Paying for someone else to do the dirty work

God, I wish. I don't even think I could pay my husband to clean the toilets.
I will say we do hire carpet cleaners to come in once a year if needed, or if we don't feel like borrowing our inlaws carpet cleaner.

Reply

We have the cleaning people every other week too. I think I would go nuts if we didn't and I am a SAHM. I truly hate cleaning and it saves me so much grief. Well worth the money. My only problem is what to do when they are here? I always feel I am in their way or guilty they are cleaning and I am just sitting here waiting for them to finish. We usually go out that morning.

Reply

We have monthly maid service, weekly lawn service during the half of the year when grass grows, snow plowing for the other half of the year, and my nanny does occasional non-child-related household tasks such as laundry and cooking while the babies nap. When we need handyman stuff done and I'm not confident enough to do it myself (usually I am), we hire that out too.

I'd love to be able to do all this myself plus be a great mom and have an intellectually stimulating job. Since that is not gonna happen, I have to prioritize. Various people, whom I pay at generous rates, are happy to have this income source, and I'm happy to be freed up to do things that I feel better doing.

Reply

I don't want to hear it. I work full time AND clean my own damn house!

Reply

We have paid a couple of people to come in and clean every other week, too. The problem is, it starts out great and then I start getting notes like this...

....Dishes are considered an everyday chore and are taking too long for our cleaning people to do, so we will no longer be able to do your dishes, please have sink empty....

....We vacuum and mop ACCESSIBLE flooring only. Tasks such as picking up toys or clothes is too time consuming....

So they would just skip vacuuming my toddler's room. And it was just a few toys. Anyway, I found out that they wanted to clean my entire house in 1 hour. $65 for 1 hour just isn't worth it.

Your people sound dreamy!

Reply

We're considering it.

The sad part is that I'm a SAHM, and my husband only has to be AT his job two days a week. (Don't think he doesn't work - he just does most of it from home.) But I think the fact that we are home so much is why our house is so dirty. I know when my ex and I both worked and my daughter was in day care, our house was pretty clean most of the time.

Some friends of ours have started having someone come twice a month. We're thinking of it too, especially since we just paid off a huge chunk of debt. We have someone do the yard work 1-2 times a month, as needed, and so I figure it's only fair we have someone do the inside of the house, too.

I feel lazy, especially since growing up I didn't know ANYONE who had hired cleaning people, and it struck me as something only rich people have. But if we can, for the cost of a nice meal out, have someone come in and do the deep cleaning, why not?

I just don't know how people manage to do floors and stuff with little bitty kids at home. I have a hard enough time keeping it swept, and can't remember the last time the kitchen was really mopped and not just spot cleaned!!! And my toddler is TERRIFIED of anything loud - mainlythe vacuum - so it's an ordeal to do that job. If he even sees the vacuum turned off he has a meltdown.

Reply

I have a woman who comes to my house every other Monday. I had tremendous guilt for a while, but then weighed the cost vs. time required, the amount of hassle, the pain and recovery requirements(bad back+cleaning bathrom=pain), and the resentment I feel because my husband is a slob. I do all the de-cluttering and maintenance cleaning. But she dusts, vacuums, mops and does bathrooms. It's totally worth $120 dollars a month.

Reply

I am pregnant with my first and have had a housekeeper come in every other week for the last couple of months. She will continue to do so after I become a SAHM. I was standing in a different line when they handed out domestic talents (cleaning & organizing)...I have been known to break down in tears upon coming home to a clean house... To me it is well worth the $120 a month we pay her.

Reply

You've spoken about this on your blog, and its what drove me to hire my very first house cleaning with my birthday loot. My husband says its the best money I've ever spent! It was so glorious to come home to all that clean. On top of that, the day to day tasks arent nearly as daunting when the big stuff is out of the way.
However, I did, literally, cry over my son's spilled milk on the kitchen floor. They had never looked so beautiful.
We'll be working a monthly cleaning into the budget, for sure.

Reply

The issue is that the few times we've tried it, we get crappy service or no shows...

Reply

Am I the only one that feels a little weird about having total strangers in your home cleaning up after you?
I would be the type to clean the house before they came over so they wouldnt think we were messy people. lol

Reply

When my DH was deployed I paid someone to do my yard work every other week until about the middle of December when the grass finally stopped growing. I think I was only paying like a total of $40 or $50 a month for this service, and he did such a wonderful job! Even when the leaves in my front yard were going on a foot thick, it always turned out beautiful. If I could get that kind of service from a cleaning person, I would find a way to budget it, although it would certainly cost more than my yard work did. I've considered having someone come in to do it, but we're really stretching the budget to save for our move, so for now all I can do is fantasize. I do, however, want to hire someone to come in and clena our house for the inspection before we leave. I did the last one by myself (much smaller house), and even with people helping me here and there it took 3 full nights of me starting at 4:30pm and not finishing up for the night until well after 2am. I'd rather shell out the (already planned into the budget) $300 for that service, especially if they can guarantee we'll pass inspection!

Reply

I work from home and am a SAHM. I do all of our house cleaning because my husband works six days per week. I can sometimes dust a room while the kids (I have 2, ages 1 and 3) are playing in it, but mostly I do the cleaning after they are in bed. I don't particularly enjoy cleaning, but I relish this alone time. I put on my ipod and bring out my cleaning caddy then just go from room to room until it's all done. I actually don't mind it when I can listen to music. I do vacuum during the day so that I don't wake anyone. If getting a maid would make someone happy, then they should do it. I'm way too picky to have someone else clean my house. I deep clean once or twice every week to make sure it's really clean. Yes, I stay up too late on cleaning nights and am tired, but that's why coffee was invented. :)

Reply

I am thinking of hiring a maid service even once a month because I find that running after a busy toddler really stops me from scrubbing the sh*t out of my floors and bathrooms.

Another thing I hire out when I am exhausted or too busy is grocery shopping. We can order online here and get delivery into our kitchen the next day. So nice, especially when the roads are crap or someone has a cold.

Reply

I'm so jealous! I am in the same boat as Jessica on this one. Not only do I work full time and clean my own house I also have an hour and a half commute each way to and from work. Oh and did I also mention that I pay for a maid service every other week to clean my mother in-laws house, of course that is our payment to the MIL for watching our 2 year old while we work.

Reply

I just hired someone to come in every other week to help even though I'm a SAHM. I never thought we could afford it since we have very little disposable income, but on a lark, I decided to research. Molly Maid wanted $65 an hour, not to mention I found a lot of negative feedback about how they clean and what cleaning products they use. Then I looked on my local Kijiji site and replied to 4 ads offering cleaning services. The quotes ranged from 12.50 an hour for a minimum of 3 hours, to $15 for 2 hours. I took the $15 for two, and just had my second visit today. AMAZING. All my floors are clean, the bathrooms spotless, she moved EVERYTHING. $30 every two weeks means we have to cut back on other things in the budget, but that feeling of having everything done? So worth it.

I don't have her do bedrooms because they aren't a big deal to me and I have too much clutter to pick up. My daughter and I have been having picnics in my room on my bed while the cleaning person is here. She loves it and I don't have to feel weird about being here.

Reply