Going rate for Evening Babysitter in NYC?

[Bean606]

One of the teachers from our day care lives near us, and has agreed to watch DS occasionally when we need a night out. We have never hired a babysitter, so we have no idea what the going rate is. This is someone with a lot of child care experience, so we can't pay her what we would pay the local high school kid, but we don't want to make it cost-prohibitive either. She told us whatever we want to pay her is fine, but I don't want to insult her. Any advice?

[uptooearly]

We live in Westchester (N. of NYC) and I pay $12-$15 an hour. I use high school and college students. I'd expect that the rates in Manhattan are higher than here.
HTH

[Marisa6826]

I live in Northern NJ about 30 minutes from NYC. We pay anywhere from $10-16/hr, and usually round off the hour. I also tend to buy the sitter dinner (usually leave her money with a takeout menu that has delivery or ask her in advance what she wants here to eat). I tell her that she's also permitted to order On Demand once the kids are in bed if there's nothing good on TV.

BTW, I use both a college student and an older woman to sit for the girls.

HTH

-m

[Bean606]

Wow. I totally expected to pay for dinner and to round off the hour, but I expected the rate to be at the lower end of these ranges. I am so out of the loop! Thanks for adjusting the expectations. I guess we'll be having fewer nights out than we had hoped, but at least it will be something.

[LexyLou]

I agree with the others. I live in Bergen County, NJ and we pay between $10-$15 an hour, depending on experience and if she'll be putting the kids down etc.

I would probably pay a teacher at least $12/ hr.

It's expensive, but soooo worth it.

ETA: we also pay for dinner too. Or make sure I leave something good.

[denise_l_0523]

Based on my own experience as a babysitter no friends allowed over!

[kijip]

Wow. I totally expected to pay for dinner and to round off the hour, but I expected the rate to be at the lower end of these ranges. I am so out of the loop! Thanks for adjusting the expectations. I guess we'll be having fewer nights out than we had hoped, but at least it will be something.

Have you thought about a babysitting co-op if you need more nights out? Essentially you trade sitting with other couples in the same situation- need a sitter, can't afford it as often as they need it at the going rate of pay. We trade off with some close friends and that supplements our time together a fair bit. And the kids have a blast together.

[Bean606]

Sounds like a great idea, but unfortunately, our close friends with children all live out of town, and those friends that live near us have no kids! But, maybe once DS is in school and we meet some more people, that will be an option. His day care is near where we work, but not near our home, so we can't even propose it to parents in his day care, because they all live in the area.

[Bean606]

This woman is in her late 40s, and has grown kids of her own, so I wouldn't expect her to bring in friends and party while we were out, but duly noted for future babysitters! ;)

[gcampbell72]

We live in Brooklyn (Park Slope) and have found that more experienced babysitters run at least $12/hour and are very often $15/hour. The standard practice here is also to pay for a taxi/car service if you are out past 9 or so. The total cost is really quite daunting.

Cathy