Any experience with live-in housekeepers?

[caitlinsmom]

*Most of this is in my dream world where my plans for the future actually, for once, pan out. Keep that in mind lol*

 

I've been going over how things run in our house and I have started seeing some patterns that I am not so fond of. The biggest one is that I am a stressed out mess when things are cluttered (no problem I'm an adult, I can handle it) however two of my kiddos seem particularly overwhelmed by clutter which effects not only their school work but also their behavior. We have chore charts and what not that keep us treading water but that's as good as it gets.

 

Next, we have started a new business that takes up TONS of time on dh and my part. We work late into the night to get as much as possible done. It's killing us. We have to get more sleep if we are going to make it through the next year (or day at this point). Over the next year we both will be working full time+ hours until the business is established.

 

So knowing those two things plus the addition of homeschooling 3, I have thought about hiring extra help. We are looking to buy a house in late winter/early spring and plan to find something that has extra space for guests. We would just use that as a housekeepers quarters.

 

I love the idea of the whole thing but I don't know if I would actually like the reality. So for those of you who have or had live in help how do you rate the experience? Any suggestions? How did you find qualified help? I live in a rural area with no specific services that I can find. How did you determine salary?

 

*Leaving dream world now...*

[Um_2_4]

Well, no one has answered you yet, so I'll throw this out:

I grew up with a live out maid. My parents had their own business also, and work that could not be done at night, except for my mom did the bookkeeping at home. She was the receptionist, etc, etc, etc. during the day.

We did live in a large town, so at first my mom used a service to find one. Later, she found a woman off ads in local papers (pre craigslist days lol).

My advice is keep it professional: next to last maid, my mom got too "chummy" with and she started slacking.

Make sure you have a detailed list of what you need done daily, weekly, monthly. I mean really specific, don't assume anything.

Here I did have a weekly maid for a while (now budget is too tight). I paid about $12/hour for 1x a week. I would expect less if it was daily thing.

Also keep in mind that most housekeepers will not clean up clutter, just clean around it... so it will still be up to you and kids to put things away. My mom always made us do a "maid is coming pick up". A live-in ,I expect, you could teach her where things go and she would p/u as she cleans. But probably not personal papers, etc.

 

Now I have stayed with in laws overseas who had live in help, but that was entirely different and yes they did pick up and do all laundry, they were more like one of the family. They also helped with childcare, shopping, meal service, etc, etc. Kinda different than what I've seen here with live in or out maids.

[gingersmom]

Are they having separate apartment in your house?

 

I'm from nyc so there are a ton of agencies that offer live in housekeepers, etc.

 

The cost in my neck of the woods would easily be $1000/week.

[Isabella]

My 19yo DD works as a part-time live in help. In her first job she worked as a live-in help for a lady with a small baby who was overwhelmed with life at that stage. It was only 2 days a week, but dd lived in for those 2 nights. She rec'd $15/hr for set hours (I think 8hrs a day). After those hours she was free to do her own thing, stay downstairs with the family, or whatever. If she was asked to do extra things (eg. look after baby while they went out in the evening), she was paid for any time she worked over and above her normal working hours.

 

Her duties were everything that the mum would normally have done. Cleaning, washing, ironing, folding, picking up, vacuuming, looking after baby, shopping, cooking, running errands, etc.

 

DD really enjoyed it, and the new mum found it a complete lifesaver. DD worked there from the time baby was about 2 weeks old, till he was about 9 months old. She only left because she left the area.

 

She now does the same (2 days a week) for another family that have 2 little ones both whom have had very bad reflux problems, also the lady's father is dying, and she needed the help to be able to cope. DD does the same things for her.

[Rosie_0801]

What about an au pair?