to think twice about our babysitter increasing her hourly fee?

[stickytape]

We have a weekend evening sitter-- we love her and so does dd, who is a school age, only child.... So even though we pay her a bit more than other sitters charge (9/hour) we love to have her taking care of dd.

She just told me that 'due to the current economic conditions' she is raising her rate to 10/hour (in London btw).

What do you think? Our income is currently far below normal, we are cutting back massively, though a night out is a luxury (an important one, I think). It seems like prices are stable or decreasing, not going up.

I don't know what to say to her. I feel so close to her, so I hate having any 'business' speak. This year we gave her 100 pounds for a gift (some on her birthday and the rest at Christmas.

Just thought I'd see your thoughts. I have no idea if I'm being unreasonable or not and welcome constructive advice.

Come home an hour earlier?

Hellymelly,

That was my 2nd thought (after first thinking, 'no way!')

Because if it's 4-5 pounds more a week, and it's not every week, then it's not an outrageous sum.

Also, yes, leave an hour later or come home early (not always possible of course).

Thanks for your thoughts/ideas

Have you got any friends you could double up with? Two couples get a night out, your babysitter gets her money, your daughter gets a playmate. Everyone wins.

I think that's a great idea, Stephia, but only when dd is a bit older. Now, she needs to get to bed on time (and she's not done a sleepover or anything like that yet). But I've thought about as she gets bigger-- she would love the playdate element, definitely.

I think if you are happy with her then you should keep her. Knowing your child is safe and happy is worth the extra £1 an hour.

However, explain she will have to come around at 7 or 8 when you are going out instead of 6 as can't really afford the extra money.

It won't hurt your dd to go to bed at 9 instead of 8.30 to enable her to spend a little time with her babysitter.

I'd pay the extra and scale back on the presents in the coming year.

I think it is worth paying a premium for someone who won't plonk your DD in front of the telly and get on Facebook.

Thanks tootired and ninedragons.

I think you are both right.

So glad I posted! This was very helpful.

I would also pay extra for someone really good, but as ninedragons says I'd scale back on presents next time round - your last Xmas/birthday gift does sound like a lot of money to me, maybe as a result she thinks you are well off?
Or ask her to come over a bit later, say at 7 instead of 6?
It is quite odd to up your rate in the middle of a recession but there you go...

AH well now you've told us your dd is up the price isn't so bad but it's still odd to up it and at the expensive end.

If you want her and aren't able to stick to one person on sitters then I'd do the come round an hour or two later and cut back on the gifts!

Alternatively if you want a long night out AtheneNoctua was offering an overnight sit for about that money I'm contemplating taking her up on it!!!!

As an aside I don't think babysitters are underpaid, a nice night in someone else's house watching their TV and eating their biscuits for CIH sounds like bliss to me (I wish my friends asked me to babysit more) after all if it's CIH add another 30% on more than you get in MacD's pubs etc and it's a lot more pleasant

If she's reliable and if your dd likes her then maybe consider keeping her regardless but....

She is expensive! We use an agency and they charge the equivalent of about £7 an hour, six of which goes to the sitter, £1 (approx) per hour to the agency.

This is in central London...

A night out here can very easily be £150 or £200...

I am a very experienced babysitter based in the North West. I am a mother of 2 and a student teacher. I play games and do art with children and I even have to feed and bathe some of them at times.

I charge £5 per hour but to be honest I am beginning to wonder if it is worth it. However much I could do with increasing my rate I am worried that if I do I will stop my clients from using me. I only charge for a minimum of 2 hours and sometimes have to drive 20 mins there and 20 mins back for £10. I must be crazy.

I agree with panacotta, as you were really generous with the xmas/birthday, she is prob thinking she can tweak a bit more out of you.

Your babysitter sounds really good. I'd bite my lip, pay the price and go out less. Frankly it sounds as though she's so good she's worth more to her customers and so is capable of earning that bit more.

When mine hatches, if she lived locally I'd be asking for her details from you ...

If you accept her new rates but get her to arrive an hour later, that will hurt her a lot more than telling her you want to stick to the old rates ... she'd lose £10 rather than only £5. So I guess it's a simple economic decision for her (and you!).

Some good advice about ctting back the hours.

But give Sitters.co.uk a try. They are really good and reasonably priced. Also gives you felxibility as you will have several BS that you trust and so if your sitter is not available you can go to your second choice.

I discovered them when my sitter let me down at v. short notice and they found me someone with 4 hours notice!

And don't feel held to randsom because your DD likes her, children like lots of people and it's amazing how quickly they get over people.

I agree with nekabu. If you can afford to go out, albeit occasionally, an extra £3-4 per evening is nothing, a glass of wine!

The fact that you consider you already pay her over the odds is your choice, you and your dd are happy with her and that's important to you and the success of your evening out.

I'd bite the bullet and pay her, especially if it's been £9 for some time....

I really comes down to who has the stronger negotiating position.

If you think it's too much, say you won't/ can't pay it, but you have to be prepared for her to say she won't work for you anymore. Then it depends if what you lose is worth more than the extra £4 per night out it would cost you.

If she's really offering such a premium service/product then good luck to her if she can earn higher than average. I love to see people making a success of something like this. Annoys me far more to pay an "average" price for below average service.

But, I would cut back on tips/presents if I felt she was taking advantage.

it think shes taking the mick.meet her half way 9.50. our babysitter is 7.00 an hour and fantastic.we are in london btw.

As an ex-London based nanny £10 an hour for babysitting is the norm, a possible reason she might increase have increased her fee is because due to the economic climate people are going out less therefore she is probably doing less babysitting.

Personally I think she should have lowered her fee but have a set minimal hours rate and those that were still going out would have used her because she is cheaper.

I also live in SW London. Never asked my family or my babysitting families that I charge x amount. They give me whatever they can, I guess whatever they can afford. And its no less then £10ph.

agree £10 is the norm where i am, though some friends charge £8

if you only use her every few weeks, then agree that an extra £4 for 4hrs isnt going to break the bank

the fact that your child likes and plays with her is a good thing

yes you can find other babysitters but who may not have the same rappport with your child, but are cheaper