By The Wiz

1. Totally depends on the babysitter. In SoCal, I paid my teenage ward member babysitters $6/hr for 2 kids. They were happy with this, and I had 3 of them that I rotated. I had another babysitter who did me a favor for an afternoon out of the goodness of her heart, but she told me she usually charged $12/hr for 2 kids.

   Comment #1 by Mrs MJune 24th, 2008 at 10:44 am

2. $5/hour to our favorite 14 year old. We live in Utah.

   Comment #2 by Julie PJune 24th, 2008 at 10:49 am

3. $5/hour here in Washington. No one seems to complain.

   Comment #3 by Tracy MJune 24th, 2008 at 10:56 am

4. $2 per kid per hour. That might be low, but that’s what our favorite sitter asks us to pay. Also, she is younger (13) which I think makes a difference. When we have hired older sitters they tend to ask for $3-4 per kid per hour.
   we live in a suburb of Denver, CO

   Comment #4 by mellocelloJune 24th, 2008 at 11:37 am

5. Currently, nothing, unless I’m feeling generous, because we (at long last!!!) have a built-in babysitter. Woohoo!!!!

   But before that, we went by the guideline of a buck per hour per kid, and then added a little on top for good measure. With four kids, if we were gone three hours, that would be $12, but we’d bump it up to $15.

   Comment #5 by AnnetteJune 24th, 2008 at 11:38 am

6. When I was a kid in AZ, I made $8/hour babysitting. So now mmmph-teen years later in Washington, D.C., I figured that would be a good starting rate for the 14 year old babysitter we sometimes use. Her grandparents were horrified that we paid her so much - they think it’s way too much money for a 14 year old to have. So I don’t even know. No one else I know even uses a babysitter - they just trade off with other families at church so I don’t have anything to compare it to either. I’m at a loss.

   Aside: man, I never realized before how fast $8/hour adds up. Just a short evening out runs nothing short of $50.

   Comment #6 by NGJune 24th, 2008 at 11:43 am

7. I pay what they ask plus a bit for their travel time or toll because it’s been hard to get people coming back!
   Seems to be 10/hour for teens we know and 15-17/hour for the craigslist-found college students and older.

   Comment #7 by cchrissyyJune 24th, 2008 at 11:50 am

8. I hire through a child care agency and pay $9/hr for my two kids ($8 for one child plus $1 per additional kid). It’s a lot, but I get adult sitters, mostly young college girls, who are background checked and fingerprinted. I’ve been very happy with the quality of care I’ve gotten from the sitters.

   If I hire a teenager, I pay $5/hr.

   Comment #8 by tisheliJune 24th, 2008 at 11:52 am

9. BTW - I’m in Utah.

   Comment #9 by tisheliJune 24th, 2008 at 11:53 am

10. I pay $10 an hour in Indiana, and I have a few women in the ward who are upset at me about this (other moms who say they can’t afford that much). However, I want the better babysitters to want to sit for me, and when I was a teen in California, I made $8 an hour, so I feel justified in paying what I do.

    Also, if the baby sitter doesn’t play with the kids or clean up after their dinner, etc… they don’t come back unless I am super desperate. I expect them to actually work!

    PS, I have 4 kids, but they are usually asleep for half the time, as we usually only get sitters at night.

    Comment #10 by GingerJune 24th, 2008 at 11:56 am

11. We have a few mom’s in our ward who pay $10 an hour, and the mother’s of the girls are not happy about it. They, too, feel it’s too much. I kind of agree, but then I’m one who can’t afford that much. I also expect the place to be at least picked up when we get home.

    Comment #11 by Tracy MJune 24th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

12. I am in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. We are lucky to have several children old enough in our family to babysit. When they babysit for us it is a favor to Mom and Dad. When they babysit for others they seem to all get paid about $8 an hour no matter how many kids they are watching. The most kids they have babysat at one time was three.

    Comment #12 by momof8June 24th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

13. I typically pay $5/hr for our 14-15 year old babysitters. I have 4 kids, but my oldest is 11 and doesn’t need a babysitter. My 8 year old is also extremely low maintenance. I’ll kick in some extra money if she makes them dinner or if the house is in really good shape when we get home. For me it also depends on what they did while we were gone. If they sat and watched TV the whole time then I can’t see how they should get more than $5/hr.

    Comment #13 by bythelbsJune 24th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

14. $2/per kid/hour, which since I have 5 kids (ages 7mos - 9 yrs) works out to $10/hr. But even when I don’t leave them all, I usually just pay $10/hr. I figure some days are easier and some are harder anyway. This is to a 13yr old beloved sitter in the Vegas valley by the way. I think I’m about average, maybe a bit above average. It’s steep, I agree, but I want her to want to sit with my kids, they are active kids and she plays with them, brings activities and is wonderful, so I feel like it’s an investment in keeping her sitting for a few more years (since most girls here either get too busy or get a “real job” about 14-15). I run with her mom, so every so often, I ask her where I sit amongst the other mothers who pay her daughter. But since it does add up quickly, I just don’t go many places.

    Comment #14 by angie fJune 24th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

15. major cheapskate here (or maybe major fraidy cat) but we use family and they are free.

    Comment #15 by SarahJune 24th, 2008 at 12:35 pm

16. $7 an hour for our favorite 15-year-old babysitter, for two young kids. We live in the Boston area, and I’ve paid more than that for a less competent sitter. But NG is right: it adds up fast, and if we want to go out regularly at all we need to find another solution. Just last night I proposed a babysitting exchange with a friend.

    Comment #16 by LibbyJune 24th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

17. I pay too d*** much for babysitters - okay so too much for the ones who do nothing. I won’t have them back if I come home and it looks like a tornado ripped through my house. I could have my 9 yo do the same thing.

