Housekeeper?

[Anonymous]

How many of you have housekeepers that come in every week or every other week to help you clean your house? I think that I may hire someone to come in and just do the big stuff every week (the toilets/ showers/ dusting ect…) I am OK with the day to day stuff, but I never have time (or more acurately I do it but hate it while I am doing it) to do the big things. I am on the fence about it b/c I only work 2 days a week, and I feel as if I am falling down on my job, but I think that I would be a lot less stressed if I hired one… Just wanted to get everyone’s opinion…

[Anonymous]

Hire someone if you can afford it! You have so much going on that you deserve a break!!! My house is a pig’s sty because my husband is too cheap for us to hire help- he says we can’t afford it. I say go for it.

[hellbennt]

I wouldn’t say we can afford it per se, but it’s something we budget in, because neither dh or I want to do the ‘heavy’ stuff ie: mop floors (our floors are all wood and tile) or clean bathrooms…we rationalize it for reasons like: I’m not buying anything new right now (saved all of my maternity clothes), jonah has hand me downs from a friend to last at least another year, and the baby will have all of jonah’s stuff- oh I love rationalizing…

I’m very very lucky bse dh pulls way more than his own weight around here and that he realizes that neither one of us wants to (or should have to, I guess) do the heavy stuff…

[Anonymous]

We have a cleaning lady every other week and it’s the BEST thing we
could have done. It might inhibit us from buying a larger place as soon
as we’d like but is totally worth it.

[Anonymous]

We are in the same boat as Laura… I would budget it in. I just really think that it would be much less stressful. I think that I am going to look into it…

[Anonymous]

we have a cleaning service once a week. my stay at home husband does not clean or cook (though he is a very good playmate for hannah when i do both) but is responsible for the dishwasher and laundry. i don’t rationalize it at all…i hate dirt, and we have two cats, a dog (and two goldfish) but tolerate clutter — thus a cleaning service. i reached a point where i thought it was well worth it. we lucked out with a really nice group of people who we love and love our pets…

i don’t feel guilty about this at all. other matters are more pressing than my living room floor…

[Anonymous]

I keep up day to day, but have someone once a month for a thorough cleaning, like moving all furniture, etc……

It keeps the cost way down for us, and I don’t worry if I don’t get to something…..

It is definitely worth it!!!

[Anonymous]

Neuroblastoma! OMG, is she o.k.? (I hope you don’t mind me asking).

Definitely go for the houskeeper. My dh would not spring for a babysitter to give me a break but I guess the pigsty we are living in convinced him that we needed help with the cleaning. I HAVE VERY HIGH EXPECTATIONS AND COULDN’T LIVE UP TO THEM, SO HIRING SOMEONE RELIEVES THAT BURDEN. We hired someone to come twice per month and do just the heavy stuff. What a relief!!!!In some ways I feel lazy and spoiled, but heck, it’s worth it to have a clean house and not have to kill myself doing it!

[Anonymous]

Janice, your post motivated me to do some overdue cleaning around here- I vacuumed, did the bathrooms, washed the counters and the table, mopped the floor (all while Hailey watched baby Van Gogh on continuous loop) and after all that, and a broken back, I looked down at the baseboards and they were covered in dust. So all I can say again is GO FOR IT!!! You deserve it! We all do.

[Anonymous]

Hey Janice! Having some help was the only thing that got me through these past 7 months, we did budget it in as well. I have the nicest person helping me, i would refer her to you but she just had a baby last week. She will be coming back with the baby for 1/2 a day in a couple months. Just an idea, ask the ladies around your neighborhood for a referral. I ended up splitting the day with a friend. She came every other week and cleaned at my house for 4 hours then went to my neighbors for 4 hours. It was so nice because she would help me with the baby during tough times too. Anyways, it was easy to budget in $45 that way!

[Anonymous]

Definitely hire someone to help you out. I’m a SAHM and I run myself ragged trying to clean up after 3 boys and a slob of a husband. Gotta love it when people throw their ditry clothes on the floor right next to the empty clothes basket. Not to mention I could spend atleast an hour or more a day just keeping our 3 bathrooms clean. Anyone that has boys can vouch that toilet cleaning is a daily job. I would love to hire someone to come in even once a month to do the nitty gritty stuff that I dont get to. Unfortunatley the extra $150 a visit doesnt fit into our budget right now. So I would say that if you can find someone reasonably priced, go for it.

[Anonymous]

I used to have someone come in once a month to do the heavy duty stuff like mopping, scrubbing bathrooms, etc. It was a great help! I used a lady/friend who lived in my old neighborhood and she only charged 80.00. I have also used the chain services which ran about 150.00 but they honestly did not do as good of a job. I also worried with the chain about identity theft since they came when we weren’t home (paranoid I know). On the plus side though, the chains are insured whereas others who just do it on the side may not be.

I gave up the service when I went semi part-time since I had the false illusion that I would have all this spare time to do it myself and boy do I miss it.

I’d definitely give it a shot if you can swing it in the budget. It is well worth it.

[Author]

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