2ndGenHomeschooler Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 We are leaving on Saturday for vacation and will be gone a little over two weeks. We have asked my 18 year old sister to house sit for us. I plan to leave the fridge stocked with food she likes, she'll be free to use whatever she wants and have friends over (we completely trust her - there won't be any issues), and she's about the same distance from work, friends, family, and activities as she is at my parent's house so that won't be an inconvenience. There won't be too much for her to do. Turn on the sprinkler in the garden each day and pick whatever is ripe (small garden), bring in the mail, and take care of the 6 chickens and 1 dog. She'll stay here at night but we have no requirements for when or how long she needs to be here during the day. We want to leave her some money but I'm not sure what's fair or reasonable. I'd like to leave enough to cover things she may run out of (bread, milk, dog food etc., although I do plan to leave enough that she shouldn't run out of anything), ordering pizza or getting ice cream, plus some for her to pocket when she leaves. How much would you leave for her? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Are you paying her for house-sitting, or are you just planning to leave soending money? My DD(18) for house-sat for my friend for a week and was paid a few hundred dollars. All the other perameters were similar to your description; she was free to stay there and "live" for the week (which she did), or she could take care of things daily and then come home. She took over food, but also had some of their food on their invitation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornblower Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Hmmm. Well a pro here charges $75 for overnight pet sitting at your house (& that includes small chores around the house). Otoh, I have been doing variations of this for my parents (either moving into their house or having their animals come to my house) for decades for free & in exchange for them looking after my pets. Plus a t-shirt from wherever they have travelled to LOL I think for your sis I'd probably do around $20-25/night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 I pay $50/night but we have several dogs and cats. etc (although we do have a fenced yard, so no actual pet walking is needed). Having a dog to care for is a big restriction on the free/easy life of an 18 year old, lol. If you didn't have a dog (or chickens assuming they require at least AM/PM care), I'd say 20/night would be OK, but with a dog, I'd go with no less than 40/night. Boarding just the dog would surely cost at least 20-30/night. My theory on hiring folks for these sorts of things is that I want to pay generously enough that they WANT to work for you in the future. So, if you can afford it, I'd say 40-50/night, depending on the COL in your area . . . If money is very tight, then maybe 20-30/night. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Hmmm. Well a pro here charges $75 for overnight pet sitting at your house (& that includes small chores around the house). Otoh, I have been doing variations of this for my parents (either moving into their house or having their animals come to my house) for decades for free & in exchange for them looking after my pets. Plus a t-shirt from wherever they have travelled to LOL I think for your sis I'd probably do around $20-25/night. IMHO, parents and kids never charge for things for each other. (Well, if one or the other is in financial dire straights, then payment is OK, but only in those circumstances . . .) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 I'd leave her $150 and if the house is still in good shape when you return another $150. Word gets out she is house sitting there may be a party whether she plans it or not.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 (edited) My nephew does lots of this for a set list of clients. He charges $20 night for family/very close friends if it doesn't take much effort (ie 30 minutes or less of work) but that is just his base pay for his regular clients. I think his basic formula for other people is, $20 base pay, plus $20 for sleeping over, plus $20 for zero to 60 minute of work, and $20 for each hour increment over that. He is willing to do basic farm chores, so it helps him to get faithful clients who are willing to pay for his time. Assuming that watering the garden, feeding the chicks 2x,bring in mail, and water/feed the dog 2x would be over one hour of work each day. It really depends on how convenient things are set up at your house. Are the chick outside the back door or on a back corner of property, etc. (Since it seems like that would be just over an hour to me, my nephew would likely prorate the job down after the work was complete based on actual time or if there were no issues. He bids high, so that way if there are any unexpected problems he is still paid for his time. Like dealing with a water leak or a runaway dog. It is easier for him to give a credit for an easy week, than to get paid for unexpected work. ) So for a 'pro' $20 for base pay $20 for staying the night $20 for 0-60 minutes of work daily $20 for 60-120 minutes of work daily ------ He would charge $80 for about what you are asking ETA: to keep things simple, drive time is calculated as work time. He