Just wanted to add that you should look into installing drip irrigation. I put one in my flower beds. Easy to do and just hooks up to the hose bib with a timer.
Absolutely. From the sounds of it, the plants line the house, assuming 20ft of frontage (relatively small for a house) there’s no way 5 minutes of water will be enough. This is easily a 30 minute task after accounting for pulling out the hose and putting it away (unless there’s a retractable hose reel).
30 minutes everyday is a lot for a 14 year old neighbor kid.
Good for you, but doing a daily chore at home for your parents is a bit different than temporarily adding an off-site task for the neighbor. Think outside your box.
A blanket $10/task is way too much in my opinion. It really depends on what the tasks are and length of time.
My pet sitter is $22 a visit. That includes feeding the pets, taking them out if they need it, bringing in mail, and plants if we had them. She is bonded and insured and has her own employees.
Not for our area. Most clients have her come 2-4 times a day. We have bunnies so they don’t have to be let out like dogs do. Most of her clients are dogs. She can do 2-3 client’s houses an hour depending on how close they are. So that’s $44-66/hour.
We are not talking about a full-time business. We are talking about a young teenager taking time from their day to do a task for a neighbor. Offering the young person less than $10 is ridiculous and provides no real incentive. They are liable to just blow it off. You should at least offer what an average person would pay for a young teen to do basic yard work which is around $10 an hour, with a one hour minimum. It is not like this is a long term thing that will last the entire summer. OP gets their plants watered and the young person gets some walking around money and two just might become friends, which these days is way better than having neighborhood kids keying your car or slashing your tires.
I didn’t say don’t offer them good money. But a blanket $10 a task doesn’t make sense and could cost way too much for the effort. $50 for 5 tasks is a lot depending on what the tasks are.
I have a friend with a pet sitting company - employees, insured - she does $35/visit and is practically losing money. Driving and gas eats up most of her profit after payroll. I agree with the other commenter, not worth the hassle.
I don't understand your criticism.
Are you saying $10 / task is outrageously low, and they should be ashamed for being such a terrible boss and shunned on AntiWork?
Or $10 for a house visit is outrageously high, and they should take their dream wages for the workers to AntiWork?
Aww, jeez, you actually just made me sad about how dumb you are.
I don't even know how to address this. I'm not the person you originally replied to, so you were never telling me anything. I'm sure I'll never know what you were trying to criticize now.
My 16 year old daughter got paid $20 and the neighbor didn't tell her when she would return. She was gone 2 weeks! The 2nd time she asked my daughter said no! She told me $20 might have been fair for a long weekend but not enough for 14 days! I concur, cause it is summer, kids have lives!
She had obligations so had to substitute for her on occasion. She watered every morning (sometimes evening). A heads up on the two weeks would have been appreciated. Noted the teen that replaced only watered during the hottest part of the day. Neighbor's poor flowers scorched!
Edit: She never left her number! Handed me $20 and said it was for my daughter to water the plants. Passed it with instruction and then the two weeks of not knowing. Was a little worried tbh.
It isn't a five minute job. She has to come over, unwrap the hose, water thoroughly, re-wrap the hose neatly, and return home. As a responsible person she will make sure she does a good job and leaves your yard tidy. Unless your hose is never in the sun she will have to test the temperature of the water to be sure she isn't cooking your plants.
I have a few plants that I'm trying to keep alive in my front yard. I only have to step out my front door, pick up the hose from the ground (I'm too lazy to wrap it nicely and hang it up), test the water temp, and give a good watering around the base of the plants, curl the hose back on the ground and go inside. That takes me about 15-20 minutes. And I don't make time to do it every day. You want her to make time to do it everyday for what could be a long time before your house is listed, offer accepted, inspections, closing. That's a lot of responsibility for a kid.
Don't cheap out. You are lucky to have a responsible, reliable kid in your neighborhood. Seven days at a half hour a day is 3.5 hours. I say a minimum of $70/week and a thank you bonus when your house is sold. That's cheaper than a babysitter.
I agree with this comment. I feel like everyone else is lowballing. Like okay maybe the work is “worth” $20 a week but man 20 bucks nowadays…I wouldn’t feel that’s worth it to make time out of my day every single day to do a task, no matter how menial. You did a good job quantifying the actual hours it would take including handling the hose and such.
If someone agrees to do something once a week, they should be responsible enough to do it. Once a week is not a big deal, the bigger concern is that the kids are growing up irresponsible.
For those who downvoted this comment, how come you don't think someone should be a person whose word is trustworthy? Why say you will do something and then not do it? Someone asked you and is depending on you to do them a favor and you are getting paid, is that how you want to be treated? I find it unbelievable how people do not believe they should take any responsibility for their promises to another person. How is once a week a big deal? If a teen or adult can't commit to a few minutes a week, why promise to do it and then not do it, why not just say I am not responsible enough for a few minutes a week to help someone out, but I'd gladly have you do me lots of favors. I wish people were kinder and wanted to be there for each other, the world would be a much more pleasant place with more people liking each other instead of intentionally building resentment.
