Last week I found myself doing something I thought I’d never have to do since meeting my husband 13 years ago – speed date. This time though, I was speed dating baby-sitters.  And more importantly, I was being introduced to an online service called UrbanSitter.

UrbanSitter was founded by a few busy parents in the San Francisco area.  It’s an online resource for parents to find & book babysitters, but that’s just the beginning.  This FREE (yes free) service allows you to search your area to find sitters, post a last minute job you might have, set up an interview, see reviews, book them and then also pay them all online or through their mobile app.  Since we all know that our best recommendations come from our friends, UrbanSitter is also connected to Facebook so you can find sitters your friends or parents in your social circles are already using.  Personally, my favorite feature is to be able to pay online – I never seem to have the right amount of cash at the end of the night.

So who are these UrbanSitters?  Well, since I’m in Boston, the bulk of them are college students – Harvard, BU, Northeaster, etc – looking to work a little outside of their college commitments.  They range in interests and majors, but they all love taking care of kids and many of them have extensive experience babysitting/tutoring/nannying. When searching for a possible match, you can sort through rates (which BTW, are very reasonable – many start at $10 for 1 child), reviews, age, spoken language, experience with different age groups and also experience with special needs.

UrbanSitter is in many major urban areas – Boston, NY, Chicago, San Francisco, LA to name a few – you really owe it to yourself to check them out.  It gets you in touch with some of the best babysitters in your area – and it’s so easy!!!

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Disclaimer: All opinions are my own.  I did attend a free event sponsored by UrbanSitter and was given a credit towards using the service.