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I was wondering how many of you do babysitting to supplement your family's income? I've seen it listed as a suggestions several times in the forums. I am planning to quit my job at the end of July and we need to bring in around $300 or so a month.
How did you go about finding children to babysit? I'm not really interested in advertising in the paper - I wouldn't take my child to someone I didn't know - and we do know a few couples that have young kids. Should we just put the word out?
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I am actually in the process of doing this myself. We are moving from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house with yard at the end of the month. I have already started letting people know by word of mouth. I am going to put up some flyers in the stores. Because this is my home town, someone may see it that knows of myself or my family and that may help. I don't think that it would hurt to put up a flyer. Some people may be new to the area and that is there only choice.
One suggestion I have is to get CPR/First Aid Certified. Contact your local fire department and see if they can set you up with a class. Luckily my dh is on the fire department and one of his friends was able to do the certification for me.
Good luck and if you have any questions feel free to pm me anytime. We can work out the bugs together!!
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I have advertised in the past with no calls , I have gotten business mainly from word of mouth. I picked up 2 kids in the fall after we met them on the school playground! I am getting worried because one daycare child will be in school full time along with my ds. One is going to preschool full time (my suggestions needs the classroom) so that only leaves me with 1 child. Starting to pass the word to friends and family to fill my spots!
I have not tried the flyer route yet!
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I've had several friends do this, and they've all gotten their jobs through word of mouth. Tell EVERYONE you know that you're on the lookout; chances are someone will be able to hook you up.
It seems the most successful arrangements happen when you can find kids that you enjoy and that your kids get along with. Arrange for a trial period (2 weeks or a month) to see what they dynamics are. Otherwise, you could set yourself up for being miserable.
I've also seen moms taken advantage of because they're afraid to come across as "greedy" by charging too much. Don't make that mistake! Watching kids is hard work, and you should be compensated fairly.
Good luck!
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"It seems the most successful arrangements happen when you can find kids that you enjoy and that your kids get along with. Arrange for a trial period (2 weeks or a month) to see what they dynamics are. Otherwise, you could set yourself up for being miserable."
I agree with this trial period, not only for the kids but for yourself. I think you have to ask yourself is this really what I want to do? I may get some repercussions from this but here it goes...From personal experience I had a friend that wanted to stay home with her kids so she decided she was going to babysit. I hate to say it but she wasn't a good one and I was constantly wondering what she was doing all day with the kids b/c I was constantly getting comments that my kid was doing this and that and when I would question she would say "I don't know because I didn't see it" my dd was 15 months and hers was 31/2. How could it all be my daughters fault and why wasn't she watching!? Needless to say I didn't keep her there and come to find out later through other people she was constantly saying that she hated babysitting (mine was not the only one she watched by the way). I just don't think she was cut out for it. There are some people who are cut out for babysitting and others who aren't...I personally couldn't. I love staying home with my own kids but I look for other ways of bringing in income. Good luck.
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You can definitely make that watching just one kid! I watch a girl sometimes and make $150 a week off her (she's 6)
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Thanks for all of the input. I definitely think I would only take on one or two kids at the most. I know that I wouldn't be able to handle more than that.
I'm also trying to find some other sources of income other than babysitting but in the area that I live there are not a lot of work from home opportunities. It really isn't all that much money to come up with in a month and I'm sure we'll figure something out!
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I provide childcare from home and they are friends' kids, and three out of the four parents are teachers. I'll be watching another teacher friend's baby in the fall, part time (the two oldest kids will go onto full-time pre-k or k). I really like the teacher hours and schedules, even though I still watch the kids during most vacations. The hours are actually still very long, though, 7-4:30. I am starting to feel a bit of cabin fever now, however. This lousy winter weather isn't helping, but when you can't go anywhere for days on end, it gets tiring and the lack of adult conversation is tough. If we could afford to have me just watch kids 2-3 days a week, I would in a heartbeat, but for now, I'll have them full-time. You might want to think about visiting local schools and putting word out there to teachers and/or families at the school. I could probably have about six teachers kids if I could next year!!
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I stay at home and watch 2 kids part-time. The parents work with my husband, so it was word of mouth for me. I charge the same rate for both kids and its the local going rate for childcare. They provide diapers and wipes and formula and I feed them (reg food for the 2yr old and baby food for the baby) I have seen ads up at the grocery store and doctor's office in our area. I make enough to pay for our car payment each month.
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I too stay at home and watch a little girl part time. I found her through a friend. Her mom worked with my friend. It's worked out perfect and i have had her since August. I charge $40/day for three days a week.
Do you have a local craigslist in your area? I think that would be a great place to start.