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In our neighborhood in LA it's between $15-20 per hour for one-off babysitting jobs. We pay our nanny weekly so it's a lower rate per hour.

I did a poll on another site and have decided I will pay about $10/hr if we "hire" someone to babysit. Likely a younger cousin if ever.

@Sha:
holy crap!

Wow. We pay $10/hr to a college student we've come to know. We interviewed 3 people from care.com and they were all willing to accept $10/hr.

I think it all depends on where you live and the age of your LO. The younger they are, the more responsible the babysitter needs to be, so you probably should pay them more. The older your child is, the less supervision they need, so you can probably get away with paying less.

That being said, I have no idea what the going rate is in my area. When I was babysitting (4-8 year-olds), I was paid roughly $5-$7, so I figure you'd have to at least pay $10 now-a-days, but I don't know how much you pay if they're watching a baby/toddler.

@Rubies: Does this mean you're going on a date night?

Like Adira said, it depends on your location and age. When I lived in LA, I made $25-30/hr due to my experience and location. Here in Atlanta, I made between $15-20.

@Sha: @Andrea: @Rubies: Wow! Most people around these parts pay $7 an hour. HAHA.

I think you and the hubs should definitely go on a date! Have wine, gaze into each other's eyes..

@Rubies: that is all i let our sitter do, too! so i pay her about $15. sometimes it is a bit more if i don't have exact change.

@Rubies: You would typically pay the same going rate as normal, BUT you may be able to get away with offering a couple dollars less an hour.

For one of the high school girls that works at our daycare, we pay $10/hour for one child; now that we have two, we'll have to up that to $15/hour.

ETA: Our babysitter just hngs out while DD is sleeps, too. We've never left her during the day, and I don't feel comfortable with anyone else putting her to bed.

I can see maybe paying a little less for someone to babysit after your LO has gone to bed, but they should definitely be $$ compensated (i.e., not just ordering a pizza for them). I mean, they are still giving up their evening and their time to babysit – and are there in case LO wakes up.

I don’t know what the going rate in my area is, but I would guess $10-$15 would be fair.

In our area $5-7 is pretty standard for a high school/college aged girl to babysit. When I was baby-sitting (not that long ago) I was lucky if I got any more than that.

When we hire a baby-sitter for our own daughter (due in August) we'll definitely pay her $8-10/hour and provide the appropriate meals regardless of whether kids are awake or sleeping. I would hate for someone to think they're making less money because the baby is asleep and therefore slack off.

@mediagirl: haha. Hopefully you can get someone for cheaper. But that is why DH and I do not go out!

When I babysat (very recently) I was given $12-$15 an hour. And this was for a child who was in bed., Sometimes I had to put them to sleep, but that was within 15-30 minutes of me arriving. I think it is a lot too!