This question circulated my neighborhood mommy email distribution this week and I decided to pull it into the Smarty discussion (a special shout out goes to my Smarty neighbor, Angie, for initiating this!). I found it extremely helpful to get an idea of what everyone else around me is paying their babysitters. With no family within a 6-hour radius of Charlotte, I’ve had my share of sitters and feel like I’ve got a pretty good gauge on rates. In fact, I’m pretty sure if I did the math, I would be horrified with how much I have really spent on babysitters over the last nine years!
So our SouthPark neighborhood consensus came to this:
-Mother’s Helper: $3-$5/hour
-Middle School: $5-$7/hour
-High School: $8-$9/hour
-College: $10/hour
-Nanny/Adult: $12/hour
-Overnight Sitter: $150-$175/night (don’t ever let them fool you into paying hourly over a 24-hour period!)
This pay scale varies by location, number of children and level of expertise. For example, if you score your elementary school teacher for the summer, you may want to consider paying her more per hour since she can actually write you a customized curriculum, drive your kids to activities, and tutor your older one while your little one naps. Or if you have a small village living at your house, kinda like me (!), then you should expect to pay on the high end of this range.
So what do you expect your sitter to do? Do you leave a laundry list of items for her to do? Does your middle school/high school sitter clean up after the children go to bed, or does it look like a hurricane whipped through your house? I personally feel it is important to train your sitter on day one. Be open with her and tell her your expectations. Eventually, she will anticipate what needs to be done and you won’t even have to ask.
Please post your comments (feel free to do this anonymously) and make sure you include the area of Charlotte that you live, how many kids you have, and how much you are paying. Then we can all set a fair price for our summer help. Thanks, Smarties!
21 comments
Seems like a good pay scale and about what I pay in South Charlotte. What drives me crazy is my kids are always in bed when the sitter is here and I'm paying $10 an hour for her to watch TV. Should I have her be doing other things? I really hate folding laundry or is it tacky to ask her to do that?
I would never ask an hourly sitter to do any laundry or cleaning (aside form a mess that might be made while she is there). I think those things need to be saved for a cleaning person or a full-time nanny.
I do ask my sitter to clean up after my two kids after they go to bed (dishes in the dish washer, bibs in the lanudry area, toys put up) only because that's what we would do if we were home. The pay scale sounds on par with what I pay in the Blakeney area.
I live in the University area and the going rate in my neighborhood is $10/hr for high schoolers. I expect them to put the dinner dishes in the sink, change him into jammies and pick up the toys they played with. And I agree, after he's in bed…we are pretty much paying for her to watch TV!
I am a South Charlotte mom and your pay scale looks right on for how I pay my sitters. We typically use a teacher from the school who can drive to our home. I pay on the higher end of the scale b/c w/ her being a teacher I know she doesn't make as much as she should. I would never ask her to do additional tasks other than take care of my child and straighten up whatever gets pulled out when I am gone. Great post!
We pay our 24 yr old sitter $10 p/h for our 2 yr old. When she watches our son with our neighbors 13 month old, she receives $14 an hour. I'm expecting a baby in August. How much is fair for a newborn and 2 year old? How about when she watches our neighbors baby with our kids? What is fair?Thanks!
I live in LKN. I use a 20-something sitter (she is with us one full day a week and as needed in the evenings) and we pay $10/ hour for our two kids. This was negotiated based on a number of hours we promised she'd have each week- otherwise I pay $12/ hour for two kids. Our high school sitter I pay $8/ hour, but the kids are generally in bed most of the time. I only ask that they clean up whatever they all played with, messed up, etc. She is not a maid, I just ask that they keep up after themselves.
To anonymous with your 24-year-old sitter: Your situation raises a few red flags to me that you have probably already thought about. But I want to make sure. I'm not an attorney, but I'm pretty sure that you are taking on serious liability when you allow your neighbor's child to regularly stay at your house with your sitter. If something happens to that child, I'm fairly certain the liability falls on you and your family, since it's in your house. Again, you have probably thought about this:-)I think your price of $14/hour should be regardless of # of children. That's the max you should pay in this city, period. My sitters know all too well that sometimes with my four kids, comes a few extras for play dates. I always advise the other mom that we have a sitter. But our sitter does not raise her rates b/c more children are playing. But your situation sounds like it's a regular weekly routine and that's different. But I really think $14 is a great rate for your babysitter. You can tell her to log on to our website for reference:-)Good luck with your new addition!
I am new to this- what is a Mother's Helper?
I have had a summer nanny for the past four years, and I live in Southpark area. When we hired her I had a three year old and was pregnant. She charged $11 an hour then and charges $11 an hour now. I even asked when we had our second and she said it did not matter how many kids. She was a college student when we hired her, and is now a teacher in CMS. She drives the kids places or picks them up when needed. I do not expect her to do laundry or clean house, other than what dishes were used for lunch, etc. She has traveled with us and stayed overnight with the kids here, each time she gets $100 a day and seems fine with that (I mean we are feeding her and sometimes taking nice beach trips).
