calling all babysitters

[amietron]

do babysitters generally charge an hourly rate? or do they get paid a flat fee for the night? i've never babysat for money, mostly because the only kids i ever watch are my cousins. i've gotten lots of offers though.

tonight i went over to my cousins' house at 5:30PM and i didn't get back until 10 or 15 minutes ago. 9 hours. my aunt and uncle said they'd pay but it's not a big deal for me to hang out with my little cousins. it's what older cousins are for. i came out with $40. one of my friends came over to keep me company, so they said to spend it on lunch or dinner. that comes out to $1.50 per kid per hour. two 8-year-olds and a 3-year-old.

i don't think babysitting is very hard. keep the kids entertained for a few hours and get them to bed. easy money. you don't even get taxed. do we have any babysitters (or former) aboard?

[teaz0r]

i babysat when i was in highschool.
i was in a boarding school, so i babysat
my math teacher's kids so i wouldn't
have to stay in the dorms during the
evening. they let me eat anything in
the fridge and always have dinner
waiting for me. and their kids went
to bed at 8 and they don't normally
come back till midnight. so i just sat
and watched tv.

i don't think i charged a lot, the first
time i did it was because i was trying
to kissass, and when they asked me
how much i wanted, i didn't know,
so they just gave me like 25 dollars
or so.

[ism]

Originally Posted by amietron

you don't even get taxed.

Technically... you're contracting (contractors don't get withholding automatically deducted, they're supposed to take care of it themselves). If you earn more than whatever the current filing minimum is, you're supposed to file a 1099 at the end of the year with the IRS. But... yeah... cash...

[nonamerasian]

Yeah, you are supposed to file.

Different people charge differently. Some charge hourly. Some charge a flat rate for the day or the month.

The benefits of each depend on the family. A flat rate per day is better when one family offers $75 per day for the same amount of hours and days as a family offering $10 per hour, but that hourly charge can be better than the family offering $100 per week for the same.

If you do more than just the make sure the kids don’t poke their eyes out type of thing, that plays into the charge as well as how much the parents can afford to give.

Babysitting generally isn’t difficult unless they are children with emotional, physical, or developmental problems, or just going through a “stage.”

Babysitting non-English comprehending children who speak a language you don’t know can be an interesting challenge, as well.