Babysitting - how much to charge?

cannyscot_2

mjanet that is a very harsh view. If you are on your own with no family you end up having to get a babysitter for simple things like parents night. I agree it is difficult if they are very young. I pay a babysitter for parents night, and any other school meeting ie re outdoor activities week meeting etc and occaions arise for social events like peoples 40th's etc when you feel you really should attend -it's not mad socialising.

enor

This is my first post too, and just thought I'd add my two cents worth!

My wifes a nanny and we will occaisionally do some babysitting if anyone local needs it. These are always through word of mouth so we don't bother with advertising. My advice though would be to leave the price open and see how much people are willing to pay. Your first few jobs may be low payed but if you can get these parents to recommend you to friends then its worth it. As long as you don't set a price you can be flexable and take each job on its merits (ie work out a higher price if there are lots of children or they are likely to be late).

Some of our best employers have been the ones that take the most liberties. For example we once did three weekends in a row looking after the same four children. The first weekend was supposed to a Saturday night 6p.m. until 11ish for £25, they eventually crawled in the door at three in the morning and still paid £25. The second weekend was a whole saturday and were paid £30 for about 8 hours hard work (its not all sitting about on a sofa!). The last weekend we looked after the children from 6 Saturday evening until after lunch on the Sunday and I drove the parents to and from their hotel. We were paid over £200 for this! Now bare in mind we stayed in their house so if don't count the time we were asleep over those three weeks we worked around 27 hours and were payed £255 which is getting close to £10 per hour. Other times we have babysat for the same people and they haven't had any money left to pay us and we still haven't been paid to-date. You have to take the rough with the smooth but these are the type of people you want to work for.

We've worked for many people who pay £10 - £15 for a couple of hours once a week and it seems a complete waste of your evenings when someone pays 20 times this amount for a weekend. It does depend on what you want to do though the regular few hours a week jobs are much easier as the children/babies are normally in bed where as the higher paid stuff normally involves interaction with the children including cooking, playing and bedtime.

One thing that is worth mentioning (but is not as important if your under 18 - with less responsibility) never underestimate the trust your placed in. Over the years we've been in casualty twice, have had to clear up sick, poo, etc. had parents get so drunk they've not come home until the following day, dealt with water leaks, and have had to break into a house - the parents are never 'just a phone call away' when you really need them!!!!!!

Hope this helps