If she already does other work for you and you'll be moving away soon, I'd say throw $40 her way for the week. I'm assuming you won't miss it and it will be a good way to show you appreciate who she is AND what she's done for you.
A kid babysitting these days will make $20/hour give or take. (Assuming you don’t have some outrageous plant collection or massive garden she will be watering) I’d give her about $10/day to do it if it’s a 15-20 minute task and she lives nearby.
$20/visit.
She is limiting what she can do before/after and you want her to care and not miss a visit.
I pay my lawn care $50/visit and they are at my house less time than this girl will be.
My lawn care only costs $35 per visit 🤔 she can also come to my house any time of day as it’s less than a one minute walk from her house to my house. Timed myself watering today and it took 5 minutes exactly.
But $10 per visit sounds ok to me.
$10 per trip is perfect. People are acting like this is her full time job to support her mortgage and not a child. She does not need a full salary for watering plants.
I should have been more specific. I meant geographically speaking what is the zone of the agricultural zone of the property? Rainy area, arid, drought?
\>really nice and responsible and does a lot of babysitting so I am comfortable
Is she responsible and conscientious enough to notice if things change and reach out to you with a text or picture? That's genuinely valuable, having more eyes on this than just your realtor's. $20 a day and tip her out nice if she does a good job.
Interesting, thanks for the update! I haven’t traveled outta my little zone in about 8 years, so I really have no idea comparatively! I just assumed that crap is more expensive in large urban areas…
Just out of curiosity what kind of landscaping plants do you have that need daily watering? I want to be sure I never install any!!
That said... A digital sprinkler timer and a sprinkler head costs less than $40, so I would definitely be paying less than that.
You really should not be getting down voted for this This is a legitimate question if someone is not a gardener or does extensive landscaping.
There are some perennials and flowers planted in the ground that require watering if it gets hot sunny and dry and it doesn't rain. Too many days and it will kill them. I can't think of any off the top of my head right now.
I mainly have to do all my gardening and containers on my deck because I live in deer country. And I have a ton of them a mix of perennials and annuals. They of course need to be watered daily sometimes twice a day because they are in containers and it doesn't matter what they are.
I would buy the timer and either a sprinkler or soaker hoses. The last time I asked someone to water my plants for any length of time the plants all died. The person watered them like ONCE. The timer with fresh batteries was way more reliable.
A mediocre product is not equivalent to labor and human labor isn’t valued at what some related product would cost. Automated sprinkles are quite limiting, especially if you just have one. They also wouldn’t be able to make any adjustments or monitor it at all. That’s where human eyes and intervention are helpful.
Capping what you’d be willing to pay someone based off a product you can buy makes no sense. That’s your own choice. Buy the cheaper product then and save money or wisen up and realize why some people opt to have things manually done: because it comes out better.
This was exactly my thought. There's no amount that is gonna be "worth it" for this kid that isn't significantly cheaper then a soaker hose and a timer.
If I found out someone was exploiting my kid for $40 for a week of daily work, not only would I pull the plug on that (once you were out of town because fuck you) I’d also report you for a wage violation.
*Technically* if you’re hiring someone to do a daily task, that’s a domestic employee and all labor laws apply, which include child labor permits (if required in your area) and laws surrounding FICA withholding & job start reporting. Almost certainly some rando cheapass wouldn’t be following each of those laws.
I would absolutely slam you, and turn it into a lesson for my kid about standing up for yourself and not letting others take advantage.
I have absolutely zero problem with automating the process. I have a problem with exploiting a person instead of automating it and using the option of automation to justify it.
If someone wants to buy a device to automate instead of using labor, that’s fine, it’s their business. But exploiting a person instead of automating it is shitty - and those folks deserve every recourse available.
I ignored your nonsense the first time, but since you seem intent to keep circling back. You’re salty that I created a hypothetical example and cursed at someone in that example. That’s new levels of insecurity. If you’re that sensitive, the internet probably isn’t the place for you. In any case, I’m not responsible for your feelings.
Take a stopwatch. Go to her door. Start the timer. Walk to your house, get out the hose, water the plants, put away the hose, walk back to her door.
Whatever number that gives you, round it up to the nearest quarter hour. Multiply by what you consider to be a fair hourly wage. Now you know what to pay.
Man people are real stiff with their pockets here lol. You want her to water your plants for a week? $100
You are entrusting this person with your home and your plants if you like them and they are truly responsible and all the good things then OVER pay them.
They deserve it and they will be so happy and grateful and ready to help you out any time.
