How much do y'all pay for your date night or full time babysitter? I'm just wondering what the going rate is. The best babysitter I had was for $5 an hour and we even gave her a raise after a few months. She truly treated my son like her own child. The worst I had was a woman that wanted $10 but we settled for $7 an hour. She didn't think it was important to change diapers so she didn't last very long :/ The other babysitter was pretty bad - she changed diapers, but pretty much let her 5 year old babysit while she watched tv the whole time. She was the most expensive at $10 an hour. I just think it's interesting that the cheapest babysitter was our best, and the quality went down with a higher price. So how much do you pay, for how many kids? Have you experienced the weird relationship between price and quality that I have? 

I babysit and I dont do hourly. For a full time day I charge $20 a day, if its under 4 hours I charge $10. For date nights I charge $25, $35 for a over night. I started babysitting because I wanted to go back to work and after meeting with 10 different people I was to scared to leave my child with someone else. This was almost 3 years ago. I wanted to give parents a safe affordable place to bring there children. Since than we found a great date night sitter and her rates are really cheap, I always pay her more than what she charges. 

I pay $15 an hour for my sitter but she's worth every penny! Her oldest son has similar medical problems like my son so she understands his needs. Since his issues are rare it was a struggle to find someone I would feel safe leaving him with. Before when it was just my daughter I paid $8 but there was a day care center back home that was open 24/7. 

I pay my nanny 150/week for two kids. She works M-F about 25-35 hours a week. We pay an additional 30 for date nights or if we need her on a Saturday or Sunday. She is by far the best nanny we have ever had. 

Wow $150 for 25-35hrs a week for 2 kids, give that poor Nanny a raise lol. 

I am a grandma, who dioes date night sitting. I charge $25 flat fee. I go the the child's home, because that is where they are most comfortable and have everything they need, AND just in case the parents may have had a few drinks (not a bad thing!) I don't have to worry about them driving with the child in the car. 

It seems like most of these are fair prices. I guess the sitters I had experience with were mostly worried about the money instead of looking after my kid.
YouReallyThinkSo- I know exactly what you mean about finding a good sitter! I've also considered offering to babysit because it's so hard to find a reliable, trustworthy sitter. There's a lot of weirdo's out there, and I honestly don't know how some of them even have references to hand out to people. So sometimes I just want to take over the kids those people are watching and say "please don't leave your kids there!" 

edit- accidentally posted twice 

Panda thats exactly how I felt. So I came up with a very reasonable rate and offer a relaxed comfortable environment where parents feel good leaving there children. I dont watch a bunch of children, I keep it comfortable for all. And the parents I meet and we both decide its a good fit I end up watching the children tell they move. You become close to the families and I like it. I give what I would want. And at the same time my children get to play and have fun with others. Meeting others and seeing them with other peoples children I was shocked. 

YouReallyThinkSo...I agree about how it is 'quality not quantity'. Also about getting close to the families.
I am a grandma now and way back when, I used to care for two young boys ages 6 months and 2 1/2 years. Their families (and them) have kept in touch.
The younger one is in the Army Reserves. The older one has graduated boot and training and is on his way overseas. Their parents and I still talk every weekend!