rate for babysitting in own home

RachelEve14

Wed, Apr 22 2009, 3:52 am

You have to find out what the going rates are in your area. Even in Israel, I know people who make 1/2 what I make for doing the same job, because their are more people doing it and the rate is lower.

You also have to decide how you want to structure and how regular the mother wants. Usually there are 2 ways of doing this. Either their is a monthly / daily rate or an hourly rate (more expensive).

Method A is the mother needs Monday & Wednesday and she pays you X per day, every week. If she tells you she needs 9am - 12pm and shows up one day at 10am, you still get the same rate. If her baby is sick, you get the same pay. Have her pay you by the week or month (in EY month is standard but I think in the states weekly is standard).

Babysitting rate would be she pays you X per hour, and it should be more. If she drops off late, you get paid less. But if her hours and days are variable it might not be practical for her to pay you a set weekly rate for X number of hours. You should also decide how much notice of the schedule she should give you. Is it okay if she calls you and asks if she can drop off in 1/2 hour. Do you want to know the day before. Is she going to be okay if you say no or will resentment build up. I learned from experience it's better to discuss these things before, because once you are doing it things get stickier, especially if you are friends.