£20 a night?

[Silverbook]

How much would you pay for a school pupil to stay in your house while you were away on holiday? Main responsibility is to feed the cat. What’s reasonable?
We were thinking £15-20 but it’s divided the room with half thinking that’s too much and the other thinking not enough.
I’m reaching out the the MN wisdom and the decision here will be final.

It costs me less than that for a really nice cattery (including food) with experienced adults in charge.

I think you’re on dodgy ground paying a 15 year old to stay, they can’t even work without restrictions at that age. Needs to be over 16. £15 a night would be fine plus provide nice food. It’s only around £15 a night for a professional cattery. I think you’d be better just telling them to call in a couple of times a day

You want a house sitter aswell or why else would they be staying?

To be fair even a very responsible teenager isn’t going to leave the house spotless. I wouldn’t want to come home from holiday to have to clean bathroom / kitchen etc because they’ve been in constant use (you might have a cleaner though so wouldn’t have that problem).

Im absolutely not worried about parties etc it’s not that kind of family/teen. They are very mature, responsible and I trust them.

Kid has probably had to grow up too fast with lackadaisical parents happy for it to be off house-sitting someone else's pets on their own at 15.

Exactly.

I feel awful now, my 19 year old nephew is cat sitting this summer for a week and it didn't even occur to me to pay him. His girlfriend is very welcome to stay as well! We have food in they can use, but they get privacy when they aren't at uni, and a whole house and garden to relax in.

15 is too young to stay alone, overnight in someone else's home. What happens if you were to get broken into or an accident happened? We pay a professional cat sitter to feed the cat and spend some time with her. This means someone goes in every day - our also moves the post, etc.

Pay them £15 to go in twice a day and feed the cat.

That's free food and accommodation with privacy for a week. Feeding the cat is in return for that. Bring him back a present from your holiday as a thank you providing everything has been looked after/kept clean.

Too young

Think 15 is far too young to be staying alone in house
I agree £10 a day to go in feed the cats and water/ clean litters etc is a better option if possible

For 10 days?

That’s very different from a few hours or even a weekend

If you can afford it then £20 a day is pretty generous for popping a couple bowls of food down a day and playing with a cat for a while. Is the cat an indoor or outdoor cat?

I don't think 15 is too young if her family are close by and she can get help if needed. I think we should start giving our teens more responsibility so they are ready for college and uni etc. My dds would have been fine doing that at 15 so long as support was close by.

£20 a day seems a lot to feed someones
Cat

They can feed the cat and hang out with them for a while but why do you need them to stay? Are you seriously expecting a 15 year old to fight off burglars? Way too young.

That said, I did the same for my downstairs neighbour, the difference being was my parents were upstairs in the same building. Not 5 mins away.

I'm a catsitter and I charge £45 for overnight, that is about 7pm to 8am. I'd charge far, far more if I was expected to stay 24 hours, because I also have a day job and a life. Are you expecting the teen to stay 24/7? I was that boring teenager who'd never throw a party, but absolutely wouldn't do it for a tenner.

Is this during the school holidays? Will they be in your house all day, every day? If so, how can you be assured they won’t be bringing friends round? Are they eating at yours or having their meals back home? As others have asked why stay overnight for a cat? Surely they could just pop in a few times a day and feed/keep the cat entertained for a few hours? Who suggested they stay? My dd is 15 and although sensible I wouldn’t want her to take on the responsibility of looking after some strangers home for 10 days.

15 is way too young to have responsibility for someone elses entire house, and pet, for that length of time. This isn't just feeding the cat, this is knowing how to lock the doors, use the oven, work the boiler. Basically run the house. And are you expecting them to just stay in for 10 days? Because that won't happen. And what happens if the cat becomes poorly? How will they know the cat is ill? Will they know what to do about it? Is there adult back-up for vet trips?

How do you know this 15 year old? There's no way my parents would have let me, at that age, go off to spend 10 days alone, in a strangers house, unsupervised.

No chance I'd be doing that.

Also, I charge £24 for visiting twice a day to feed and play with a cat.

Thanks @WeAreTheHeroes . I know it won't be perfectly clean, I'm ok with that 😂. We will take them out for a meal to say thank you when we're back too! You've made me feel better!

Haha yeah I bet the parents suggested it. £200 plus you feed them for 10 days and they don't have to do any parenting over a week

I'm sure they can be trusted, I could have, but I think the reality of living alone for 10 days and feeling like they can't really go out is too much for a 15 year old

Sex pad and food for a week, they'll be fine. I always house sat for my Mom with my bf for food and privacy.

There's a company called Trusted Housesitters where you'd get a reliable and reference-checked adult and wouldn't have to pay them as it's free accommodation for them in return for looking after the cat. You pay a small fee to join, I think.
I also think it's too much responsibility for a 15 yr old. Why do they have to sleep there? But yes, £15 a day would be fair.

We pay our cat sitter £8 a visit, twice a day… so £16 a day…that’s cheap locally.
you could just pay them to visit the cat rather than sleep?