How much would you pay for your sister to babysit?

dragon_chica · March 2010

My parents watches DD while DH and I are at work. In May they will not be able to watch her for two weeks. In those two weeks I work 8 days and have asked my sister to watch DD for a fee. How much would you pay? We would be asking her to be there from 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. I've gone on craiglist to see what's out there but haven't found much. More of just people offering their services so I couldn't find what other people were willing to pay to have something to model after. TIA.

My_Kid_is_RAD! · March 2010

8-10 an hour?

burgle · March 2010

I don't have a sister, but my brother wouldn't charge anything. That is just how he is. It is awesome that you offered your sister something. We usually just end up borrowing my brother a PS3 game.

That said, is this just a token payment or a real payment? If it is a "real" payment like you would pay a sitter you didn't know, I would say 20-30 bucks a day.

ETA: That depends how long your days are though. When I was still working, a "full shift" was 5.5 hours. Heh heh. How quickly I forget.

SamsMom91 · March 2010

Daycare centers in my area charge $190-$230 a week, so I'd probably offer her $300 for the two weeks. ETA: Just re-read your post and realized you're working 8 DAYS during that period, not 10. Based on that I'd offer her $225.

dragon_chica · March 2010

burgle:
I don't have a sister, but my brother wouldn't charge anything. That is just how he is. It is awesome that you offered your sister something. We usually just end up borrowing my brother a PS3 game.
That said, is this just a token payment or a real payment? If it is a "real" payment like you would pay a sitter you didn't know, I would say 20-30 bucks a day.

For some reason I feel the need to pay my sister vs. not paying my parents. Maybe because my parents don't necessarily need the money whereas my sister is still a student and works PT in the restaurant business (therefore making crap.) She's planning to try and take time off of work to do this for us too. She has babysat for us in the past but not to this extent so in a way it goes beyond the token payment. I'm sure she'll be happy with whatever we give her but I wanted it to be fair.

SamsMom91 · March 2010

Someone wise once told me that you should pay ALL babysitters, even if it is a family member who refuses payment. If you're paying them, they're an employee and obligated to do things YOUR WAY. If they're doing it for free, it's a favor, and you really can't call them out if they're not doing things to your liking.

burgle · March 2010

dragon_chica:
burgle:
I don't have a sister, but my brother wouldn't charge anything. That is just how he is. It is awesome that you offered your sister something. We usually just end up borrowing my brother a PS3 game.
That said, is this just a token payment or a real payment? If it is a "real" payment like you would pay a sitter you didn't know, I would say 20-30 bucks a day.
For some reason I feel the need to pay my sister vs. not paying my parents. Maybe because my parents don't necessarily need the money whereas my sister is still a student and works PT in the restaurant business (therefore making crap.) She's planning to try and take time off of work to do this for us too. She has babysat for us in the past but not to this extent so in a way it goes beyond the token payment. I'm sure she'll be happy with whatever we give her but I wanted it to be fair.

That makes sense. You sound like an awesome sister!

dragon_chica · March 2010

burgle:
dragon_chica:
burgle:
I don't have a sister, but my brother wouldn't charge anything. That is just how he is. It is awesome that you offered your sister something. We usually just end up borrowing my brother a PS3 game.
That said, is this just a token payment or a real payment? If it is a "real" payment like you would pay a sitter you didn't know, I would say 20-30 bucks a day.
For some reason I feel the need to pay my sister vs. not paying my parents. Maybe because my parents don't necessarily need the money whereas my sister is still a student and works PT in the restaurant business (therefore making crap.) She's planning to try and take time off of work to do this for us too. She has babysat for us in the past but not to this extent so in a way it goes beyond the token payment. I'm sure she'll be happy with whatever we give her but I wanted it to be fair.
That makes sense. You sound like an awesome sister!

Awww...thanks. My sister's awesome! I remember her coming over a couple times a week while I was pregnant and she would bring me goodies to eat and would always clean up after me. DD's her first anything so she loves the girl to pieces.

Thanks ladies. I'm going to discuss this with DH and make a decision in the next few weeks. Night!

RBC · March 2010

Going rate in my area (No. Cal) is $15-20/ hr. If my sister was watching DD I would give her the highest rate. That's just me. I take care of family. If you were my sister I wouldn't accept anything. And that's how my family operates.

CJ2008 · March 2010

when I was younger (19) I would babysit my niece once a week, and since I rearranged my schedule to do it and was poor, my sister would usually give me a $20 for about 4 hours of sitting. I thought that was more than plenty, and would sometimes do it for free, but being so broke I would take it when they offered!

smilelari · March 2010

Probably $150-200 per week, so $300-$400 total

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