Yes of course she should be reimbursed for the mileage, no matter how small. I'm thinking the "and stuff" refers to wear and tear--the fact that every additional mile brings her closer to an oil change, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an after school nanny to a 4th grader and a 6th grader. I do a LOT of driving. Really, I am more of a taxi service for the kids than a sitter, since they are old enough to not really need a sitter. Each week I total up the miles of driving and the number of hours of babysitting and text mom my bill for that week.

Every other Tuesday, I drive 67 miles total. I drive 4.3 miles from my house to the middle school and pick up the 6th grader and her friend. Then we drive 4.7 miles to my employers house. We spend 20 minutes at the house. Then we all three drive 4 miles to the elementary school and pick up the 4th grader. Then we drive 10 miles and drop off the two 6th graders at girl scouts. Then I drive 22 miles and take the 4th grader to basketball practice. Then there is the 21 mile drive back home.

Synopsis: This OP is reimbursed for her driving. No clue why she included her boring weekly travelogue.

LOL. PP here. Because my employers are out of town for a week and I am finally caught up on all the stuff I needed to do for the holidays, and have a bit of time to goof off. And once I started typing, I was having such a grand time I just kept babbling.

Anonymous wrote:I am an after school nanny to a 4th grader and a 6th grader. I do a LOT of driving. Really, I am more of a taxi service for the kids than a sitter, since they are old enough to not really need a sitter. Each week I total up the miles of driving and the number of hours of babysitting and text mom my bill for that week.

Every other Tuesday, I drive 67 miles total. I drive 4.3 miles from my house to the middle school and pick up the 6th grader and her friend. Then we drive 4.7 miles to my employers house. We spend 20 minutes at the house. Then we all three drive 4 miles to the elementary school and pick up the 4th grader. Then we drive 10 miles and drop off the two 6th graders at girl scouts. Then I drive 22 miles and take the 4th grader to basketball practice. Then there is the 21 mile drive back home.

Synopsis: This OP is reimbursed for her driving. No clue why she included her boring weekly travelogue.

I am an after school nanny to a 4th grader and a 6th grader. I do a LOT of driving. Really, I am more of a taxi service for the kids than a sitter, since they are old enough to not really need a sitter. Each week I total up the miles of driving and the number of hours of babysitting and text mom my bill for that week.

Every other Tuesday, I drive 67 miles total. I drive 4.3 miles from my house to the middle school and pick up the 6th grader and her friend. Then we drive 4.7 miles to my employers house. We spend 20 minutes at the house. Then we all three drive 4 miles to the elementary school and pick up the 4th grader. Then we drive 10 miles and drop off the two 6th graders at girl scouts. Then I drive 22 miles and take the 4th grader to basketball practice. Then there is the 21 mile drive back home.

It is normal to be reimbursed for any mileage, OP. What is a small amount of money to you might be a great deal of money to the sitter.

Have your sitter keep track of her mileage and submit it to you in an email. Then pay her the IRS rate.

It should never cost you money to do your job. $10 = about 18 miles at the at the IRS rate. I'd give it to her, but also ask what the "and stuff" is. Then, I would have a formal conversation about mileage reimbursement and any other incidentals she thinks you should cover.

You don't cover the miles for her commute.

Either agree to pay the IRS rate (I think it is .54 per mile - but check because it changes every year) or ask that your babysitter not drive your child anywhere.

Expenses incurred for the benefit of the charge are generally reimbursed.

I'm an MB and live in a walking area where almost no one drives so this never comes up. Last year, I started taking "working vacations" to my parents' area and a babysitter watches DC a few hours at a time during which I work. I have a go-to sitter and while I asked her to drive DC previously, it didn't happen for one reason or another. This past trip, she did end up driving maybe three times over the course of a week for a total of 15 miles, going to the park or library. When I paid her at the end of the week, she texted me saying that she normally asks for something like $10 to cover "gas and stuff." I'm by no means cheap, but honestly, I was a little surprised that she would ask me to reimburse her for driving someplace 2-3 miles away, but like I said, I've never dealt with this before. A different sitter asked that I reimburse her whenever she had to take a trip 10+ miles round-trip. Is it normal to reimburse mileage for such short trips? The amount of money does not bother me, it's more having to keep track of mileage when it's for such small sums.