Help knowing what to charge for overnight babysitting?

[needtodohousework]

Hello. I have been asked to do some overnight babysitting for a family locally. I will be staying at their house and looking after a 1 year old, who usually sleeps through the night or wakes once and is easily settled.

How do I know what to charge?

I won't be taking my DD with me - she would stay at home with DH probably. I am a registered childminder and have an NVQ 2 in early years.

As it isn't normal babysitting - I would be sleeping there - how do I work out what to charge?

Yes it is still low really. I did ask for £50 which is still low really.

I wish I was registered to have children here overnight as I would be more than happy to do it cheaply if I was at home - I even have cots etc!

But it is better than nothing.

seems low but guess it is money that you wouldnt earn

are you leaving at 4am?

Not sure about leaving at 4am. We didn't really decide. What I will probably suggest is that I will go to sleep and if I wake up at 4am then I will go home but if I am asleep then not to wake me up and I will leave in the morning.

Having trouble sleeping at the mo anyway due to pregnancy backache/heartburn/restlessness etc so might be worse in somebody else's house.

I hope she appeciates what good value childcare she has just got. You are a qualified and registered childminder and she should think herself very very lucky for what she is paying.

Gosh, I'm thinking some of the nannies on this thread and their price lists have not noticed the credit crunch.

I think £45 is fair in this market.

I also think the term "cheapskate" normally applies to people who refuse to pay a fair price for something they could easily afford.

No one on here knows the circumstances of the woman's finances.

Just because it is a credit crunch (oh i hate that term) doesnt mean nannies should drop their rates.

obv if desperate for money then do so but should have to.

I charge £12 an hr for night nannying for singles and do often negotiate to £10 an hr as long as not more than 20-30mins drive but if its more than that from my home then def still charge £12 an hr.

When I was 17 I did over night babysitting for a 10 year old. 8pm -8.30am when I dropped her off at school which was a 10 minute walk away. I wasn't qualified and this was my first babysitting job. I was paid £60. I think £45 is quite low.

was that aimed at me athene?

people know what i charge and they still call me and use&want me, and not some of my friends who charge lesss than me for babysitting/pp/overnight care

obv there is a credit crunch and some people cant afford to pay or want to pay what i charge BUT doesnt seem to be affecting my regulars

NONE of my cilents/regulars have asked me to drop my prices or have cancelled me etc

different areas pay less, some are happy to bs for £5/6ph - I am not

i charge my normal rate, if maybe i started to get less work or none then yes i may have to reconsider my charges but till then i wont

So Nannies and babysitters are meant to be on an even lower wage because of the credit crunch? Should shop workers work for less so the products can be cheaper? Or police/teachers etc so you can pay less tax? I don't think people realise that these rates are our wages and we need to survive the credit crunch as much as anybody else.

well said !

That's incredibly low - and she is being a cheapskate! I'm always amazed how people are always trying to get babysitters to take less money - they are looking after your children for God's sake - the most important thing in your world!

Exactly, and for the price, yes you might not have to do anything for the baby but you do:

• Give up your evening
• Leave your own children
• probably have an awful nights sleep, being in somebody else's house - especially as OP is pregnant
• Have the resposibility of having that baby in your care, alone, so if anything went wrong (nothing that could be helped, whoever was there) it falls on your shoulders.

Actually, soon2bfamily4, it is not a wage but a fee. I think you will find that many businesses are lowering there prices to make sales. Why should babysitting be any different? I would not suggest reducing a nanny's salary at an existing job. But, I would most certainly expect the cost of babysitting to go down with deflation because of course of the supply and demand relationship.

I'm not suggesting, Blonde, that you should not continue to ask for your (high) rate. You obviously do well. And that's great for you. What I object to is people coming on here and calling a single mum a cheapskate because she is not offering a comparable one. Nanies are often on here crying poor pitiful me but I have mortgae to pay, yada yada yada. But when the shoe is on the other foot, she is a "cheapskate". I think that compassion is a two way street.

I guess I am defending this woman (whom I also know very little about) because I know what it is like to work my fingers to the bone, hand 95% of my take home pay over to the childcare, and come on here to be called a cheapskate or a slave driver. And I think that SOMETIMES the nannies on mumsnet drive a double standard.

