How much to charge for babysitting?

Anon2013

Hi all,
Just wondering how much to charge for babysitting a two year old girl for four hours. The child will be awake for at least one hour and I will have to put her to bed. I was thinking about €25 for the night? Does this sound reasonable?

seventeen sheep

Anon2013 wrote: »

Hi all,
Just wondering how much to charge for babysitting a two year old girl for four hours. The child will be awake for at least one hour and I will have to put her to bed. I was thinking about €25 for the night? Does this sound reasonable?

€25 would be very reasonable. Is it for someone you know? I'd kind of be thinking €35-€40 myself, less (or nothing) for someone I was close to. Your experience/qualifications would come into it too.

Anon2013

This is my first time babysitting for this family. I am also doing a degree I'm Early Childhood Education so have some experience.

seventeen sheep

I think a tenner an hour is generally the norm. However, when I used to babysit, I always used to do housework after the kids were in bed, so I felt like I was earning the money. In fact one family I babysat for used to sometimes pay me €30 to come over, put the kids to bed, tidy up a bit, and they wouldn't even go out! (Celtic Tiger days, though!)

bp

God I feel old...I used to earn £2 (punt) an hour and that was good! Anyway yes I think circa 10e an hour is the norm

Moonbeam

I think 25 is reasonable for 4 hours once they are not very very late.

pwurple

Our babysitter charges 8 euro an hour to mind our two. She is a creche employee and has a degree in early childhood studies also. The 4 hours would cost 32 euro, but that's more children and she is a bit more experienced. I'd say the 25 euro is about right for your situation.

deisemum

bp wrote: »

God I feel old...I used to earn £2 (punt) an hour and that was good! Anyway yes I think circa 10e an hour is the norm

I feel even older, I used to get £3 (punt) for the night including staying overnight as the parents would be out all hours and then I'd be there until at least mid-morning until one of them got up.

I think €25 is fair for those hours.

seventeen sheep

When I think about it, €10 an hour does seem a lot, especially since many creche workers are paid less per hour when tax etc is taken into consideration. All the same though, it's the usual rate I hear mentioned. Must really look into getting back into babysitting - handy money!

TheNibbler

I used to get around the €8-10 mark when I was babysitting in Dublin about 7-8 years ago. Granted that was more Celtic Tiger times but I'd think around €8-9/hour would be fair now. €25 for 4 hours seems a little low to me.

Sligo1

I would think €25 seems good considering the kid will only be awake for 1 of the 4 hours you will be babysitting. If you're only going to be watching tv etc for the other 3 hours that is.

I would prob charge a slightly higher rate if the child was actually awake for the full time u were babysitting. Or if you were physically/intellectually engaging with them for more than the 1 hour.