Babysitting $5/hr?

Well, this semester was just crazy and full of stress, I never really found time to find a job that fit my needs. I do have experance working for the forest service and I was a vet tech for some time but thoes are really full-time jobs that I did during the summer, intership type work. A lot of my homework and parts of my classes are online so I'm almost always at my computer. I do best when i multi-task so while I'm doing my school work I frequent this forum, make my stress level really go down. It also helps that when I'm at my parents house they feed me so that $20-40 a week for food really only goes to 4 days of food. Gas is a bit high from traveling but I have a great little toyota that gets 50miles/gal hwy, 30 in town. Best of all Gizzy goes with me almost eveywhere, she is a great travel buddy and homework partner.[] I've lived on less then this and at one point a few years back I was living out of my car and suffered from severar deppression. I'm doing much better now after finding my boyfriend and learning how to manage my money.[]

BIG  {{{{ HUGS }}}} TO YOU!!   []  []
 
 
Well, it's actually almost frozen hugs with this bitter cold we're having, so you'll have to get Gizmo to warm it up for you and then pass it on.  []
 
Try and make a few contacts with people - something else might come up.  In the meantime, I am thankful that you are on the right track, and have nice people around you, that you aren't living in a car anymore.  You will be in my prayers.

And, if you are old enough to go to college, but aren't going, then I'm thinking that should be the real discussion here

Good gravy. I'm sorry, but I honestly don't buy this "everybody needs to go to college" crap, it actually sort of annoys me. I'm "college age" (and that phrase annoys me just about as much as "preschool age"..why does life have to revolve around school??), and not in college. But that's another story.

On the topic, I make less than $3 an hour babysitting. [] But that's ridiculous. I watch my cousin's kid 50+ hours a week, and make $600 a month. My cousin says $30 a day/$150 a week, but there is a difference between $300 twice a month, and $300 every two weeks.

Anyway.. I've been watching her since she was 2 months old, and she's now 3 1/2, and I've always made $30 a day. At first I just watched her 4-6 hours a day, 3 days a week, so that was pretty good money for a 15 year old, now it's 10-12 hours a day, 5 days a week. Sigh.

I've asked for raises a million times, but I love this kid more then life itself, and she'll be in some crappy daycare if I quit, so here I sit, stuck, making like 1/3 of minimum wage. What fun!
 
If I were you, I would ask for a raise. The care of their kid should be worth more than $5 an hour to them. You can't (usually) keep good babysitters for crappy pay.

BIG  {{{{ HUGS }}}} TO YOU!!    

Well, it's actually almost frozen hugs with this bitter cold we're having, so you'll have to get Gizmo to warm it up for you and then pass it on.

Thanks[]

I don't mean to sound like I'm in the pitts right now, The way I'm living is just a little confusing but I'm happy most of the time, I just have to send out my little rants once in a while to sort things out. For the most part school is the easy thing I'm dealing with, I've finished all my basics and now it's just a waiting game to take the right classes the lead me to a degree...or two. Even during the hardest times things just seem to fall in place just right to keep me going. I am the kind of person who questiones everything, I at least want to know whats going on without blidly walking into it. Sometimes that gets me in trouble or I find out things I shouldn't know but it makes life more exciting. I just wanted to know if I'm getting paid farely so I asked.[]

It probably is reasonable for New Mexico. Wages aren't the best there. But as other people say, it also depends on what you are doing for that money, and are you getting nice meals etc. too?
 
I wish you were here! While Tasha recovers from surgery, I'm paying more than that for dog sitting and consider myself lucky to find someone reliable on short notice. Her surgery is on a rear paw and she can get to it even with the e-collar. I won't crate her where she can't turn around, but if she can turn around, she can get to the paw.

hmmm..  it sounds incredibly low to me.  We pay our babysitter $20/hour + cab fare.   Granted NYC is more expensive than NM, but $5??  You need to find out what the going rate is in your area. 

i definitely would't do it for $5/hour. Cashiers at kroger make more than that. I don't think it would hurt to ask for a little more...especially if they're well off. If you're buying food with $20 a week, you should explain that to them. if not, honestly i would get another job. I know how hard it can be in college...i'm struggling with about $14 an hour! whatever you choose, i wish you good luck
keep us updated

Im also in a different area but the people at McDonalds and Burger King and such make $12/hr.  I wouldnt think any less than $7 or $8 would be acceptable and to me thats low.  When I was working at the shelter I got $8/hr and thought it was very very low but I just wanted to work there to help the dogs and learn.  I know everywhere is different but you should at very least be making minimum wage for your area which you said your not so I wouldnt think anything of asking for at least that no matter how long youve been with them. 
 
Also, if things are working out good Im sure theyd rather up the pay a bit than find someone new.[]

Well, darn it, I just couldn't stop thinking of this thread today.
 
When I first posted, I assumed you were in high school.  Sorry about that.  But, knowing you are 24, makes me think of it a little differently.  Because you are more mature and more responsible at this age, I tend to think that would be worth more pay than someone whose age I thought you were. 
 
Also,  since the baby is now crawling, you will not be able to study AT ALL.  It only takes a brief few seconds for babies and young children to do something terrible.  So, doing two things at once is out-of-the question.  All of your focus will have to be on the baby.
 
