Paying family as day-care

ChevyFam717 · February 2013

My SIL may end up watching little one a couple of days/week. She had mentioned that she wouldnt mind being a "cheap day-care" and I trust her implicitely.

Only downside is she'd want summers off since her LOs will all be home from school and they do a lot of things - - they have a big car but they'd need a bus for their 4 plus my LO...

My question is - what do you think a "cheap day-care" rate would be?

The big-time day-care centers around town are around $60-$65 per day... Basically I am looking at 8 days a month for her to watch LO - would $250 or $300 be reasonable or would that be too low? It would be about $30-40 per day (probaby 7:30am- 4:30pm).

Just wondering if anyone else pays a family member or what the deal is... I also get 1 day/wk off and offerred to watch all of them if she needs to go shopping/run errands during the day as a type of trade-off.

Ready4life · February 2013

We pay $600 month to my mom for our 1 year old and 4 year old. For almost full time care that's pretty cheap where we live.

For only 8 days a month? I'd say cheap daycare would be $20/day. And if you exchange childcare, I'd say it should be even less.

telyn · February 2013

My sister is a pro nanny but she mainly works for families with odd hours (people who work night shifts who need someone to sleep over with the kids and get them to school, someone who will serve dinner, make breakfast and pack lunches). Anyway, her days are pretty free and she usually has LO 3-4 hours on Mondays. I pay her a minimum of $30 per day PLUS I pay for her gas (usually works out to 1 fill up a month). All in all it costs me maybe 100-150 a month, depending on gas.

She was all for chilling with her niece for free, but I wanted to pay her so that she wasn't losing money if I worked late and she was unable to take a job.

If we decided to expand her time with LO, she and I have talked about doing $400 dollars a month plus gas and car stuff. That would be a pick up from our church daycare (which runs 8.30-2) until DH or I would get home, so 2-3 hours a day, 4-5 days a week for around $7 an hour plus a fill-up on her car and DH would do car maintenance for her. We're guessing that will put us at $550 with gas.

Again, that's sometime in the future-maybe a year away-but that's what we've talked about and it's pretty fair in my opinion. Way cheaper than a "real" nanny, cheaper than full time DC (around here, 8a-6p DC is north of $800 a month) and best of all, LO is with a family member who really loves her. Sister likes it because she doesn't miss anything with LO and I don't care if she raids my fridge, or bakes cookies, or takes a nap in our guest room.

Angela814 · February 2013

I recently paid my sister $40 to watch DD2 for the day. She has a rotating schedule and occasionally has weekdays off, and I need a babysitter on random days. I would have paid my normal babysitter $50 for the same amount of time.

I'd probably offer her $40/day and see what she thinks.

CamFam · February 2013

I pay $30 a day ($150 a week) for a licensed family daycare. That is extremely cheap for our area. If she isn't licensed and is more of a "babysitter", I'd say about $25 a day or so.

flyingsaucer · February 2013

My mom watches DD full time, 8-4, 5 days per week. She watched DS before he went to preschool as well. We pay her $500 per month, which is really cheap in the NY area (average daycare is over $1000 per month). This money mostly goes to gas, food and outings for them. It is such a wonderful set up. I know that DD is in the BEST hands and never worry while I am at work. Plus, if she is not feeling well, my mom can still watch her (if she was in daycare I would have to keep her home and miss work every time)... Although if she is very ill I stay home with her in hopes that my mom won't get sick.

itsmevkb · February 2013

I pay my sister $40 a day to watch our two middle kids and I consider that cheap given it's for two as the going rate for a daycare for one child is 40-50 per day. I think I'd start with around 35 and see how that goes.

glinters · February 2013

My cousin is my son's nanny. She comes to our home and we pay her the going rate for NYC of $15/hr. I happily do it because it is fair and I would wind up paying an outside person the same. The added benefit of it being my family is priceless.

snicksnack · February 2013

I pay a family member $60 a day for two kids.

semdkm · February 2013

I guess I'm the exception. I paid my sister what we would have paid a professional nanny--1200 a month for part time care (from 7 am until 12), for four days a week. We also supplied all food, diapers, etc., had to bring our daughter to HER house, and she was also watching her own child at the same time. I realize now we were taken for a ride on that one (long story)--our child is much older now but we moved her into daycare and actually had a better experience.

shurjen · February 2013

I live in rural Iowa where daycare range from $2-$3 an hour. I think cheap daycare around here would be $20 a day. I think it depends where you live. Ask around.

Baby_Bunny_Hopeful · March 2013

We pay my mom the equivalent of a day's substitute teaching payment- since she is missing subbing on the days that she watches LOs... that's $100/day for 2 kids... she watches them 2 days a week... so $200/week.

Paying family as day-care

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