What is a reasonable amount to charge for babysitting for 5.5 hrs?

Question

A family member has asked if I would babysit her 2yr old little girl that is the same age as my daughter, she is not potty-trained yet but is off the bottle. I'm not sure how much I should charge, the deal is for me to pick her up in the morning and babysit for 5.5 hours. please help as soon as possible

previously i mentioned it was for a family member, and the only reason we agreed on payment was cause she would not have it any other way, she didnt want to take advantage of the situation, since I will be babysitting until the child turns 5yrs old

Also that was the reason I could not come up with a price cause I have NEVER charged family for babysitting before

Answer 1

Every babysitter I have ever had charged me $5 per child per hour. So, I would charge $5 an hour. I think everyone else needs to chill out. There is a difference between doing a "favor" and being paid for a job. Watching someone's child for an hour is a favor and watching someone's child for half a day is a job YOU should get paid.

Answer 2

It varies so much per area. Looking at your answers I see that b/c I get no where near some of your answers. I would call around if people place adds in the paper and ask people what they would charge if they were to do it. When I started babysitting I had no idea what to charge so that's what I did and I get paid pretty good for my area. Think about your cost in food and drinks and about your cost in gas if you are picking her up.
Part time is usually a little more per hour than full time.
It is up to you if you want to give her a discount since she is a family member, maybe based on her situation, but don't feel obligated. It is a hard job.
good luck

Answer 3

I would pay my sitter $60, rounding that last half hour up, I think $10 an hour is fair. She is very interactive with our child, the TV stays off and they play the whole time, my daughter (who made 2 in Dec) loves her. We pick her up and bring her home.

For family you should not charge anything, but if you do I say half of regular rate is fair, or $5 an hour. I still say the last half hour should be rounded up, so $30.

BTW I don't have too much knowledge in this area, our daughter has only been left 4-5 times in her life, for a couple hours each, and only after she was a year old. I just thought I'd share what sitters get paid in my area. (New Orleans)

Answer 4

I'd say about minimum wage or a little over...like $6 or 7/hr. Is this a daily thing or a one time thing? I guess it would have to depend on her income, too. If she's only making $50 a day it would be ridiculous to charge her that amount to babysit, especially since she's family. If it were my sis in law, I'd charge about $35 a day, but that's just me.

Answer 5

It's a job; therefore minimum wage should come into play here....take that wage times 5.5. I'd say about $35 for the five and half hours of work.

I agree though with one of the previous answers...if it's for FAMILY, then there should be no charge. You get paid by doing favors for one another.....that's how most families should work anyway.

Answer 6

most people charge like 20 dollars if its easy but then again if its a baby i heard like in between 30-50 cause if your puttin a lot of work in to it then it deserves that and also mulitply your minimum wage for your state by 5.5 hours and see what you get and charge that

Answer 7

I charged 60 a week to pick up two girls from daycare and to watch for about 1hr. Now i have them both one all day and one after school 100 bucks. Parents don't mind.

Answer 8

We pay our day care provider $2 an hour, we pay our kids $1 an hour. We live in the middle of nowhere Michigan

Hope this helps

Answer 9

it's a family member don't ya give them a break I would say for family 5-7 and hr.

Answer 10

$9-10 an hour.