How did you find a babysitter?

choco_lab

I'm talking a non-family, non-friend babysitter.  Did you use a webpage like sittercity, classifieds of local paper?  I think it would be nice if we had someone we could trust to go out to dinner every once in a while.

JillRock96

I've had success with Craigslist.  I followed the advice of others and posted a very specific ad with everything that we were looking for, hourly rates, etc.  DH and I interviewed about 10 people at a local coffee shop.  We actually had three candidates that we loved and had a hard time choosing between.

ETA:  I just re-read your post and realized that you're looking for someone occasionally, not full-time -- right?  You could definitely still do the craigslist thing, but what about also asking friends to recommend their babysitters? 

pamela-matt

We ask friends, colleges, church

In the past I have asked high school guidance counselors, teachers 

pamela-matt

We have also asked colleges that don't have kids at home anymore...they may have family friends they can recommend.

BoxTer

I've used mostly people recommended by friends. One of our regular sitters is the daughter of my Spinning instructor. At first, though, I found a babysitting agency that has been in operation for many years that has a great reputation. I met with the sitters before I used them. Definitely find someone because it's important to get out once in awhile. We have no local family so if we didn't use sitters, we'd never get any couple time or nights out with friends.

MayDayGirl

I recently hired a 17 yo girl to watch my boys twice a week for a full day so I can work.  I found her through my church.