Do you have a maid?

[Hannah]

No, and I'd have to be pretty rich to stoop to one. I would feel very strange about the arrangement. I come by this bias honestly (i.e. got it from my parents).

 

I find it interesting that you see it as 'stooping' to have a maid while we see it as uplifting to offer someone the opportunity to earn an honest living.

I guess this comes from the perspective (and bias) of a community with 43% unemployment and very little social security where working as a maid or gardener is honorable. And so is offering someone employment.

[SonshineLearner]

I find it interesting that you see it as 'stooping' to have a maid while we see it as uplifting to offer someone the opportunity to earn an honest living.

I guess this comes from the perspective (and bias) of a community with 43% unemployment and very little social security where working as a maid or gardener is honorable. And so is offering someone employment.

 

I often look at the "will work for food" signs and think "I would offer you work, if you were safe and wanted it." I would drop Starbuck's treats and lots of other things if I could hire a maid.

 

I use to nanny for a family who had a lady come in for 4 or 5 hours a day; I think 5. She would clean, and do "projects" for them; her house was a mess. No energy to clean after she worked at theirs :(

[DawnM]

Well, yes, but you are in a different environment. I grew up with house help and viewed it the same as you, but I grew up in Kenya.

 

Here cleaning ladies charge upwards of $25-$40 per hour of work and that is all cash.

 

I can't afford that.

 

Dawn

 

I find it interesting that you see it as 'stooping' to have a maid while we see it as uplifting to offer someone the opportunity to earn an honest living.

I guess this comes from the perspective (and bias) of a community with 43% unemployment and very little social security where working as a maid or gardener is honorable. And so is offering someone employment.

[mountainman]

I wish! I hate cleaning!

[cin]

I think I'm way more ADD than Marla ever was! :lol:

 

I was goign to ask about that :D have you considered medication? It is way more cheaper than a cleaning lady.

 

 

I had one for about 2 years. She was not through a Service, she was another homeschool mom with high school kids, making a few extra bucks. I paid $20/hour, for 3 hours every two weeks. She changed sheets, cleaned the floors and bathrooms, scrubbed the kitchen, and a few other general maintenance things. For us it was a necessity; I was literally out of the house for at least 2 hours, EVERY day (M-F) for a year (OT, speech, counseling, piano, gymnastics and visits to gramma). And then the illness started hitting me. We just dropped her last week, cuz we are home m,w,&f this summer! Yay!!!

 

From what I've heard, the services are much more expensive, but I really only needed general maintenance, and another mom could easily do that.

[cin]

I am the maid, but I have four trainees. :D

 

I could never figure out how others had clean houses all the time, and mine wasn't. Then I looked in the mirror and realized that I had to do the work for it to be clean. I hate cleaning, so you can guess how motivated I really am. Every morning I look at my Motivated Moms list and chant to myself, "It works if I do the work. It works if I do the work." The chant works about 60% of the time.

 

I read another post here lately with the wise words, "My house is clean because I clean it." I don't know why it took me about 35 years to figure that one out. :lol:

 

Thanks for the insight. I'm 46. We'll see if this helps me :)

[cin]

We don't have a maid at this time. We had to cut it from the budget, unfortunately. I use http://www.motivatedmoms.com/ now. It only works if you follow it, like flylady, but when I stick to it, the cleaning schedule works great.

 

I'm looking at the motivated moms and wondering if it can be reused, over and over again. I know the days are dated, but really, Monday is Monday, isn't it? And if you kept the pages in order, would it matter what year it is?

 

I'm thinking about a binder with page protectors....

[july19]

Some of the responses saying that the maid reminds them to tidy up before the maid comes reminds me of the episode of "Mad About You" when she's cleaning the house and he's wondering why they need the maid at all since she's cleaning the house for the maid. It went something like this:

 

"Why are you cleaning?"

"So the maid doesn't think we're disgusting."

"But you're cleaning!"

"Yeah, so?"

"I don't think we need a maid. I think we need the *threat* of a maid."

 

I wish I could find the exact dialogue. It always made me laugh :lol:

 

To stay on topic, we don't have a maid, but I used to clean for others when I was younger. I am truly one of those people who just LOVE to clean. There's no sarcasm there. I really really get excited about new products, I love to scrub things clean, I love to organize.

 

That being said, when we have more kids in the future and move to a larger house, we may have someone come in to help every two weeks or so - like the deep cleaning. I'd like to think that I could cook from scratch, school my children, clean the whole house, and keep up the other daily chores, but in reality - I may not be able to. :)

[angel marie]

i straighten up before my housekeeper comes so that she can get in and "clean" really well. i think about it alot that i am so fortunate to be able to have her come. it makes me feel so good that my entire house is clean at the same time. it also gives me a chance to tackle a project like cleaning out a closet that i would otherwise not have time to ever get to. i am also happy to put money in her pocket. :001_smile:

[HS Mom in NC]

No. I turned down the opportunity to have one once.