    I’ll second what Ginger #10 said - I’ll pay handsomely to have a great babysitter and create some loyalty to me. (i.e. you can buy it!)

    Comment #17 by AbbyJune 24th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

18. I pay $5/hr for my 2 kids here in Oregon. I’ve never had a sitter that left the house a mess, but my kids are only 1 and 3. I don’t have any real expectations for the sitter. As long as someone is home with the kids, I could care less if they watch some movies. I have a hard time calling for sitters though (kind of like calling for appointments) so we only go out every 3 or 4 months.

    Comment #18 by ErikaJune 24th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

19. I only have one kid, but I think I’d pay about 5 dollars an hour. I haven’t used many babysitters, because I usually have friends or family do it. We just went on vacation and left my son with my niece and she stayed for 3 days (with my mom’s help) so I’m going to pay her 30 dollars a day. That gives her quite a chunk of change. I don’t know how much that equates per hour, but she did stay overnights.

    Comment #19 by AmyboBamyJune 24th, 2008 at 1:09 pm

20. I have 3 kids and pay $5 per hour plus a little to make it even. One of my sitter’s moms got really upset that I paid that much. One of my kids is autistic so I think I got a great deal at $5.

    Comment #20 by MichelleJune 24th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

21. Depends on where we’re living. When we lived in Japan, we paid $8 - $10 an hour. Now it’s about $5 - $6 an hour. We rarely go out or need a babysitter though. Maybe 2-3 times a year.

    Comment #21 by meemsJune 24th, 2008 at 1:14 pm

22. Babysitters?! We ain’t got none of those ’round here!

    Seriously, right now I don’t feel like I know any of the young women in our ward well enough to trust them with my two boys (the youngest is three months old). Instead we usually “trade” babysitting with other friends in the ward. It usually works out pretty well, since we don’t have any family nearby.

    When they are older I will probably pay around $2 or $3 per kid per hour or so.

    http://honey-mommy.blogspot.com

    Comment #22 by Honey MommyJune 24th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

23. For an evening/night out sitter? We had to pay at least $7 to get anyone to come over. Our ward had TONS of young families and only a few teenage girls, so they pretty much had us over a barrel. Basically, we didn’t go out much.

    Comment #23 by SueJune 24th, 2008 at 1:17 pm

24. We didn’t go out often because of it, but I was leaving my offspring with another person; and I wanted them to really be taken cared of…so we paid minimum wage plus an extra dollar for each of the kids. If there were four kids they got min. +$4.00 per hour.

    I didn’t expect them to clean my house or bathe the kids, I did expect the house to be *as* clean as it was when I left and the offspring still breathing.

    *If* house cleaning was done *after* the kids went to bed, there was tip money.

    I should also state that I had a rep as a generous but hard @$$ client, meaning you got paid well for what you did, but if I found out you goofed around while I was paying you to watch the kids your butt was mine and you’d never work again. And that happened a few times before word spread.

    Babysitters also knew where to come for conventional work, lawns, yards, windows, etc. The pay was again good, but not for slackers.

    I also had moms who got ticked ans said I was paying them too much. I didn’t care, it was my children and if there was a fire, choking, icky people, whatever, I needed to trust that older *kid* to do their job and take care of my kids. Their parents knew ahead of time what I expected and what they would earn, it was between the sitter and their parent how to spend or save the *earnings*. I didn’t pay a dime to watch t.v. or talk on the phone, their *job* was to watch and play with the kids. To me, our kids were worth the money.

    After a while no one said a word.

    Comment #24 by s'meeJune 24th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

25. In doing the math and history, the other sitters of that era made about $1-$2 per hour.

    Comment #25 by s'meeJune 24th, 2008 at 1:25 pm

26. We don’t get babysitters very often, but we usually pay about 8-10 bucks an hour for two kids. That’s here in Northern California, and when we visited my in-laws in Las Vegas we paid the same. Once I hired a 13 year old from church to just watch my daughter while she slept, and I only paid her 5 bucks an hour.

    Comment #26 by AshleyJune 24th, 2008 at 1:27 pm

27. I usually pay between 6-8 dollars an hour.

    I have four children under the age of 8, so I figure that’s 2 bucks a kid per hour.

    However, after moving back to Utah, I realized it was kind of high (it wasn’t in the Bay Area, CA –there it was really low!), and so it’s kind of settled around 5-6 bucks an hour.

    Of course it depends. If I come home and my house is trashed, they get hardly anything (and I never call them again). If I come home and they left it as clean or cleaner than how I left it, they’ll be compensated accordingly.

    It still blows my mind how much I pay babysitters, though. I wish I could become ungenerous enough and save some money. I mean, seriously? 14 year old girls making more than the BYU minimum wage? What is up with that? And yet, here I am, all disgusted with it and continuing to be a hypocrite. Figures.

    Comment #27 by cherylJune 24th, 2008 at 1:28 pm

28. I rarely use sitters other than family, but I recently hired a 13-year-old to be mother’s helper once a week while I teach piano. I offered $5/hr for two children, and she said it was too much. She said she normally got paid $1.50/hr per child. We compromised at $4/hr for the two kids.

    I live just outside of Salt Lake City.

    Comment #28 by eljeeJune 24th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

29. Here in NC I pay $6 an hour. I’m not so much into the buck or two per hour per kid. I figure it’s more than minimum wage, is tax free and they don’t need to buy a uniform. Oh, and I make sure there’s snacks for them and the kids so it’s a pretty easy deal.

    My (three) kids are 7 years, 17 months and 6 months old. Not too high maintenance but definitely movers and shakers.

