Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

The Summer Sitter Search is On (And a Contest For Your Favorite Sitter!)

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This post contains affiliate links which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and make a purchase. I only recommend services I personally use, as always! 

We have a wonderful babysitter who is a college student here in town, and she is heading back home for the summer in just a week! ACK!!! So the search is on for someone to help with the girls once a week. I’m looking to Sittercity to help me find a qualified and reliable placement. It’s a service I have used before, and one that I would recommend!

I hope for your sake that you have a regular babysitter, and that s/he isn’t leaving you for the summer! If you DO have someone who helps you out and who you think must surely be among the best sitters around, then you need to listen up! Sittercity is hosting the 2nd Annual Sittercity America’s Top Sitter Contest!

Sittercity's America's Top Sitter Contest

Now through May 2nd you can nominate your sitter by uploading a picture of them. Then submit information about just what makes your sitter amazing and irreplaceable! A panel of experts will choose 10 finalists. From there, Sittercity’s Facebook community will select the winner (and the winner gets $5,000! Talk about a babysitting bonus!!!).

Remember, submissions are only accepted until May 2nd, and the voting period for the top 10 runs from May 13-19.

If your sitter has what it takes to be the next America’s Top Sitter, then nominate them today! Sittercity’s America’s Top Sitter: Nominate Your Sitter Today, deadline: May 2, 2014

And if you ARE currently looking for a sitter, don’t worry! Sittercity’s got you covered. I’ve even got a discount for you!
April Monthly Coupon Code Banner 600x300

More Reasons to Join SittersSearch.com

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A few weeks back, I highlighted a very cool (and FREE!) online resource to help you find quality babysitting help. It’s called SittersSearch.com, and if you missed my first post, take a minute to check it out.

In addition to the great features of this babysitter finder that I highlighted originally, I wanted to take a moment to show you some additional aspects of SittersSearch.com that might make you want to get signed up if you haven’t already.

First, I want to highlight the safety and security of SittersSearch.com. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and when a service is free, you can’t really expect much in the way of keeping the information you hand over secure. That’s not the case with this website. When you are ready to reach out to a prospective sitter, SittersSearch sends them a message on your behalf that contains your message to the person, and your email address. You won’t get the sitters email address unless they want to respond back. The same is true for when a prospective sitter reaches out to you to express interest in working with you. In other words, your contact information is not immediately accessible to anyone who joins the site. There’s an additional step for added security, and I really like that.

The second great feature I’d like to highlight is the Advanced Search that SittersSearch.com offers. This can help you very quickly narrow down a list of potential candidates based on your particular needs. Perhaps you are looking for a sitter who is willing to prepare dinner for your kids. You can narrow your search to only those who state a willingness to do so! Or, perhaps you would really like to give your child additional access to a second language (my sister-in-law, for example, is placing her child in a french only pre-school for this reason). You can narrow your search by languages spoken and you just might find the perfect sitter who also speaks another language of interest to you! The advanced search can also be used to narrow down the level of work that you have to offer. There’s no need to interview someone who is looking for a full-time position if you only need help 10 hours each week, after all. Don’t get to the interview stage before you realize that you and the care giver have such different needs!

SittersSearch.com is a really remarkable sitter service because it is comprehensive, safe and totally free. That means you have more money leftover to spend on a quality childcare provider. Everybody wins! What the website really needs is more people to start taking advantage of it! Hop on and fill out a profile if you are looking for some extra help, or if you’d like to provide some extra help to families with children. You won’t regret it!

This post is brought to you by SittersSearch.com. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

How I Found the Right Babysitter for the Right Price

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Tim and I have been saying for months now that we need to find a babysitter. We’ve actually been saying it since we first moved to Chattanooga, but have really been feeling a sense of urgency about it for about 2 months. We realized that the only time we were going out on non-lunch dates was when we had family in visiting from out of state. It seems sort of silly that someone has to fly in or drive 6 hours in order for us to feel comfortable having dinner together!

So we started asking around. We still don’t know a whole lot of people in the city, and many of the people we know don’t live in our neighborhood…or even anywhere remotely close. There’s just no sense in getting the number of a great babysitter who lives 30 minutes away from us. It’s just not worth her drive, especially not for what we can pay!

A few weeks ago, I signed up for Sittercity, a website that helps connect people who want to babysit, nanny, or even help around the house with people looking to hire them. I’ve been thinking about doing this for over a year now, and finally took the leap.

I’m so glad I did!

In addition to being able to search for sitters based on your location, you can also post a specific job opportunity, and then interested parties can apply for the job. This is the route I chose to take because I am looking for something very specific: once a week babysitting at my house, for 3 1/2 hours, and the pay is on the low end ($8/hour). I wanted to be very up front about what I needed so that only people who knew what I wanted and were still interested would apply. I got 6 applications in just a few days time! Two of my applicants had background checks on file, which was really awesome. I set up two trial run babysitting appointments with my top two picks.

So basically, thanks to Sittercity, the wheels are in motion and I will soon have some help for the summer. I will also forge a relationship with a wonderful young lady in the area who could do occasional weekend babysitting for us during the school year, as well. To say I’m thankful for this service is an understatement!

I’m actually very strongly considering posting another job opportunity for once a week housework help. When we lived in Memphis I had a college student come over for 2 hours, once a week and do all our vacuuming and clean the bathrooms. It was the best $20 I ever spent, and even though money is really tight, I think that if I can outsource that work, I can do more with this blog and hopefully make up for the money spent and then some!

If you are interested in offering babysitting, pet sitting or house help, signing up for Sittercity is completely free! If you are looking for this help, Sittercity is offering a free 7 day trial. You can sign up for one month for $35 (totally worth that to find someone you can count on for the next year or so!) or you can sign on for a whole year for $140, which is less than $12/month!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up, I make a small commission. But I’ve tried it myself, and am only recommending it to you because I know from experience what a valuable resource it is!

How Do I Find a Babysitter?

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Have you heard about Sittercity? I’m mulling over joining, and I’m curious to hear if anyone who reads this blogs has tried it yet.
Don’t know what it is? Sittercity is America’s largest and most trusted site for matching parents with local babysitters and nannies as well as pet sitters, senior care providers and tutors. Basically, people with sitting experience of various types create profiles where they list their age, experience level, education, expected pay for service, references, a photo and some information about themselves. They also note if a sitter has completed a background check!

You can go to the website and type in your zip code to see who in your area is registered. Being able to contact the people of interest to you does require that you become a member. Membership is $99 annually. You can also pay by the month, but there’s a $35 sign up fee if you go that route, so the annual membership is the deal.

I’m really tempted to give this a try because you can try it out for FREE for 7 days. I think that’s awesome! You never know…you might just find your perfect babysitter during your free trial week! 🙂

Please let me know if you decide to give it a try! I think I might take the leap. Now I just have to think about where Tim and I would go on a date if we hired a sitter!

Also be sure to check out their pay calculator. This is helpful for me, because I REALLY wish I could find an amazing babysitter who liked to be paid with chocolate chip cookies and hugs! Turns out, they need $10/hour MINIMUM in Memphis. Drats.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.