How do you charge for childcare?

[magnoliaparadise]

Hi,

I haven't read all the responses, but skimmed quickly and it sounds like some of the posters pay less than here.
If I were you, I would compare your pricing to a babysitter and not a day care. And also, you aren't an 'ad hoc' babysitter - ie I have a list of 'babysitters' and I call one when I am going out for the night, etc. They are ad hoc / spontaneous and I don't give them benefits (I do, however, give them a holiday bonus).

But I think you are not a spontaneous sitter for this woman as much as a committed one. You are committing to being available to her at certain times during the week - times that you otherwise could seek other employment - and she is paying you for that commitment. Because of that, I would ask for a certain amount of money per hour and benefits.

I will tell you what I'm doing since we are in a similar situation, though I am on the other side, looking for a babysitter for two afternoons a week - hope this is helpful, and if not, feel free to ignore!

Pay:
I will be paying $15 an hour for one child ($17 to 20 for another) (we are HCOL here and the sitter will be coming to my home, so that might account for the cost being higher than others).
As far as benefits, since the sitter will be committing to the two afternoons a week, if I don't need that person (ie I have family in town, etc), I still will pay her anyway...... I must say, I OFTEN pay extra money because of this - ie I am going out of town, but still have to pay for the time this person committed. (This money is one BIG negative to me financially about having a committed sitter. However, the positive is that I can rely on her and not have to scramble looking for an ad hoc sitter every.single.week. Another advantage is that I get someone I REALLY like and trust to take care of my kid and my kid has an opportunity to become close to the sitter).

Plus I will pay...
- 2 'weeks' vacation (eg in my case, if I commit to having the sitter for 6 hours a week, I will give her 12 hours of vacation a year - she doesn't come to my home for 2 weeks and I pay her for that time anyway, which in my case is 6 hours per week) - and, as I mentioned, I usually give the person more vacation time because I pay them for days that they are committed to, even when I don't need them to come;
- Sick leave (I don't usually state how many days my sitter can take sick, but generally, I will pay up to 5 days a year before I tell them that if they are sick, they need to take unpaid leave - but that has never happened - but I should add that I also pay for personal days if they are really important, like a sitter has lost a family member, needs to go to court for an immigration thing, etc)(Some families state the number of sick days a sitter can take - I don't because I don't want them to 'rise' to that number of days that I will pay and would rather that the assumption is that they won't be sick);
- Holidays (if a nanny were full time, I would give them approx 10 days a year. However, given that the sitter I am looking for would be 2 days a week rather than 5 days a week, I would pay her for 2/5 of 10 days (so 4 afternoons) a year, if that makes sense.
- A holiday bonus (we don't usually talk about that during the interview - some sitters have brought that up and I find that super tacky, honestly, because I still think of that as a 'gift', but I definitely give them a holiday bonus of 1 to 2 weeks worth of what they babysit on a given week - so if I committed using someone for 6 hours a week, I would give a holiday bonus of 6 to 12 hours worth of pay at Xmas/Chanukah time.

For what it's worth, I'm considered fair, but I don't think what I've mentioned is overly generous. I have a family member who pays on the books (so the sitter gets social security), buys the sitter health insurance, and has twice had sitters with major medical problems in which they were out for months and she paid them full pay for about 6 months - THAT was super generous!!!!!!

Just know... you are super valuable and shouldn't undercut your worth. From my side, finding a sitter who I like is SUCH a relief that I am willing to pay extra for them. Also know that the general view is that the 'shorter' the number of hours a nanny is hired, the more those hours should be (that's why I'm going to pay $15, which is basically the same rate as an ad hoc sitter). When I was working, I had someone work for 55 hours a week and I paid her what came out to about $12.50 an hour - so much less than $15, but she was working many hours. I think $12.50 would be considered very low nowadays and honestly, looking back, I think it was low then (I had a very novice nanny so she was less expensive).

