Babysitting. - Page 3

[josybear]

i live in winnipeg and have been babysitting and hiring sitters for 4+ years now. 3$ is ridiculous.

for occasional childcare i and everyone else i know charge 8$/ hour, more for a whole pile of kids, less if it's while kids are sleeping. never less than 5$. for regular childcare i and my friends charge 30 - 50$/ day, depending on the number of kids and number of hours involved. until recently i was paying 30$/ day for 5 hours a day for my 2 kids, and they're pretty easygoing. this was considered to be insanely cheap by my friends.

yes, there are subsidized spots, but most registered daycares are full and have long waiting lists so people need to find childcare without the subsidy. this doesn't mean women have to undervalue their time and labour so drastically.

[bcblondie]

Thank you ladies

Just lilly, I know what you maen. I had a small home business for a while there. (passion parties ) and I barely made a dollar profit. But I claimed it anyways and ended up paying a little tax on it, because I didn't want the worry of "what if they catch me"
Especially since I had stated on my mat leave that I DID have that home business. I know I was that much more likely to be "caught" so to speak.

But I'm still a little confused. Are you saying that as long as I haven't made any other money, (this 3 grand is my only income) that I don't actually have to claim it?
The first half of your post said no, the second half said yes. lol.

[just_lily]

If you only make $3 grand, then no you don't have to file a tax return because it is well below the level where you would have to pay any tax. This is different than "not claiming it." You should still keep records of your income in case Revenue Canada enquires about it - then you can just show them that you made well below the personal tax credit amount, so there is no tax owing.

There could be other reasons you may want to file though. RRSP contribution room for one, or for the calculation of CCTB payments or GST rebates you may be getting (I forgot about that last night). Plus some provinces have refundable credits you may be eligible for, and can only get if you file. When I lived in Ontario I used to get a refundable credit for the rent I paid, for instance. That was years ago though - not sure if they still do that.

[Shenjall]

And I'd like to add theres many things you can "write off" with having a home daycare. Heres a link:


http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tp.../menu-eng.html

and

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/p134/p134-09e.pdf

Oops. Read too fast. Just realized you said that just_lily.

[bluebunny]

It doesn't sound like you want to do it for $3/hour (and I wouldn't either!). I work part-time and pay a babysitter $6/hour with a cap of $35/day. My babysitter obviously "loses" money on the $35 per day cap but she needs the income and by having parents commit to full-time (whole day), she ends up making more. I pay $8-10 per hour if we have a date night babysitter. I think the difference is that the babysitter we use for when I work is watching kids so that she can stay at home with her own child. She sets the routine, enforces naptime, etc. and my child is one of three others that she watches. For an occasional date night babysitter, I am paying that sitter to cater to my children and provide one-on-one attention. Plus, $8-10/hour is the going rate around here.

[celerydunk]

$3 is ridiculous no matter where you are. I would charge $5. You should charge what you are comfortable with - whether or not the family is living within their means should not be part of how you figure out your going rate. If he goes somewhere else its just a sign that it wasnt meant to be.

[bcblondie]

That's true...

[Ruthiegirl]

We pay our sitter $10 an hour for wonderful part time care while I am in school. Three kids 8, 6, and 2.

$3 an hour is much too low.

[excitedtobeamom]

I watch a 18 month old from 7:15 to 2:30 and I charge $25 a day. That is $3.50 a hour but I make her bring all diapers and wipes and some snacks. The going rate around here is $20 to $25 a day and most places are open 6am to 6pm. It is painful but I look at as an extra $400 a month and he is the best baby. My kids love him. I only watch him 4 days a week.

[alittlesandy]

I think the issue here is that people are comparing part-time babysitting rates (the current rate is anywhere from $5-10 an hour depending on frequency, age of the babysitter, experience, etc.) with full time childcare rates, where it is not unusual for someone who takes in multiple children to charge anywhere from $100-$150 per week, which equals about $25-30 a day per child. That works out to be $3-4 an hour.

[Drummer's Wife]

Originally Posted by alittlesandy

I think the issue here is that people are comparing part-time babysitting rates (the current rate is anywhere from $5-10 an hour depending on frequency, age of the babysitter, experience, etc.) with full time childcare rates, where it is not unusual for someone who takes in multiple children to charge anywhere from $100-$150 per week, which equals about $25-30 a day per child. That works out to be $3-4 an hour.

I agree. I know where I live now (NM) and where I used to live (CO) the going rate for an in-home daycare (even licensed) is between $20-30 per day, which may be 10 hours long. That ends up being $3 or less an hour, but if you watch a few more kids, it's not really that bad for a SAHM.

Would I, personally, watch one kid for $3 per hour? No, because I have four children of my own, and adding one more would limit my outings (plus I don't have the room in my vehicle). I would, however, take in 2-4 kids (like when my older 3 are in school full-time) and start a home daycare, if it came down to needing the money and I didn't want to work outside the home. If I am going to essentially be stuck at home all day, I might as well make a decent income out of it.

Best of luck making a decision.

[bcblondie]

Ok so I got a little more info from DH. Apparently the dad Geoff, checked at the local daycare and it's 500 per month there. But he would claim it then, so only 400ish? (I dunno how much is taken off)
So for it to be cheaper for Geoff it has to be under 400. And I also found out the current sitter is Geoff's sister. So no wonder she would babysit her nephew for 300.
Sooo I dunno anymore. Don't know if it's worth it for 350, even if he'd give me that much. And 400, he'd probably say no and go to the daycare. I dunno anymore.

[mommy2maya]

I agree that the imperative thing here is full time care vs part time sitting, very big difference.