[Sodium]

Hey everyone

I babysit for this one person who pays really cheap Like the other night I was babysitting from 7.30 till 10.00 PLus two kids aged 1 and 3 and she gave me ten dollars :|

How do I tell her its not enough without being rude?

[J_9]

How much do you think is enough?

[Sodium]

Well it was 2/half hours with two kids I was at least expecting 15 dollars... I know its not a BIG difference But 10 doesn't seem enough for 2 kids 2/half hours...

[peggyhill]

Talk about payment before you agree to babysit. Another thing you could do is to make up some business cards for babysitting and give them to the people you have babysat for in the past. You could mention how much you charge per hour or per child. That way everyone knows up front and there is no confusion.

[Sodium]

But how do I tell her now that's its not enough now that I've been babysitting for like a while now.

[peggyhill]

Well, if that's what she's been paying you, then you might be stuck with it. If you don't think it'll change, then you will have to decide if you want to sit for her or someone else. If she's a family friend or something, I would let it go. But, if you don't know her well, maybe you could say that you have changed your rates because you have to travel there and gas prices are up. Tell her you need it for gas, or to give to your folks for gas money. But, like I said, if that's what she's been paying you, you might not get her to change her mind. One thing that I did when I wanted to get paid more, was to do a few extra little things while I was there. For example, if the kids used any dishes, I'd wash them and put them away. Go around and pick up all the toys, etc. and tidy up. If you had to give them a bath and put them to bed, make sure the bathroom is cleaned up, towels hung up, etc. Just do a few little extra things that no one asked you to do, and maybe they will see that you are have a really great work ethic and decide you deserve a little more. If not, then you will have to decide if it's still worth it to you. I wouldn't go and tell her that you didn't agree with the money this time. You don't want to sound rude. Another thing, were the kids in bed most of the time because it was late? When I babysat, they usually paid me more if it was during the day and I had to get meals, etc. If the kids were sleeping when I was there, and I was just kind of hanging out, they paid me less. They might have given you less if you didn't have to make dinner, provide activities, and stuff like that. The next time they ask you to sit, you could ask them how much they would like to pay. Just be really polite about it. You don't want to sound greedy. Just say something like, "Hey, I'm paying for part of a friend's birthday present. If you don't mind my asking, how much were you going to give me for tonight? I need to tell my mom how much money I need to borrow from her to get the gift." or something like that. You don't have to lie, just don't make it sound like it's all about the money. Asking for more money is always a tricky situation, whether it's asking about babysitting, or asking for a raise at work. You have to be polite, and bring it up in the right way. Hope this helps! :)

[froggy7]

The next time they ask you to sit, you could ask them how much they would like to pay. Just be really polite about it. You don't want to sound greedy. (stuff snipped.) You don't have to lie, just don't make it sound like it's all about the money. Asking for more money is always a tricky situation, whether it's asking about babysitting, or asking for a raise at work. You have to be polite, and bring it up in the right way. Hope this helps! :)

First thing you need to decide: are you doing this as a favor, or as a job? Because this is exactly how NOT to do it if you are doing this as a job. It's fine if you are just trying to get some movie money, get out of the house, and do "character building" by helping out family and friends.

But if you are doing it because you actually want to get experience of what it's like to be working, the first thing you need to do is find out what the going rate is for babysitters in your area. What do your friends charge, if they are babysitting? Are there any flyers posted around the area offering babysitting services? If there are, either note their prices or have your parents call and ask for the rate. From there, you can figure out what your per hour rate should be, and how you adjust it for extra kids. And then you need to figure out if you go a little lower, and get more work because you are cheaper, or go with the predominant rate, in which case you may need to offer some sort of extras (either in services, reliability, flexibility of scheduling, etc.) to make people want to hire you instead of your friend.

And once you have set your price, you are going to have to accept that some people will not be willing to pay it. Which is where you will have to decide whether keeping those people as your customers is worth doing some sort of discount, or whether you have enough business that you can afford to not have them use you. (This is where knowing the local rate is vital. All the following are theoretical examples. You may think that you are worth 10/hour, but if everyone else is charging 2/hour, you will not get any clients. Conversely, if you are charging 2 and everyone else is doing 10, you may have a lot of clients, but you will, quite honestly, not be thought of as well as you would be if you charged what you are worth. Going up to 8/hour would get you more money without losing you too much business.)

By the way, one of the reasons that women (as a rule) make less than men is that they let the employer set the pay scale, instead of asking for what they are worth. Men (as a rule) will always ask for more money than what the employer offers, because they know that the employer is going to offer at the low end of the range. (In other words, the employer offers you 30k/year. You can either think that sounds good, or come back and say "people with my skills in the area generally get paid 35K/year. Can you come up on the salary any?" And the employer will generally kick in some more money... maybe not the full 5K, but it's more than you would have gotten if you just took the original offer. You may think that's not fair, and the employer should offer the higher amount to start with, but his job is to keep as much money in the company's pocket as possible.)

[Sodium]

Thank You for all the help :)
I will definitely Try some of this out

[s_cianci]

You really need to agree upon a price before accepting a job. $10 for 2 1/2 hours amounts to $4/hr. What price do you normally accept? Set it at that. To avoid any more awkwardness with this particular person, you may just need to refuse to sit for them any more. If they ask why, candidly inform them that you're "sitting for someone else" and that they're paying you $X/hr. (replace 'X' with what hourly fee you would normally accept). They may get the hint. If not, then nothing's been lost since you aren't satisfied sitting for them anyway given that their rate of pay is substandard.

[godiva]

Hey everyone

I babysit for this one person who pays really cheap Like the other night i was babysitting from 7.30 till 10.00 PLus two kids aged 1 and 3 and she gave me ten dollars :|

how do i tell her its not enough without being rude?

The most I every received was $1 an hour! Of course that was eons ago. It isn't rude to speak up for yourself. If you think you deserve more tell her. Find out what the going rate is ( I haven't got a clue) and present that info to her. If she chooses not to pay that then you always have the option of saying no the next time she calls. Good luck