Money Matters
Xstatic3333
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
What Should I Pay The Dog Sitter?
H and I are going camping for two nights for a concert festival this weekend and leaving our dog with a sitter for the first time. The sitter is a work colleague that I met a few months ago and have a new/developing friendship with. She's a pretty serious dogsitter as a second job, and I honestly feel like our dog is probably safer with her than with us! She's very professional, and thought of things like getting a letter on file at our vet authorizing her to make medical decisions.
She and her BF came over to hang out and met the dog last night, and when I finally asked her what her rate is she said that would be free, she's excited to hang out with the dog for the weekend, etc. etc. After the they left and we discussed this, H's response to this was "Hooray! Let's get her a bottle of wine." My response is that we should at least be getting her a bottle of wine plus a pretty substantial gift card somewhere. I had budgeted to pay her $30 a day, which is what I used to get when I dogsat, and was probably going to round up to $100. If it matters, the dog is going to stay at her house, but since we live in the same neighborhood she'll bring him back to our house if for any reason they need to leave him for a few hours (which he's fine with, no separation anxiety).
WWMMD?
Re: What Should I Pay The Dog Sitter?
I agree. I would pay her $50 for the weekend. Sometimes when family watches our pup we'll "pay" them in whatever we know they'll like. For example, we always bring H's aunt a thank you card with 2 bottles of her favorite (inexpensive) wine. For another friend who already has 2 dogs of her own I have given $50 PetSmart gift card for a weekend and for a week-long stay we gave her a few month subscription to BarkBox.
Either way it is better (and more MM) than having to take your pup to a boarding facility with strangers.
Personally, if it was me and this was a work colleague/new friend of mine who offered to do it for free then I would probably go with gift card. That way you're still paying her but you're not locking in a set rate (that could be above/below her normal rate). For me, that would keep it friendly and she's still being well compensated so you're not taking advantage.
I like buying those restaurant chain cards that are usable at 5-6 different restaurants if you don't know what stores she likes. I usually buy the one that works at Roy's, Outback, Bonefish Grill, etc. Amazon and iTunes cards are always good too! Those are my go-to when I'm buying for people whose tastes I'm unsure of.
We're currently adding to our "travel fund" basically for the sole purpose of paying for dog care when we go away for a few summer long weekends (most of which were otherwise free, close to free, or paid for before we had to drain our e-fund a couple of months ago). Pets are definitely not MM, but so worth it!