While my MIL lives half an hour away, we can't always expect her or count on her to babysit. Sometimes, we know it'll just be a bad time for her or it'll be easier to have someone come over last minute. For instance, DH and I play in a summer softball league. We're both considering hiring a sitter for a couple hours on Tuesday evenings so we can have date night essentially. But MIL won't be off work yet, so we would need to hire someone. It needs to happen eventually and I'd rather find someone we like sooner than later.

How'd you go about finding a reliable babysitter who isn't family? We don't go to church and none of our friends live super close (the friends we do have somewhat close have family right down the street), so it's tough to get a personal recommendation. There are no teens on our block, either. What about care.com or something like that? I know daycare teachers sometimes babysit, but we have an in-home lady. And at 4:00pm, she's still watching other kids