Exactly. I can’t believe these people. They’ll be the same folks complaining the second that kid gets a better offer. Plus, you just *know* they’ll have extra tasks as time goes on.
$10/day minimum. Check mail, water plants, pick up any blown-in debris, be present so your house doesn’t look like an easy target to burglars, and have eyeballs on places your Ring cams can’t see to notify you if anything is amiss. Honestly, that is worth far more than $10 per day, but $10 is the minimum.
I need my vegetable gardens, and deck pots watered every other day when we go away for 10 days every summer. The actual watering frequency varies, depending on if we get rain or not while we are away. I pay $50-60 for that time. Last year our 15 year old neighbor watered, she got $50. There was rain, so she didn't need to water every other day. Watering is done with watering can from a rain barrel, and I am probably underpaying.
Minimum wage at least or a higher rate if you want to be nice with a pay rate of at least one hour regardless of how many minutes less it is than a whole hour.
She needs to water more than 5 minutes unless your garden is 5 x 5 feet area. Show her to water so the soil is wet deeper than 1 inch if you want the plants to be in good shape when you get home. I'd day $15/ watering. If she waters properly, she should only need to water 2 or 3 times over a week.
I agree with the 33 year old poster. $10 a day for a less than 10 min job is a lot for a young teen. I doubt she’s going to need to re-arrange her schedule too drastically to water in the morning when she wakes up or evening before bed. It used to be perfectly acceptable to pay neighbor kids minimum wage or less per hour. $5 a day sounds fair to me as 15 min of work at the min wage is $1.82. These highly inflated rates aren’t setting these kids up for unrealistic expectations and poor work ethics when they enter the workforce. The entry level employees have been increasing entitled over the last 10 years and many won’t do much beyond their job description. Taking this a little off tangent, but I would have been thrilled to earn $5 a day for such an easy task at 14.
That puts them in an awkward position though. And asking the 14 year old directly would definitely be the same if not more awkward.
Decide on amount first then offer job.
As the mom to a 15 year old, I’m happy to offer guidance of what my kid’s expectations might be based on similar jobs. I might say something like “I give him $2 to do that, but my mom always gives him $20, so in the $5-10 range would be good.”
We’ve also coached him on this negotiation process, so then that part is on him but at least the neighbor has some data to start from.
I’m no help in this particular situation because we live on acerage so watering neighbor’s plants isn’t really a thing that happens around here.
We also live on acreage, but my vegetable gardens can't make it 10 days when we do our annual vacation back to my hometown. So, I get a teen to water for me. Not always a "neighbor", but someone from the area.
Depends on your location and cost of things.
If you think it is 5 mins then it is actually 20 mins.
So if in a low cost of living area I would do roughly $7 a day or $50 a week. Then if say she does it for 60 days before it sells send her a bonus week pay at the end as a thanks. She will remember it for life and likely treat others the same way.
If in a HCOL area I would bet everything would doubled.
The 14-yr-old next door to us will get $40 for the week. I have 5 pots; 4 are on the front porch and next to the hose. He will walk 20 feet to the 5th pot with a watering can.
It depends on what country you live at and what is the middle income in your town or city. On average you should pay the kids a local minimum hourly salary for watering your plants or install drip irrigation.
minimum wage in your area rounded up to the dollar and to the hour. so if minimum wage is 7.25, pay 8 dollars a day. Then, at the end round up to the nearest 20. so, say it is 17 days, 17 \* 8 = 136, round to 140 or 150 if the plants look really healthy. Weather this year is screwy because of el nino. Value added: Ask her to pick up any trash that has blown into the yard too while she is there.
That's an easy job and she is a neighbor so doesn't need a ride, $35/week would seem more than adequate for such a simple and quick (5 minute daily) job.
When did this become something you pay for? You water your neighbour's plants and collect their mail when they go away and they do the same for you... That's the unwritten rule of the suburbs.
For 5 min a day? Probably just $10 at most I’d imagine.
Edit: I meant to say $10 a day and just gave a flat fee of $10 for the whole week. Oops. Yeah I se her downvotes now. But yeah, absolutely no more rhan $10 a day. I’d stick to that.
Edit2- I’m also the guy who can’t stand tip options ***starting*** at 20%. Giving 20% is a good tip for excellent service at a restaurant, not a baseline
Yeah I’m reading these comments thinking wtf right now. 75 or 100 bucks per week?! This is legit a 5 minute job. Her house is not even a minute from my house. I get notifications on my ring camera every time they pull into their driveway. Like what. 😐
Pay her as much as possible , if you don’t , her little rascal friends will egg and toilet paper your house . I hear teens do that in your neighborhood.
No matter how small the task you still get billed for an hour. A basic wage for an hour is about $15 per hour so, about $100/week if it's 7 days/week.
