How Much Should I Pay My Friend to Babysit Five Times a Week For Me?

A mom writes in asking for advice on how much she should pay her friend who will babysit her 9-month-old daughter while she works five days a week. The mom doesn’t want to underpay her friend, who said to just pay her what she can. Do you have any advice you can give this mom?

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A member of the community asks:

“I will be starting a job here soon and a friend of mine will watch my 9-month-old daughter. Now my question is, how much should I give her as payment from Monday – Thursday 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Fridays 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. I don’t want to under or overpay her. She said whatever I can give, but I don’t want to rip her off either. I will be providing diapers, food, formula, clothes, and literally everything she needs.”

– Mamas Uncut Community Member

Community Advice for This Mom Who Doesn’t Know What to Pay Her Babysitter

To see what advice the Mamas Uncut Facebook community has for this mom in need, read the comments of the post embedded below.

Fan QuestionHow much should I pay my friend to babysit?I will be starting a job here soon and a friend of mine will…

Posted by Mamas Uncut on Monday, November 11, 2019

Advice Summary

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Many people with experience watching their friends’ children shared what they’ve been paid in the past. However, even more people suggested that the mom “check with the local daycare prices in her area to get an idea.”

One woman wrote, “I sometimes babysit for my friend and she pays me $20 a day and I watch him from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at her house and they provide me with snacks and food if I get hungry.”

Another commenter said, “I usually pay $25 a day per kid to my husband’s cousin’s wife.”

One person added, “I paid $25 a day. A friend of mine was kind enough to watch him for me while I worked.”

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2 thoughts on “How Much Should I Pay My Friend to Babysit Five Times a Week For Me?”

  1. I pay more than $65 a week to have my cat fed when we go away. Unless this mother is totally broke she is being unrealistic about the cost of child care these days.

  2. Let’s just average out the hours to 3 times a day since it’s between somewhere between 2 and 4 hours. At 3 days a week for 3 hours a day, $65 is less than $7.25 an hour. Grandma cannot plan anything for those days as she has to stay with the child. Paying her $65 a week is cheap. If it were an occasional day here and there, I bet grandma would be glad to do it for free, but you’re expecting her to take on a job with set days and hours for no money. Would you work at your job for free? And as one person on here mentioned, she pays more that that to have someone come in and feed the cat when she’s on vacation. Me too. My cat sitter charges $25 a day, and all she does is feed the cat, scoop the litter, and change it every three days. That totals about 4 hours for the entire week Please. Get real. Pay your grandma.

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