How much to pay a mother's helper?

[Ianthe]

I put up an ad for a mothers helper to come over a couple times a week to hang out with my 2 young kids while I get some errands and cleaning done. What would be an acceptable pay for about 5-6 hours a week? The person I'll hire would likely be a college student if that makes a difference.

[Drummer's Wife]

$8-10 an hour? It might depend on location, but that sounds fair to me for 2 kids.

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

$8-10 an hour? It might depend on location, but that sounds fair to me for 2 kids.

We live in a very low COL area.. just a very small university town. That seams pretty expensive for me to pay for running errands and not having to chase my toddler around the grocery store! &

DH is working out of town until June, and I am moving to this town without him and I know I'll need help! (He'll be meeting us in our new house once his current job ends)

[lolar2]

Have you x-posted in Find Your Tribe?

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by lolar2

Have you x-posted in Find Your Tribe?

I haven't. I posted an ad on craigslist.

I have posted to see if I could meet any mamas in our new town, but there was only one response of "we may be moving there" and that's it.

There is a LLL group there that I will be involved with and I'm sure I'll meet some mamas there too. But I figured posting an ad for a mothers helper would be easier than asking some random LLL mamas

I've gotten a few replies already, one of whom I really like. Just need to know how much I should pay.

[ihugtrees]

What is minimum wage where you will be moving to? I generally ask for $3-5 above minimum wage, per hour. But I have extensive experience and am a mother myself, not a college student. I live in Seattle, where cost of living is high. Minimum wage is $8.60ish an hour and it seems most nannies make $15-20/hour. Because I have a child, and live about 30 minutes from downtown, I can't find anything at even close to that rate. In Florida, where I am from, minimum wage is $7.15 an hour, and I was making $11-12/hour.

A true 'mothers helper' in my opinion, is someone who works alongside you...a partner, really. If you are gone from the home, running errands or anything else, or if you are in the home and working or doing a project you can't be interrupted while doing and the sitter needs to keep the kids busy/away from you, than you are looking for an occasional sitter or nanny and the pay isn't going to be less than the going rate because you're running errands vs going to work, know what I mean?

I totally know where you are coming from. I just moved from FL to WA, know absolutely no one, and my husband is gone. He'll be home about 4 weeks, scattered over the summer, then gone until February or March. I need someone to watch my daughter on occasion, but can't afford to pay someone the going rate at all, so I posted an ad on Craigslist and put a disclaimer saying I could only pay $5/hour. I have gotten a few emails despite the horrid pay. The thing that bothers me most when looking for nanny/sitting jobs, though, is when people act like I am charging too much or that I don't deserve the pay, so I made sure and will continue to make sure to acknowledge the hard and valuable work the caregivers do.

[Austin'smom]

I'm in Florida and I pay $8-10 for our sitter. We have a college girl that is able to sit during daytime hours or later evenings ( for date nights) and I pay her $10 an hour for one 14 month old. High School Students I pay closer to the $8/hr mark.

[Ianthe]

Thanks for your replies.. $8/hr is probably what I will go with.. the min wage here is about 7/hr.