(With a nod of thanks to my excellent brother, who rocked my crying son for a whole 30 minutes last week. That Miss. M. of yours is one lucky girl.)
My frugal tip this Friday is how to get a babysitter for less than the going rate: hire him or her for after the kiddos are in bed, and then offer him the amenities of your house.
This works best with students from your local college. If your husband works at a university (mine does, in the IT department), this'll be a little easier. But if not, get to know the college students at your church. You're sure to find one who could use A) a quiet place to study and B) free access to a washer and dryer.
Basically, you get your dorm-living sitter to show up after the kiddos are asleep, and then you go out with your husband for a one or two hour date. You can pay less because hopefully the sitter won't be doing any actual interaction with the kids; she'll basically just be there in case of emergencies. You get to go out, and the sitter gets to do nothing more than sit back and study in your living room, just keeping an ear out in case someone needs to be rocked or have a pacifier put back in. You can also sweeten the deal by letting the sitter do her laundry at your house: I have a friend who got a sitter for free this way. She babysat in exchange for laundry priveleges (doing laundry at a dorm can be really expensive!)
You can also point out to your sitter that your home is much quieter than the dorm, or that you have great snacks in the fridge.
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
No comments:
Post a Comment