[JBaxter]

Will she be claiming the child care on her taxes? You need to find this out before you agree on a hourly amount.

[westwoodmom04]

I think a fair amount of the numbers being thrown around are from LCOL. OP lives in a HCOL area. Having lived in SoCal in the best, I am confident I'd be unable to find anyone competent who would watch my kids for $10 an afternoon.

OP, I know you want to be nice to your friend, but what you are doing will be extra work for you. Having a reliable person to watch her kid that she can trust is invaluable. It's fine to charge less than other childcare options, but charge enough to make it worthwhile to you as well.

[Philly Mom]

I think a fair amount of the numbers being thrown around are from LCOL. OP lives in a HCOL area. Having lived in SoCal in the best, I am confident I'd be unable to find anyone competent who would watch my kids for $10 an afternoon.

OP, I know you want to be nice to your friend, but what you are doing will be extra work for you. Having a reliable person to watch her kid that she can trust is invaluable. It's fine to charge less than other childcare options, but charge enough to make it worthwhile to you as well.

I agree a 100%. It is extra work even if you like the kid. There are also opportunity costs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[o_mom]

Will she be claiming the child care on her taxes? You need to find this out before you agree on a hourly amount.

Yes - $10/hr can easily become $7/hr or less after taxes. If she is claiming it, you may need to file estimates or adjust your DH's withholding to avoid penalties. You really need to know this ahead of time so you don't get a surprise at tax time.

I would charge hourly and be flexible with it if you want. I think the per day can be hard because she may feel like she needs to or can leave him longer than otherwise because she has already paid for the day.

[123LuckyMom]

You seem to really want to do this and have been cautioned to think through possible situations when you might not, and you still really want to do this, and I think that's fantastic!!!

Here, experienced babysitting is $12/hr. I don't know about aftercare. My son is doing a fabulous nature program on his kindergarten half day that breaks down to $12.50/hr. A high school student or mother's helper might come as low as $10. If I were in your position, for the after school sitting, I would charge $10-12/hr. For vacation days, I would charge $40/day including food. These are costs roughly equivalent to childcare she could secure on her own, though. If you want to be giving her a break, you could sit for $8/hr and do full days for $30/day. Just keep in mind that no matter how much you love this child, there will be days when taking care of him really does seem like a job. Heck, I feel that way about my own kids! On those days, it will help you to know that it actually is a job and that you are receiving fair compensation.

[SoloMelody]

That sounds like so much to me! I guess I just look at this as an opportunity to help out a friend. I'm sure the money will be nice but I feel like "what's one more?", lol.

Neighbor boy (NB) is like another child. An easier, sweeter child than any of mine, lol! He's exactly 10 days younger than DS2 and he's 7 so he isn't a toddler that is in to everything. If my kids have an appointment, he'll come with me. If they are sick, he'll still come over (does anyway). If I'm sick, I'm screwed. I've seriously never had DH take care of me when I was ill, even with the stomach flu and even with the full fledged flu and a 2mo. So really, he'll probably help me more than anything. The clincher is that he's only coming over for a few hours during the school year. I think we'll probably address the summer when it comes. (Like maybe he'll do a few camps or something). But I bring him with me often places and it just makes it more fun. Trust me, if he was like my DS3 you couldn't pay me enough to watch him. But he's sweet and easy.

I understand where you come from. He is more of a help and plays well with your children. Thats how our neighbor girl is to us. DD, DS and she play a lot together and it actually helps me get some chores done around the house while they are out of my way.
Going rate here in a HCOL area for a sitter is $10-$12/hr (coworkers daughter insists on being paid $8/hr for our date nights!). In your case I would have asked for $6-8/hr or just round it up to $15-20/day (2-3 hrs). So she feels like she is paying you something and not obligated that your watching her child. You make something of a little pocket money. Personally I would not think about snack/food as an expense, he is probably having snacks at your house already.