I've been a live-in nanny for my current family for two years. I am paid very well, on the books, with exceptional benefits. For the first time in two years, another family member has asked me to watch their two children while they go away for a weekend. This other family does not have a nanny because their mother is a SAHM. They have asked me what I'd like to be paid for the weekend and truly, I don't know what would be fair. My current position is a salaried pay and my prior position was also salaried; so, I'm unsure as to the "going rate." These are two school-aged children who I will be taking care of from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening, in addition to the two children I already am responsible for. Since it is the weekend, the family I live-in for will not need me as much as they do during the week but they still do need me to a certain extent. All suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Wednesday
And so it begins...
Received Wednesday, November 3, 2010
I've been a live-in nanny for my current family for two years. I am paid very well, on the books, with exceptional benefits. For the first time in two years, another family member has asked me to watch their two children while they go away for a weekend. This other family does not have a nanny because their mother is a SAHM. They have asked me what I'd like to be paid for the weekend and truly, I don't know what would be fair. My current position is a salaried pay and my prior position was also salaried; so, I'm unsure as to the "going rate." These are two school-aged children who I will be taking care of from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening, in addition to the two children I already am responsible for. Since it is the weekend, the family I live-in for will not need me as much as they do during the week but they still do need me to a certain extent. All suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
I've been a live-in nanny for my current family for two years. I am paid very well, on the books, with exceptional benefits. For the first time in two years, another family member has asked me to watch their two children while they go away for a weekend. This other family does not have a nanny because their mother is a SAHM. They have asked me what I'd like to be paid for the weekend and truly, I don't know what would be fair. My current position is a salaried pay and my prior position was also salaried; so, I'm unsure as to the "going rate." These are two school-aged children who I will be taking care of from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening, in addition to the two children I already am responsible for. Since it is the weekend, the family I live-in for will not need me as much as they do during the week but they still do need me to a certain extent. All suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
For me, $250-$300 for the weekend for two children would work. I am in Texas though, so this rate could be too low/high for the going rates in your area.
ReplyDeleteOP...I would need to know what part of the country you live in. Rates vary from state to state. For example, I live in CA and have heard that rates here are a little higher than most. But in general, I would say that between $200-250 would work for me.
ReplyDeleteWill your live in family be paying extra for the weekend? Do you want to do this, and how often? I think $250 is too little. I'd say your regular rate for times you are with the kinds, plus $75-$100 for each overnight. The more you charge, the less often they are likely to want to do this. And if you aren't charging extra for your family's weekend, why are you doing it? Color me confused.
ReplyDeleteI Would Say that $75.00 per night while you are sleeping, and what ever you get for a hourly rate would be fair.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I forgot to post that I'm on a major city on the west coast. Also, just received an email from my live-in family's MB stating that they will not need me at all; so, I can focus exclusively on the other family member's children. Since it is a salaried position, I will not be getting paid any less by not being around the weekend in question.
ReplyDeleteVillage, I absolutely don't mind doing this; these children are well-behaved and I don't have any concerns at all. I wouldn't mind doing the couple times a year. As a family, they won't go without the children on more than a couple of occasions a year.
I agree with Village...$75-$100 for children's sleeping time, regular hourly rate for awake hours. If you don't have an hourly rate normally, check babysitting/nannying sites for a reasonable rate for your area...I would guess $15/hr or so.
ReplyDeleteTo figure out your average hourly rate, divide your salary by the average hours worked and, voila. Estimate how many hours you will work this weekend, plus a premium for overnights and weekend work. Multiply. 100% fair.
ReplyDeleteTwo words: not available.
ReplyDeleteGo with Lola's suggestion.
ReplyDeleteI commented too soon.
ReplyDelete"in addition to the two children I already am responsible for."
This part does concern me. Isn't it then like a nannyshare?
A question to the OP: you would be working with your regular charges anyway, right?
For the hours that you're watching both sets you ought to cut in half whatever rate you come up with to be fair to all involved.
You should totally base this on your gut and what would make you feel like you got paid fairly for the weekend. I make $17/hr in denver, if I charged that rate straight across for 48 hours I would make $816! Wow! No parent would pay that. However, especially with school age kids I think I would be happy with $250-$300 for the weekend. This is a reasonable request for the parents and I would still feel like it was worth my time. Overnights are special circumstances and shouldn't be charged hourly, in my opinion. Especially since it would only be a couple times a year and is 100% extra income for you!
ReplyDeleteI am in the Bay Area and when I do overnights for babysitting families I charge my regular rate ($17-25/hour, whatever I charge the family normally) for all awake hours, and then for the sleeping hours I charge a flat fee of $100 (sometimes $75 if the kids are older). For these families I do not ever go into over-time rates, even if it is for 48 hours because I do get a paid sleeping break :)
ReplyDeleteFor the family I nanny for, my "awake-time" rate is OT- so time and a half, but I do the same night rate (unless we have already negotiated to switch my normal hours for weekend time and thus, I have not worked 40 hours that week)...
Just to give you a feel for what another West Coast city nanny charges- hope it helps!
But it really comes down to what is worth-while for you. I feel that agreeing to do overnight babysitting really must be worth the time (and the exhaustion I don't get to recover from before my work week starts again ;). I've done overnights where I made $300 for a weekend, and it really just didn't seem worth it at the end... I love my own house, my bed, and my kid-free time on the weekends. I find that it is hard to finish up a work week, babysit for a weekend where the kids require a lot of energy since they are used to me being such a fun and high energy babysitter, and then starting the next work week...
ReplyDelete