We just got back from a 2 1/2 week vacation. I asked the 14 yo girl next door to check for packages, collect mail everyday, water plants every other day and bring garbage cans to the street. What is the going rate for this type of service?
I'm a little blown away by the amounts you are recommending. I don't feel that I need to supplement the teen's shopping money, but just compensate her for her time. I asked a few neighbors who suggested $15-$25 (for the entire job). It's about 16 days and 10 minutes per day door to door.
I would say maybe $5.00 a day, just for her time alone.I have a 14 yr old daughter and this is the age when they like go to the mall, movies, mini golfing etc with their friends. It's also a very hard age for them to try and make any money on their own. I think she would be thrilled with $5.00 a day. It will add up nicely for her. Plus it's helping you out and giving her some responsibilty. I think it's great.
We pay our neighbor $20/week to do the same.
Wow, there is a huge range of suggestions here! I'd say, if you're comfortable with giving her $100, or $10 a day - that's alot of money, btw - for 2 1/2 weeks, it's $180.00. Anyway, I'd say if you're comfortable with $100, but are unsure, talk to her parents and see how they feel as well. YOu want to be fair of course, and you want to make it worth her while, give her the incentive to want to do it next time, but $100 is also alot of money for a 14 year old. So, my suggestion is to talk to her parents and get their opinion as well.
Assuming it was all done, I would give up around $40. Since some days were just getting the mail in, and others took more time for the flowers.
Pay her at least $10 per day. This will teach her the value of her time and help her when she goes into the work force by letting her know she is worth getting paid for her time and commitment.
For 2 1/2 weeks, definately $100 or more. That is a long time for someone else to take care of those tasks for you. If you compensate her well, she will likely agree to do it again if you ever need it. If you only give her say $40.00 she may decline in the future. Remember, even though she is only 14, and giving a 14 YO $100 may seem like a lot, but stuff like clothes and going to the movies, etc...is still expensive. $100 to a 14 YO is not the same value it used to be.
I don't know if there is a going rate but we gave a boy who did the same thing for about a week $80 and we thought we were generous. LOL. He apparently was in and out in about fifteen to twenty minutes. He didn't water plants though. He probably wanted more. That's all we could afford at the time and we were not on a fun vacation but taking care of family business outside of town. I would suppose anything over $100 would be generous. It probably took about and hour a day, now that I think of it he watched our cat, too...making sure there was water. For fourteen anything over one hundred would have made my eyes pop. My son got his first job now and makes the 7.25 an hour min. wage at a major grocery store so perhaps think of that as a round about guideline. If you paid her seven dollars an hour it's almost $100 an hour if I did my math right and it was about an hour a day for fourteen days. Of course I could sound cheap or generous depending on your finances.
Assuming everything was done correctly, $50 sounds about right for 2-1/2 weeks. I would not give her any more than that though. Realistically, she probably only did about one and a half hour's worth of work so $50 is more than generous.
$50.00 sounds good, IF she did a good job.
