How much should each family pay the baby sitter?

[kdonnel]

When you go to Penny's and buy a shirt do you quote fixed costs in order for the next person in line to pay part of your shirt? When you go the hairstylist and get your haircut do you tell the mother daughter behind you they have to contribute to your haircut because of fixed costs? Absolutely not. You pay for the good or service received. The cost for babysitting was $15. That's $5 each kid. Each family pays for the service received.

I get quoted fixed costs from my power and water company. There is a fixed monthly cost plus my usage. There are fixed costs associated with all goods and services.

As for the stylist, he/she did not cut my hair with their left hand and the mother daughter with their right hand at the same time. Had the stylist managed that, I would like to have had it put on youtube and would ask to split both the haircut and revenue generated by the video be split 50/50.

 

[skyblue17]

I still want more context. Is this happening say, on a daily basis, in lieu of daycare, or like, every fourth Saturday night?

 

[Hikergirl]

Here's another way of looking at this...

What if Family 2 (with one child) is the one who arranged this? So that child is actually child 1. So do you look at it that child 1 pays $12, child 2 pays $0, and child 3 pays $5? So the family with 1 kid pays $12, and the family with 2 kids pays $3.

OR

Family 1 & 2 split the cost of 2 children (so $6 each), then Family 1 pays the cost of the third child ($3).

If it were my family and I had 2 kids, I would expect to pay $10, and my family member with 1 kid pay $5. I would hope to come to an agreement with the other couple that we split the total by the number of kids and we pay for how many kids we have.
However I do not think a 50/50 split is unfair for either couple if that is the what they agree on.
I do think that the couple with one kid only paying $3 is not a fair option at all.

And in the grand scheme of things for me I would just be happy for a night out with adults that I probably would pay the whole amount in order to do that. But I love spending time with my in-laws so there would be no underlying issues like it seems the couples in the OP have.

 

[kdonnel]

I still want more context. Is this happening say, on a daily basis, in lieu of daycare, or like, every fourth Saturday night?

It is a relatively common occurrence for the two families to go out together but rarely do they leave the kids.

 

[skyblue17]

It is a relatively common occurrence for the two families to go out together but rarely do they leave the kids.

Right, I am just curious what the TOTAL difference ends up being, because the amount of time the service is used can add up quickly if it's often, but if it's only a few hours, it's not a significant difference.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

It is a relatively common occurrence for the two families to go out together but rarely do they leave the kids.

Is it a sitter that either or both of the couples has used separately before the night they shared?

 

[smiths02]

I would also take into consideration where the babysitting was occurring.
Whose house is having 3 kids and a babysitter eat the food, etc.?

 

[kdonnel]

Is it a sitter that either or both of the couples has used separately before the night they shared?

I don't know.

 

[kdonnel]

I would also take into consideration where the babysitting was occurring.
Whose house is having 3 kids and a babysitter eat the food, etc.?

In this case it was the 2 kid family.

 

[skyblue17]

Can you let us know how the two couples managed to split a bill at a restaurant if this is a problem? I can only imagine!

 

[smiths02]

In this case it was the 2 kid family.

That makes the family with 1 kid seem really cheap.

If I was the 2 kid family, I wouldn't make it a big deal, but I might not be willing to do it again.

 

[Allison]

2/3
1/3

 

[kdonnel]

Can you let us know how the two couples managed to split a bill at a restaurant if this is a problem? I can only imagine!

To keep that from being an issue when dining with a group we always just get separate checks. Restaurants have never balked at splitting it up, especially if I mention the fact up front.

Otherwise you really run into issues as some people drink, some don't, some want an appetizer, some don't, etc.

 

[skyblue17]

To keep that from being an issue when dining with a group we always just get separate checks. Restaurants have never balked at splitting it up, especially if I mention the fact up front.

Otherwise you really run into issues as some people drink, some don't, some want an appetizer, some don't, etc.

Right, in which case, you pay for what you ordered? But I can see it being a problem here, people trying to figure out how much to tip because someone ordered a burger and someone else ordered pasta and there's a $3 difference, so the percentage of the tip is at least thirty cents, it would ruin Christmas.

 

[kdonnel]

Right, in which case, you pay for what you ordered? But I can see it being a problem here, people trying to figure out how much to tip because someone ordered a burger and someone else ordered pasta and there's a $3 difference, so the percentage of the tip is at least thirty cents, it would ruin Christmas.

We always pay and tip a totally separate bill. Tipping is so personal that is a good reason to always just get separate checks.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

We always pay and tip a totally separate bill. Tipping is so personal that is a good reason to always just get separate checks.

Exactly. It's either all together with one person paying bill and tip or separate checks and separate tips when I go out with people.

 

[sam_gordon]

For the extreme rental option, I could seem coming to some agreement on usage by number of bedrooms but also taking into account the common costs.

How in the blazes do you account for common costs?

Let's again say two families. Family one is using 3 bedrooms (parents and two kids bedrooms, total of 5 people). Family two is using two bedrooms (parents and one kids bedroom, total of 3 people). So there are eight people in the Villa using 5 bedrooms.

Let's say for the week, the rental cost is $1000. For me, it's simple, 1000/8 = 125pp. Family one pays $625 (125*5), Family two pays $375 (125*3).

The villa, in addition to the bedrooms has the following:
* Living room
* Kitchen
* Eating Area
* Game room
* Private Pool

So, how do you split the cost? Do the age of the kids make a difference? A baby won't use the game room, but might make more of a mess.

 

[soccerdad72]

Exactly. It's either all together with one person paying bill and tip or separate checks and separate tips when I go out with people.

There's a third option (which we often do) - give the server a credit card per couple and have them split it evenly on each card. That way, you do separate tips as well.

 

[skyblue17]

There's a third option (which we often do) - give the server a credit card per couple and have them split it evenly on each card. That way, you do separate tips as well.

Yeah, I fail to see why separate checks are needed for separate tips. But I also rarely tip below 20%, nor do any of my friends, so we would just evenly split the tip regardless of the final tab anyway. Because again, it's not a significant difference.

 

[mummabear]

I would have gone with 50/50 because both families would have paid $12 separately.
But of the other person had said to me $5 a kid I would have been ok with that too. $3 is ridiculous and I would make them get their own babysitter if I had to deal with them again.