What are you seeing for prices for overnight companion care for seniors. My mother needs someone to spend the night with her, some times. She has no need for any assistance other than someone there and maybe making dinner. If groceries are supplied and you were hiring a college person or a widow/divorcee to keep company, what would you expect to pay? Small town versus big city?
There is a parents caring for parents thread at the top of the Parent Cafe; you might want to check in with them and ask your question there.
It’s been several years since we had caregivers for family members. But IIRC and if I had to guess, I think we did a flat rate rather than hourly, as it was more affordable. Would $125 sound reasonable?
I was going to say around $10/hour, considering that for the majority of the time the caregiver would be doing nothing except napping. That works out very close to the $125 that @jym626 suggested.
In our area, those home care workers with an agency are asking for $15 per hour, overtime pay and paid breaks.
If there is a reputable agency, use them. They will be responsible for background checks, immigration documentation if necessary, and taxes. The cost will be slightly more, but it will save you from having to do all of the taxes and finding a substitute if the person you hire becomes ill or needs time off.
Sure, an agency is going to charge more because they offer more. @Somemom was asking about hiring a college kid or older adult to come and spend the night occasionally. There’s no need to pay employment taxes if you pay the person less than $2000 in a calendar year.
You might consider contacting a local church or other religious place and asking if they have any people to recommend. Since many of these places have a number of elderly member,s they are often well-versed in this type of care and have a roster of people to suggest. The church I work for just happens to have 2 members who are professional caregivers but are not with an agency, and several others who will sit with elders on their own time as a service they believe they are called to do. We also have some outside professionals in our database, and they charge from $15-25/hour, but this is a large, expensive city.
Remember, if you’re hiring them yourself and they are above the minimum hours/month (in HI – 20) per week, you may need to provide benefits including medical, SS, W/comp, etc. these can add up. If it’s over 40 hrs/wk, it’s overtime too.
Yah, that’s not happening, way too pricey for her, both her pocketbook and her needs. I guess I need to look harder to find someone to do it more casually. I would not support her paying $10-15-20 an hour for some one to sleep there at this point, because she does not really need someone, it’s just a nice thing, an add on, not a real need. If it were critical and the person had to be on call, that would be different. It would not even be napping, just sleeping there. She never needs anything at night, just likes a person to be in the house, hence perfect for a responsible college student, but then, looking at the dog boarding prices, I may need to update my expectations 
If she were offering room and board to say a college student, the price might be lower, but if she wants/needs someone to spend the night and they are still paying for their own living situation, will likely not get it much less expensively.
Are you concerned about falls or if she needs help in the middle of the night? Perhaps check into a monitoring service.
Watching someone overnight is not as easy as it may sound, especially if you’re supposed to be alert and ready to assist when the person may be up and down going to the bathroom. Some SRs are also nocturnal and very active at night and gave to be watched to minimize falls and other possible harms. It is a liability for the person who is watching, no question.
If you want the person to prepare dinner and watch, that’s starting to sound like quite a few hours–7pm to 7am, maybe. Remember, as the hours add up, so does overtime and benefits. If you have multiple people, the schedules need to be coordinated, so there aren’t gaps and there is coverage in case of illness, etc.
Here are the DOL regulations https://www.dol.gov/whd/homecare/faq.htm
If you hire from the agencies in my area it is right around $23 per hour right now plus mileage regardless if it’s “day time” or “night time.” My mom did nights with my dad from 11 PM to 7 AM so she could sleep before he went to hospice. Holidays are time and a half. The nice thing about an agency is they will guarantee that someone will show up…this is important if it’s imperative that someone well…show up. I also went through this for another family member that I just recently transferred to a nursing home. I “dreamed” about “finding someone” reliable that would do this for less than $23 an hour plus mileage. It is very, very expensive to care for elderly folks in this country. The going rate for nursing home in my area is now 7500 a month and for assisted living it’s close to $4000 a month. I’m still in the thick of it and can’t believe how fast the assets go down. Changed my threshold for retirement savings…and I bought nursing home insurance for my H and I.
My friend hired someone 2 nites/week to watch grandma (who wandered and tore off her Depends at nite), so friend could know she’d get at least 2 good nites of sleep/week. It was NOT cheap, which was why it was only 2 nites.
@somemom doesn’t need to pay employment taxes below a certain threshold…but the person taking the money DOES need to fil as self employed if that person isn’t through an agency…and earns more than $400 in the year…which could happen working four nights…or so.
In addition, I would want the companion to have some kind of minimal training…even if it was first aid class.
Through an agency, family members here are paying $15,000 a month for 24/7 care…so for one 8 hour shift over night…it would be $5000 a month. Pretty much the same hourly rate as others are quoting…$20 or so per hour (rural northern New England)
Its $600, not $400 a year, unless its changed, as the threshold you earn before you have to report income earned with 1099 employment. https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2755098-1099-misc-how-much-income-do-you-have-to-make-before-you-have-to-file-i-heard-that-under-10k-you-don-t-have-to
Does your mom normally have someone who stays with her (like a family member) who cannot be there all nights, so you are looking for someone to fill in sometimes?
In the early to mid-1980s I used to make on average $8.00 an hour as a teenager, who could not drive, to babysit children (this was in Washington DC suburb, but in rural NH I made about $5.00 per hour in the mid - late 1980s).
It seems standard to pay an adult $15 - $25 an hour to sleep (or even offer daytime companion care) when they are also having to maintain their own household. I do know some people who have paid less if the care level is very small… in these cases usually at a flat rate… but in those situations the caregiver was living in the house for free, and able to eat meals there (that they may have prepared, but at no cost to themselves). That is about what family was paying for elder care (with relatively healthy elderly family) in suburban NJ.
The agency that I moonlight with charges $24 per hour and pays us around $11/hour. They vet and bond us and cover us with workman’s comp (otherwise the homeowners would be liable for any damages, and could be sued for on the job injury). The caregiver is awake for the entire shift to listen for trouble or even sit beside the bed if needed.
If you are talking about making dinner and spending the night, that would be about 14 hours. And what about breakfast in the morning? You might be better off looking for a college student or a working adult who would appreciate free room and board in exchange for companionship, but that would mean the person would be there EVERY night (and then, agree to what would happen when s/he needs an evening off for a social life, and you are back to where you started - looking for an occasional overnight companion…)
One of our competitors charges a much lower fee for caregivers to be in the home but sleeping - a bedroom has to be provided for them, and if they document NEEDING to be up and providing care (toileting, wandering,etc of the client) more than twice a night, then there is a higher hourly rate that applies.
If you hire someone outside of an agency, you need to consider the risks. Do you want someone there IN CASE she falls, or to PREVENT falls? That’s the main difference between a professional and nonprofessional caregiver.
Good discussion, in this case, she needs no help at all, sleeps all night, the person does not need to be on call at all, they can sleep soundly. She lives with family and if they are out of town, she wants someone to sleep there, that’s it, she is just scared to be alone, which is not worth $20/hour
But I can imagine seniors needing actual care being worth that higher price due to the higher responsibility.