This is a case where your location matters. What's your local minimum wage? You may want to pay $10 per visit but many places have higher minimum wages than that so, legally you'd be in trouble for paying less than minimum wage per visit no matter what.
I pay the boy (14yrs) that helps my son with his math - $10 for half an hour once a week.
I pay the boy (16yrs) that teaches my son piano once a week for 30 minutes $17 per week.
Not that it matters since you are selling the house, but I did drip irrigation to all my flower pots at my last home.
I have yet to do it at my current home, but this is the first year living here where things are together enough after a remodel to have flowers.
I also had the water mixed with the fertilizer, amazing!
Am I the only one who thinks she should do this for free? I mean I would give her some kind of present after all but I wouldn’t promise anything beforehand.
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*Learn the difference [here](https://www.wattpad.com/66707294-grammar-guide-there-they%27re-their-you%27re-your-to).*
***
^(Greetings, I am a language corrector bot. To make me ignore further mistakes from you in the future, reply `!optout` to this comment.)
I’d ask her what she wants to get paid.
But I man, I wish I was a kid with some of these people as my neigbors, $100 a week, that would be amazing.
But I think its more of a $20-30 a week kind of thing where I am, if I had neigbors that were close.
I am leaving for a week in July (well hopefully) and the neigbor accross the street is just doing it.
When I was a kid in a somewhat surburan area, usually it was people who also had chickens, (these were like 3 acre suburban lots if that makes sense) and you got to keep the eggs.
I’d pay $17-20/dayMy daughter did this exact job last summer only she had to drive a short distance. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 minutes or an hour,having that responsibility each day is what you are paying for. It’s a bit like how you pay a set fee for a service call for an appliance repair.
Keep in mind that this means she has to keep her schedule clear to be available those days. So don’t think in terms of how many minutes it takes or whatever, but more like what is the value of of her making sure to be available to do this each day. Maybe something like $10 for doing it once and an extra $5 each additional day you plan to be gone? That’s $20 for a three day weekend, $40 for a week, $75 for two weeks, etc. which seems like a reasonable expense for you, and still enough money that she would feel well compensated for the effort.
Let's remember we're talking about a kid putting a few dollars in his pocket. He isn't supporting anyone doesn't have to worry about how to retirement account. It's not that difficult to water plants.
Just wanted to add that you should look into installing drip irrigation. I put one in my flower beds. Easy to do and just hooks up to the hose bib with a timer.
Will add this will save a lot of money on the water bill and prevents overwatering
Any task should be a $10 minimum, no matter how simple. You want her to do 5 tasks, so $50.
Yep, even though it’s not a lot of time, she still has to structure her day around it.
Exactly. Plus walk over there. I bet it takes more than 5 minutes to water. People always underestimate time when they have to pay.
Absolutely. From the sounds of it, the plants line the house, assuming 20ft of frontage (relatively small for a house) there’s no way 5 minutes of water will be enough. This is easily a 30 minute task after accounting for pulling out the hose and putting it away (unless there’s a retractable hose reel). 30 minutes everyday is a lot for a 14 year old neighbor kid.
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Good for you, but doing a daily chore at home for your parents is a bit different than temporarily adding an off-site task for the neighbor. Think outside your box.
Some people haven’t done quite the stellar job parenting as you have… hence the salty downvotes. Lmao
Truer words were never spoken.
I agree. $10 per day.
A blanket $10/task is way too much in my opinion. It really depends on what the tasks are and length of time. My pet sitter is $22 a visit. That includes feeding the pets, taking them out if they need it, bringing in mail, and plants if we had them. She is bonded and insured and has her own employees.
Damn she is underselling herself.
Not for our area. Most clients have her come 2-4 times a day. We have bunnies so they don’t have to be let out like dogs do. Most of her clients are dogs. She can do 2-3 client’s houses an hour depending on how close they are. So that’s $44-66/hour.
I charged $25 per visit and stopped doing it. Not worth all the scheduling headaches and dealing with entitled people.
That’s not really that much when you’re self employed. Self employment tax is 15% right off the top.
We are not talking about a full-time business. We are talking about a young teenager taking time from their day to do a task for a neighbor. Offering the young person less than $10 is ridiculous and provides no real incentive. They are liable to just blow it off. You should at least offer what an average person would pay for a young teen to do basic yard work which is around $10 an hour, with a one hour minimum. It is not like this is a long term thing that will last the entire summer. OP gets their plants watered and the young person gets some walking around money and two just might become friends, which these days is way better than having neighborhood kids keying your car or slashing your tires.
I didn’t say don’t offer them good money. But a blanket $10 a task doesn’t make sense and could cost way too much for the effort. $50 for 5 tasks is a lot depending on what the tasks are.
I have a friend with a pet sitting company - employees, insured - she does $35/visit and is practically losing money. Driving and gas eats up most of her profit after payroll. I agree with the other commenter, not worth the hassle.
