A little help with the housework?

Not sure what's up the the voting thingy, but I vote yes! My mother owned a home cleaning business when we were in school and I later scrubbed toilets for her to pay for college, so even though I know all the tricks of the trade and should be able to keep up, I WISH I could have a housekeeper! Make sure that that 200 bucks is giving you more time for YOU (not work)!

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Lazy? Incompetent?? Please!!

Get some help, Kristin. We don't anymore, but for almost five years we had a sweet girl who came once a month and did the showers, floors, windows and other stuff that I don't like to do, and it was worth it's weight in GOLD.

You will love it. And your house will love it.

DO IT!

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There was a time when I would have agreed that it seems indulgent to pay someone to clean your house. But I've realized that everyone should feel the freedom to spend their income as they choose. Some people would use that $100/month on eating out, or shopping or going to movies or many other less practical ways. If having someone clean your house will make you happy (which I imagine it would - it would certainly make me happy!) then you should go for it.

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Absolutely do it!!!!

I just got a cleaning service again a couple of months ago after a 2 year "break" from them and I am SOOOO glad for it.

You should consider pricing some cleaning services run by women that have started up their own businesses. They may be cheaper and I like the personal approach they take. Rather than just doing their job, they have a vested interested in the success of the business.

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I've got to say ... having a housecleaner has absolutely made a world of difference to us. We pay $75 every other week to have our 2000+ sq ft house (in Denver suburbs) cleaned ... dusted, vacuumed, floors mopped, bathrooms & kitchens wiped and scrubbed, etc ... and it does so much for us. We have more famliy time at night and on the weekends and I actually get to organizing occasionally, instead of just doing what really NEEDS to get done.

But I would advise against the service. I've done both and we've been vasty happier with the independent cleaners. With the service, we rarely got the same people twice and had to ask for certain things to be done (such as vacuuming our couch - we have a dog!) on a regular basis. Plus, they were about 10-25% cheaper!!

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Oh, if you can afford it, I highly recommend it! I love love love our cleaning lady (she's on 2 months leave right now, and I'm about losing my mind with the dog fur and the toddler cracker crumbs! ahhhh!). As someone else mentioned, definitely check out local independent cleaning services rather than the chains like Molly Maid. Most of the independents are still bonded, and if you get a good recommendation from a friend or neighbour (you'd be surprised how many people have a cleaning service!!) you will be much happier than with a chain.

With the chains, we hardly ever got the same people so I had to be here every time to explain and check up on them to make sure they actually vaccumed the furniture and behind the couch. Sometimes, they wouldn't show up at all, or they'd send one person instead of the 2 that I was paying for. One time they just "forgot" to wash the floors! Ugh.

I haven't had a single issue with our current independent cleaning lady, and she always does something a little extra that's not on the standard list. Love her!

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You may consider reading "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich to get a sense of the work lives of some maids. It turned me off the idea. Not that I would anyway, since I am a cheapskate and don't work full time.

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WHO CARES what other people think. If you are cool with spending your money on it, do it.

I am due with my first baby in ten days - I don't work. We are hiring both a housecleaner and a dog walker until I feel up to resuming both tasks myself. We are far from rich. I don't think it's wrong because my priority right now/will be recuperating and learning how to be a mom.

And I don't give two hoots what someone else thinks of my personal decision. Nor should you. Odds are you'll be happier with more time for work and for Nolan.

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I had a cleaning lady when I was pregnant the first time and still working full time, and it was WONDERFUL. I didn't use a service (they are stupidly expensive), but like others, had a woman come on her own, who was employed by a local service (still insured and everything). I think it was $75 every two weeks for a 2000 sf house with two full baths.

Expect her first visit to cost more, because it takes longer to catch up than it does to keep up. But it is so, so worth it. I wish we could still afford her.

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I never thought I'd have help but I moved to Brazil where it's pretty inexpensive. Now I have someone who comes in three days a week and keeps everything tidy for me. It's been wonderful in these last couple months of my pregnancy and I know she'll make a huge difference once the baby's here.

I know having someone work that often is a super-luxury in the U.S. but I can imagine that even having someone come every couple of weeks would help.

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My husband and I are "paycheck to paycheck" like most Americans and our friends, but many of our friends have cleaning services twice a month. It has tempted me so many times. I spend the equivalent of 8 hours each week vacuuming dog hair, disinfecting bathtubs, changing sheets. I work full time outside of the home. I do believe that if we got a service I would find it worth every penny. For now I am considering the "tradeoff" that I am doing grocery shopping online. And our dogs would make the maid thing a nightmare. But I don't think it sounds extravagant.

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I started reading a book series recently that gave me a new perspective on hiring help. It's the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, and the heroine of the story, Precious Ramotswe makes a valid argument... she says that it is traditional in the Botswanan culture that those who can afford housecleaning help MUST do so, or they're looked down upon for not helping out their society, that those who are hired on maids need to have work, to support themselves and their families, and it is the ethical duty of everyone who can afford to hire someone to do so.
For the last year, we've had a friend of mine coming in to clean the house every week. I'm a stay-at-home mom to 5, volunteer, and student, so I probably "could" be expected to do all the housecleaning myself, but my husband and I prayerfully made the decision to make some sacrifices to hire her on - she was fresh out of an emotionally abusive relationship and struggling to find some way to support herself and her 2 children. For many women, this is the only line of work that they are able to find employment in, or as mentioned above by others, there are also students cleaning houses to pay their way through college. My aunt also did housecleaning for years, to support herself and her two children as well. If people didn't hire others to clean their houses, there would be a lot more people out of work.

