Housesitting/Petsitting payments?

[Sandi]

This is a bit off topic, but I thought someone on this board would be able to help me. At the end of October we'll be staying at WL for 7 days. (So far, on topic.) When we've done such trips in the past, we've been fortunate in that my MIL and FIL would stop by to check on the house and our cat while we were gone.

We moved in the last year and now need to enlist different help. I have a 20-something cousin who is delighted to stay at our house and take care of our cat. I want to pay her but I don't know what's appropriate. She did a weekend for us earlier this year and I gave her a couple nice lotions, but I think she could use money.

Any ideas of what's reasonable? Thanks.

 

[spiceycat]

$20 per night was the going rate last time I check for pet-sitters - so anywhere from $10 to $20 per night would probably be fine.

 

[NTDIANE]

USUALLY MY FATHER COMES BY EVERY DAY TO FEED MY CATS, A COUPLE OF TIME MY PARENTS CAME ON VACATION WITH US, SO A LADY I USED TO WORK WITH, CAME OVER EVERY OTHER DAY TO FEED, CHANGE THE WATER AND CLEAN THE BOX, SHE CAME 3 TIMES. I GAVE
HER $60.00.

 

[dizneykid]

hi,

we pay about $11 per visit for our little dog, Dixie. we usually have our petsitter come over at least two times, once in the morning and once at night. so probably $20 a day would be just fine.

 

[mja451]

We're going twice as long this year, paying a housesitter petsitter. Actually someone just out of college, will be teaching at our school next year. I think it works out to about $20 a day. I'll probably get her a little gift too, while we're at Disney. Our dog doesn't board very well, and now she's getting old, so this is actually easier and much more peace of mind. So far I've been able to find somone pretty trustworthy 2 years in a row.

 

[DMRick]

We pay $7 a day to someone who lives about a mile away to come and feed the cat once a day. She doesn't have to change the kitty litter or do anything else. Just put some wet food down, make sure the dry is full (and water), and pet her. She says I overpay her.

 

[DVC-Don]

We are paying a young lady who works for us $20 a day to stay here and take care of our dog and cat. We will also stock the fridge prior to leaving and bring back a gift. She also gets use of the inground pool.

 

[ducklite]

I pay $35 a day for a pet sitter. She comes in twice a day--in the morning primarily to give medications, and in the evening she scoops the litter pans and give meds, fills food, changes water.

She also brings in the mail, takes out garbage/recycling buckets and brings them back in, and brings in any packages which might arrive.

Because we use her 5-10 times a year for 1-15 days at a time, I also give her a "bonus" at Christmas time.

Anne

 

[Jeanny]

gee, I petsit for some friends---- their dog and 4 cats... I go up there 3--4 times a day...They usually get me a sweatshirt and my daughter a t-shirt from wherever they've gone for vacation....but then again, we do get free tanning all year long...They're hair dressers (or hair stylists... whichever is PC) and have a tanning bed in another room!! so I can go once a day or once a week or whenever I want.....

 

[>>^..^<<]

I have a neigbour who will come three times a week (Monday/Wed/Friday) visit with my 2 cats, feed them, pet them, scoop the litter.

I pay 50.00 a week and always bring them a nice souvenier ($25-50.00) from wherever we go.


>>^..^<<

 

[mja451]

The young lady who is housesitting for us is staying at the house, not coming and going. Has use of all amenities etc.

 

[DMRick]

The young lady who is housesitting for us is staying at the house, not coming and going. Has use of all amenities etc.

Unless she didn't have another place to live, I wouldn't think the amenities would matter much. I would pay more for a live in sitter...for the inconvenience of having to stay over. I know a sleep over babysitter costs a lot more than one you take home at night in my area.

 

[ducklite]

Agreed DMRick. When we need to have an adult stay with our DS (now 17 and it's more a "supervisory" capacity than a "sitter") we pay $50 for the over night person (no daycare needed) and $35 to the pet sitter--gets a tad expensive, so we do'nt do that often...

Anne

 

[julfre]

My pet sitter was $11 for the firt visit of the day, 9 for a second and 7 for a third- this is for 2 dogs. She would then give me a 5% discount for repeat customer. So it worked out to be about $25/day for 3 visits per day. She would also get your mail if you wanted.

 

[The Duchess]

Last October we paid our dog/catsitter $12 a visit X 2 visits a day for our one very old dog and two cats. We drove to Disney, so it was a total of about $280 dollars. I gave them an extra $70 dollars because they were great. They emailed us every couple of days and kept a log of every visit.
We're now paying the same sitter to check on our puppy once a day on the days we both work. (Our very old dog died at Christmas.)

 

[GladysK]

Originally posted by ducklite
Agreed DMRick. When we need to have an adult stay with our DS (now 17 and it's more a "supervisory" capacity than a "sitter") we pay $50 for the over night person (no daycare needed) and $35 to the pet sitter--gets a tad expensive, so we do'nt do that often...

Anne

When we go away- overnight- my 18 year old stays "Home Alone" and HE is responsible for feeding the animals.

 

[DMRick]

When we go away- overnight- my 18 year old stays "Home Alone"

We did that nine years ago..and how surprised was I to find out that my well behaved, A student, college bound "child" had his first (or at least the first detectable) party sans parents!

How did we find out? He did not take advantage of the "restore service" offered by other teens, where they come and video tape your house, remove anything breakable, and then come back the next day and put it all to rights. If he had paid the $100, I prob never would have known LOL!

We then made him vacation with us until he left for college, and paid a cat sitter.

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by GladysK
When we go away- overnight- my 18 year old stays "Home Alone" and HE is responsible for feeding the animals.

Gladys--Glad that your 18 year old can be left home alone. My 17 year old can not. He doesn't drive. He couldn't authorize medical treatment in an emergency. He is still in high scool. And he has disabilities that make leaving him home alone for more than an evening not possible. So leaving him home alone for several days, or even one night is not an option. And I certainly wouldn't expect him to take care of my animals on top of that.

Anne

 

[JackSpratsMom]

We pay $10/day for one visit of $15/day for 2 visits to feed the cat, clean the litter, bring in the mail, water the plants etc.

 

[eeyoreforever]

Oh my gosh! I'd be rich if I charged my neighbor for watching his house and taking care of his dog. I bring in the mail and the newspapers and have taken out trash for him as well. We must have a really friendly street because we do this sort of thing for each other and don't expect to be paid. Do any of you have someone trustworthy that you can do favors for each other like this? I would never dream of accepting money for doing this. I guess if you didn't know anyone to ask, you would have no choice but to pay someone. Recently my different neighbor asked if my daughter could feed and play withhis dog while he was gone and he wanted to pay her (just so she could have some spending $$ for Disney), but I told him not more than $2/day. As it turned out though, we will be gone at the same time as him.