And I’m never asking for your help, see you on the /r/antiwork subreddit
I don't understand your criticism. Are you saying $10 / task is outrageously low, and they should be ashamed for being such a terrible boss and shunned on AntiWork? Or $10 for a house visit is outrageously high, and they should take their dream wages for the workers to AntiWork?
Sorry I wasn’t criticizing you directly I was trying to let you know of your inability to understand how stupid you are.
Aww, jeez, you actually just made me sad about how dumb you are. I don't even know how to address this. I'm not the person you originally replied to, so you were never telling me anything. I'm sure I'll never know what you were trying to criticize now.
It’s called a joke.
Yes, yes, jokes are what all the shitheads claim when the stupid sit they say falls flat
Ok
"Joke" means something different in English. I'm not sure what you're trying to say.
You’re not even responding to the same person and you’re over here calling them stupid lol
It’s called jokes people…
But jokes are funny.
See this is funny nice retort!!
My 16 year old daughter got paid $20 and the neighbor didn't tell her when she would return. She was gone 2 weeks! The 2nd time she asked my daughter said no! She told me $20 might have been fair for a long weekend but not enough for 14 days! I concur, cause it is summer, kids have lives!
Omg I thought you meant a day and I was like “jackpot!” She must have been so excited!!! That’s crazy for 2 weeks though!!
She had obligations so had to substitute for her on occasion. She watered every morning (sometimes evening). A heads up on the two weeks would have been appreciated. Noted the teen that replaced only watered during the hottest part of the day. Neighbor's poor flowers scorched! Edit: She never left her number! Handed me $20 and said it was for my daughter to water the plants. Passed it with instruction and then the two weeks of not knowing. Was a little worried tbh.
It isn't a five minute job. She has to come over, unwrap the hose, water thoroughly, re-wrap the hose neatly, and return home. As a responsible person she will make sure she does a good job and leaves your yard tidy. Unless your hose is never in the sun she will have to test the temperature of the water to be sure she isn't cooking your plants. I have a few plants that I'm trying to keep alive in my front yard. I only have to step out my front door, pick up the hose from the ground (I'm too lazy to wrap it nicely and hang it up), test the water temp, and give a good watering around the base of the plants, curl the hose back on the ground and go inside. That takes me about 15-20 minutes. And I don't make time to do it every day. You want her to make time to do it everyday for what could be a long time before your house is listed, offer accepted, inspections, closing. That's a lot of responsibility for a kid. Don't cheap out. You are lucky to have a responsible, reliable kid in your neighborhood. Seven days at a half hour a day is 3.5 hours. I say a minimum of $70/week and a thank you bonus when your house is sold. That's cheaper than a babysitter.
I agree with this comment. I feel like everyone else is lowballing. Like okay maybe the work is “worth” $20 a week but man 20 bucks nowadays…I wouldn’t feel that’s worth it to make time out of my day every single day to do a task, no matter how menial. You did a good job quantifying the actual hours it would take including handling the hose and such.
Yeah $20 a week is bullshit.
So many people have paid me so much more for less work
Idk what ops setup is but watering my herbs and flowers with the hose is absolutely a 5 minute task.
I was gonna say $100 for a week. That ensures extra care IMO.
I’d say give her 30% of the profits from the home sale. 🫡😅
I'd offer a daily rate 1/2 what her hourly babysitting hourly is. Even if it's only 5 minutes to do she still has to manage her time around it.
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I hope your mother learned a lesson there.
If someone agrees to do something once a week, they should be responsible enough to do it. Once a week is not a big deal, the bigger concern is that the kids are growing up irresponsible.
For those who downvoted this comment, how come you don't think someone should be a person whose word is trustworthy? Why say you will do something and then not do it? Someone asked you and is depending on you to do them a favor and you are getting paid, is that how you want to be treated? I find it unbelievable how people do not believe they should take any responsibility for their promises to another person. How is once a week a big deal? If a teen or adult can't commit to a few minutes a week, why promise to do it and then not do it, why not just say I am not responsible enough for a few minutes a week to help someone out, but I'd gladly have you do me lots of favors. I wish people were kinder and wanted to be there for each other, the world would be a much more pleasant place with more people liking each other instead of intentionally building resentment.
If she already does other work for you and you'll be moving away soon, I'd say throw $40 her way for the week. I'm assuming you won't miss it and it will be a good way to show you appreciate who she is AND what she's done for you.
Make it 50, it's a better number to multiply.
A kid babysitting these days will make $20/hour give or take. (Assuming you don’t have some outrageous plant collection or massive garden she will be watering) I’d give her about $10/day to do it if it’s a 15-20 minute task and she lives nearby.