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If my house isn't clean, I feel like my life is a mess. I'm anal, I admit it. But, when my house smells clean, I feel better. If hiring a cleaning service helps get the job done, go for it.

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Kristen, my husband and I just hired a team of cleaning ladies for the first time about 2 months ago...they come every two weeks.

We did it because we both work full time, have a rambunctous Beagle and are expecting our first kid in about a month.....BEST DECISION EVER. Not because we weren't CAPABLE...but because it frees up time to do other things that we enjoy MORE and we spend much less mental time thinking about all of the things we SHOULD be doing (but usually weren't).

I live in Atl Canada...where things are probably cheaper in general...but I shopped around a bit and found that Molly Maid was probably about 25-40% more expensive than independants. I was careful about getting references and I think the extra few calls are worth saving 75$/month....BTW, not sure what rates are in BC, but we pay 65$/two weeks...for a house that is a little over 2000 squ feet....that includes all floors (sweeping and mopping), dusting (whole house), 2.5 bathrooms and a thorough cleaning of the kitchen.

Good luck trying to figure out what works best for you!

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I can totally relate, Kristin. I actually like cleaning but I have always worked about 80 hours a week (now that I have kids it's down to about 50), not including my family responsibilities etc. I can't stand doing anything half-assed, so things would pile up and it was a nightmare every time I found out someone had gone and invited a relative or friend over! (See, 2 other women live here, but they don't clean!) There always ensued at least 6 hours of running around and being a hag to everyone, followed by 2 days of extremely sore, arthritic hips. The others in the house kept saying, "why should you work so hard? We can just get a maid." My response was similar to yours - I don't want to waste the money - plus I didn't like the idea of losing control - though frankly things were already out of control. What finally forced the issue was when I took on a part-time professorship on top of my other responsibilities. I simply couldn't clean the house too.

So since then, we've had two women come once a month for 3 hours. They charge $120 each time, and I pay a third of this. Although they don't do things exactly like I would, at least I don't have to worry about the basics being undone for more than a month.

I thought about ending the maid service when my work schedule went down, but I haven't done it and probably won't unless I completely stop working. It's just really nice to be freed of not only hours of cleaning, but also the stress and guilt that is inevitable since I'll never really keep up with it.

Another perspective is that whether you are being extravagant or not, at least that money is going directly to someone who needs it more than you do. It's not going for a fancy car or whatever, it's making a huge difference to someone who really doesn't have a lot of options for making ends meet. I feel really good about that.

And whenever someone rolls their eyes and says "hmm, must be nice," I smile and say, "yes, it is."

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I work part time and am pregnant with out first child. I am a horrible, and I mean horrible, housekeeper. We have a lady who comes in twice a month to clean the main areas of our house (she doesn't do the bedrooms yet cause I have to find them first.) I cannot even begin to explain how I felt the first time I came home to a clean house...I cried! I would recommend looking around for an independant housekeeper...you never know who will show up when you use a chain service and they tend to cost more. Do something for yourself and go for it!! You will be sooo happy once you do.

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I used to pay my friend's sons (age 13 and 14) £5 per hour each for two hours every Sunday, to do the vacuuming, dusting and other various housework that I hated. It was awesome.

Then I started FLYlady and I actually stay on top of the housework - most of the time - pretty easily.

If I had the money though, I'd pay someone to come and do it still. Time is money after all!

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We have a housekeeper and currently have one child and another on the way. Both my husband and I work full-time. Still, we probably can’t “afford” a housekeeper, but I have to be honest, it is the best money we spend. The way I justify it to myself is by the fact that I am not spending weekends cleaning toilets; I am spending time with my family. I am not sitting on the floor playing tea party with my daughter and secretly thinking “I really need to vacuum this rug.” I would literally say for my sanity and the health of my marriage, our cleaning help would be the last place we would cut funds. We would buy less toys, clothes, gas, groceries, anything to keep our cleaning fund because it simply is not a luxury for us anymore. You have to realize the worth of your time, and once you have children, the time you spend with them is the single best use of your time. I still make sure our daughter learns to help with chores through picking up her room, dishes, laundry and other things.

Also, my tip is that we have an ever-other week rotation with our cleaning lady. She comes one week and does a thorough cleaning (windows, dusting, mopping, etc.) and charges the larger amount, then the next week she will do a “light” cleaning, which consists mainly of just cleaning the floors lightly, the toilets and shower that we use most, changing sheets on our bed and that’s about it. That schedule works well for us and for her and it saves us a lot of money every month on things that don’t actually have to be done every week.

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No way--luxury or not, I will never have someone come into my home and go through my things--I have no problem during the work no one wants to do because I most likely had a hand in the mess--and I am not a child who needs someone to clean up after me. My children, 12 & 5, clean their own rooms--once a month I go in and re-organize, but they do most of the mess making in there, then they should clean it up---and there is no way i would have had a stranger around my newborn children, we didn't even visit with family for 6 mo due to messy homes and unsanitary conditions. I have a 2000 sq ft home, and every morning after dropping the younger one @ school, it takes me 30min (mon-thurs) to clean top to bottom. Fri takes approx 2hrs--because we strip beds before they head off to school and I do re-make those. And fri is canine cleaning day (we on't say bath, because you would never see them again) Outside of that, the trash is gathered and taken out nightly, laundry is done nightly, and dishes are done as soon as we eat. It takes no time at all, and everyone does have a part.

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