Care.com

My beloved and I don't get out much without the little angel and with each other.  This is because we only know one babysitter.  She rocks, the little angel loves her, but she's just a bit younger than me and a PhD student, making her $10/hour fee a little steep.  Totally worth it, but we're also looking for a younger, cheaper alternative when she's busy with adult life.

Enter Care.com.  I got a reviewer's three-month-upgraded subscription from MomCentral Consulting.  I admit I procrastinated a bit (which is why I can never find a sitter) and just got in there yesterday, right before I had to post my review. I entered a job, but nobody has begged to babysit for me yet.  We'll see.  I did, however, find five or six people in my area who looked nonthreatening and friendly, had background checks posted online and references, in some cases.  I was saddened to see most of the references were from their family and friends (I think references should be limited to those for whom they've actually worked, quite frankly - this is a job situation, after all, and whose parent is going to write, "My daughter sucks with kids!" on a babysitting site?).  However, I loved how they posted their schedules, had checkboxes for whether they'd do light housecleaning or crafts or what have you, had checkboxes for whether or not they would supervise swimming or knew CPR. I really, really liked this site.

I also liked that it was populated, as a lot of new sites that we're asked to review are not, making it hard to judge whether or not that service would be valuable.

The site also has opportunities to post jobs for tutoring, pet care and elder care.  We've needed an organized site like this for quite a while. I think it's a FABULOUS idea, and the usability of the site is good. A lot of thought has clearly gone into this site, from the private message boards to the job postings. I'm really impressed.  And I hope to find another babysitter soon, so my beloved and I can talk about something other than monsters biting toes in the very near future.

Would you like the same deal that I got?  OF COURSE YOU WOULD.  Click here to find your ultimate sitter/eldercare helper/tutor/pet lover for a free three months!