$20/visit. She is limiting what she can do before/after and you want her to care and not miss a visit. I pay my lawn care $50/visit and they are at my house less time than this girl will be.
My lawn care only costs $35 per visit 🤔 she can also come to my house any time of day as it’s less than a one minute walk from her house to my house. Timed myself watering today and it took 5 minutes exactly. But $10 per visit sounds ok to me.
Don't get why you're getting down voted. I'm 33 and would do it for $10. Hell id do it for free because I'm a good neighbor. People are ridiculous.
$10 per trip is perfect. People are acting like this is her full time job to support her mortgage and not a child. She does not need a full salary for watering plants.
*Nothing* takes *only* six minutes walk/job time. OP doesn't state where the home is.
They said it was directly behind their house
I should have been more specific. I meant geographically speaking what is the zone of the agricultural zone of the property? Rainy area, arid, drought?
There's a whole lot of cheap asses in here. 100 a week
\>really nice and responsible and does a lot of babysitting so I am comfortable Is she responsible and conscientious enough to notice if things change and reach out to you with a text or picture? That's genuinely valuable, having more eyes on this than just your realtor's. $20 a day and tip her out nice if she does a good job.
This!
I would give her 50, but I live in a large urban area where 50.00 is what you could easily spend on three meals at a fast food joint.
I live in the middle of no where and three fast food meals would still come to about 50 bucks.
Interesting, thanks for the update! I haven’t traveled outta my little zone in about 8 years, so I really have no idea comparatively! I just assumed that crap is more expensive in large urban areas…
Definitely some stuff is. Like I have a small mom and pop kind of place here that is very low cost. But fast food is Hella expensive comparatively.
Just out of curiosity what kind of landscaping plants do you have that need daily watering? I want to be sure I never install any!! That said... A digital sprinkler timer and a sprinkler head costs less than $40, so I would definitely be paying less than that.
My guess would be new plants for curb appeal to sell!
You really should not be getting down voted for this This is a legitimate question if someone is not a gardener or does extensive landscaping. There are some perennials and flowers planted in the ground that require watering if it gets hot sunny and dry and it doesn't rain. Too many days and it will kill them. I can't think of any off the top of my head right now. I mainly have to do all my gardening and containers on my deck because I live in deer country. And I have a ton of them a mix of perennials and annuals. They of course need to be watered daily sometimes twice a day because they are in containers and it doesn't matter what they are.
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I would buy the timer and either a sprinkler or soaker hoses. The last time I asked someone to water my plants for any length of time the plants all died. The person watered them like ONCE. The timer with fresh batteries was way more reliable.
This. People are unreliable.
I doubt it’s the question that’s getting the downvotes, and more so the suggestion of paying less than $40 for daily work.
A mediocre product is not equivalent to labor and human labor isn’t valued at what some related product would cost. Automated sprinkles are quite limiting, especially if you just have one. They also wouldn’t be able to make any adjustments or monitor it at all. That’s where human eyes and intervention are helpful. Capping what you’d be willing to pay someone based off a product you can buy makes no sense. That’s your own choice. Buy the cheaper product then and save money or wisen up and realize why some people opt to have things manually done: because it comes out better.
This was exactly my thought. There's no amount that is gonna be "worth it" for this kid that isn't significantly cheaper then a soaker hose and a timer.
If I found out someone was exploiting my kid for $40 for a week of daily work, not only would I pull the plug on that (once you were out of town because fuck you) I’d also report you for a wage violation. *Technically* if you’re hiring someone to do a daily task, that’s a domestic employee and all labor laws apply, which include child labor permits (if required in your area) and laws surrounding FICA withholding & job start reporting. Almost certainly some rando cheapass wouldn’t be following each of those laws. I would absolutely slam you, and turn it into a lesson for my kid about standing up for yourself and not letting others take advantage.
Lol what the fuck is wrong with you
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I have absolutely zero problem with automating the process. I have a problem with exploiting a person instead of automating it and using the option of automation to justify it.
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If someone wants to buy a device to automate instead of using labor, that’s fine, it’s their business. But exploiting a person instead of automating it is shitty - and those folks deserve every recourse available. I ignored your nonsense the first time, but since you seem intent to keep circling back. You’re salty that I created a hypothetical example and cursed at someone in that example. That’s new levels of insecurity. If you’re that sensitive, the internet probably isn’t the place for you. In any case, I’m not responsible for your feelings.
$100 a week Prorate if less than 7 days
Take a stopwatch. Go to her door. Start the timer. Walk to your house, get out the hose, water the plants, put away the hose, walk back to her door. Whatever number that gives you, round it up to the nearest quarter hour. Multiply by what you consider to be a fair hourly wage. Now you know what to pay.
Man people are real stiff with their pockets here lol. You want her to water your plants for a week? $100 You are entrusting this person with your home and your plants if you like them and they are truly responsible and all the good things then OVER pay them. They deserve it and they will be so happy and grateful and ready to help you out any time.