I live in Concord and have a nanny for the past 4 years. Depending on the day she will have all 4 of my kids, or only my twins. We pay $12 an hour, no matter if she has 2-4 kids. it would be too much trouble for me to keep up how many kids she had each day. She averages about 20 hrs per week. For our high school sitter we pay her $7 dollars per hour. I don't expect her to do much more than to clean up after the kids. My nanny however does the kids laundry, empties the dishwasher and helps keep the kids room and their play rooms clean.
A mother's helper is a young sitter who comes over while you are home and plays with the kids and keeps them out of trouble while you can get things done around the house that you normally would not have time for or could not complete because you were constantly getting stopped to help with something. I have used them before when I have a lot of yard work that I need to do where I need to be outside for a long period of time and know the kids wont tolerate the heat or the length of time it will take to do it. Have also used them when I was repainting our downstairs, all I needed was a 3 year old getting into the paint while I was up on the ladder!!!Also wanted to add that if you are going to the trouble of finding a sitter for a night out that the best advice I have gotten was to go to an early movie and then dinner after, that way you might get a good price on the movie and then can enjoy dinner but by doing this the sitter has feed them, clean up and then put the kids to bed, and isnt that what going out is about, getting a night off from the daily chore of feeding kids and putting them to bed. We usually will order a pizza online and pay for it online so it just shows up at dinner time, no cooking needed for the sitter, just clean up the dishes. And we will usually just have the kids showered before they get there so that they dont have to do the bath thing, or just wait till the morning and clean them up then.
I live in the Lake Norman area and regularly use sitters of various ages. For college students, I pay $10/hour for one child and $12/hour for two kids. For high school, $8/hour for one or two kids and for mother's helper, $5/hour or whatever her mother suggests depending on age. Some mothers helpers' moms don't want them to get paid too much, as it then competes with what their allowance may be at home. I am, however, always amazed at what a mess sitters of all ages often leave. I need to start training them from day one as was suggested. I'm just surprised that they don't already know to clean up after themselves when they are at someone else's home!
I am a adult sitter who is also a preschool teacher and I think these rates are great! I must be a real steal :)…..I do have to bring my 4 yr old daughter with me most times but most Mom's don't have a problem with it. I also run a referral service to find trustworthy and reasonable priced adult sitters. I charge $10/hr per family so if your neighbor adds their kids to the mix it is $15/hr. That is still only $7.50/hr per family for an adult sitter with 20 yrs experience and a degree in Child and Family Development. I have found that the number of families is a bigger indicator in the amt of work than simple the number of kids because they are used to relating to each other within the family. My referral service fee is $10 for 30 days worth of the service and I make all the calls to set up a sitter(or other service professional) for you. For overnights I do $25 for the first 8 hrs and regular rate after that so that the parents can determine how much it will end up costing. I hear often that that is super reasonable if not cheap for my services. In terms of housework I would say the cleanliness improves with age. Once they get basic household upkeep they consider it part of the job.
so much good info! thanks!!
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We pay our 19 year old summer part-time nanny $11/hour. We have two children and are in the SouthPark area. She occasionally does the children’s laundry and ALWAYS keeps the house super clean – it is so nice to come home and have everything put away. (Note: I do not have her actually cleaning!).
For typical babysitters, we have paid between $10 (high school/college) and $15 (grandmother type when we had our first newborn and were crazy).
I live in Ballantyne and have a summer babysitter who’s a 13 year old. I work from home, so that helps as well. She gets $50/day for 8-9 hours of work, so basically $6/hr for my two kids (5 and 2.5 year old girls.) I expect her to entertain them, play with them, take them to the pool/park, make them lunch, make them clean up after themselves, etc. Bottom line is my house should be exactly as it was when she arrived in the morning. I also have her wash/fold the girls’ clothes 1x/week. When I was 13 I had a paper route that paid me $80/week. She’s making $200 a week, so I have no problem asking for laundry/cleanup duties while kids nap.
These rates look right on track! As a poster mentioned above, some caregivers request above these rates, based on education and experience level. Also, with the gas prices so high, we have also come across some caregivers who ask for a monthly gas allowance if the parent would like the child to go to various activities – museums, park, pool, petting zoo, strawberry picking, etc.
If you are looking for a summer nanny, occasional/date night care, a part-time nanny, or full-time nanny, please contact Personally Paired – Charlotte. We find pre-screened, interviewed, and reference checked caregivers that meet your specific wants and needs. (www.personallypaired.com)
As a former nanny and occasional babysitter who is about to become a mom, and will soon be on the other side of the fence, I think the posted rates are on par with what I have been paid. I nannied in the Lake Norman Area, Univeristy Area and in the South Park Area when I was in college (five years ago) and made between $10-$12 an hour. I think even though children may be sleeping, that you are not really paying a sitter to just sit and watch TV, but rather to be competent enough to handle an emergency situation if it should arise. Now that I am out of college and currently a former teacher with a Master’s Degree I would have to say that $12-$15 hour would be more appropriate, especially with inflated gas prices (if I were to be driving children to and from activities). I know everyone is trying to save where they can these days, but when it comes to finding someone who is educated, trustworthy, and dependable to watch your children, its definitely important to compensate them for what they are worth. =)