only charges for days that he drives extra to get there. In your circumstance, he would only charge for driving from his house and back the one time, since your house is the same distance from activities. But for him, if the location is further out of town, then the extra drive time, is work time. Edited July 27, 2016 by Tap 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia64 Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 We paid a vet tech -- training to be a vet in school -- $30 a night to just hang out w/ our kitty. Our cat is used to so much attention w/ a homeschool family around all day. So when the kids, dog and adults disappear, we feel really badly for the little guy. She could come and go as she wanted too. Thirty is probably about right for a younger person. She's just 22. Adults around here are charging about $70 a night, but I think that's cost prohibitive and kind of silly. One sitter who charged that much made it very clear that she wouldn't arrive until after 9 p.m. and would leave at 6 a.m. (she had other pets to take care of). It's more of a business for the adults and way less a "labor of love." Young adults are often looking to just make extra cash. Alley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplejackmama Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 I pay $50/night but we have several dogs and cats. etc (although we do have a fenced yard, so no actual pet walking is needed). Having a dog to care for is a big restriction on the free/easy life of an 18 year old, lol. If you didn't have a dog (or chickens assuming they require at least AM/PM care), I'd say 20/night would be OK, but with a dog, I'd go with no less than 40/night. Boarding just the dog would surely cost at least 20-30/night. My theory on hiring folks for these sorts of things is that I want to pay generously enough that they WANT to work for you in the future. That's a cheap rate!! It's much more than $50/night here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndGenHomeschooler Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Are you paying her for house-sitting, or are you just planning to leave soending money? Mostly pay her for house sitting but also a little spending money so that she doesn't have to spend the house sitting money if she needs something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndGenHomeschooler Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Thanks everyone. That gives me a much better ball park. Now I just have to talk to my DH and see what'll fit in our budget. I'm not anticipating any wild parties. My sister has a small circle of friends and I know them all. None are the party sort. They like to do outdoor things like hiking and ultimate frisbee and then order pizza and watch a movie. As far as the work she'll need to do, it should be able to be done in less than an hour a day easily. The garden is set up with a sprinkler that just has to be turned on, the chickens get food and water once a day and the dog twice a day. Our yard is big and the dog has the run of it so she doesn't need to be walked and won't run away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 How much work are chickens? I have no concept of time and yuck factor... My dogs are gigantic pains in the butt, so them plus chickens would be $$ in my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndGenHomeschooler Posted July 28, 2016 Author Share Posted July 28, 2016 Chickens are super easy. :-) We'll have the coop freshly cleaned before we leave so it'll be good til we get back. Just fill their food and water every morning and gather the eggs and they're good. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Just for another example, I have one dog and I pay 15 per night. I buy some convenience foods and have milk, eggs, cereal, bread, lunch meat on hand. I asked for the mail to be brought in. The dog cared for......let out several times, fed twice a day...not left alone more than 8-10 hours Plants watered....not very many...just around the pool in pots. Trash taken to curb on trash day. Clean sheets put back on our bed before we get home. She is allowed to have friends over but no alcohol even if her friends are of age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 My dd housesat and dogsat for an aunt last year. They were extremely strict about the dog's schedule (needed to be let out at exactly 8am, 2pm, and 8pm again). It was a real hassle because they lived 30 minutes from anything. It used up a lot of gas money for her, as she also had a couple other part-time jobs that she was needing to get to throughout the day. They paid her $250 up front, and $250 at the end. My dd said it was definitely not worth it in her particular situation. On the other hand, a son of a good friend needed a place to stay in town for a few weeks (he lived on a farm otherwise), and we were going out of town for three weeks so invited him to stay at our house. We had a cat and he kept an eye on him and made sure his food and water bowl were always filled. We didn't pay him anything because it was kind of an equal trade. We let him stay in our home for free and he kept an eye on our cat. So there you have two extremes. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamiof5 Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 dd has done this a couple times. Only 1 dog to watch, no gardening and/or anything else. Around $250 per week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnificent_baby Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 I gave my niece $100 to feed our cats for 6 days, clean the litter boxes and water my outdoor plants. At first I thought this was steep, but when I looked into boarding our cats, it would have cost us over $400 for the week. So in your situation I'd give at least $200. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 I paid my neighbor $5/day to pick up mail and generally watch over house. During that time the fire alarm went insane and said neighbor ended up also overseeing electrician installing new alarm. Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 We have a young college student (20-ish) who comes to our house to basically just hang out with our 2 dogs. We ask that she sleeps there, lets them have a potty break by about 6 hours, and to play fetch with our little high energy girl. She has never told us what she requires or wants in pay (we asked!) only what we think is fair. Well, I was pretty clueless so I went with about $50 a night. She's never turned down the opportunity to pet sit for us in two years, so I guess it's good pay for her, or our area...who knows! I'm just glad to have her. :) Oh, and she's not a family member or friend. She is another homeschooler's daughter recommended to me by a friend. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Are you paying her for house-sitting, or are you just planning to leave soending money? My DD(18) for house-sat for my friend for a week and was paid a few hundred dollars. All the other perameters were similar to your description; she was free to stay there and "live" for the week (which she did), or she could take care of things daily and then come home. She took over food, but also had some of their food on their invitation. When I house-sat for a friend for a week -- 15ish years ago. She paid me $200. I was also welcome to stay at her house, leave food left behind (but I preferred my own), etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 (edited) Wow--I'm discussing this very thing on a hs list I'm on. We all agreed that $10 a night was about average. And then a Brit came on and same she thought we were all VERY generous! Dd just got paid $10 a night. However, we were just surprised that my sister in law actually paid her. Youngest hasn't been paid in a year for about one weekend a month. Wow. I'd have to be a VERY good friend to do that for $10/night. (Ie One I'd do it for free for) I'd rather stay at home and keep my time open for other opportunities. Edited July 28, 2016 by vonfirmath 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Wow--I'm discussing this very thing on a hs list I'm on. We all agreed that $10 a night was about average. And then a Brit came on and same she thought we were all VERY generous! Dd just got paid $10 a night. However, we were just surprised that my sister in law actually paid her. Youngest hasn't been paid in a year for about one weekend a month. OMG, I was paid around 10/day in the late 1970s . . . And that was for neighbors within 200 yards of my house, 2-3 15 min walks/day . . . Even for the pet-less house where I just opened/closed blinds/lights and brought in the mail, I think I got close to 10/day. Minimum wage in the late 70s was around $2.90/hr, so I was getting about 3 hours minimum wage pay just to show up for the most simple house sitting jobs, as a 10 year old . . . You must live in a very low wage area and/or an area where kids are desperate for paid work. I think that is part of why pay is low in my area (I thought 50/day was generous, lol). Our area is a real mix of upper-middle class professional families (who can afford to take fancy vacations and pay housesitters fairly) and people of much more limited means who can barely afford to go away for a week to visit family, etc . . . I do know that my 19 yo family friend who I pay the 50/day for our pets (probably about 1 hr actual work per day, but she has to stay here overnight and be available throughout much of the day -- essentially can't leave for more than 8 hours at a time on a routine basis or else the dogs will crap in the house), anyway, I know there are other families of more modest means who pay much less, and she still works for them . . . I think she does that partially for the money and partially just to be of service/good works. For me, I figure if I can afford to have all these animals and go on all these trips, I can afford to pay her fairly to help, so I do. Also, our home, while far out of town, happens to be closer to her college (and boyfriend) where she commutes than her own family's home, so staying here doesn't add a lot of driving to her schedule. Anyway, I think the 20/20/20/20 example above is a good way to think of it. Seems fair to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosaicmind Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 My daughter has done house/dog sitting for 8 years. Sometimes there are pets and other times there are not. Most people have the same parameters that you do and she is paid $10-20 per day. She is so well known and does such a great job that she's booked up for summer by April and holidays are booked months in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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