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How much should I charge for babysitting? What would you pay me?

A lady wants me to babysit her 2 and 5 year old, she asked how much i charge, what is reasonable?

Also her friend has 3 kids and would also like me to babysit. How much should i charge her? she lives 45 min away, should i charge her for gas and a little for driving time?

I have taken the babysitters course, infant and child CPR, and First Aid through red cross.
I live in Maine. I am 20 and in college full time. I work with Child Development Services 10 hours a week and get $11 an hour.

Public Comments

1. I would pay you $8-$10 an hour

2. How old are you?

With your credentials, I think 8-9 dollars is reasonable for the 2 kid family. The three kid family, YES, charge for gas. I'd say 12 dollars an hour, including gas. Make it clear that that is included in your charge.

I have two kids, one is a baby and goes to bed very early, the other is extremely well-behaved and we pay 10 bucks an hour.

3. 10.00 per hour an extra 5 (flat fee) per additional child. As far as traveling I would say 10.00 flat fee.

4. BUT do you have any experience with kids?

The driving: it was your choice to take the babysitting job.

Payment: $5/hour -- not per kid though. Right now you need to start out charging little. You're making a business here, and you want to build clients. Because you haven't had any REAL babysitting experience, you need to start small and work your way up.

5. $3/hour per kid. More if they are under 3 years old, and even more if they are infants.

6. You should include the area of the country in which you are located. New England pays MUCH higher than the Midwest, etc.

7. Charge her 7 dollars an hour

8. Is this an all week job for the 2 and 5 yr old? If not, then I would at least charge $10 an hour. That is very reasonable considering their age.
As for the other situation that lives 45 min away... I would charge $12 an hour and about $20 in gas.
Sounds like you would be a great sitter, so market yourself that way by charging appropriately

9. well for you i would say minimum wage or close to what is minimum wage which is about $6.00 an hour or so.

If i have little kids like that lady you are baby sitting i would pay you minimum wage or close to what is minimum wage.

10. I usually get 10 dollars an hour . It sounds like alot but it seems very reasonable to me . And with living 45 minutes away she shouldnt think that it's unreasonable .

11. i have taken all those classes as you.
i usually take what they give me..but if they ask... think about minimum wage.. if you have experience in babysitting charge a little more. if they live 45 minutes a way then charge a little more.
things cost alot these days so i would charge 7-7 50 for the lady with 2 kids and the lady with 3 kids and far away maybe 8 50- 9 dollars! they may wonder why you charge diff. but thats non of their business..and you can explain!
good luck with the kids!
10 points?!?!!?

12. Well, I have 3 kids and I pay $10 an hour and if the babysitter has to drive a ways then I offer to pay for gas. I also provide dinner and snacks for the babysitter. For a family of just 2 kids maybe charge $8 an hour? Oh, and my kids are 7,5 & 2. Good Luck!

13. First of all, how old are you and how much childcare experience do you have beyond your courses? I'm assuming from your question that you're younger and didn't have your own kids at any point. However, if you're actually certified, that makes you pretty valuable. Start your fee at minimum wage ($7.25 now) and go up based on the number and ages of the children (charge more for kids in their terrible two's - seriously). You can charge a little more after a certain time of night (for example if you have a curfew and they keep you out after that you can up the fee; ditto if they need you to stay overnight or come at the very last minute). If you're older and have raised any children yourself then you can up your base fee quite a bit.

Work out the gas stuff in advance - yes, they should comp you for gas if you're driving 45 minutes (and they should expect it with prices where they're at). Most jobs pay a certain amount per mile, rather than per tank of gas. So, if you're traveling 45 minutes it's probably between 30 and 40 miles away? My job reimburses at $.42/mile. Let's say you're 30 miles away (you can mapquest the route to get exact mileage) so roundtrip you're traveling 60 miles. That would equal about $25 - which is about a full tank of gas, and you're only going to use maybe a quarter of a tank to get there and back. Also see if they'll pay you for the two hours you'll be on the road to get to them, too. But like I said above, work that out in advance!! Don't just hand them a bill when you get there. Be flexible, but also don't let them not pay you anything for your trip, either. You're extremely valuable to them and they know it or they wouldn't ask you to drive that far to babysit.

It's really helpful if you have a basic framework of a rationale for how you charge in case you're asked. Don't just pick a number out of the air because it sounds unprofessional and if the number's arbitrary they can try to negotiate with you. If you have a rationale or a grid (base price + # of kids + age of kids + time of day + mileage) it's harder for them to argue. If it seems like they're struggling financially you can offer to be flexible, but they're trusting you with their *children* and should be willing to pay well for someone who is well trained and willing to travel far.

Good luck!!

EDIT - based on your extra info, I think you could bill yourself as a childcare *professional* not just a babysitter. $11/hr is a little high (you're not doing developmental consulting) but you could ask for more than the base $7.25 I mentioned above. Of course, I'm not sure what the cost of living is in Maine, but you should definitely get a higher base salary than a teenager with little actual childcare experience.

14. It all depends on how good you are at the job. If you were good enough I would pay $8-10.00 an hour.