How much do you pay a babysitter?
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: General Chat
Forum Name: General Chat
Forum Description: For mums, dads, parents-to-be, grandparents, friends -- you name it! And you name the topic you want to chat about!
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=37851
Printed Date: 28 August 2025 at 12:42am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: How much do you pay a babysitter?
Posted By: RedHeadDuck
Subject: How much do you pay a babysitter?
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 4:07pm
My other thread made me think about this, I have NOOOOO!!!!! idea how much to pay our babysitter!!! 
It's a good friend of ours, she will have DS (7months) from about 5:30 onwards, I'll probably pop back home to give him a feed and FX get him to bed, then go back to the wedding. His bedtime is normally about 7:30 so we'll probably get him into bed about 8pm that night (I plan on shooting away after the speeches/meal) He will have had solids, be bathed, and in his pjs ready to go when she gets here... Then she'll be on her own with him in bed, he NORMALLY wouldn't wake up, till whenever we get home... Would you have drinks/snacks there for your sitter? I was thinking of getting a bottle of fresh up, some chip, biscuits and a few things?What kinda food would you leave there? How much would you pay? |
Replies:
Posted By: peachy
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 4:23pm
|
We pay $50 regardless of how long we are or where we are going. I just tell them to help themselves to the fridge and pantry too. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: QTMum
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 5:17pm
|
To be honest we've never paid a good friend cash to babysit. We usualy pay them in wine and chocolate.
We have paid $15 ph when using other people because they are usually people who our friends use and that is what we pay. I feel like it's quite a bit for sitting on the couch watching tv for the night but it seems to be the going rate around here. It makes for a pretty pricy night out when you're paying $100 for the baby sitter before you pay for food, booze and taxis ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
|
Posted By: tishy
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 5:20pm
We pay with dinners and generous birthday / xmas presents 
|
QTMum wrote:Posted By: AngieBabe
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 8:26pm
OMG I feel really old reading this, it was a flat rate of $20 a time when I babysat  (and that was considered good!)
I have no clue either MC, and am keeping an eye on this thread for those occasions when my Mum can't do the babysitting. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  
|
Posted By: NovemberMum
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 8:31pm
|
we had a babysitter when my husband took me out to dinner.i know her quite well we paid her $40. the children were both in bed so all she had to do was keep an ear out for them. we were gone from about 7:30pm to 10pm ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
|
Posted By: MummyFreckle
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 8:36pm
|
I always leave a plate of goodies out - choccies, biscuits, any other yummy goodies I have on hand. Generally we use friends so its always a "quid pro quo" situation, we do babysitting swaps, so no one has to pay! If its a friend I doubt that they would expect to be paid either?
------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
|
Posted By: sarahm
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 8:57pm
|
l work at a nanny agency and our babysitters get paid $14 an hour after 7pm ($18hr before 7pm) - parents also pay a $23 booking fee on top of that
Before l had DS l did a lot of babysitting for the parents at the daycare where l worked, l charged $12-$15 an hour depending on if the kids were awake etc most were happy to pay me this since l'm a qualified teacher, there is no way l could afford to pay that if l ever needed to pay a babysitter though!!! ------------- http://alterna-tickers.com">  
|
Posted By: kiwi2
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 8:59pm
| My daughter who just turned 14 charges $20 minimum call out etc for first 3 hours. After that is $5 per hour. For an adult I would double that. |
Posted By: BerryBliss
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 9:57pm
|
If its a friend we do swaps so no $$$ payment. I do have a babysitter tho (for times when i have no-one else) shes 18 and charges me $20 for the first 2hrs then $10 after that, thats for any number of my kids so i think i get a great deal!! Food- i just say to help yourself, tho they never seem to eat much. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  DD 1999 DS 2003 DS 2006 DD 2009 |
Posted By: Nikki
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 10:07pm
|
The daycare teachers at our daycare charge $12.50/hr but we always pay more and I normally leave them some sort of dinner and tell them to help themself to any food. My neices charge about 10/hr (school age). Most of the time we use one of our mums though (not that we go out much!) ------------- DS (5yrs) and DD (3yrs) |
Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 03 February 2011 at 10:51pm
|
I just put out a good couple of snacks for an evening out and point to the DVD stash on the way out.
I'd be more inclined to pay for a during the day babysit. In those cases though I usually call on family and make sure meals are already prepared. -------------  |
Posted By: RedHeadDuck
Date Posted: 04 February 2011 at 9:19am
|
She is a student, so I think it's only fair we pay her And we are happy to pay what seems to be well, considering she'll be stuck here a bit bored I'd imagine!! Especially when he goes to bed!!
