How much do you pay your babysitter?

if it's during the day I usually pay 11 dollars an hour and if it's during the night the rate is 12.50 dollars and hour. Some people say it's a little too much, but trust me. My daughter's babysitter keeps her safe and happy!!! If you think it's too much you can probably work something out with the babysitter... Good Luck! :)

Gosh I am stunned,I don't think I would ever be able to afford to go out if I had to pay that sort of money on top of my night out.I don't think the sitters here in the UK get anywhere near that.Mind you I am a bit out of touch with these things as my eldest is now 40.It says a lot for living near your family so you can call on them at a much cheaper rate(a box of chocs usually does the trick). I am also a bit puzzled as I read in so many places about how low the wages are in US so why would an unqualified teenager sitting for a bit extra pocket money be worth so much.Don't get me wrong the safety of the child is all important but it seems an awful lot of money.

Since I am a stay home mom I dont have to worry about it. The thing is you should base it on how long, how many kids and how old the sitter is. If it is a teen ager I would say $75-$100 depending on how long is more than enough.

We have used babysitters and we were paying them anywhere between 5 to 6 and hour. These kids also used to be our neighbors and were really good. Sometimes if I had a little more to give I would,but we did agree on five when we first started. I had the same kids babysit for almost seven years on and off.

I would think it depends on the age of the children, and how many you have, if she has to change diapers, I would pay her more. Is she going to have to cook for them? Bath them? If she has to do any of those things, I would give her 10 an hour, if not, 8 an hour would be good, its 48 dollars, and thats enough for her to go out and do something fun, like a movie or buy a few cd's or whatever.

Before I moved from VA to WV, I was a state licensed day care provider. When we moved to the house are in, we knew there were repairs that needed to be made and sprucing up to do and I didn't want to start up a day care again until we had those repairs and such done. However I was a daycare provider in a fairly large city about 90 miles east of Washington DC. On an hourly basis, I would charge $2.00 per hour per child for someone who merely used my services for the occassional night out only. If one of my regular families came to me and said that they would like for me to watch their kids so they could go out for the evening, I would charge them less--$1.50 per hour per child. I would say depending on your area, that for the time you will be gone, that somewhere in the neighborhood of $20-30 for the evening would be fair. I am sure that this gal would be very appreciative of it especially since she said 'don't worry about it'

OMG I'm sorry I was reading some of these responses and thinking some are going a bit nuts. We are talking about a babysitter, not someone you are hiring and paying out taxes for. They are a teenager usually or maybe a bit older but it's all under the table work. They are not licensed, they are not specialty workers and yet some are paying more then I see professionals get with a full time job. If I was going to pay more then $3 an hour I better come home to a spotless house, the kids all taken care of and I better not have had to supply any food or drinks for the babysitter. Unless you have a special needs child there is no reason to be giving those high amounts I saw in here. When I used to babysit I got at least $1 an hour and at one point $2 an hour, I did not expect the $2 they offered it. When I did babysit I not only took care of the children but I cleaned the house. I did the dishes and I made sure all the toys were put away, etc. The kids were in bed and when the parents came home everything looked good. When we got a babysitter for my niece we paid about $2 an hour (we usually rounded it up to $20). We also bought them dinner and we had food and drinks for them there. I can see today paying $3 an hour. That seems fair but I still think the babysitter should clean up after themselves. They should put away the messes that happen. I shouldn't have to come home to clean the house before going to bed after I take them home.

I never really figure by the hour, just by the overall time. for 6 hours, and you didn't say how many kids, but if you go by 2 and they will be asleep part of the time and she is just a teenager, I would say $35-$45. When i babysat for a kid down the street when I was 16, his parents were great...they'd be gone for about 4-5 hours and I'd get $30-$40 and I'd be thrilled! I know that was 10 years ago and money's worth has REALLY changed. It's so unaffordable really. Yeah, we usually have family babysit for free too! If you paid $10/hr for someone to babysit for say the 4 hours it would take for movies and a decent dinner, it would tack on $40 to your evening, it's not affordable! It also depends on the area you live in, I think. I live where the cost of living is relatively low...if you're in LA or NY I guess it would probably be more. But in your situation, I would say about $40 would do the trick.

I have a friend who pays her babysitter $7/hr for one three year old. You can't put a price on your childs safety and happiness and if someone knows they are getting paid decent they are going to do a better job, it's just human nature. I think that $2/hr would be insulting! I wouldn't pay less than $7.hr for one child, if you have more than one than I would add an extra dollar an hour for each one.