My daughter made $75 babysitting last night...

[supportivemom]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:16pm

My have times changed. She babysat for 7 1/2 hours and made $75! When I was her age- I would have made $3.75! Just wanted to get off the political threads for a minute!

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:20pm

MAN. In my babysitting days, I would've made about $40. And my babysitting days weren't that long ago.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:33pm

I pay $12.00 an hour for babysitting.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:35pm

Yes Mom but $3.75 bought a lot more then! I baby sat for $1.20 an hour. My weekly take on my paper route was $4.25. I was living the life with that much money!

[supportivemom]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:44pm

Got all your points but that still is a lot of money!

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:47pm

S-mom, I said I PAY $12.00 an hour. I didn't say it WASN'T a lot of money!!! (LBNOL)

You're damn right it's a lot of money!

[supportivemom]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:55pm

Yeah Miss P- you certainly do pay well! I was really referring to the response that even though my $3.75 bought a lot more back then- $75 is a big payday and a big inflation rate! I used to pay $5/hr for both of my kids when they were younger- about 10 years ago- and I thought I was paying well. By the way- forgive my ignorance but what does LBNOL mean?

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/5/08 at 11:58pm

LBNOL = Laughing, But Not Out Loud (I made it up myself. )

I think I made 75 cents an hour when I babysat. Then it went up to $1.00 and finally peaked at $2.00.

But I only pay it if I think the person is REALLY worth it!

[supportivemom]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 12:02am

Laughing But Not Out Loud... I would have NEVER guessed that! Now I can go to bed! Thanks!

[liotte]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 12:23am

That makes me feel very fortunate for what I get!

[KrissySim]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 12:27am

" Just wanted to get off the political threads for a minute!"

...and this isn't political ??

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 12:36am

Heh, a bit off topic but related... I came across my Mom's list of expenses in 1964 when she was newly divorced from my Dad. She made a whopping $58 (take home) a week for a full time job! The monthly food and mortgage payment ate up about $95.00 a month!
With inflation, and the value of the dollar I think she was better off then we are today.
I know that for some people rent (or mortgage) alone can eat up two weeks worth paychecks alone, without food thrown in!

[Q]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 12:46am

When I was a young teen, I played the organ for weddings, and got paid $100 an hour - and that was in the mid-to-late 70's. I'm glad I got to them before the kids showed up - most of the time.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 1:14am

I get paid $10 an hour. Worked last weekend and made $120. But Mom I do agree, my parents always said the same thing to me how much prices have changed so much, they wanted the jobs considering it was tax free, lol.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 1:17am

Yeah times have certainly changed. Nine years ago when I was a freshman in high school, I babysat for the neighbor kids a couple times a week and only got paid about $4 or $5 an hour for 3 of them. They were horrible children too. I was not their only sitter either, and every single one of them did not like them either.

[Q]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:24am

Just to make clear, it's ALL of society that has moved to 'a different level'. Money paid is simply trying to keep up with where we are told the economy exists.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:41am

Mom, there is a great lesson for your young daughter to learn:
If you take care of OTHER people's children you get paid.
If you have to take care of your OWN child you will never stop paying.

Too bad Palin couldn't get her daughter to listen to that one.

[Kasie]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 2:44am

"Too bad Palin couldn't get her daughter to listen to that one."

Haha!


When I used to babysit in highschool, I got $11.00 an hour, which, IMO, wasn't nearly enough. I had to babysit 6 kids and 2 babies, so to say I was in hell would be an understatement.

[Mamie]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 8:14am

When I babysat I got paid something closer to mom's pay - $.50 an hour up to midnight and $1.00 an hour after midnight. It didn't matter how many kids were there - the pay was always the same. I remember 2 families I sat regularly for and one had 3 totally rotten kids and the other had 5 sweeties.

Another thing that's changed is the age of the babysitter. I was babysitting for my siblings when I was 10 and started babysitting for outsiders when I was 11.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 8:35am

That's a good point, Mamie......I wouldn't hire anyone unless they were at least 14 now. And that would be for an early evening thing.

It depends on the age of the sitter too, how much I pay. I have a 15 year old that I give around $7 an hour, and a 19 year old that I pay $10-12 depending on what time we are getting home, etc.

I think I made $1 an hour when I was a kid.....LOL!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 1:09pm

I'm glad others have tossed around the $1 an hour figure. I didn't babysit much, but when I did I was glad to get a buck. And for that I can remember changing diapers! Poopy ones!

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 1:15pm

I was getting $1 an hour when I was 12, and I remember my mom saying that was way too much and asking me to give it back!! she would always say a quarter an hr was plenty and I'd say "mom $1 = a quarter from your day due to inflation". She always countered with "inflation doesn't count". How do you argue with that?

she thinks my friend who makes $140 a week at Macy's should be able to live on that since she made $45 a week in 1941. cuz "inflation dosn't count".

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 1:40pm

Plus I bet your daughter had 100 tv channels to choose from. Back when I was little, all our babysitter ever watched was The Edge of Night on our family's one tv set.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 1:46pm

My daughters make about $10.00 and then usually a tip.

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 10/6/08 at 3:56pm

I babysat for our dentist's two boys and made 50 cents an hour. This was in the early 70's. When I needed several fillings at once, my father had me raise my rates to 75 cents an hour.