    I was a single mom for three+ years after my divorce and, for a brief time (very brief, thankfully), managed to eke out an existence on $8.50 an hour. That’s with a huge day care bill, no government aid and paying rent on a house.

    $6 an hour buys them stickers, stuff for school, clothes and whatever else they might “need”. They come back so I reckon it’s not too raw a deal.

    Oh and they watch kids for free if we’re going to a church function or to the temple. We do at least 2 paying jobs per one temple trip / ward party so we’re not taking advantage of their service.

    But, seriously, $12 an hour? Wow! I worked the wrong day job!

    Comment #29 by LindsayJune 24th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

30. we’ve only hired babysitters in hawai’i and southern california and the going rate was always $10.00 an hour for the first kid and then it was negotiable from there, anywhere from an extra $2.00 for another kid up to $5.00 for another one.

    but we’ve never hired a 12 or 13yo. the thought of that, frankly, scares me. i know i babysat for a family with four under six, including a newborn, when i was 12. but now, as a parent, i think those parents were out of their minds.

    i’m shocked (and JEALOUS!) that some of you are able to pay so little! cheryl, $6.00 an hour in the bay area?! how’d you swing that?!?!

    we’re greatly looking forward to when our kids are old enough to be left home alone!

    Comment #30 by makakonaJune 24th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

31. I usually pay $5+-/hr. I have only one child, but he is a handful, so I think it’s a pretty good deal. I also don’t have a hard time finding sitters, for the most part. My husband hates that I pay them that much, he hauled hay at 14 for less than that (over 15 years ago) and thinks they get too much, but I’m fine with it. I use girls from my ward that I know (hopefully) won’t be getting pregnant on my couch. I also like the 12-14 year old girls better, because they actually get down and play with my kid. Once I found that my sitter had logged on to my internet and checked her myspace page. I haven’t called her since. I’m not cool with that.

    Comment #31 by Angie A.June 24th, 2008 at 2:09 pm

32. When I babysat I would make about $15-20 a night for two kids. That was about 4-5 hours. I did clean and cook for the kids. Of course I was a teenager. I babysat a few years ago when I was in college and I made 5 dollars an hour for 5 kids. That was a rip off! I had to drive the oldest to and from summer school.

    I was also expected to clean and cook and pick up after the kids. The kids did not do anything! They didn’t know how to put their cereal bowls in the sink or clean up or even fold clothes. Was I horrible for wanting them to help me fold their clothes?

    Also, when I was a teenager I never got paid when the parents were going to a church activity (the temple, etc.)

    If this post sounds totally weird I apologize. I had surgery yesterday and am still a bit drugged up :0)

    Comment #32 by AllysonJune 24th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

33. We pay a flat $20 when we go out, about 2-3 hours max. Not very often, and he’s 9. I only have him, and while she destroys my kitchen, N LOVES her because she’ll actually play with him (baseball, cards, etc, etc) instead of sitting and watching tv.

    I know it’s too much, WAY too much.. but, I want him happy, and it’s worth it.

    Comment #33 by MelJune 24th, 2008 at 2:53 pm

34. I pay $12 an hour for a college student. I haven’t had any luck getting the teenagers to come babysit, so I put an ad on craigslist (and this was pretty much the going rate there). It’s a lot of money, but with the hours my husband works I need some help, and my sanity is worth quite a bit of money. She’s reliable, comes regularly, drives herself here, and gets breakfast and lunch for the kids. Usually she just watches the 3.5 and 2yo, but occasionally the baby too. And she really plays with them, and often takes them on walks and to the park, so I am at least getting a lot for the money. Oh, and we live in NC.

    Comment #34 by VadaJune 24th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

35. I pay at least $8-10 an hour, for three very well-behaved children, in southeastern Idaho. We lived back east four years ago and I did not change my pay scale when we moved back to the Mormon mecca. I want my babysitters to want to come back because they get payed well and my kids adore them. I only hire girls I know to be competant, who will play with the kids, and be responsible (15 yrs. and older). I really don’t care what the house looks like, as long as they had fun in the house and I had fun away from it. Like another poster, I have hired a mother’s helper to play with my kids while I teach piano lessons, and I paid her $6 per hour. The girls were ages 11 and 12. I think the care of my children is worth the expense. I also think it is important to teach young women (and young men) that taking care of children is a serious job, and one that has value, even $$ value. That said, every now and then my parents will watch my kids, or my favorite is to trade date night babysitting witha girldfriend. When I pay for sitters, I pay well. I also try to be reasonable financially with date planning.

    Comment #35 by MariaJune 24th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

36. We mostly trade with other families, a friend who has her daughter babysit for free cause her grandfather gives her $60 a week, or our own family here in the Valley. (I live in Vegas.)

    I pay around $4-5 an hour when we do have a babysitter that comes to our house for my two daughters. (I’ve ask the YW what they charge, but they always respond “whatever you can afford.” I know some awesome YW who have awesome parents, part of why I like living in a ghetto area rather than a very nice one. My sister lives in a very upper class area, she lives in a condo but they have million dollar homes in her ward, and she has the hardest time finding YW to babysit for anything uder $10 to 15 an hour, which she can’t afford.)

    I don’t expect the house to be clean, in fact I’m kinda anal and would clean it before I had the sitter over, but I expect it to be orderly and not total chaos.

    Comment #36 by LaceyJune 24th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

37. Holy Cow! I haven’t read all the comments but it looks like we’re being a little over charged here…however we live in NYC so being overcharged is the norm. We pay about $7-10 an hour for ONE kid who is ASLEEP the entire time. We don’t even go out until our little one is asleep so truly all they do is sit there. and watch tv. and eat our food.

