I will keep that in mind!  :-)

Oh, and Kevin... I have two daughters of babysitting age!  haha  They'll LIKE what you pay!

Sorry I dropped the ball on responding to this!  In answer to the question above asking if I meant $20 or $20/hour...  I meant a flat fee of $20 if you're ever out like for an evening of movies or dinner (or the Elton John concert, ya!!).  You'd be surprised how great it feels for a teen to get a 20 dollar bill.  :)  And now that I think of it, it does equate to roughly $5/hour.  If you're gone 2 hours or 4, I would round up to $20 just to make it worth the sitter's time.  If your sitter is 16 and older, I'd toss in another $5 the closer it gets to 4 hours. 

We did the "only grandparents" too for a while, but eventually the kids grow up and aren't as much fun for Grams and Gramps (especially when there are 3 of them), or the kids become too active, or they stay up too late, etc., so there comes a need for paid sitters. 

 Swapping is SUCH a smart idea, I think.

 Once upon a time I had a handful of great babysitters who watched the kiddo for free.  They had all been in our youth group (we're youth pastors).  Now that they are older (finishing college or college graduates starting careers), it is getting harder and harder for them to watch the kiddo.  I have a few up and coming, thanfully!  However, we do use a paid babysitter once in awhile when close friends or family can't help out, and she told us that she charges $5/hour which she said she learned was standard rate at a local babysitter training she attended (this was probaby 3 years ago).  She is in high school, and we are friends with her family. 

And yes, I would always ask the babysitter how much he/she charges.

 Sweet.  Thanks for all the input.  I think I'm doing it right.  I typically round up, too, and that puts me at $8-10 an hour.  I just always feel guilty when I leave and I'm thinking, "What if she saves my kid's life?  What a scrooge I am @ $8 an hour."  I guess there would just have to be a nice bonus if that ever actually happened.  :-)

"Babysitter"?  What's this "babysitter" of which you speak?  Heh.  In three-and-a-half years, we have yet to leave our Pumpkin with anyone who wasn't related (and like many of you, the grandparental units aren't exactly conveniently located) or close friends (we trade once in a great long while).  Sad, I know.  But this is great information, for when we get our act together and actually look for a babysitter (which we've said we should do, over and over)!

 This is tough & I agree with Rhiannon that we can't pay what we think it's worth for sure!! If we were paying what it was worth to us, we'd be broke!! I can't believe that people who run most home childcare centers earn 20-40/ day. Seems like it should be 100/ day. But I guess there's a what it's worth & what is reasonable. Most of the time, we do 15-20 for an evening for someone who is going to  be reasonable. That's about $5/hr. I guess that makes me the cheap one! haha.

 This is tough, Kevin!
I do wonder the same too... 

It's like can you ever pay too much for quality care of your most precious thing(s) -your child(ren)?! 

But, I certainly can't pay what I think the value is truly worth.   I remember as a teen getting paid much more than minimum wage so I think at least 8 an hour if one and 10 if two, maybe 15 if 4 or more?  Or just a flat rate for an evening.  I paid a young lady about $10 an hour who came for a few months 3 times a week for about 4 hours a day -but it added up quickly and I never felt it was worth the money.  (I had her coming so I could work on our photography business and not have to stop every 5 minutes to attend to Katelyn who was about 6 months old at the time.  But she just watched TV with her, did her school work and talked on her phone a lot.  I kindly told her play with Katelyn more and no phone calls, etc.  I'll leave it at "it didn't last long."

But I think if the sitter is experienced, mature and good (not just there to call 911 if the toddler is choking) $10 and hour is a good rate.  (Unless it's like an all day thing, then I'd go with a flate rate of $50-$75).

A side note: call us if you two just need a night off.  We could do an exchange. 

Ok, this is where my age and expertise come in handy!  I've paid a babysitter AND my two daughters are now babysitters!  My 16-year old gets paid roughly $20.00 each time she watches her "charges" next door, there are 3 of them, 5, 3, and 1 year old.  I think if you find a good sitter, you should pay her well in order to keep her services.  My 16-year old dates, has a lot of friends, and enjoys baseball... however, if her well-paying family needs a sitter, she drops everything to make money.  They are even taking her to Disneyland for 3 days so that they can have an "adults only night."  Of course, I know this family and trust them immensely. 

I also have a 14-year old who is waiting in the wings for her sister to get too busy with boyfriends.  :)

 This is a popular question amongst parents in Bakersfield lately.  My husband and I have yet to actually pay a babysitter (besides the drop off daycare center in town) because we usually just trade between friends. However, in another group, I believe the average rate seemed to be about 8 dollars an hour, at least for the first kid.  Apparently, if you have to transport the babysitter, you can expect to pay less and the older the babysitter, the more you pay.   I would LOVE to find a sitter, that I can call up whenever I need them... and they come to MY house where my children are comfortable.  Then I wouldn't have to worry about my kids spilling fruit punch on the sitter's carpet or fretting about whether my 3 year old made it to the potty on time. However, my dilemma is.. how in the world do you get past that barrier and let a STRANGER watch your kids for the first time?!