Is $6.50 per hour enough... **edit in red** **2nd Edit in Blue - A TEACHER replied to my Care.com posting**
- 129 Replies
... to pay a college student to watch my kids full time over the summer? I mean, I won't be using it as a tax deduction, so me paying her $6.50 an hour cash is comparable to the take home she would make in a job for an employer who taxes her on an $8.00 per hour income.
$6.50 an hour comes out to about $260 a week... for cake hours and no evenings or weekends. I would need her at the house by 8:30 and my husband would be home between 3:30 and 4:00 every day. I do not expect her to clean my house. lol! She is the daughter of my 2nd cousin.
All in all, I didn't think $52 a day was that bad! Maybe I should just enroll them in the local childcare center and call it a day. I would pay the same amount there (for a teacher who's take home is LESS than $6.50 an hour. lol!)
Btw... they are 5 and 11. my DD will turn 6 during the summer.
UPDATE!****************
Ok... so I also posted on care.com. NEVER in a million years would I have expected a teacher to respond! The pay was clearly posted... no way she could have mistaken the salary. NO WAY... and she emailed me anyway! If I could get a teacher at that rate...OMG I would love it! She is 23, unmarried, is degreed with teaching certificate and is currenly working as a para. I almost feel the need to turn her down though... I would feel GUILTY paying her $6.50 an hour to watch my kids but cannot afford anymore than $7 per hour. AT that point I'm better off putting them in summer camp for $130 per kid.
Thoughts?
But, a college student working for this amount would not owe income taxes and would only pay FICA and that would be minimal on minimum wage. What are your expectations? Do they have to drive the kids to the park or swimming? Do they have to come up with activities? Do you expect housekeeping?
Quoting Anonymous:tax free? So it's like making $8.00 per hour somewhere else...
Quoting brittany208:
I wouldn't do it for that. Only make about 260 a week? not so much.
That doesnt change my moral stance. I dont hire someone who is here illegally, and I dont pay less than min. wage. You can do what ever you feel is right. But that is how I roll.
Quoting Anonymous:
MIn wage here is about $7.25. So, if she went to, say, a childcare center and made min wage her take home after taxes would be less than what I am paying her.
Quoting Anonymous:
we would nver pay less than min. wage.
25 a day minimum. In the early 90's I made 5 an hour..... I pay my sitters 10 an hour for occasional date nights, and if it is full time all day, when is the college kid going to class?
Quoting Anonymous:
8:30 to 4:30 m-f - so about $260 a week.
Quoting lissetteP:
So how much a week? From what time to wat time
To low! We have lots of family around, so luckily we don't need to pay a sitter...but if we did, it would be $10 an hour for 1 kid, and go up by $2/$3 per kid! I worked in a day care and babysat for around 50/60 families through out the years there...they all paid the same!!!
So, she has to provide transportation, add the risk of an accident, and deal with car insurance. I know my insurance will not cover an accident if it occurs while doing something for employment. The 3 hours will not really be free...she might run an errand, but it is not like real time off.
Quoting Anonymous:
LEAD daycare teachers here start at about $8.50 an hour. I could take my kids to a center and pay the same, but there is a school program I want them to both take part in for which I would need the sitter to provide transporation. So 3 hours out of the day, she's free, and I get my kids extra schooling over the summer.
Quoting BethanyJ:
Well, with childcare you tend to get what you pay for, unfortunately. I spent years as a childcare provider, both privately and professionally. I'd be a little leery of a college student willing to accept so little pay in exchange for such an important job, unless she's a good friend of the family or related to you. I'd offer her at least $10 an hour if not more. Assistant daycare teachers around here usually make about that, maybe a dollar more or less. Baby sitters generally range from $9-$15 dollars an hour.
That's the ugliest name everrrr!!!