I wonder who this mum is and would like to add that if she is still reading she more than welcome to CAT me for an offline chat.

I think only one poster said she was a cheapskate? I think everybody just feels that the OP is working for much less than she could be.

OK so it might not techniqually be a wage, but it is the same thing, it is how they are making a living and providing for their family?

I am not suggesting that this Mum is being a slavedriver at all - I could never afford to pay for an overnight babysitter. BUT because I don't have the money, I don't go out!

It is not the same thing. When you are an employee your wage is the responsibility of your employer. When you are a business offering a service, it is your responsibility to get work. There is a distinct difference and the line seems to get a little fuzzy on MN sometimes.

ANyway, I'm not saying that offering in this case is a lot of money for the work. I'm just saying that calling her a "cheapskate" and criticising her is down rite rude.

And I think I've read "cheapskate" twice on this thread (not including my posts referencing the fact).

Yes I know about the employee/wage/fee thing, BUT what I am trying to say, is what ever you want to call it, it is still what the Nanny/Babysitter or whatever is taking home in money that they will be needing to use for their family or whatever. No matter what you want to call it, it is still money that is used to pay the bills.

I'm with Athene
One point is if you can usually charge £10/hr and get work all well and good that poster made the point that if work dried up she may well lower her charge.
Another poster made the point that £45 in the hand is better than £80 in your dreams.
If it's a new service, something you want to build up and might lead to repeat work then it makes sense to consider that in your suggestion.
FWIW I think £45 is a good price for the Mother but is still a useful sum of money (add the tax on if it makes you feel better about the amount!!)

Surly the CM will be paying the tax out of the £45 not adding it? I wouldn't think the Mum would be paying it for her? Surely the babysitter would be self employed and therefore pay her tax out of that? And if you deduct transport money then possibly taking another £5 or so off if you do it like that

Oh come on. Do you really think anyone is going to pay tax on this babysitting job? I don't.

Incidentally, if anyone wants me to spend the night at their house while their children sleep for £45, I'm available on Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun.

I can travel anywhere within say a 10 mile radius of Heathrow.

sorry maybe cheapskate was the wrong word

i guess i saw the that op wrote that mum will come home at 4am and nanny can go home then or stay and not be paid for the extra hours, ie to 7am and thats whay i said cheapskate - if you want/need an overnight bs, you have to pay the going rate and all the hours

who the hell wants to go home at 4am,esp when pregnant and you need all the sleep you can possibly get

yes the mum is paying what she can afford,and I did say for the OP to charge her normal bs rate(of £6ph) and add £30 sleepover fee midnight-7am - which works out just over £4ph - which worked out £18 for 3hrs bs and £30 for overnight= £48

op said she was going to do it at £45

it was the £35 i was objecting to

even nick said £35 was low

£45 just about covers the OP hours

Well, as the babysitter is a registered childminder then I think there is a good chance she will pay tax for babysitting, as they would just do it with the childminding money surely?

as athene said no one pays tax on babysitting money

and sure op wouldnt put it through her books

have just stumbled over this thread and am astonished by the diffrence in fees dependant on area. how naive am i.

i am a shift worker and finding overnight child care is a nightmare. luckily my childminder's assistant is able to do it and i pay her £45 from 6pm - 8pm. we negoitaited this as i live in the same street as my childminder so transport to and from work for her is removed and her boyfriend sometimes stays over too.

i work in residential child care and get paid a £25 sleep allowance 10.30pm to 8.30pm. if i am up during the night i get my hourly rate.

so when i have to use this girl i take home £8 from my pay packet as it is not covered by tax credits.

i would recommend any childminders to register for overnight stays if they have the space and are willing. i would definitly use the service if i was doing regular nights.

wow raindrop £8 that's so little

Athene was that a serious offer (warning I have lots of small children -but they do usualy sleep!) I'm off to see if I'm 10 miles from Heathrow

Please don't get involved in the tax thing it was a flippant cmment at the end of a post it is not part of the thread and I'm sure housework does everyhitn by the books.

However for most babysitting it is CIH and therefore if you add about 30% onto the amount it doesn't look so bad (general babysitting I'm talking about not this night)