Working Moms - do you have outside help for cleaning the house?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Little_Mary
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Little_Mary

Guest
For working moms -

Do you employ a cleaning service (or some other type of outside help) to help keep your house clean - i.e., keep the toilets from turning black, keep the place dusted, floors clean/vacuumed, etc. ???

If not, please tell me how you incorporate keeping these fundamental housekeeping chores into your busy schedule?

Some might suggest making hubby and kids help out - well, mine do. They are great about keeping the laundry going, clothes folded, cleaning up after dinner, kids keep their rooms picked up and vacuumed and my wonderful dh will always do anything I ask him to do.

But…

with his travel schedule, kids’ homework and sports schedules, there seems to only be enough time for the light housekeeping stuff - constantly picking up and putting away, etc.

For this thread, I am talking about the heavier house cleaning - bathrooms, sinks, toilets, showers, tubs, and all over the house, floors, dusting, vacuuming, cobwebs, baseboards, etc.

So, which is it - do you hire someone to do it or do you have an awesomely efficient schedule that I need to know about???😃
 
where is the option for: “that’s what I had kids for so they could grow up and be my slaves” (the line my kids used as teenagers when they were expected to pitch in because I was working and going to school).
 
puzzleannie said:
where is the option for: “that’s what I had kids for so they could grow up and be my slaves” (the line my kids used as teenagers when they were expected to pitch in because I was working and going to school).
Click to expand...
Ha!! I love it!!!😃
 
Yeah, I was looking for the kids chores choice too. I have friends who can’t believe I don"t have a dishwasher. What do you mean, I don’t have a dishwasher??? I have 2 dishwashers…and they started at age 8, and now they are 21 and 23 and they still work. No maintenance, no costs for breakdowns…and I didn’t need a 3rd one.

Cleaning service…is a luxury.
 
I don’t work outside the home, but hired a woman last year to come in and clean 2x/month when I had an injury that kept me from doing heavy housework. At first I resisted–never having relied on someone else to clean for me and being pretty particular about how it should be done. Let’s just say I recovered from my injury, as well as from my belief I was the only one who could “properly” clean my house. It is such a HUGE time saver that I now have her come one day/week. I have children I might trade in before I’d give up her good help!! 😛
 
I don’t have someone from outside to clean it now. But I wasn’t working full time before. Now I am, and even though I work from home, it is still too much to do. Yes, hubby and the kids help, but they have work/school and we don’t want to spend all our free time together cleaning!

I finally have decided to get someone to help and as it turns out a friend has started a cleaning service so I’m going to use her! I’m looking forward to both having a clean house and being able to help a friend.
 
When I was in high school I used to vacuum and mop every floor in my next door neighbor’s house every Friday afternoon for $5. I’m sure the rate has gone up in the last twenty years, but I thought of it as a win-win deal for both of us. I’ll bet if you just had a limited amount of specific work you wanted done you could hire a teenage girl for a very reasonable price.
 
I have somebody that works for me full-time and she has been with me for 10 yrs this year. She has look after my kids since they were 3 months old.

My place is not so big so the 2 of us do Spring Cleaning once a month together and do the curtains and a clean up of the whole house. DISHWASHER only in my dreams. It is to expensive and have no place in my kitchen for it.

But what I find works for both of us is that we do room by room sometimes. And it works for us. I have a friend who does not have somebody so she does everything on a Saturday. I have to have somebody full time I cannot even iron. The other things I can do but ironing never ever.
 
Yes that is my dilemma, as one poster just said, my family and I don’t want to spend all of our free time cleaning! Our days are full enough just keeping the yard in order, laundry, tidying up, errands, errands and errands. 🙂
 
I work full time… (and have two messy little boys! 😉 ), and do most of our cleaning in the evenings and on the weekends.

I do get some help, though… about every 6 weeks we have a cleaning lady come in to help… it’s a nice little break every once in a while…
 
Wow. I am thoroughly envious of you working moms that can afford help. :o

I work full time outside of the home and I basically devote Saturdays to housecleaning and laundry. Hubby cleans the bathroom (bless his heart!) and mops the kitchen floor and I dust and vaccuum the house. However, I only get to do a DEEP cleaning (where I take the curtains down and wash them and get on my hands and knees to wash the baseboards, etc.) about once a year… unless I look at it and it drives me crazy enough to clean it right on the spot! 🙂

It’s tough for me, and I’ll be the first one to admit I kept a much cleaner house pre-kids, but when it comes to choosing to spend time with my family or with my cobwebs? My family will come first every time. :o
 
I’m currently doing it myself, but this is a temporary situation. We have a house in another city that we’re trying to sell. When it is gone, a cleaning assistant will be acquired immediately. I can’t keep it as clean as I’d like and work and cart 2 kids around.
 
SavedByHim said:
It’s tough for me, and I’ll be the first one to admit I kept a much cleaner house pre-kids, but when it comes to choosing to spend time with my family or with my cobwebs? My family will come first every time. :o
Click to expand...
That’s precisely why I am thinking about making room in the budget for cleaning help. My nights and weekends are already full with taking kids back and forth to practice, games, meets, and other household stff that needs to be tackled. 🙂
 
puzzleannie said:
where is the option for: “that’s what I had kids for so they could grow up and be my slaves” (the line my kids used as teenagers when they were expected to pitch in because I was working and going to school).
Click to expand...
lol–you sound like my hubby:D

my husband, our kids, and me all pitch in together. it’s not one person’s work…it’s everyone’s. I admit, I do more of the dishes, vacuuming, etc…stuff like that, but my husband and kids do the outside things, and the laundry. I would rather scrub a toilet than laundry, so it works out well.😃

I think what is helpful, is to set aside the time to get it all out of the way on Saturday morning/early afternoon if you can–then, you can enjoy the rest of the weekend. I wish I could hire someone for the grocery shopping though…that is a royal pain.😦
 
whatevergirl said:
lol–you sound like my hubby:D

my husband, our kids, and me all pitch in together. it’s not one person’s work…it’s everyone’s. I admit, I do more of the dishes, vacuuming, etc…stuff like that, but my husband and kids do the outside things, and the laundry. I would rather scrub a toilet than laundry, so it works out well.😃

I think what is helpful, is to set aside the time to get it all out of the way on Saturday morning/early afternoon if you can–then, you can enjoy the rest of the weekend. I wish I could hire someone for the grocery shopping though…that is a royal pain.😦
Click to expand...
Most Saturday mornings we are either at a swim meet or out of town. I also do some of my work on Sunday afternoons, so that really crowds the weekend!
 
Until now, it has been the two of us. Once we are not paying for lawyers for the grandkids, I am seriously considering this.

Right now, my dishwasher is at the end of either arm.:rolleyes:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top