I think an earlier poster had the best suggestion.  Just go up to the people, and very nicely explain that you love working for them, and very much appreciate the opporutunity that they have given you and the trust that they have placed in your hands. Tell them you enjoy working for them, but you are limited on what you can spend for groceries for the week with what you earn on Mondays, and would they give consideration to increasing your pay.    Ask them to just think about it, and do it very nicely.   Hopefully they will reply positively.  I can't remember how long you have worked for them, so they might say something about it not being enough time.  So, just be prepared for it to go either way.  If you end of being put on the spot about staying or leaving, then remember that you don't have to give an answer right away.  Just tell them very nicely that you will have to think about it.  And I encourage you to pray about it as well.
 
I thought about that nanny site I found last night about minimum wages, and I realized today that that would most likely include boarding and food since it was for an official "nanny".  So, that wasn't a very good comparison.
 
Wages really do vary alot around the country.  Of course, NYC is in a catagory by iteslf, but I was really suprised at Loveukaykay's wages in Louisiana.  It's nothing that high around here!
 
Chelsea has a good point about not everyone needing to go to college.  I know many people who learned a valuable trade such as plumbing, welding, brick layer, who didn't need to go to college to make good money.  But, if not doing this, then a person does need to seriously consider going to college to make better wages.  You just can't live decently on $ 600 a month.  Mortgages, house insurance, car, health insurance, clothes, roperty taxes, food, heating bills,  I know adults who have went back to school to earn nursing degrees b/c once they started having children, they realized how much they needed a higher level of income. They just couldn't make ends meet otherwise.

But, if not doing this, then a person does need to seriously consider going to college to make better wages. You just can't live decently on $ 600 a month.

 
Oh, definitely true, and it's especially ridiculous living in one of the most expensive parts of the country (Orange County CA). I'm lucky that my Mom understands how much I love my niece and wants me to continue watching her, so is willing to still support me. I guess it's like how a lot of people support their kids while they're in college. Except in my case it's for the benefit of a three year old, rather than myself.
 
But I do think college isn't always necessary, and I think going for the sole reason of making more money is pretty ridiculous, considering how many college graduates are working for 8 or 10 bucks an hour. You can get a great, well-paying job without that piece of paper. You might have to work a little harder to convince the employer you're worth giving a chance, but it's possible to do. Spend that four-six years gaining experience in your field, and an employer with a brain would most likely rather hire you than a run-of-the-mill college graduate.

We pay our babysitter $20/hour + cab fare.

 
Wow!  I can't even imagine paying that (I don't have kids, so it doesn't matter).  So, if you want to go out for the evening for say 3 hours, you have to figure in $60 + cab fare, on top of the rest of the costs for the night?  Whew...that's amazing, but I'd sure want to babysit for you []

ORIGINAL: cakana

We pay our babysitter $20/hour + cab fare.

Wow!  I can't even imagine paying that (I don't have kids, so it doesn't matter).  So, if you want to go out for the evening for say 3 hours, you have to figure in $60 + cab fare, on top of the rest of the costs for the night?  Whew...that's amazing, but I'd sure want to babysit for you []

 
Yep, it pretty much sucks.  Dinner and a movie is like 4 hours, so that's $80 just to have the pleasure of going.  Plus cab fare = another $20.  $100 to step out the door - that movie better be REALLY good.  Oh and the boys are in bed by 8:00, so basically the $100 is just to play with Slick. 

Yikes, no wonder parents have to rely on family and friends so much nowadays. 

I'm older n dirt, but when I was a teen, I got 35 cents an hour to babysit...think the minimum wage was around $1.25...not sure about that.  But the point is more to say that babysitters did not expect to make minimum wage for doing it.  I had a fairly regular customer, and it kept me in pin money at least. 

i've been considering taking on a kiddo for Summer...dunno if my kids would love or hate me for it lol! Be more than $5/hr tho...

I just babysat for a half hour tonight, and got paid $10 for it, so I guess I am worth $20/hr, or at least in this case. I probably wouldn't get that much in all cases, but one of the children has autism, and requires pretty constant supervision. Not that all young kids don't, but I really mean constant, as in cannot let your eye off him for a second, especially right now because we are in the process of trying to teach him not to poop wherever he pleases (I can say poop in regards to kids if we can talk about it in regards to dogs). He will hold it for days despite laxatives to wait for a second when he is unwatched. Also, it was last minute. I was already at the house, because I worked with him from 3-5, but his mom realized at 4:45 that she had forgotten to pick up something at the store that she needed for something the other child was going to later, and it was just easier to have me stay with the kids than to drag them to the crowded grocery store.
For typical children, if there are 1 or 2, I've gotten between $8-15 an hour. $8 would be a child who was asleep most of the time, who lived within my neighborhood, so it's walking distance. $10-15 would be someone I had to drive to, and would vary based on how well I knew them, number and age of the kids, and the neighborhood. In certain neighborhoods, the people are make more money, and are used to paying more for a babysitter.
On a side note, I've rarely actually told people what they should pay me, unless it is their first child. They usually ask me if a certain number is ok, and they are usually reasonable.