum wage was about $3.65 an hour. I was not paid for the hours she was in school. Food and gas for my car were considered to be part of the pay. I was welcome to any food/drink/etc in the house. I was also responsible for their cats.

 

If the price seems high, ask around. Someone may be willing to do it for less. Your kids are older, if I remember right, and that may mean she doesn't have to do as much for them (like baths) that she would have to do for a younger child.

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I'd say that driving around for school and activities is a big factor.

 

Around here, there are official lines for school drop-offs and pick-ups; that's way more annoying than being able to truly drop them off at the corner or something.

 

Will they be dealing with rush hour traffic for after-school activities? How many activities?

 

If the driving is not a huge deal, I think that a college student who isn't working might be glad to do it for $250 in actual cash, laundry room privileges, and lots of really good food.

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Thanks for the feedback.

 

Yes, we have someone in mind. I know if we ask her the cost she will way, way undercut herself. Her family has fallen on really hard times so I wanted to make sure she got a fair rate.

 

My oldest two are self-sufficient so it would mostly be overseeing my youngest. Waking him up in the morning, encourage him to stay on task with homework, double check homework against online planner and reminding him of his bedtime. My children would get their own breakfast and lunch, but I would need her to heat up premade dinner.

 

Morning and afternoon pickup take about 45 minutes. Morning would be dropping off at two schools, no lines, drop and go. Afternoon is picking up from one school, (my youngest two are in carpool) with a big line, 15 minutes wait. No heavy traffic to or from school. After school activites are one per day, about 10 minutes away, no heavy traffic. I was planning to have her use my car if okay with our insurance co.

 

Routine would be something like 6:30 wake up; 7:15 leave for school; 8 break; 3 school pick up; 4-6 supervise youngest homework; 6 drive dd to activity; 6:30 heat up dinner; 7 dinner and verify kids made lunches for next day; 8 pu dd; 9 kids go up to bed.

 

So based on above does $400 still sound like the right amount? Still seems high to me.

Edited by Ferdie
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6-8 am 2 hrs at $10 per hour, 3-9 pm @ $10 per hour= 8 hours so $80 just for the waking hours, so that means you are paying her $20 for 9 to 6 am.

 

$8 per hour would be $64 just for waking hours and that's IF the kids are asleep by 9.

 

I think you could maybe offer $300, but I don't think I would go lower than that.

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Thanks for the feedback.

 

Yes, we have someone in mind. I know if we ask her the cost she will way, way undercut herself. Her family has fallen on really hard times so I wanted to make sure she got a fair rate.

 

I would outline the expectations to her and ask her what she would charge. Then, increase it by a third or by half if you feel she's not asking enough. $400 might seem like a ridiculous amount to her, while $300 would be a pleasant surprise and $200 would be what she quotes you.

 

FWIW, when I was at the hospital to have our latest, we had a sitter come to stay with our three kids (ages 4, 3, and 1). She was there from about 10:00 Monday night until we got home Wednesday after lunch. We paid her $250 and she was really pleased.

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