housecleaning: What about hired help?

[Sandra Dodd]

This quote came to me from the UnschoolingBasics list (Kelli sent it):

======================================================
I have a housecleaner that comes once a month for 5-6 hours that I
pay $75 to clean our house. I have no shame or embarrasment being a
SAHM and using this service that makes all of us happier. Heck, as
you know, many SAHMs send their kids to daycare and preschool. I'll
keep the kids here and get rid of the work rather than vice versa!

Julie M
tyler 6.8.7
james 9.9.5
======================================================

I wanted to bring this here as a topic. Most families can't or might
feel like they can't afford this, but what do you think about it?

There are realities. Some people live in rental houses they have to
keep to a certain standard. Some moms have a need for order, but
their kids have a need for direct mom-contact. Some families spend
more on marriage counselling than they would have spent on housekeeping.

We have a car that needs to go into the shop. That's kind of a
routine thing. My dad could fix his own cars. My husband rarely
can. So we pay other people. (And cars are ever more complicated
too--fixing cars from the '60's isn't like fixing cars from nowadays,
I know.) The really bad thing is that we've had two other autos in
the shop in the past month. This will be the third. It seems
horrible. And yet having safely operational vehicles is important to
our routines and our commitments. People do pay for some things they
can't do.

I think a page recommending getting help might be good for some
totally frazzled families.

Any thoughts or experiences to add? Here's what I have so far:

http://sandradodd.com/chore/hiredhelp

Sandra

[Karen Hsu]

I work from home full-time, and my husband is home with the kids.  We pay $90 for someone to come in every other week to clean our house. 

My husband and I have different ideas and priorities for housecleaning.  We both do lots of day to day picking up he almost always does the laundry, but we both think it's worth it to have someone come in and do the heavy duty cleaning of the kitchen, floors, bathrooms, etc.  I feel like it'd take too much time away from the kids for me to do it, plus I don't enjoy it, and would likely feel as if it's something Yuta should be doing.  And Yuta doesn't have the same need for a clean, straightened house as I do.

I know it's something that not everyone can afford.  For us it's something that helps make our house more peaceful.

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 1:43 PM, Sandra Dodd <San...@sandradodd.com> wrote:

Any thoughts or experiences to add?  Here's what I have so far:

http://sandradodd.com/chore/hiredhelp

Sandra

--
Karen
http://houseofhsus.blogspot.com/

[pisce...@aeroinc.net]

>>>>I wanted to bring this here as a topic. Most families can't or might
>>>>feel like they can't afford this, but what do you think about it?
>>>>

While we haven't yet gone the hired help route for housecleaning yet (I'd love that), it
reminds me of our attitude toward doing things ourselves when we built our house. So many
people gave us suggestions for how to build our house more cheaply - stain the wood trim
ourselves, do all the painting, etc. Well, we're not especially handy folks and yet the
thought of saving money was appealing.

It finally occurred to me one day that it made more sense for us to work hard at *our* jobs -
which we knew how to do and do well - in order to pay someone else to do the work *they* know
how to do and do well. It was a huge relief to realize we didn't have to do any of the house-
building work ourselves!

Warmly,
Laura

www.piscesgrrrl.blogspot.com

[Pamela Sorooshian]

I have no "issue" about getting help - but it seems hard to have someone cleaning up our clutter in order to get to the cleaning. When I had help, I used to have a huge housecleaning spurt each time right before the housekeeper came and, to be honest, it was stressful and some of my stress was taken out on the kids.

That was a LONG time ago - I might be able to do it with a very different attitude today.

-pam

[Pam Tellew]

Yep, Pam, that sounds familiar. The pre-cleaning was stressful. But
when I had help was when the kids were littler and ANYTHING that took
me away from them was stressful. I'd like to think I'm mellower than
I used to be but the truth is life is mellower now with kids older and
not needing me so much.

Pam T., remembering that quote, "The days are long but the years are
short."

On Aug 8, 10:45 pm, Pamela Sorooshian <pamsoro...@earthlink.net>
wrote:

[Luna Moonwolf]

Hi,
I found this thread intetesting because when my child was young I was constantly being criticized for my lack of proper housekeeping, I spent more time in the muddhole w my little one than I did the laundry room. Time well spent I felt, but none the less stressed out and guilty for not being supermom and having a spotless house.

When I was young and single, and I worked 16 hr days, I felt no guilt about spending 300.00 a month  for 2x a week housecleaning, laundy and cooking services.

But as a mom, I felt obligated to do it all ( and could not afford hired help).


Now that my child is a young teen, and I work 12 hr days to keep a roof over our heads , I have resumed housekeeper service, to me it is worth it not to have to "nag" my partner to do his share ; he would be happy to live in conditions I find disgusting. I have the peace of knowing when i get done w my work day and the kitchen is clean, the floors are mopped, the fridge will be cleaned, and i will not have to spend the time i do have off, doing endless chores instead of spending quality time w the kid.
--

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by
being shared." Buddha