I think I might get about $100 out, she'll probably get about $60-$80 then? She'll probably be here for a good 5/6or so hours? Thats pretty stink pay when you break it down per hour though! At least then we'll have a bit extra to bargain with her, cos even though she needs the money, I can't imagine she'll want to take it! Lol. Getting my Mum to babysit is soooo much cheaper
|
Posted By: AzzaNZ
Date Posted: 04 February 2011 at 2:15pm
|
The two I've used have both charged $14 an hour ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
http://intermittentblogger.wordpress.com |
Posted By: _SMS_
Date Posted: 04 February 2011 at 3:20pm
|
For that long id pay her at least $50. Also because he is still young he might be get up etc, she might not just sit there all night.
Id also get some snacks etc and just leave in pantry and tell her to help herself. Or i guess even get her something for dinner? -------------  
|
Posted By: julz85
Date Posted: 04 February 2011 at 3:42pm
|
We very rarely go out together (sometimes one of us will go out while the other stays home if we have been invited to something ) otherwise mum will very occassionaly babysit ( shes had her over once at her house overnight and shes 18moths old and lives 10min away) If mum comes over to our house she is very strict about what time we are home so we would generally only get an hour or 2 out , my sister occassionaly helps out too and she has a baby boy so we will just pay her back with our babysitting services . this weekend DP and i are going out together ( first time in AGES yipee) and his brother and sis in law will be looking after her , they said they dont want any money and they also have a baby boy so im more than happy to look after him one night in excahnge . Has anyone left there child for more than a night with someone and if so how much did you pay the sitter? DP and i will be going to queenstown in march for 3 nights and it will be child free (we got together when my dd was 4motnhs old so have NEVER been away anywhere together ) . My sister is happy to look after DD for the 3 nights and i will giver her some cash for it but i just have no idea how much , She doesnt have use of a car at the moment so ill let her borrow the car and fill it up , ill also buy a heap of groceries and maybe $100 cash , i know its not much but she is my sister so hopefully she will be fine with that . ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
|
Posted By: kiwigal
Date Posted: 04 February 2011 at 6:18pm
|
When I had DD 2.5 years ago a good friend of mine looked after our oldest one while Dh waited for me to get discharged as I had C section and she was 4 weeks prem. We didn't want her to do it for free so we gave her $25 to order pizza and $10 an hour I think she was here for a good 6 hours. She also looked after both one night and we paid her the same amount of money. |
Posted By: kiwi2
Date Posted: 04 February 2011 at 7:49pm
| When we lived in the usa we looked into a nanny service for 10 days for our 3 kids so that we could go on a holiday. My DH was going on business and I wanted to come too. It was $2500 for 10 days so $250 per day US money and also an admin fee etc. I then mentioned it to my friend (who I wanted to look after them as I knew her) that I was looking for someone to watch them for $1500 and she was keen so we did that. Only $150 per day and by that stage not having any family around it was well worth the break and did our marriage the world of good. $1500 plus the $800 ticket was well worth 10 days in paris with DH. The kids were in school for 5 days with two weekends on each end and the youngest went to school 3 days a week so during the day it was quite easy for her. She stayed in my house with all my food and a $200 petty cash for takeaways etc. (I don't think it got completely spent) The good thing is she took care of the cat and dog too. That was a $400 value if they had to go into boarding. |
Posted By: Chickaboo
Date Posted: 04 February 2011 at 11:43pm
|
Yikes - its so expensive for Babysitters now-a-days - I remember doing 2 nights and getting paid $20 (it was around 10 hours all up)
So glad I have older children who can look after the younger ones for us - big age gaps rocks that way  ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
876 |
Posted By: peanut butter
Date Posted: 05 February 2011 at 7:35am
|
We pay our babysitter (one of the teachers from daycare) $12 an hour. I think thats good considering she's a fully qual EC teacher and the kids adore her. I also know that I can leave her to bath them, put them to bed, anything. Although we normally do it all first. Then we leave her a bottle of wine and the sky remote.
If it was a teenager I would expect to pay less. As for a friend...I have never paid a friend. Oh no thats not true. A student friend babysat at a hotel room for our first wedding anniversary (yes we took T with us) and we gave her $50 which she ws terribly uncomfortable with but which we were happy to pay to help her out. And we left her with a block of chocolate and bottle of coke.....see student + junk food,.....adult = wine. How things change LOL |
Posted By: QTMum
Date Posted: 05 February 2011 at 10:40am
|
The other night some friends of ours asked us to be part of a baby sitting club. In a nut shell, it's about 6 familys who baby sit for each other and one person acts as a kind of secretary to keep track of hours babysitting (credits) to make sure that everyone is having a turn looking after other peoples kids and no one is taking the piss and having lots of nights out without looking after anyone elses kids.
It doesn't sound like a bad idea but I decided I couldn't really be bothered looking after kids I didn't know. I'm always happy to have my friends kids over for a night and DS loves it too. ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
|