Would you expect less than minimum wage for babysitting?

Victorya - posted on 11/06/2011

I think that daycare prices are ridiculous. People go to babysitters outside of daycare for that specific reason. If you want to be paid like you are running a daycare, work for one or open your own. Also if your watching multiple children. You will be making much more than just $600/month.

Alicia - posted on 09/05/2011

If I am making 10 dollars and hour and paying my sitter 8 dollars and hour I would have to stay home because when you add in the cost of fuel to go back and forth to work then it would be costing me money to work. So while I appreciate your degree and experience you have to understand that to make a living I can't pay 3/4 of my salary to a sitter
I have a wonderful sitter who is payed what we agreed to weekly rather I work or not. If she needs a day off she still recieves her pay in full. When looking for a sitter for my grandson when I decided to raise him I thought I'd have to quit work because I couldn't find a place for him where he recieved good care and I felt he was safe and I used several of the most recemended daycares. My sitter truly was God sent to me and she is wonderfull and I wish I could afford to pay her what I think she is worth but I will never be able to. $75-$125 a week is average for one child in my area

Teresa - posted on 09/03/2011

I get $10/hour to watch a baby in her home (used to watch the brother, but he's in preschool now). I only get 13 hours/week though.

Minnie - posted on 09/03/2011

It sucks, but the average going rate around here is $5 per hour per child. And you, Sherri, are offering a service that's waaaaaay cheap! It does make sense to have more than one child. I'm needing to babysit a child because it simply isn't feasible for me to get a part-time job and pay for child care while my husband is jetting off on business trips all the time. I'd be LOSING money with the two girls and gas if I had to pay a baby sitter!

Good Day! - posted on 09/01/2011

If the lowest daycare cost in your area is $900/month for the same number of hours you're talking about...then I would say that $700/month would be reasonable.

Sherri - posted on 09/01/2011

I can not imagine how you guys afford to live in Hawaii. $900 is what I pay a month for my house.

Mary Renee - posted on 09/01/2011

Thanks Katherine, that sounds similar to the cost of living in Honolulu, although minimum wage here is only $8.00/hour.

The cost of daycare at a daycare center on the LOWER end of the price spectrum are $900/month. The higher end of the spectrum is about $1600/month (for a child under 3/still in diapers, which is more expensive then school aged children). That's why $700/month seems reasonable to me.

Sherri - posted on 09/01/2011

Yes I only get $150 a wk or $3.75 an hour so yes I very much expect to get less then minimum wage.

Add one or two children and that quickly becomes much more than minimum wage.

I get $50 a day for twins or $200 4 days a wk full time.

Good Day! - posted on 09/01/2011

@Kelli, I'm not suggesting that home based day care is worth less money. (I know you probably weren't talking directly to me, but I wanted to answer anyway.) Where I live $600/month for part time day care is astronomical. Full time daycare for the BEST daycare in my town costs $400/month.

I guess I would also suggest to the OP, look at see what the minimum and maximum prices for traditional daycare is in your area. Base your price off that.

Also, I wanted to mention, I used to keep a child in my home. Her parents were nurses and each worked three 12-hour shifts a week. Sometimes their shifts overlapped and sometimes not. So sometimes I kept her one day a week and sometimes 3 days a week. I had her for 14 hours in my home. I was able to take her with me on errands and outings. It was like being a SAHM with two small children and getting paid to do so. I was paid $40/day plus they brought her food and diapers and wipes. Way less than minimum wage. But it was no trouble for me to keep this child as I had freedom to live as I would if I did not have her in my home.