    One more reason to move…

    Comment #37 by MiggyJune 24th, 2008 at 3:14 pm

38. we’re in FL and we pay about $7/hr for 3 kids. i think (hope) that’s decent.

    Comment #38 by AlissaJune 24th, 2008 at 3:19 pm

39. [begin time travel] I used to earn 40c per hour, 50c after midnight, in Las Vegas, whether it was one tiny baby or four active boys. Supper cleanup was expected. [back to 2008] Some of you mothers are paying more per hour for teen babysitters than the highest wage I have ever earned as a legal secretary.

    Comment #39 by Ardis E. ParshallJune 24th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

40. Wow, I can’t believe that some of you pay so much. When we lived in WA we paid $4 hr for 2 kids 3 and 9 months. The girl (16 loved her was sad to move away from such a great babysitter) would drive to our house and did a great job (she would keep notes on what they did). I used her about once a month for homemaking. In Ut we paid about the same to a girl who lived down the street (13 yr old, oldest of 5 great babysitter, again sad to move away from such a great babysitter). Here in ID, we don’t have to pay, yeah, grandma and aunt/uncle have watched them for us. I guess it pays to have the only young grandkids in a family that loves little kids. Though we only ask them to watch the kids (4 & 7) every month or two.

    Comment #40 by moddyJune 24th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

41. Wow, I can’t believe that some of you pay so much. When we lived in WA we paid $4 hr for 2 kids 3 and 9 months. The girl (16 loved her was sad to move away from such a great babysitter) would drive to our house and did a great job (she would keep notes on what they did). I used her about once a month for homemaking. In Ut we paid about the same to a girl who lived down the street (13 yr old, oldest of 5 great babysitter, again sad to move away from such a great babysitter). Here in ID, we don’t have to pay, yeah, grandma and aunt/uncle have watched them for us. I guess it pays to have the only young grandkids in a family that loves little kids. Though we only ask them to watch the kids (4 & 7) every month or two.

    Comment #41 by moddyJune 24th, 2008 at 3:44 pm

42. You want something that will singe your eyebrows? In one of the two times in the past decade that my husband has arranged babysitting, he asked two young teenage sisters to take care of our four fairly easy kids at their home, with their mother there, while we went to the temple and did sealings for a ward assignment. When we got back less than two hours later, he handed them $50. I didn’t say anything at the time because I thought that actually agreeing to go out somewhere without the kids was progress for him, and I wanted to give him positive reinforcement, and we could work out some of the kinks, like acceptable babysitting rates later, but I’m still mad about it. For $50, I could have left the kids there overnight! Or at least stopped for ice cream on the way home! I’m also still ticked off at the mother of those girls for letting them accept that much money. Honestly.

    This was when we lived in Southern California.

    Comment #42 by ResearcherJune 24th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

43. I can’t believe that these are the going rates! I’m really shocked! I can’t believe that some of these rates are considered high! I was a nanny for three years (from 2001-2004) and I earned $10/hour. I was pretty much a regular babysitter- I came over two afternoons a week, tended between 2-4 children, did laundry, dishes, occasionally dinner, and helped with baths/homework. I felt that the families I worked for were getting a screamin’ good deal. Most professional babysitters make twice that much. They treated me extremely well and we had (and still have) a very close relationship.

    I have never accepted less than $10/hour since I was a 16-years-old for any child care- whether I came over after they were all asleep or if I was there during the day. It may seem expensive to some people, but how much is quality childcare worth? I would say it’s priceless!

    I don’t think I would feel comfortable paying a 13 year old that much, but I would never want to pay a babysitter less than she could make at Wendy’s!

    Comment #43 by Barb @ getupandplayJune 24th, 2008 at 3:59 pm

44. Oh. I just remembered, the other thing that added insult to injury was that when I was a babysitting teenager, you didn’t accept money if the parents were going to the temple or church meetings. That’s common in our ward here too. But really, truly, I didn’t give my husband a hard time. Positive reinforcement, you know.

    I don’t know what the rate is here; I would have to find someone with medical training, and then what would we do that would be within 15-20 minutes of home? Walk around the grocery store? Go to the inn and eat wings and watch people drink beer? Not that I’m bitter or anything…

    Comment #44 by ResearcherJune 24th, 2008 at 4:06 pm

45. I’m 40. When I was a teen babysitter, I charged $1.25/hr for up to three kids and 25 cents a head after that.

    Now it seems that paying between $5 - $10 per hour is average for teens.

    I pay room and board, transportation expenses, camp fees, and occasional fast food meals. Apparently it is not quite enough as my two babysitters are always willing to ditch me for another job. Oh well.

    Comment #45 by JamiJune 24th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

46. I pay a friend to babysit my kids, $8 per hour, which I’m about to raise to $9, because that is what I can afford. She mostly watches my kids during the day because she usually has to work at night. I’ve given up on teen babysitters because in our area, at least, they are really hard to come by. The girls in our ward don’t need the money, so the only ones who babysit are the ones who really, really love children. And they are always busy babysitting for kids who I suppose are more lovable than mine. The amount of money I paid–and I paid $6-8/hr. for teenagers, well above what other mothers-with-4-kids in our ward pay–made no difference as to whether or not they returned. And my kids aren’t nearly as bad as I make them out to be.

    For an evening out, I’m pretty much just waiting until relatives move here or the children are grown, whichever comes first.

