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Original poster

How much would you pay this sitter....

77 replies

ChangeNameLikeIChangeSocks · 11/12/2023 21:16

This is inspired by a lot of threads in which people talk about the cost of a babysitter.

It's 1998/1999, you have a 13 year old son and you want to go 300 yards down the road with your husband every Sunday evening for a 2.5/3 hour drink at the wine bar.

You will put him to bed before the sitter comes, usually, though he might still be hanging around. He won't need to be tucked in though, he will put himself to bed on those occasions, he is 13 after all, he's an only child.

The sitter is a 15.5 year old girl. Her 18 year old sister used to do the job but has gone on to uni so suggested the younger girl take over.

It's an easy job. She'll be dropped off by her parents, then sit on the sofa from 7-10, watch TV or do her homework on her lap. At 10 she'll be dropped home, half a mile away. By your dh. You'll leave her a crunchie or a double decker, and she can help herself to water.

You leave her wages on the table every week without fail.

But...

How much is in the envelope?

Hint: according to the BOE inflation calculator, money then would be about twice as much in today's prices - bit less, so add if you're paying her in 1998/9 money, or today's money, iyswim.

OP posts:
Original poster
ChangeNameLikeIChangeSocks · 11/12/2023 22:24

No I don't think I would either.

I used to read the babysitters club books and I was amazed that they had an average age of 13, or rather, they were all 13, but they also had 11 year olds in the club, though on account of their age, they were only associate members 🫠

OP posts:
mondaytosunday · 11/12/2023 22:38

£5/hour though one chocolate bar is a bit Jean. Also does a 13 year old need a babysitter? I was doing the babysitting myself (back in the 1970s) at 12....

Original poster
ChangeNameLikeIChangeSocks · 11/12/2023 22:45

Yes I'd agree about the one chocolate bar. A bag of crisps would be great! 😃

OP posts:
Original poster
ChangeNameLikeIChangeSocks · 11/12/2023 23:13

Thank you all for your responses.

Of course, the sitter was me!

There was a five pound note in the envelope. If today I could get a sitter to sit 2.5-3 hours for my child for £9.50, (which is what the BoE says £5 is now), I'd be out and about a LOT more than I am! (Never) 😆

Yes he was a bit old to be sat by me, my sis had herself inherited the job from a yet older friend, so the age difference had initially been less.

OP posts:
Pickledprawn · 12/12/2023 07:09

I remember being paid a fiver sometimes in the early 2000s and I thought it wasn't enough at the time. But I think a fiver would have possibly been ok in the late nineties.

Original poster
ChangeNameLikeIChangeSocks · 12/12/2023 10:38

I think since there was no Internet, I couldn't compare rates. But it didn't go far!

OP posts:
ComtesseDeSpair · 12/12/2023 11:05

I'm intrigued because I feel like a sitter today would cost rather a lot more than what you are all saying.

The friends I have who use an older teenage relative / teenage child of friends to babysit, pay them in the region of £20. Which sounds the modern day equivalent of your fiver.

I used to get £10 for babysitting my neighbours’ 8- and 10-year olds for the evening back in about 2000. Sometimes £15 if they stayed out particularly late. I think that people wanting professional babysitters with childcare qualifications for which they’re willing to pay above minimum wage per hour is a pretty recently niche (or MN) thing. Most people back in the day did just tend to use the teenage daughters of friends or neighbours and pay them a tenner for the evening plus all the snacks they could eat and free rein of the TV, and most teenagers were delighted. The parents would leave a list of phone numbers to be called in an emergency and that was that!

Original poster
ChangeNameLikeIChangeSocks · 12/12/2023 11:33

£20 today would be more than double what I got.

It's fine, it was better than when I went on to work at primark for £2.62 an hour!

OP posts:
YouCantBeSadHoldingACupcake · 12/12/2023 11:37

I used to get a tenner a night in the early 2000s so probably around that

caringcarer · 12/12/2023 12:30

I used to pay £5 an hour to a 16 year old girl who used to do her A level Maths homework whilst my 2 young kids were in bed. I put them to bed before DH and I went out. It used to vary between £12.50 and £15 depending if we were gone for 2 1/2 or 3 hours. DH used to help her with her Maths when we got back because she was always 'stuck' on a question. She had free reign over anything in fridge or freezer. She usually liked the ice cream.

CornishPorsche · 12/12/2023 12:41

I got about £10 for that then. No idea what it equates to now.

AhBiscuits · 12/12/2023 12:44

When I was 13 I was a babysitter, not being babysat.

spriots · 12/12/2023 12:47

So weird to have a 15 year old babysit a 13 year old.

I babysat as a teenager and was given £5/hr but it was looking after small children and putting them to bed, not hanging out with a teenage neighbour almost my own age!

NightTimeRain · 12/12/2023 12:51

My sister use to babysit 3 kids when she was 13 in the 90s for a tenner but I don’t think it’s really relevant now? I was looking at babysitters and in my area it was around 15/20 £ an hour with a minimum of 4 hours booking. So 60/80 £ for a night out (though these are professional babysitters as I don’t know any teens)

VioletSkies12 · 12/12/2023 12:54

I wouldn’t leave a teen with a child but I used to do this and would get a tenner for the whole thing and this was about twenty years ago. One parent used to go out from 7PM-2AM so she got a very good deal.
Now I would expect to pay at least £10/12 an hour for an adult babysitter

Delatron · 12/12/2023 12:59

Why don’t you just go out a bit earlier and not get a sitter? You’re only down the road. You don’t really put a 13 year old to bed before you go out? Then have a 15 year old come round?

I think I was babysitting at that age - definitely at 14 and that was young babies/ children.

Sdpbody · 12/12/2023 13:12

We currently pay our babysitter around £8/10 an hour.

She babysit on Friday from 7pm until 11am and we paid her £35.

She is babysitting this weekend too and will probably cost us £45 as shes doing 6:30pm until 11ish.

PMAalltheway · 12/12/2023 13:18

I used to get the option of £5 (then) or the change that the dad had in his pocket. He always used to use a note to pay for every round of drinks so I got wise and always asked for the change!

daffodilandtulip · 12/12/2023 13:29

I was the babysitter in this era and got £5 if they were at the pub a couple of hours, £10 if they were out out.

Although pretty sure people didn't get babysitters for 13yo in the 90s...

ToEllewithIt · 12/12/2023 13:33

I babysat in 1999 and a fiver an hour was the going rate, mind you I was 18 and would have minded and put to bed up to 3 kids.

For what you're describing a tenner would be fair, but I don't believe that a 13 year old would be in bed at 7pm or even by the parents' return at 10pm.

NaughtybutNice77 · 12/12/2023 14:05

I think £10 and some tasty food, though I can't imagine employing a 15 year old to 'babysit' for a 13 year old. If he was a sensible kid and was up for it I'd probably leave him on his own.

Madameprof · 12/12/2023 14:08

Back in those days aged 16 I used to get £10 for the night, usually longer than those 3 hours and sometimes involved putting younger kids to bed.

MRSMTO · 12/12/2023 14:08

I got £20 for this exact thing, at the same ages in 1998 for the couple next door but one! Instead of a wine bar up the road it was the WMC but still...

MuggleMe · 12/12/2023 14:23

A tenner back then.

Rtc12 · 12/12/2023 14:34

I would have got about £10 in the 90s, we have a babysitter now and it's £10/hr, so it's not great if you want a late night!