We all know that raising a child is very expensive, but do you just how costly it is? For a middle-income family to raise a child born in 2015 through the age of 17, the cost of rearing a child has hit $233,610, according to a report by Time.com. With the increasing cost of raising a child a lot of parents opt to work more! This results in having to incur babysitter costs. With these kinds of additional costs, it becomes even more difficult to work on debt management.
If you’re actively paying off debt, it’s important to research babysitter costs.
Babysitter Costs – How Much to Really Pay?
Despite the circumstances that require you to need the service, babysitter costs do not have a standard rate. There are many factors including location, number of children, and years of experience to consider to determine the cost. You want to be sure you are offering a competitive rate, but you also don’t want to overpay. For instance, a night out is expensive enough and you don’t want to spend money you could be putting toward getting out of debt.
Use this guide to help you determine how much to pay a babysitter for any situation.
- First, consider your location and research the going rate in your area. The average hourly babysitting rate has climbed to $16.43 for one child, according to UrbanSitter’s 2018 child care survey of more than 20,000 families across the country. That’s an 8% increase from last year’s average of $15.20 an hour for a single child. And parents are now handing over $18.86 per hour to sitters to watch two kids, and $20.56 per hour to handle three.
- Consider how many kids you have. Care.com suggests that you should expect to pay more per hour for each additional child.
- You should also take into account how old the babysitter is and how many years of experience they have. The more experience (or certifications) a babysitter has, the more they can charge. You can find a lot of college students doing babysitter jobs as a side hustle for extra income. While they may come cheap, make sure they are experienced enough to handle your kids!
- Don’t forget to factor in the types of activities the babysitter will be responsible for. Will the babysitter need to drive the kids to and from school or lessons and practices? Does the babysitter double as a tutor? Will they need to cook meals or do any housekeeping? If so, they should be paid more.
- What time of day or year will you need a babysitter? If the kids will already be asleep when the sitter arrives, you may be able to pay less than the sitter’s usual rate. If you plan to hire a sitter for Valentine’s Day or New Year’s Eve, you may need to pay more than the sitter’s usual rate.
If you’re struggling to pay off debt, ACCC can help. Schedule a free credit counseling session with us today.