    Comment #46 by madhousewifeJune 24th, 2008 at 4:08 pm

47. I pay $9.00 an hour for 4 kids in New York. I’m told the rates are high in NYC.

    Comment #47 by TiffanyJune 24th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

48. When my sister in So Cal said that girls in her ward weren’t leaving the house for less than $12 an hour, I figured $8 an hour sounded about right for Mesa, AZ. Turns out, I’m about the only ward member paying that rate (especially with just one child) but I won’t change it now that it’s established. It does allow me the “cream of the crop”. I have heard through the grapevine that young women want to babysit for me. I leave the house a lot happier knowing that they want to be there and they’ll take pride in their job because I’m paying them well.

    Comment #48 by ZinkaJune 24th, 2008 at 4:27 pm

49. I pay $10 and hour for 4 kids, one 11 months old. I used to pay $7, but then I added the fourth. If I’m gone a long time, I always throw in a bunch extra.

    Comment #49 by mmilesJune 24th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

50. I always earned a flat rate. I babysat for a couple of families on a regular basis and regardless of the time or the number of kids I made about $10-$15 (depending on the family.) I always cleaned up and fed them dinner. I did offer free babysitting for temple trips (but this was in Utah so that would be a 3-4 hour committment, not an all day thing like now when the it is 2.5 hours just for us to get there!)

    I was a nanny for 8 years and was paid $20 per hour for “over time” babysitting. This job made many people in the ward feel like they could ask me to babysit. I did (free for temple…etc…) but I found they only asked me for the free stuff and still expected free housekeeping and cooking (as in left me a list of things that needed to be done.) That annoyed me!

    Comment #50 by LisaCJune 24th, 2008 at 4:57 pm

51. I pay between $7-$8 here in VA, and was told by one mom that she thought another mom in our ward was stingy because she only paid $7/hr for her 3 young kids. If I hire an adult, I pay $10 an hour. I had a 12 year old who used to watch J when he was primarily asleep, and I paid her $6. Her mother told me it was plenty.

    In Arkansas, I paid $5/hr to a 13 year old when I went to work, and her mother wondered aloud how I was possibly making enough to justify forking over so much cash to her daugher.

    Comment #51 by Heather O.June 24th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

52. P.S. As a teenager, I once babysat for somebody who paid me $5/hr, and I was convinced it was because they were rich. I felt lucky to get $2/hr from some families, and one family I swear paid 50 cents an hour, and by the time I finished babysitting for them, I was watching 6 kids. With those kids, I left one unattended on the diaper changing table while I hunted for wipes, and he fell. Nice. The same kid choked on a penny–FULL ON CHOKED on a penny, and I had to do the heimlich. Again, nice. But I think their low rates made babysitters scarce for them, because they always had me back.

    No way in HELL would I have let me come back after something like that. But that’s just me.

    Comment #52 by Heather O.June 24th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

53. This is why we never go out. Really- I mean, dinner and a movie, add in babysitters making $10 and hour- you’re looking at $100 for a night. Until DH gets a job, I’m outa luck.

    Comment #53 by Tracy MJune 24th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

54. We generally pay teenage babysitters $5 an hour and I’m relieved to see we’re not alone (it’s so hard to get an answer to “how much?” out of them — they tend to say “just whatever!”). We have 3 kids, one of whom has autism. I don’t have any expectations as far as cleaning up — I appreciate it greatly, but our kids can be pretty demanding and if the babysitter wants to be a slug on the couch after the kids are in bed, I’m OK with that. I just want to find everyone safe and well cared for when I get home!
    We live in the Salt Lake Valley.

    Comment #54 by mom of 3June 24th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

55. Ardis, I remember earning 40c-50c for babysitting as a teen, and remember how exciting it was when it went over $1 and then $2! I always offered my services free for church meetings/temple attendance. When our kids were younger, I was grateful for our babysitters who refused payment for church related things.

    Now I’m with Jami - I pay room and board, transportation, etc. I LOVE having kids old enough to babysit my younger ones. We are able to go out far more often than we did when the kids were younger, we were in school, couldn’t afford a babysitter and traded with other couples. My view is we are a family - we play together, work together, pitch in and help each other. That includes babysitting. We share it among the older kids so they each have an opportunity for time with friends (or outside babysitting jobs) and aren’t always babysitting their sibs. My second youngest is anxiously waiting until she is old enough to watch the youngest!

    Comment #55 by Michelle AMJune 24th, 2008 at 6:20 pm

56. Hmm… I think my second youngest is looking forward to watching the youngest not so much because she wants to babysit her (she thinks the youngest tags along with her too often as it is) but because it is a step in the “I’m grown up enough not to have to be babysat myself” direction!

    Comment #56 by Michelle AMJune 24th, 2008 at 6:26 pm

57. Miggy, don’t move.

    8-10 for my 15 year old….12-16 for my adult sitters….two kids…nyc

    Comment #57 by Kristy GlassJune 24th, 2008 at 6:42 pm

58. I pay 5 dollars an hour and I am pretty sure that I pay the most in the ward. When I was a nanny I made ten dollars an hour but I was a senior in high school. I think 5 dollars is fair but if they take good care of my babies (a 2 year old and 1 year old) then I throw in an extra 5.

    Comment #58 by LyndsayJune 24th, 2008 at 6:52 pm

59. $5/per kid (three of them) per hour (in DC). If the baby is already in bed, he’s free. That is normally for an older teenager or young adult-basically to someone who could have several better options for a Saturday night.

    Comment #59 by RyannJune 24th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

60. Huh, I WISH I could have a babysitter. My husband just doesn’t want to go out. Yes, that’s true. *Sigh* IF I did get a sitter, I think $5/hr. is plenty (I’m in CA). Considering, $20/night ain’t so bad after all. But I too would expect a bit of cleaning up and positive interaction with the kiddies. If s/he just sat there, they wouldn’t be coming back. Usually when a friend needs a sitter, she’ll call me; she pays me with a haircut so it’s a win-win.