 

I teach my kids (15,13, and 5) to do chores properly by age 6 and everyone in the house has different chores to do every day with a rotating monthly schedule. I begin training them at 2 to unload non-breakables from the dishwasher,(my lower cabinets have separate shelves for plates, bowls, and cups) put hangers in shirts, and pick up whatever they get out.

 

I am absolutely ruthless about decluttering. It's the single most important step to keeping a tidy house. Without do keeping things decluttered it's not possible to organize or to clean.

[Mrs Mungo]

I'm ADD, but I have found ways to help keep me on task. For one, I only work in one room until it is *finished*. I refuse to allow myself to get distracted. Anything that belongs in another room gets stacked outside the door of the room where I am working until the room is otherwise finished. I talk on the phone, listen to audio books or loud music while cleaning to keep my brain occupied. If I don't do that last thing, then my brain will think of other things I need to do and I get distracted.

 

So, no, I don't have a housekeeper. I have considered it. I have a lot of friends in my circle who do have once a week or once every two week housekeepers.

[leeannpal]

I'm ADD, but I have found ways to help keep me on task. For one, I only work in one room until it is *finished*. I refuse to allow myself to get distracted. Anything that belongs in another room gets stacked outside the door of the room where I am working until the room is otherwise finished. I talk on the phone, listen to audio books or loud music while cleaning to keep my brain occupied. If I don't do that last thing, then my brain will think of other things I need to do and I get distracted.

 

So, no, I don't have a housekeeper. I have considered it. I have a lot of friends in my circle who do have once a week or once every two week housekeepers.

 

I know I have ADD issues. I love this idea! It is particularly helpful right now as we are in the process of moving. I have found that packing up one room at a time helps me stay on task better.

 

When we are in China next year, I will most likely have a maid for 2-3 days a week. It is very common and very cheap from what I hear. I'm not sure I will know what to do with the extra time!

[justamouse]

if I had a maid she'd have to live here. So, no. No maid. ;)

[SweetMissMagnolia]

no but would like one some days

[newlifemom]

I do not have a maid. I have 5 maids. :D About 6-8 months ago I decided that 30 years of dishes was enough. I rarely do them anymore. My dh had been doing the laundry. He is done with that as well. I still scrub the shower, but we are working on that. My house is much cleaner now that I have relinquished these tasks. However, the kids are still learning how to fold well and rinse properly. I am dealing with it b/c they need to learn and I need to let them. Dd is also doing most of the baking and has advanced in her dinner prep responsibility. :D

[chiguirre]

I find it interesting that you see it as 'stooping' to have a maid while we see it as uplifting to offer someone the opportunity to earn an honest living.

I guess this comes from the perspective (and bias) of a community with 43% unemployment and very little social security where working as a maid or gardener is honorable. And so is offering someone employment.

 

:iagree: When we lived in Venezuela we had a maid and a nanny. It was pretty much expected that you should hire someone if you could afford it because so many people need jobs.

 

We have a part-time housekeeper now. She was our once a week cleaner, but she asked me for a job because her son lost his and she needs the money to keep her house. It works out well for both of us. I'm less frazzled and can do more things with the kids without having to lug all 3 everywhere.

[TravelingChris]

Not right now, no. We are hiring a cleaning service to thoroughly clean when we move out. I also think I will hire cleaners on a regular basis in my location. I will likely hire for once every two weeks cleaning. I do regular cleaning but I have arthritis and asthma along with a new bursitis in my hip. So I do regular sweeps and wipes and that kind of thing and maid service will do all the things I am less able to do- dusting of high places, scrubbing bathrooms, and using any chemicals. I basically stopped using a service here because they weren't doing a very good job and older dd is so very sensitive to cleaning products. Now we are going to pay for move-out clean and that will be over $700 (we have about a 4000 sq ft house with lots of doors, doors with windows, and no carpets so lots and lots of mopping).

 

BUt the question of how do we pay for anything really is strange since I could say the same about someone else's expenditures on anything. The truth is that while my dh has a good salary, we have saved money in other ways like not having any car payments for the last five years. A car payment would have probably been more than any maid services I have used in the last five years.

[elegantlion]

Dh and I owned a cleaning business for a while, we were the cleaners. I hate cleaning, dh is genetically disposed to being a neat freak. It was great work for him. I dust, he and ds do the other cleaning. My dh is the absolute cleanest person I know, I like things straight. Between us both it all gets done. Actually between us three, ds does trash and vacuuming.

[Mom-ninja.]

