What would you pay for overnight babysitters?

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

Help.

We leave for work about 4:30pm.  Dinner is already made and on the table.  After dinner kids watch a movie or play a Nintendo game.  Alexa announces bedtimes(7:30 and 8:15) and the kids are really good about getting their pajamas on and getting themselves in bed.  In the morning, oldest DS gets himself up at 6:30, packs his stuff and gets himself ready for school. He is completely self sufficient in the morning and gets on the bus by himself. His bus comes at 7 am. DD9 and DS6 need to be gotten up at 6:45   DS6 needs a little guidance in dressing.  DD9 needs no help other than waking up.  Their bus comes at 7:15 am. At that point the sittter can leave.  All of the kids eat breakfast at school, so there’s no getting breakfast.  The kids take care of the dogs at night, so there’s no dog sitting either.  Honestly the older two kids basically need no bedtime or morning routine assistance. 

LCOL area. What would you pay an older teenager for this?  (She’s homeschooled and lives two houses down the road so her Mom could be there in five minutes if she needed and my mother in law is seven minutes, my own Mom is 8 minutes away when she isn’t at my grandmothers, so I am comfortable with the situation) 

Edited: Babysitter has her own bed and full access to snacks and the TV with all kinds of streaming services.  I am thinking $120, but maybe that is too low?

Edited November 29, 2021 by Mrs Tiggywinkle

[KungFuPanda]

I wouldn't go less than minimum wage for every hour that isn't her own.  It's a long shift.  I'd be tempted to pay more if my kids were rowdy, but I wouldn't pay less because my home is organized.  If this sitter is good and convenient she's worth a lot and you want her to choose you over all the fun things that will come up in her life.

[Drama Llama]

I'd do minimum wage for the hours when the kids are asleep, and the going rate for babysitting (here that's about $20) for when they're awake. 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

4 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I wouldn't go less than minimum wage for every hour that isn't her own.  It's a long shift.  I'd be tempted to pay more if my kids were rowdy, but I wouldn't pay less because my home is organized.  If this sitter is good and convenient she's worth a lot and you want her to choose you over all the fun things that will come up in her life.

She only asked for $90 which I thought was too low.  Obviously she’ll be sleeping most of the time, but I wanted to go higher than that.

Going rate for babysitters here is around $10 an hour. 

[Drama Llama]

8 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

She only asked for $90 which I thought was too low.  Obviously she’ll be sleeping most of the time, but I wanted to go higher than that.

Going rate for babysitters here is around $10 an hour. 

What is minimum wage where you are?

 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

6 minutes ago, Baseballandhockey said:

What is minimum wage where you are?

 

$12.50 an hour, though I think it’s going up to $13.20 soon. 

[KungFuPanda]

With the snacks and the sleeping, I'd probably feel OK about paying $150.

Is this a regular gig or an occasional thing?

Edited November 29, 2021 by KungFuPanda

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said:

With the snacks and the sleeping, I'd probably feel OK about paying $150.

Is this a regular gig or an occasional thing?

Once a week. $150 is reasonable and was my initial offer but the family felt it was too much, so I was trying to see what others thought was reasonable.  It sounds like I wasn’t off base. 

[Murphy101]

8 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

Once a week. $150 is reasonable and was my initial offer but the family felt it was too much, so I was trying to see what others thought was reasonable.  It sounds like I wasn’t off base. 

I don’t care what her mom says - pay $150.   For one thing, you aren’t paying her mom. And also if for no other reason than to make it hard to want to quit when she would rather do something else that night down the road or a more regular job option comes up.  If the family insists on $90, I’d bank the money to pay her a bonus if she lasts.  Christmas bonus. Easter bonus. Happy birthday bonus.  If she doesn’t last, it’s just money saved so no loss.

I did those gigs as a teen.  It’s incredibly hard to find someone reliable of any age and many parents get tired of it on a regular basis. If you want it to last more than a few weeks - pay more.  And you might set your shut off times on the home wi-fi by for oh say midnight-ish. Because a cranky exhausted teen who stayed up all night on the tv or whatever while bored and away from home will not make mom friendly to it being an on-going gig.  And yes I’m sure she’s responsible and blah blah blah. She’s also a teen.  Just a thought. 🙂

[KungFuPanda]

14 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

Once a week. $150 is reasonable and was my initial offer but the family felt it was too much, so I was trying to see what others thought was reasonable.  It sounds like I wasn’t off base. 

I think your first instinct was good.  It's sounds like a good relationship all around.  She's close, so it's convenient for everyone and there are two layers of emergency back-up within minutes.  I'd pay her the $150 in cash and ignore her family's protests.  It's worth the piece of mind and she's probably too young to really grasp what a valuable service she's providing.  

[Clarita]

If you want a comparison my friend who used to night nanny (adult w/ experience for infants and sleep training) used to charge $25/hour for this service. 

Not every baby/child she did this for had trouble sleeping through the night. According to her night nannies rates are the same or more than comparable day nannies. 

$150 sounds right to me.

[LucyStoner]

I did this for a friend who was a doula when her husband was traveling for work and she paid me $60 but I was doing her a favor years ago (I would have done it for free but she wanted to pay something).  I usually made breakfast and drove the kids to school.  $120-150 seems good to me and I agree it’s not up to her family what you pay her.  

Edited November 29, 2021 by LucyStoner

[Beth S]

PSA = We pay our neighborhood kids MORE than the going rate for mowing our grass, because it's super convenient and we trust them.  We want them to say YES in the future, etc.  (But we just use them while we're on vacation, etc)

 

[SKL]

One other idea is to pay $125 in cash and sock away $25 to give as a big bonus around Christmas or her birthday or both.

[Lilaclady]

Wow. I find these interesting. I used to do dare work in college and we were paid a base rate- like $50 per night for sleep in and then per hour for the hours before sleeping so something like $10 per hour from 4-8 and 6-8 then 50 additional. This is for specialized care not just babysitting too but I guess things have changed