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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm a nanny for an infant. I get paid $400/week and $15.00/hour when I work later than my off-time or when I come in to do weekend/date night babysitting. It's my first "real" nanny position, so I did a terrible job at negotiating pay and other benefits. But since I'm just doing this until I go back to school, it's no big deal. I like my job, and I don't really have any complaints about it.

Anyway, a mom who's in the same class that I take my charge to asked me to babysit for her this Saturday. We met a few months ago and talked on numerous occasions, and her son's so adorable and happy. So of course I said yes.

She said he should be sleeping the entire time, so I'll just be responsible for keeping an eye on him while I lounge around their place. So what should I charge for this?

I think it'd be weird if I charge $15.00 since I'll just be sitting around doing nothing (rather, watching TV, on the computer, on my tablet, whatever). I like the mom, and I don't want her to feel like I'm ripping her off. Even I think that price would be a bit excessive.

So I was considering $10.00 - $12.00. I don't really need the money. I just want to find a balance between offering a fair price and not making it seem like I'm "dirt-cheap" or "ripping-off"

FWIW: I'll only be needed for 2 or 3 hours, and my commute will probably be 2.5 hours round trip.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. TIA! :D

[/quote]

Why bother doing it, if your commute is going to be just as long as your time watching the kids? That doesn't make sense, ESPECIALLY if you are only going to charge $10-12 an hour. If you charge $15/hr for your normal job, then charge that for babysitting. Most people realize that the less hours you have someone work at once (even if they kids will mostly be asleep, or "easy" to deal with), that you pay more for their time. No one would waste their time babysitting for someone else otherwise. It is not profitable and honestly, that is the reason that people give up their spare time, especially if you work all week long already. The other thing is, what is the common babysitting rate in your/their area? If it is $10/hr then it is more reasonable to lower your rate, but if it is $14-16/hr, then keeping your usual $15/hr rate is totally fine. I would only lower my rate in your situation if I was being asked to work over a certain number of hours (like 8-10) and had a commute of less than an hour.[/quote]

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