How much money to leave aunt watching kids while we travel?

[Anonymous]

You have breakfast, dinner, weekend activities, incidentals (ice cream treats, needing to buy more sunscreen or snacks or whatever, etc), has money to compensate driving them around and then any extra you want to give for her time and energy.

Breakfast - can be cheap - assume $5 per day per kid (including milk or juice, maybe a bagel and fruit or whatever) - $120

Dinner - assume $15 per day (for six dinners) per kid since they will likely eat out or do delivery and you’ll want to pay for her dinner too - $360

Weekend activities - this is a huge variable... are they likely to go to a theme park, or go for a long bike ride? I’d give somewhere in the neighborhood of $200-$300 because I’d want them to be able to have special super fun time if that’s what aunt wants but wouldn’t want her to pay since she is already doing a huge favor.

Incidentals - $100

Gas money - depends on how far she is driving for all of this. Maybe $100?

So that’s $930 if I do $250 for weekend activities. I’d probably round it out to $1000, or $333 per kid.

[Anonymous]

I’d leave $1000 for expenses. Then I’d send her a very generous gift card afterward, for her troubles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have breakfast, dinner, weekend activities, incidentals (ice cream treats, needing to buy more sunscreen or snacks or whatever, etc), has money to compensate driving them around and then any extra you want to give for her time and energy.

Breakfast - can be cheap - assume $5 per day per kid (including milk or juice, maybe a bagel and fruit or whatever) - $120

Dinner - assume $15 per day (for six dinners) per kid since they will likely eat out or do delivery and you’ll want to pay for her dinner too - $360

Weekend activities - this is a huge variable... are they likely to go to a theme park, or go for a long bike ride? I’d give somewhere in the neighborhood of $200-$300 because I’d want them to be able to have special super fun time if that’s what aunt wants but wouldn’t want her to pay since she is already doing a huge favor.

Incidentals - $100

Gas money - depends on how far she is driving for all of this. Maybe $100?

So that’s $930 if I do $250 for weekend activities. I’d probably round it out to $1000, or $333 per kid.

On would assume there would be breakfast in the house. That's a lot of money and it really depends on what she does with them. Ask her what she needs.

[Anonymous]

I have a dog sitter. I left her most of the money up front so she’d have cash on hand. For my dog... $450.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I watched my sister’s kid for two weeks and she gave me $200 to cover food and incidentals, which was fine. I think $500 would be plenty altogether if they are in camp all day and paying her for her time is not an expectation. That’d buy some meals out and perhaps a fun activity.

People like you are disgusting.
I have no doubt you take advantage of other people's kindness & generosity, because there's no "expectation".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you figuring this per child? I’d give her $500 for the whole shabang.

I’d give her this when you leave and expect none of it back. This will cover eating out, ice creams, ordering pizza, etc. and leave her something at the end of the week.

I would then, as a thank you, give her a nice gift card or two. Like $100/150 for her favorite spa and a good bottle of wine. Whatever type of gift your sister likes, but more generous than you would do for a birthday.

[Anonymous]

I'd consider the aunts current financial situation and go from there. If you and hubby make substanially more than her, and you know it will impact her financially, I'd consider being overly generous ( $1500 -$2000 ) .

I'd talk to her directly about it and let her know your feelings.

[Anonymous]

These are crazy amounts of money. As a live in nanny I spend nothing all summer long entertaining children. Everything we do is free and within a 5 mile radius. Just gas money is all. We don’t spend much on food either we eat sandwiches for lunch cereal for breakfast. The parents spend about 150 a week on food for all of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have breakfast, dinner, weekend activities, incidentals (ice cream treats, needing to buy more sunscreen or snacks or whatever, etc), has money to compensate driving them around and then any extra you want to give for her time and energy.

Breakfast - can be cheap - assume $5 per day per kid (including milk or juice, maybe a bagel and fruit or whatever) - $120

Dinner - assume $15 per day (for six dinners) per kid since they will likely eat out or do delivery and you’ll want to pay for her dinner too - $360

Weekend activities - this is a huge variable... are they likely to go to a theme park, or go for a long bike ride? I’d give somewhere in the neighborhood of $200-$300 because I’d want them to be able to have special super fun time if that’s what aunt wants but wouldn’t want her to pay since she is already doing a huge favor.