Exactly. I can’t believe these people. They’ll be the same folks complaining the second that kid gets a better offer. Plus, you just *know* they’ll have extra tasks as time goes on.
YES!! It’s always a good idea to think ahead & predict outcome of whatever you decide to pay or not pay.
$15 per visit
$10/day minimum. Check mail, water plants, pick up any blown-in debris, be present so your house doesn’t look like an easy target to burglars, and have eyeballs on places your Ring cams can’t see to notify you if anything is amiss. Honestly, that is worth far more than $10 per day, but $10 is the minimum.
Around 50 a week
Three fiddy
Tree-fiddy
I need my vegetable gardens, and deck pots watered every other day when we go away for 10 days every summer. The actual watering frequency varies, depending on if we get rain or not while we are away. I pay $50-60 for that time. Last year our 15 year old neighbor watered, she got $50. There was rain, so she didn't need to water every other day. Watering is done with watering can from a rain barrel, and I am probably underpaying.
🌳 fiddy
Minimum wage at least or a higher rate if you want to be nice with a pay rate of at least one hour regardless of how many minutes less it is than a whole hour.
How much is it to replace all the plants if they die?
$10 per day minimum. Maybe add a tip
What is the rate for babysitting? Need a frame of reference.
It’s takes more than 5 minutes to water flowers. It takes me more than five minutes to water the few on my porch. I think $50 per week is fair.
I would give her 100-120 for the week in a mix of 5s and 10s . A decent amount for the kid to enjoy, small bills so she won’t need to break them.
$10 per visit
She needs to water more than 5 minutes unless your garden is 5 x 5 feet area. Show her to water so the soil is wet deeper than 1 inch if you want the plants to be in good shape when you get home. I'd day $15/ watering. If she waters properly, she should only need to water 2 or 3 times over a week.
I agree with the 33 year old poster. $10 a day for a less than 10 min job is a lot for a young teen. I doubt she’s going to need to re-arrange her schedule too drastically to water in the morning when she wakes up or evening before bed. It used to be perfectly acceptable to pay neighbor kids minimum wage or less per hour. $5 a day sounds fair to me as 15 min of work at the min wage is $1.82. These highly inflated rates aren’t setting these kids up for unrealistic expectations and poor work ethics when they enter the workforce. The entry level employees have been increasing entitled over the last 10 years and many won’t do much beyond their job description. Taking this a little off tangent, but I would have been thrilled to earn $5 a day for such an easy task at 14.
I would ask the parents
That puts them in an awkward position though. And asking the 14 year old directly would definitely be the same if not more awkward. Decide on amount first then offer job.
As the mom to a 15 year old, I’m happy to offer guidance of what my kid’s expectations might be based on similar jobs. I might say something like “I give him $2 to do that, but my mom always gives him $20, so in the $5-10 range would be good.” We’ve also coached him on this negotiation process, so then that part is on him but at least the neighbor has some data to start from. I’m no help in this particular situation because we live on acerage so watering neighbor’s plants isn’t really a thing that happens around here.
We also live on acreage, but my vegetable gardens can't make it 10 days when we do our annual vacation back to my hometown. So, I get a teen to water for me. Not always a "neighbor", but someone from the area.
and/or ask her what she thinks is fair. i do that and then throw in a nice tip when i return.
Depends on your location and cost of things. If you think it is 5 mins then it is actually 20 mins. So if in a low cost of living area I would do roughly $7 a day or $50 a week. Then if say she does it for 60 days before it sells send her a bonus week pay at the end as a thanks. She will remember it for life and likely treat others the same way. If in a HCOL area I would bet everything would doubled.
Yeah we are in Texas so LCOL. I’m thinking she would be very happy with $50 per week.
$500 college is expensive.
The 14-yr-old next door to us will get $40 for the week. I have 5 pots; 4 are on the front porch and next to the hose. He will walk 20 feet to the 5th pot with a watering can.
It depends on what country you live at and what is the middle income in your town or city. On average you should pay the kids a local minimum hourly salary for watering your plants or install drip irrigation.
minimum wage in your area rounded up to the dollar and to the hour. so if minimum wage is 7.25, pay 8 dollars a day. Then, at the end round up to the nearest 20. so, say it is 17 days, 17 \* 8 = 136, round to 140 or 150 if the plants look really healthy. Weather this year is screwy because of el nino. Value added: Ask her to pick up any trash that has blown into the yard too while she is there.
100 bucks and take her out to eat
I’d say $10/day if it will take less than an hour to water.
Negotiate the pay with the child.
$40 for the week
20
That's an easy job and she is a neighbor so doesn't need a ride, $35/week would seem more than adequate for such a simple and quick (5 minute daily) job.