My aunt keeps two children in their home twice a week. She gets paid $60/day. That seems very high to me, and I jokingly told her that if she didn't want the job she could give it to me. It would be so easy to bring my two girls to their house and watch all four kids. I would still be with my girls, but making $120/week, which is more than I'm making now. :)

Rosie - posted on 09/01/2011

i vacationed in kauai mary, and yes i was astonished at the prices of some things, pleasantly surprised at others. i guess to me, daycare needs to be MUCH less than what that person brings in, otherwise there's no point.
after our vacation there i looked up house prices for shits and giggles, and almost crapped my pants. i honestly dont' know how anybody without a college degree or lottery winning uner their belt can afford to live there. sure as hell dampered my plans, lol.
i do like sara's advice, of grants and having the childrens parents provide lunch. maybe a little higher than $600. but i honestly can't wrap my brain around the prices of things and how that relfects in your income. it just seems so astronomical to me.

Katherine - posted on 09/01/2011

I'm in Ottawa ontario and our cost of living is fairly high as well, bachelors - $800 plus utilities (water, hydro, heat, gas, cable, phone, internet etc), 2bedroom townhouses $1500+ not including unitlites, parking is almost always extra, bus passes are over $100 a month. our min wage is around $10.50 or so.....

I work in daycare, for an infant (newborn to 18 months) our monthly fee is over $1900. it includes food, but as a parent you need to supply diapers and wipes.

Home daycars average about 35-50 per child, per day, that includes food. parents need to supply diapers and wipes for the most part

Kellie - posted on 08/31/2011

I'm wondering why people think that a home based daycare (here ours are Government Regulated as are Daycare Centres) deserve less money per hour/child than a Centre? You're still providing the same service, I would even say a more personalised/tailored service, as a Centre. If anything I would think the Home based care being more personalised/tailored/suited to meet your child needs, would be worth more.

Good Day! - posted on 08/31/2011

If you watch two children and charge $600/ month you'll be making $1200/ month which is $12/hour. Look into those food grants I mentioned or ask the parents to provide breakfast and lunch.

Kellie - posted on 08/31/2011

oh god yes minimum wage is different here in Aus! I was thinking about doing this very same thing but was going to charge something like 80 (Australian Dollars) a day per child, NO less. Which when broken down would be about $7.30 an hour, hmmm now that I think about it that isn't good enough, might have to think about $90 to $100 a day should I decide to do this myself. Here too, we have a Government subsidy so childcare is subsidised depending on your Annual Salary and the Parents out of pocket expense would be minimal.

So to answer the OP, definitely do NOT sell yourself short, especially with your experience and qualifications. Put the price you are worth on your services, those that need it will come.

Mary Renee - posted on 08/31/2011

I'm not interested in taking in more than one or two children because they're under the age of 2 and I'd want to offer them my full attention.



Just to give you an idea of the cost of living here, a one-bedroom apartment in a plain apartment building (no extra amenities, no pool, utilities not included) is $1000/month, 1 lbs of strawberries is $6.99, 1 lbs of grapes is $3.99, 1 lbs of apples is $3.99, gas is $4.00/gallon, it's $5 for a box of 10 Granola Bars ...



If I only made $600 a month, the cost of food to feed the extra child breakfast, snack, and lunch wouldn't even leave me with enough money for HALF of our rent.



I guess part of my frustration is that when I WAS considering going back to work, the cheapest day care facility I could find was $900/month for 13 month olds - 3 year olds and yeah, it made me decide NOT to go back to work. So keep in mind the age of the child (18 months and still in diapers)



Also, if you are a single mother making minimum wage the government offers childcare vouchers to help cover the cost of childcare.



Is anyone from L.A. or N.Y.C. or Washington D.C. or a city that would have a more comparable cost of living to Honolulu? I've been to Iowa and almost cried when I went to the grocery store and saw how cheap everything was.

Good Day! - posted on 08/31/2011

Yeah, it's high. A GOOD daycare here is $400 a month. I don't know exactly, but I think you can get grants to help set up an in home daycare and pay for food. Maybe that will help with what you are trying to do?

Rosie - posted on 08/31/2011

well, i personally think that's outrageously high...but i live in iowa. our cost of living is much less. that's as much as i make in one month, if not more....so if someone is a single mother working fulltime at a minimum wage job, there's no benefit for them to be working, when they can go on welfare, and actually end up with money.
i see both sides to this, honestly, but you technically will be making way more than that with multiple children.