    Comment #60 by Carole G.June 24th, 2008 at 7:26 pm

61. Wow LisaC! I can relate. When I babysat there was one family in the ward that actually asked me to baysit when they needed their house cleaned, and they payed terribly! They would just call and go for a drive until I had time to clean it. My mom suggested I just not clean it so they would quit calling me. But I couldn’t be in their house it was so bad–she never, ever did the dishes. Gross!

    Comment #61 by mmilesJune 24th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

62. I leave my daughter with in-laws for free, or with a friend who has me watch her daughter. But before I had my daughter when I would babysit for a friend who insisted on paying me, I said $2/kid/hour… though sometimes I did it for $3/hour for her two kids. Except, mostly she just gave me $20 no matter how long I watched them. Easier, I suppose than having correct cash or writing a check.

    Oh, and once I got paid some amount of money (I honestly can’t remember) for staying with 3 kids overnight, plus a bunch of coupons for free stuff and some gift certificates. That was awesome.

    Comment #62 by Erin MarieJune 24th, 2008 at 9:08 pm

63. When I was a young teen, I babysat for a family where the dad was a distributor for Nabisco, and they would pay me in cookies. They would literally give me a paper grocery bag filled to the brim with packages of cookies. That was the best payment ever!

    Comment #63 by eljeeJune 24th, 2008 at 9:19 pm

64. Whatever my wife tells me to pay.

    Comment #64 by RayJune 24th, 2008 at 9:22 pm

65. Oh, my. I was amazed when my twelve year old daughter recently came home with $20 for about 4 hours with 4 kids. We live in Utah.

    I’m 36 and when I was a teen, babysitters paid $1 an hour, no matter how many kids they had. Yep…$1. I had a job two summers in a row watching 3 kids Monday-Friday from 7:00am to 4:00pm. I cleaned the house too. $1 an hour. Seriously cheap labor.

    The going rate around here (still Utah) seems to be $4-$5 an hour, depending on number of kids.

    Comment #65 by AhnaJune 24th, 2008 at 9:33 pm

66. Whoops. That should be “Families paid babysitters…” But at $1/hour, I suppose it could just about be the other way around.

    Comment #66 by AhnaJune 24th, 2008 at 9:39 pm

67. I pay between $5-6 per hour for kids ages 9, 7, 5, and 17 mo. I live in Western Nevada. I prefer Mia Maids or Beehives, for a couple reasons: I know that they will appreciate the money because they are too young to get a job, and I know they’ll be around for at least a couple years before they go out and get a job, so I will be able to hire them repeatedly. Plus, they also seem less distracted — I haven’t had to worry about them sitting on the phone or texting all night or ignoring the kids or anything.

    I can’t believe what some of you pay for babysitters! My friend here, whom I asked a few years ago (her kids are older than mine) gave me this formula for how much to pay: $2.50/hr base rate, plus $0.50 per hour for each additional child. Plus, minimum payment of $5 for if you were out an hour or less. (We also talked about how there comes a time when there’s a breaking point for adding more money, because your oldest kids only need minimal supervision by then.) Because this was about 6 years ago, I have upped what I pay a bit.

    There are quite a few YW in my ward, but from what I can gather, very few wardmembers (in our ward full of young families) ever even hire babysitters. I have never had a problem getting a babysitter, and they keep consenting to coming back. I think that because babysitting jobs are rare, they’re happy with what they can get anyhow. And none around here charge a set rate that I know of. They just take what you pay them. Because I don’t know anyone else here who actually hires babysitters, I don’t know what anyone else pays. I have asked my other mom friends who have teens what their teens get paid, and I seem to be paying the right amount from the couple of moms I’ve asked.

    I should also say, that I’m a pretty laid-back parent, and while I like it when the babysitter’s at least put leftover food in the fridge, I don’t mind if the kids watch TV all night or the house (which most likely wasn’t picked up to start with) looks slightly worse than when I left. Also, as long as I feel I can trust the girl’s values and her integrity and common sense, then as long as she can get them out of the house in an emergency, or call us or 911 if needed, then I’m good. We live in a pretty small town, and could be home within 15 minutes if she needed anything or was having a hard time.

    Comment #67 by StrollerbladerJune 24th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

68. Wow. I thought $6-7/hr for two four year olds that I paid was a little overboard. Maybe I’m a cheapskate. If I have to transport the teen back and forth to my house, they get $6/hr. If they can arrange their own transportation, they get $7/hr. For 18 year olds that really work, I usually bump it up a little. For 12-13 y/o I have a “jr babysitter” rate of $3/hr, but I don’t actually leave the house. I just invite them over to play with the kids while I clean. At 14 they can start babysitting alone.

    For that money, I expect the house to be relatively livable when I get home. Doing the dishes will earn a tip. One hour of TV is OK, but if I find multiple DVDs lying around when I get home, that babysitter will not be invited back. I expect to see an art project and I do check to see if they did any reading with the kids. I can’t stand it when babysitters spend the whole time on their cell phone.

    We also do a Christmas bonus for our regulars, usually some cash, but sometimes something more personal. One year I did a really nice set of Clinique lipglosses. The girls loved it.

    Comment #68 by BridgetJune 24th, 2008 at 10:00 pm

69. When I lived in AZ a few years ago–I paid $5-6 an hour. It was hard to find good babysitters–so I tried to pay decent.

    Now I live in UT, and my 13 year old babysits a lot. Depending on who it is–and how many kids she is watching, she makes anywhere between $2 an hour (& she totally tries to screen the gal when she sees her on the caller ID) up to $10 an hour (of course she adores babysitting for them).