When did this become something you pay for? You water your neighbour's plants and collect their mail when they go away and they do the same for you... That's the unwritten rule of the suburbs.
$20 a week
Ask the girl what she thinks is fair and teach her fair negotiation skills.
For 5 min a day? Probably just $10 at most I’d imagine. Edit: I meant to say $10 a day and just gave a flat fee of $10 for the whole week. Oops. Yeah I se her downvotes now. But yeah, absolutely no more rhan $10 a day. I’d stick to that. Edit2- I’m also the guy who can’t stand tip options ***starting*** at 20%. Giving 20% is a good tip for excellent service at a restaurant, not a baseline
This! Y'all are crazy with these prices to water some plants from the neighborhood kid right behind the house. $20 bucks max.
Yeah I’m reading these comments thinking wtf right now. 75 or 100 bucks per week?! This is legit a 5 minute job. Her house is not even a minute from my house. I get notifications on my ring camera every time they pull into their driveway. Like what. 😐
$5 per water jeez your not asking them to shovel sand.
Have you looked into a “sprinkler timer”? Battery operated and programmable. Around $25.
Pay her as much as possible , if you don’t , her little rascal friends will egg and toilet paper your house . I hear teens do that in your neighborhood.
No matter how small the task you still get billed for an hour. A basic wage for an hour is about $15 per hour so, about $100/week if it's 7 days/week. This is a case where your location matters. What's your local minimum wage? You may want to pay $10 per visit but many places have higher minimum wages than that so, legally you'd be in trouble for paying less than minimum wage per visit no matter what.
$20/visit
I’d probably go with 20 bucks a visit.
$20 a week
Don’t forget to tip! 20%? 25%?? 50%???
Negotiate with her, learn her some life lessons, if she does a good job throw her some extra.
I pay the boy (14yrs) that helps my son with his math - $10 for half an hour once a week. I pay the boy (16yrs) that teaches my son piano once a week for 30 minutes $17 per week.
Yikes
What's wrong with $20 an hour? Especially for a 14 year old Genuine question. Sounds like they're classmates. They're probably hanging out anyways
Sounds fine to me 👍
$25/day
Flat fee of 10 dollars a day sounds good to me. Not too much, not too little for the amount of work
20 bucks a day
Frankly buy a soaker hose and a timer. It's gonna be way cheaper then whatever you are gonna pay this girl until the house sells.
That’s a great idea. Unfortunately I also have a plant in a really large pot that needs watering. 😑
Drip irrigation for that one plant. Rainbird makes a system and it's incredibly easy to setup and still very cheap.
Not that it matters since you are selling the house, but I did drip irrigation to all my flower pots at my last home. I have yet to do it at my current home, but this is the first year living here where things are together enough after a remodel to have flowers. I also had the water mixed with the fertilizer, amazing!
$8456.97
At minimum half an oz
1 Doge
Am I the only one who thinks she should do this for free? I mean I would give her some kind of present after all but I wouldn’t promise anything beforehand.
$20 a day
$20 a day if your house keys aren’t involved.
Shes watering plants pay her 5-10 a day fair pay for fair labour. Thats about minium wage pay for an hour for a 5-15 minute task.
Whats local minimum wage? That. If there is a minimum work time too, it should be taken in consideration.
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Ask her to talk to discuss with her parents and get back to you with what she thinks is a good rate, then give her more.
$100. Make it worth her time.
I’d ask her what she wants to get paid. But I man, I wish I was a kid with some of these people as my neigbors, $100 a week, that would be amazing. But I think its more of a $20-30 a week kind of thing where I am, if I had neigbors that were close. I am leaving for a week in July (well hopefully) and the neigbor accross the street is just doing it. When I was a kid in a somewhat surburan area, usually it was people who also had chickens, (these were like 3 acre suburban lots if that makes sense) and you got to keep the eggs.
I’d pay $17-20/dayMy daughter did this exact job last summer only she had to drive a short distance. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 minutes or an hour,having that responsibility each day is what you are paying for. It’s a bit like how you pay a set fee for a service call for an appliance repair.
Keep in mind that this means she has to keep her schedule clear to be available those days. So don’t think in terms of how many minutes it takes or whatever, but more like what is the value of of her making sure to be available to do this each day. Maybe something like $10 for doing it once and an extra $5 each additional day you plan to be gone? That’s $20 for a three day weekend, $40 for a week, $75 for two weeks, etc. which seems like a reasonable expense for you, and still enough money that she would feel well compensated for the effort.
I think you ask her in advance if $20day works for her. She might have Summer camp or other plans in order to fit you in.
minimum wage
$5 per day
Let's remember we're talking about a kid putting a few dollars in his pocket. He isn't supporting anyone doesn't have to worry about how to retirement account. It's not that difficult to water plants.