Incidentals - $100

Gas money - depends on how far she is driving for all of this. Maybe $100?

So that’s $930 if I do $250 for weekend activities. I’d probably round it out to $1000, or $333 per kid.

On would assume there would be breakfast in the house. That's a lot of money and it really depends on what she does with them. Ask her what she needs.

I wouldn’t assume that a single child was aunt has breakfast items in the house for three kids. She’d probably need to shop and stock up for breakfast items. I’d leave a 1,000 and bring a gift with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I watched my sister’s kid for two weeks and she gave me $200 to cover food and incidentals, which was fine. I think $500 would be plenty altogether if they are in camp all day and paying her for her time is not an expectation. That’d buy some meals out and perhaps a fun activity.

People like you are disgusting.
I have no doubt you take advantage of other people's kindness & generosity, because there's no "expectation".

If I were doing this I would feel absolutely insulted by offering to pay me as though I were a babysitter or as if I didn't have enough money to buy breakfast. OP, if your relationship is transactional, then yes, leave the amount of money you'd leave for a nanny, at least $500 each. If this is about family then treat it that way. Leave a couple of hundred and buy her a dinner gift card or a gift later to say thank you. Maybe include a note from the kids to say thank you and what they enjoyed the most about the visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are crazy amounts of money. As a live in nanny I spend nothing all summer long entertaining children. Everything we do is free and within a 5 mile radius. Just gas money is all. We don’t spend much on food either we eat sandwiches for lunch cereal for breakfast. The parents spend about 150 a week on food for all of us.

Where is the fresh fruit and veggies? That was my first thought on this post — in 8 days I would grocery shop twice for the fresh foods. My kids have them at every meal. The aunt needs money for groceries even if the house is well stocked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I watched my sister’s kid for two weeks and she gave me $200 to cover food and incidentals, which was fine. I think $500 would be plenty altogether if they are in camp all day and paying her for her time is not an expectation. That’d buy some meals out and perhaps a fun activity.

People like you are disgusting.
I have no doubt you take advantage of other people's kindness & generosity, because there's no "expectation".

If I were doing this I would feel absolutely insulted by offering to pay me as though I were a babysitter or as if I didn't have enough money to buy breakfast. OP, if your relationship is transactional, then yes, leave the amount of money you'd leave for a nanny, at least $500 each. If this is about family then treat it that way. Leave a couple of hundred and buy her a dinner gift card or a gift later to say thank you. Maybe include a note from the kids to say thank you and what they enjoyed the most about the visit.

We don’t know how old is the aunt or what is her financial situation. the aunt could be a 24 year old student doing her graduate studies, or internship, you wouldn’t leave money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are crazy amounts of money. As a live in nanny I spend nothing all summer long entertaining children. Everything we do is free and within a 5 mile radius. Just gas money is all. We don’t spend much on food either we eat sandwiches for lunch cereal for breakfast. The parents spend about 150 a week on food for all of us.

Where is the fresh fruit and veggies? That was my first thought on this post — in 8 days I would grocery shop twice for the fresh foods. My kids have them at every meal. The aunt needs money for groceries even if the house is well stocked.

The kids only eat bananas maybe once or twice a week so we don’t have much fresh produce unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

You came to the wrong place for advice, because these people are insane. You leaving the kids with family, she left them with me I would be insulted if you offered to pay me for watching my nieces and nephews. I believe maybe two hundred bucks, and call it a day. I would also buy my relative a nice gift from my travels as a thankbyou.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are crazy amounts of money. As a live in nanny I spend nothing all summer long entertaining children. Everything we do is free and within a 5 mile radius. Just gas money is all. We don’t spend much on food either we eat sandwiches for lunch cereal for breakfast. The parents spend about 150 a week on food for all of us.

You're assuming a lot, and you didnt factor dinner in at all. Plus you're getting a nanny salary. Not the same thing.

Have to consider what impact this will have on the aunt based on the aunt's unique situation. Aunt could be a young college student or a retired person on a fixed income. Also need to take into account whether or not the aunt actually drives. If the Aunt has to uber everywhere it could be expensive.'

Again we need more info on the aunt's financial/work situation to determine what is fair.