    P.S. During my babysitting years, in a small town in UT–I tended for a lady who had EIGHT children and paid me ONE DOLLAR an hour! Man-did I ever hate those Saturday temple trips–she’d be gone from 7 am to 3 pm–and I’d get 8 bucks!

    Comment #69 by NicJune 24th, 2008 at 10:15 pm

70. I think it depends on the sitter. If you find a good sitter, then you don’t mind paying them a little extra so they’ll want to come back. Also I think where you live is also something to take into consideration. I live in Canada and minimum wage here is $8.40. I would only pay a sitter that much if she was really good. I try to think of it as what am I paying them to do. If my child is asleep the whole time, then I might not pay as much as if they had to entertain and feed my child. I’ve been a nanny for several years and there is a lot more responsibility in that type of position. I would typically pay a sitter around $5 an hour. But like a lot of people have said, if they cleaned or did housework, I would pay them more. I trade babysitting with my friends a lot though and that works because then my child has a playmate or 2. It sounds like on average, $5-8 is a fair price. But really sometimes I have to ask myself how much is my child’s safety and well being worth while in the care of someone else? Just a thought.

    Comment #70 by MandyJune 24th, 2008 at 11:52 pm

71. YIKES! This is why we will never go out…we hardly went out before we had our son because things were expensive! I guess we are just to cheap, by the time we paid a sitter we wouldn’t have money for the evening out…even if it was just for a drive, heck, that’s to expensive to do anymore with the gas costs! We do get time alone, not the best date night, but if we put son down to bed (he goes about 6pm) we have the evening at home alone, so we might splurge and order pizza and watch a movie we already own. Don’t have a clue what we are going to do as we have more kids. Probably arrange babysitting swap with other couples in the ward.

    Comment #71 by JSJune 25th, 2008 at 6:17 am

72. the idea of paying less for a sleeping child makes no sense. you are paying for the sitters time, expertise, and to keep your child safe. if your child gas a sleepless night they are there to soothe them, if they get sick, or any other emergency arises to care for them. you hope you never need them to care for something like that but you want someone competent if they do, that is why you pay them.

    when i was a teenager (sadly long ago…i’m 29) I didn’t leave the house for less than $7/hr.

    Comment #72 by rebekahJune 25th, 2008 at 8:32 am

73. oops gas=has…typing while nursing here!

    Comment #73 by rebekahJune 25th, 2008 at 8:33 am

74. $15 for one child. Washington DC

    Comment #74 by BelleJune 25th, 2008 at 8:55 am

75. O.k. back in 1970-72 I was paid $3 by most everyone, why? because I was good and I asked for it. Played with the kids until bedtime and tidied up the house. I refused to sit for people who expected their house to be “cleaned”. If you wanted me to do that, I was fine, but not watch you kids at the same time… call me next Saturday and we’ll talk.

    I had one family who literally had demon seeds for children, 3 boys who had a rep and NO ONE would watch these hellions. The mom heard I was good from another mom and she paid me $5.00 and hour. She left me once with them as a test. After that I was hired. Sometimes she and the husband would leave for a couple of days, and then I made huge amounts… but I worked my butt off trying to keep those boys from burning down the neighborhood, seriously.

    Before, I said that back in the 80’s I paid minimum + $1 per kid, per hour and tipped for extra things they did after the kids went to bed. That’s true, however, we rarely went out. The temple was a 6 hour round trip on a good night, plus the 3-4, hrs there. Do the math, (10+hrs)and no, back then no one sat for free when you did church stuff.

    We went out about once a year for “fun”, twice to the temple and one at Christmas, and I had to save to do it.

    My daughter works at the BY-U and also off campus (actually 3 jobs) and yes, if someone up there would pay her what she is worth or at least living wage she would do o.k. and not need her loans, nor would she half to work THREE JOBS. (She has a pretty good “ride” in scholarships, but works for food and rent). Just because Utah pays like C^@p, doesn’t mean it’s right.

    My point is, a job is a job, yes some are worth more. But these are your kids, and whoever “sits” with them better go to the mat for them, and that *is* worth (to me) at least the same money as flipping a burger. Screw up and my kid is the one who pays. I treat this as a very important job.

    I am a momma bear and if you were worth it, you got the job and the money.

    Comment #75 by s'meeJune 25th, 2008 at 9:09 am

76. Ahh, the perks of living near family. We’ve never had to hire a babysitter in three years and we go out nearly every week, sometimes twice a week! Usually we wait until after 8 pm when my 3 year old and 10 month old are in bed. My 20 year old brother lives with us, so I guess technically we pay his board, but it’s not so much as we’d notice. My mom also lives a few blocks away and actually asks to watch the kids for us. I think that the big, plasma TV in our living room is a draw for our family babysitters, too.

    I’ve told my husband that I refuse to live in a city where we don’t already have some sort of family living there. It’s just too much fun and waaaay to convenient to give up!

    Comment #76 by Jessie TJune 25th, 2008 at 9:33 am

77. Ummmm…..what is this b-a-b-y sitter that you speak of?

    Comment #77 by RebeccaJune 25th, 2008 at 3:12 pm

78. I don’t have to pay babysitters anymore, thank heaven, but just remember- you really do get what you pay for. While there are some really nice teen girls out there willing to work for peanuts, your kids will get better care (and so will your house and belongings) if you pay the going rate. I’m in Seattle and when I told friends at work that my daughter (13) charges $5/hour per kid they nearly wet their pants because they’re paying at least $8/hour per kid.