I had a cleaning woman come once a week while I was doing my internship for college. It was a paid internship. I used the money to pay for the cleaning woman and pay my mom to watch my ds. My mom was surprised I hired someone, but I told her I didn't expect her to clean my house even though she was living there with us because her responsibility was my ds.

 

It was so nice not having to worry about the big chores. I still straightened up, did dishes every night, did laundry and such. But I knew I didn't have to worry about vacuuming, mopping, dusting, cleaning ceiling fans, cabinets, baseboards, yes it was nice. Those three months were nice.

 

Now, we scrimp every penny trying to Ramsey off our debt. So no cleaning lady.

 

I used to be the cleaning lady back in the day before I got married. :001_smile: I made decent money for a college student.

[OLG]

I dream of the time when I could have a maid and.... a chef!

[JennyD]

Dh and I owned a cleaning business for a while, we were the cleaners. I hate cleaning, dh is genetically disposed to being a neat freak. It was great work for him.

 

Our cleaning people here were like that -- the woman is one of those people on a personal mission to eradicate dirt from the earth. Best. Cleaning. People. Ever.

 

Alas, we are moving and I practically cried when I said goodbye to them last week.

[Rhonda in TX]

I think I'm way more ADD than Marla ever was! :lol:

 

Oh, me, too. Flylady doesn't work for me at all. I've had more luck with Motivated Moms, but I've fallen off the wagon with that as well.

 

I'm actually considering ADD medication because of my problems with housework.

 

I would love, love, love to have someone clean my house, but my DH doesn't support that.

[kalanamak]

I guess this comes from the perspective (and bias) of a community with 43% unemployment and very little social security where working as a maid or gardener is honorable.

 

I was certainly not trying to imply I thought being a maid less than honorable. I've done housekeeping, for individuals, and for a dorm clean up crew. Never crossed my mind that it was dishonorable. The "stoop" would be MY stoop, not theirs, as I was raised to do everything for myself.

[Denisemomof4]

no, and I'd never want one. I remember the stress of having to clean for the cleaning lady when I was a kid. My mother went BONKERS. I can see I'd be the same way.

 

I just have weekly chore charts for dd11 and I and we get it all done. Spreading out the chores through the week is entirely manageable. I don't have a spotless house but it's pretty darned clean.:001_smile:

[Hannah]

I was certainly not trying to imply I thought being a maid less than honorable. I've done housekeeping, for individuals, and for a dorm clean up crew. Never crossed my mind that it was dishonorable. The "stoop" would be MY stoop, not theirs, as I was raised to do everything for myself.

 

I have also worked in a clean up crew, as a dishwasher in a restaurant and as a farm labourer. It was in the Netherlands and not here in South Africa, but I do have the experience of being the one employed to do manual labour.

 

Our perspective on the issue is certainly very different. And as a previous poster mentioned, it probably has a lot to do with the parts of the world we are in.

I am fortunate to be employed in a professional job for 25 hours a week, and because I can afford to, I feel I should be employing someone else. For there to be an opportunity for someone to work, there needs to be a job offer. Of course it is a mutually beneficial arrangement for employer and employee. The cleaner earns a living and I benefit from her services by coming home to a clean house and having more free time for myself and my family.

 

I know you said it in reference to yourself, but I guess calling it 'stooping' to employ someone is touching a nerve with me. I just don't see it as lowering oneself.

[Mom in Michigan]

I wish i had a maid! :lol:

[Jenny in GA]

And how do you afford the service?

 

I am so organizationally challenged and cleaning impaired it's ridiculous!

A little background, I was in the Army for three years and even they couldn't get me to keep my room clean! :lol::001_huh:

 

As for different methods, I've been down the Donna Otto road, the FlyLady road, etc, and I just cannot make a lasting dent.

 

Therefore, I'm thinking it would be in everyone's best interest to get a maid; however, being a homeschooling family on a budget, I don't know how to afford it.

 

So, to those that manage throwing a maid/cleaning service into the "here take my money" pile, I ask: how do you afford it?

 

 

I have had housekeeping help for eight years now, and I am always amazed at how many people think getting a housekeeper is "the answer" to a person being disorganized or unable to clean -- or that "they'll never have to clean again" because they have one.

 

Sure, having a housekeeper is great, but one's house will still be a mess if they're a messy person.

 

The housekeeper does not clean out or wipe down closets, cabinets, drawers, pantries, or fridges. They don't clean out and vacuum the van. They don't put things away (well, very minimally.) They don't touch the dirty laundry or the dirty dishes. They don't change the sheets, mow the lawn, or haul the trash and recycling to the curb. And they don't live here (thankfully!), so we still have to empty trash, mop, vaccuum, make beds, and regularly sweep and wipe counters. And of course we still do all the cooking and clean-up that goes with that.

 

[i guess I should add that they [i]could [/i]do all these things, but it would cost a lot more money.]

