Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

AIBU over babysitting rates?

71 replies

kittykitty · 11/12/2009 10:42

AIBU to expect to pay my cleaner a reduced hourly rate when babysitting? When she cleans she gets £8/hour, but I'm presuming that I won't have to pay that for her to sit on the sofa watching TV and was thinking of offering £6. This would be a London rate.

OP posts:

Boys2mam · 11/12/2009 13:11

Kitty I don't think YABU

Cleaning is a manual task and sitting watching TV is not.

memoo · 11/12/2009 13:28

I am always astounded when people are prepared to pay more for domestic help than they are for childcare.

Talk about getting your priorities the wrong way round!

MitchyInge · 11/12/2009 13:35

I dunno OP, how much would you be happy to do it for - bearing in mind it is the evening, unsociable hours and all that?

Original poster

kittykitty · 11/12/2009 15:24

Well I often do it for free for neighbours/friends as long as they return the favour!

OP posts:

Morloth · 11/12/2009 15:28

Well childcare in our house involves helping yourself to the fridge and watching telly for a couple of hours on a Saturday night. Not exactly the same as scrubbing the toilet/cleaning the fridge/vacuuming.

Hando · 11/12/2009 16:33

It annoys me when people say "is the safety of you're children not worth paying good money for?"

OP is saying that cleaning is hard and dirty work. Her child will be asleep so she will just have to sit there and watch t.v. It's not able paying for higher levels of trust. She knows this woman and already trusts her.

I think if it's someone you already know then it makes sense she gets paid more for cleaning than babysitting. Unless you are only out for a couple of hours, as you do really have to pay her enough to make it worth her while. I do agree with the posters that say it may be hard to get her to accept a lower rate than her normal rate though.

Spectroscopy · 11/12/2009 16:38

YABU, especially in London.

I would give her the same. I would justify it in my head that you are paying her less because it is sitting on the sofa but more because they are anti-social hours - so it evens out!

duchesse · 11/12/2009 16:44

Hando, I always find that strange as well, as though you're paying mafia protection money rather than a couple of hours listening out for a child that will probably not wake up. Unless your child is so uncontrollable it's going to need scraping off the ceiling, babysitting's not very hard work in the main.

CaptainUnderpants · 11/12/2009 16:45

YABU - pay her the same rate of £8.

You will be pushed to find a babysitter any cheaper - unless it is a teenager .

domesticslattern · 11/12/2009 16:49

Ever heard of London living wage?

£7.60 per hour at the moment.

Madascheese · 11/12/2009 16:54

Sorry but if you have a cleaner, just how filthy can your house get if she's coming on say a weekly basis, it shouldn't be 'hard and dirty work'

I don't have a cleaner and I don't consider housework to be the same as working in a salt mine ffs, it's just cleaning. but the fact that a clean floor rates higher pay than keeping an eye on a child rankles with me.

I agree babysitting is no great shakes in the main as well but, I pay a sensible rate for my daytime childcare and am happy to do so for babysitting.

Frankly the fact that I'd have peace of mind whilst out for an evening so I could actually enjoy myself and relax rather than worry if a sitter would cope if DS did wake up and create would be worth paying for.

Fourisenoughthanks · 11/12/2009 16:59

Nobody is saying a cleaning is more valuable than childcare. The point is that scrubbing your house for three hours solid is clearly more of a faff for someone than sitting on your sofa eating biscuits and watching tv while your kids sleep.

of course there might potentially, occasionally be a problem to deal with. but I have babysat hundreds of times and, other than the odd cry of, "I need a drink of water", it is usually a pretty stress-free experience.

poinsettydawg · 11/12/2009 17:04

I dunno. ONly your cleaner's opinion matters.

poinsettydawg · 11/12/2009 17:06

Babysitting is a piece of pie.

frakkinaroundthechristmastree · 11/12/2009 17:09

It's the potential for a problem that makes babysitting expensive though. Yes, I've had hundreds of babysits where nothing has happened but I've also had children vomit, have night terrors, wet the bed and had to rush one to hospital with suspected meningitis. I've been stuck there because parents can't get home in snow and I've had parents get rushed to hospital on me (they were in a car crash). You're paying for your cleaner potentially having to deal with any of the above.

And as I and others have said - she sets the rates so you can ask if she'll accept lower, but she might refuse to babysit for you!

poinsettydawg · 11/12/2009 17:12

ach, most of them are small parts of life. An experienced woman wouldn't raise an eyebrow at 3 out of 4 of those incidents.

CaptainUnderpants · 11/12/2009 17:18

'An experienced woman wouldn't raise an eyebrow ... ' thats why you pay decent money to babysitters who are mature , have experience of children etc - it may be a easy 98 % of the time but parents like to know that the sitter can handle the 2% of the time.

Thats why they will pay a bit more than £6 ph, or in some cases not as in OP's

LynetteScavo · 11/12/2009 17:20

TBH, I think you should pay her the same for babysitting as you would for cleaning.

She will be working unsociable hours, and will have to travel home late.

I think she will expect to be paid the same as she isfor clearning.

poinsettydawg · 11/12/2009 17:20

I'd never pay that much money for so little

TisTheSeasonToBeHully · 11/12/2009 17:22

Can't you get your children to do the cleaning and pay yourself to go out? Win win.

CaptainUnderpants · 11/12/2009 17:25

A cleaner , able to go out and afford a babysitter - count yourself lucky and pay the woman !

ssd · 11/12/2009 17:26

agree with captn

Laquitar · 11/12/2009 17:28

I agree about the potential for a problem.

Also, are you going to negotiate every service you will use that night? Are you going, for example to say to the cab driver 'i am going to only pay you £5 because you only sit in the car and you don't sweat and there is no traffic in the night'?
Are you going to say to the restaurant 'i will pay less because our table was close to the kitchen and the waiter didn't have to walk much'?

You don't need to see sweat to appreciate a service.

frakkinaroundthechristmastree · 11/12/2009 17:30

poinsettydawg that's why people pay me and not the 16 year old down the road, even though I cost twice as much! It's the 2% of babysits where something does need doing and the 0.5% of babysits (based on the 3/4 of those things being small parts of life!) where something goes badly wrong that you need to think about and you get whatr you pay for.

CaptainUnderpants · 11/12/2009 17:34

People pay me a decent rate because I am mature , have my own kids , work with children , have child care qualification, am CRB checked , first aid trained and can be trusted to remain calm if it goes tits up !

Thats what people pay for .

Flip

1 2 3