    Comment #78 by JulieJune 25th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

79. I get paid $6.00 for two year old twins. In Utah. (I babysit 2 days a week)

    Comment #79 by kamJune 26th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

80. Wow… We have 4 kids and we pay 20$ an hour. Even the young women in the ward won’t do it for less than 15$. They also want a 5 hour minimum and if you cancel, they get paid anyway unless they find a replacement job. Not kidding. Can you say R-A-C-K-E-T? This is also the going rate for other people that I find via Craigslist, etc. At a nanny agency here, for 4 kids, if you pay less than 25 an hour you are getting a deal. Oh, and they don’t do housework.

    I live in San Francisco and this is just one more thing that STINKS about this area.

    Comment #80 by bekJune 26th, 2008 at 6:44 pm

81. That sounded wrong, we LOVE the area, I just wish that there weren’t so many wealthy people here that we had to compete with them for babysitting/nanny jobs.

    When we go to Utah for our vacations, we still pay 20$ and it seemed like the sitters weren’t used to getting that much. Now I know. I can cut that rate in half and they are STILL getting more than usual.

    I agree with some of the above posters that it is worth it to pay a bit extra to get someone that really is good with the kids as well as having them want to come back to your house, I just wish that for that amount of money I came home to a clean house, dishes done, etc. At that rate it is an automatic 125$ BEFORE you pay to do anything. We often end up staying home and watching a movie…

    Comment #81 by bekJune 26th, 2008 at 6:52 pm

82. In NC I pay $5/hr for 2 kids. They are usually in bed after the first hr, so it’s a pretty laid-back job.

    Comment #82 by normal mormon wifeJune 27th, 2008 at 6:12 am

83. I would rather the babysitters play with my kids than worry about cleaning up. Now if they have to put the kids to bed and we aren’t coming back home for an hour or so after they are in bed, then yes, it’s great if they clean up. Playing with, interracting and making sure the kids are safe and having good clean fun is number one on my list for what makes a good babysitter. We’re just lucky we have so many great young women in our ward who babysit for a very reasonable price.

    Comment #83 by mellocelloJune 27th, 2008 at 8:09 am

84. Well, my situation is kind of unique. My husband is deployed, so if I ever need to go somewhere, I have to take my boys (6, 4, and 4mo)with me, or get a sitter. My in-laws live a mile away, so they can help if they aren’t working (they both work full time). So, I have my other mommy friends watch my older two if it’s a daytime thing. I’m in weight watchers, so I have meetings every week. For those, I have the 11yo daughter of my friend (who also goes to WW) come over. It’s only for an hour, and the meeting is 3 blocks away. She doesn’t get paid for it, as her mom gives her “rewards” at home for helping me out. I actually hire (and pay $4/hour) 11 and 12yo’s. But then, I live in Nauvoo, if I go out, it’s in town, and everyone pretty much knows everyone here. But, because my husband is deployed, more often than not, the teens will tell me not to pay them, and they’re doing it to help me out. After all, I’m going out for appointments, not on dates.

    Comment #84 by WendyJune 27th, 2008 at 10:57 am

85. We now have our “own” babysitter. It seems so weird and long ago that I had to find and call sitters.

    But as strange as it sounds, we never paid by the hour. It all just depended on the sitter’s age (a 13 y.o. doesn’t need 10 bucks an hour), how many kids were home (won’t pay the same for 1 child verses 5) and by what they had to do. If they came after all the kids were in bed, we didn’t pay as much as if they had to do dinner, clean up, baths, bedtime, etc. I’m not gonna pay them more just to sit and watch TV than if they actually had to do things. And I ALWAYS let them know I’d pay more the more they cleaned. I’ll definately give an extra 10 if things are cleaned up, dishes in the dishwasher and they’re folding a load of laundry (I actually had a girl who would ALWAYS do that!)

    Comment #85 by KrisJune 27th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

86. I live in Louisina and I just got a Nanny, she comes three days a week. She watches my 7 year old, three year old, and my 10 month old for 20 bucks a day. She watches them for about three and a half hours. I think I am getting ripped off???

    Comment #86 by AndreaJuly 2nd, 2008 at 8:33 pm

87. I babysat in the SF Bay area from age 12 until married. Those who were paid $1…remember how much gas or anything else cost when you were babysitting. Yes, the payment is higher but everything is.
    It’s called inflation.
    I used to make $20 a night when I started, usually 3 hours and 3 kids. I was saving for a trip to Williamsburg with my class. I brought a box full of toys and had the kids playing and in bed on time and always cleaned once they were asleep.
    As an older teen I made $10-13 an hour. We had wealthy, mansion-owning people in our ward who still paid $6/hr for four kids and no one wanted to babysit for them! I avoided families that didn’t pay much since I was called all the time and knew another family would call and make it worth my while.
    I ended up marrying the uncle of some of the kids I regularly babysat in my ward They paid me $5/hr for two kids when I was 13/14
    Tonight we are getting our first babysitter in Utah for our 9mo for dinner and the temple…gone for 3 hours and will probably pay $10 total. Makes her mom mad, but her mom didn’t babysit! We don’t want to be the cheap ones and we look at it as an awesome deal since we have family close that usually babysit…they are just in Europe for the week

    Comment #87 by ChantalleJuly 3rd, 2008 at 8:34 am

88. […] I missed the Oscars entirely last night. And yet, I still feel complete.  Huh.  I don’t go to movies very often anymore, and I usually make a point to see entertaining ones. I mean,  if I’m going to blow that much money on babysitting and tickets and whatnot, it better be worth it, and frankly, the artsy ones usually aren’t worth it for me.  So I rarely see anything that’s nominated for anything, because I am a shallow, shallow, person who likes romantic comedies (clever ones! NOT dumb ones!) and Austen flicks and have never heard of ‘The Reader.’  Go ahead and judge me.  I’m cool with it. […]

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