I do date night sitting and I always say minimum of 4 hours. I charge 22 an hour up to 2 kids. I just turn it down if it is too far away. I am honest about it. most times the family offers to pay me more and sometimes i will accept, others not. I don't want to be driving home on the beltway at 3am. Too many drunk drivers out there.

State in your ad that if a potential client lives more than five miles from your house then you will want to compensated mileage from your house to theirs and back home.

Or state in your ad that you are only willing to work for families who live less than five miles from your home.

You could ask for them to guarantee x amount of hours. Don't take the jobs if you don't want to though.

Ive had a lot of families want me to babysit for them, but all live about 30-45 minutes away from me. Is it worth it to go this far? Most of them have two kids under age of 5–which is where I have my experience. I state in my ad that I’m looking for something close to be ~ 5 miles. I have a high rate and I know I wont go lower especially if it’s far. Any thoughts or advice?