 

Our family members do at least three times as much housework as our housekeeper does.

 

So just understand that going in ... hiring help is not going to magically solve your problems or make cleaning go away.

 

Having said that, I think the cleaning is great. She comes first thing in the morning, so while she starts on the bathrooms, the kids pick up their rooms and the playroom and I put the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher; then we all put away a couple loads of laundry ... so it has a feeling of a houseful of people bustling around making it tidy.

 

As far as helping organization: I have found a book called something like Get Everything Done (and Still Have Time to Play) very helpful.

 

As far as how to afford it: well, I work out with videos instead of joining a health club, and we don't have cable/dish. I work as a free-lance musician and make a few thousand a year. It's only $120/month to have the cleaning. It's important to us. We have the money, and we're fortunate that we do.

 

I will say that I have always felt somewhat ashamed and embarrassed that I have cleaning help. I generally try not to tell people. I know it makes me sounds like I'm spoiled, wealthy, lazy, and "too good" to clean. (Even though, like I said, I actually do puh-lenty of cleaning!)

 

But then again, I've been surprised how many "normal" people have cleaning help. Just a couple months ago I had a friend (who is an at-home parent who does not "work" at all and whose kids are all in school) drop by as the cleaning person was leaving. My friend said to me quite casually, "Oh yeah, I have a housekeeper too!"

 

I was also shocked years ago, before I had kids and I was a ps teacher, to hear three teachers (with no kids!) sitting around at lunch discussing their housekeepers. I thought, "Wait a minute, I thought ps teachers didn't make much money!"

 

But now I'm just rambling.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Hannah]

I will say that I have always felt somewhat ashamed and embarrassed that I have cleaning help. I generally try not to tell people. I know it makes me sounds like I'm spoiled, wealthy, lazy, and "too good" to clean. (Even though, like I said, I actually do puh-lenty of cleaning!)

 

I pick up from this thread that it is somewhat frowned upon in the USA to have cleaning help, yet people buy time in many other ways.

 

As an example, not many people would think that others who buy fast food or convenience food or regularly eat at restaurants are lazy or 'too good to cook'. But one is also buying time by paying for someone else's labour to prepare something that you could have done yourself. And many people do all of these things regularly. Maybe there is less of a stigma because these services are offered outside of the home and there is a tangible product involved?

[Tree House Academy]

We have considered it. Mostly, the reason I have not agreed is because I have OCD and I am very particular about the way my home is cleaned. I would almost rather do it myself than show anyone else my quirks and expect them to do the same. :(

 

Affording it is not an issue.

[msk]

I pick up from this thread that it is somewhat frowned upon in the USA to have cleaning help, yet people buy time in many other ways.

 

As an example, not many people would think that others who buy fast food or convenience food or regularly eat at restaurants are lazy or 'too good to cook'. But one is also buying time by paying for someone else's labour to prepare something that you could have done yourself. And many people do all of these things regularly. Maybe there is less of a stigma because these services are offered outside of the home and there is a tangible product involved?

 

I think this is tied up in the horror most Americans (in the middle class anyway) have of being viewed as "privileged" or spoiled. I'm not sure why we have it (probably part of the whole Protestant Ethic thing that dominates so much of American culture), but it is pretty strong. People (me included) who don't eat out much tend to be proud of that too, although it's usually presented as more of a health issue. It's very uncomfortable for many of us to admit that we're doing well or have something nice unless we preface it with a big disclaimer about how hard we've worked/sacrificed to get there. We tend to feel a little guilty instead of just lucky.

[Jenny in GA]

I pick up from this thread that it is somewhat frowned upon in the USA to have cleaning help, yet people buy time in many other ways.

 

As an example, not many people would think that others who buy fast food or convenience food or regularly eat at restaurants are lazy or 'too good to cook'.

 

Really? I think a lot of people do see it as lazy to go through a Drive-Thru instead of cooking, either literally -- as a "bad" thing to do -- or casually, semi-joking. For example, I've heard many women say things like, "I'm gonna be lazy tonight and pick up a pre-cooked chicken.

 

I've heard multiple "parenting experts" say it's wrong and indulgent to have cleaning help or yardwork help because then your kids don't learn responsibility.

 

I know I was raised that it was a wife's JOB to cook and clean, and that if you ask your husband and/or children to do it (let alone hire somebody!) you are either flat-out shirking your duties, or just need to get your act together.

 

I must say I've heard this idea strongly in conservative Christian circles also. For example, I went to a women's conference sponsored by a homeschool group, and the speaker specifically said, "Do not ask your husband to do your job for you -- things like vaccuuming, cooking, laundry, etc."

[Renthead Mommy]

Do I have a maid? --- No.

 

However my husband and stb9yo do!

 

(That would be me by the way!:glare:)