Do you have a cleaner / housekeeper / domestic help?

[VKK3450]

After a number of disasterous cleaners over the past year, we found a girl who does a great job. We have had others who dont get to everything, who are sloppy and just clean on the surface, and some who are just downright surly.

We contract her for a certain number of hours a week and today she finished everything early, did my ironing, cleaned out the fridge, scrubbed some scuffs off the walls, and is looking around for other stuff to do. I told her to just start her weekend early...

K

 

[spence]

We went through several but my wife keeps scaring them away. Good help is indeed hard to find.

-spence

 

[acidboy]

Yes we do, and I feel lucky our housekeepers are very wonderful people. I'm specially happy they sincerely love our kids- hell, they even buy them gifts when they come back. Me and the acidicwife think of them as family.

 

[rdawson808]

I can't talk my wife into hiring a cleaning service, no matter how badly we need it. I feel like I should just take care of it on my own.

b

 

[VKK3450]

Ours only comes in for 3 hours a week, but in that time she manages to clean the whole apartment to a pretty good standard, iron a bunch of stuff, and do one "extra cleaning job (clean out the linen closet)". I really dont know how she gets so much done in so little time. It would take me more time just to clean the place. Hell, today she did all that and was asking me what else she can do.

I wont tell you how much we pay her, but I'm thinking about giving her a bit of a raise just to make sure she doesnt take off on us.

K

 

[globetrotter]

we have somebody - it is a lot of work to manage a housekeeper but it is a hell of a lot less than acatually doing the work ourselves. I love her.

 

[AintDatRite]

Fortunately, yes. She is more than a 'housekeeper' though; I consider her a close friend and 'family'. She essentially runs my house; she does the laundry, shopping, cooking and cleaning. She ensures the landscape and pool are kept clean and well maintained; she schedules maintenance on my vehicles. On the personal side, she schedules my doctor's appointments and vacations. While I do not 'ban' her from sitting down and watchin TV with me if she wants, she has her own 'area' of the house; her 'suite' has a bathroom, bedroom, living room and a small 'kitchen' area with microwave. She has worked for me for years and I trust her. It would be extremely hard - if not impossible - for me to find anyone to replace her.

 

[Eagle]

^Sounds almost like my situation. However, mine doesn't have her own bedroom suite...she shares mine. I call her the wife. Coincidentally, she refers to our groundskeeper as...her husband!

 

[tonylumpkin]

Yes. His name is Leon.

 

[JoelF]

In our experience Brazilians are the best.

 

[bluemagic]

How much income do you guys make?

 

[hadamulletonce]

We had a service come once in a week in our last house when my wife and I were both working 50+ hours a week. Two really great dudes from Brazil. We've downsized bit and with a more manageable space and teenagers instead of small children, it's much easy to hold things together without the extra help.

If I could go back in time to when I was single and living with roommates, a housekeeper would have been a mandatory expense at the top of the list.

 

[thekunk07]

we had one til last year. decided either she or the landscaper had to go and i won and got to keep the landscaper.

 

[AintDatRite]

Originally Posted by bluemagic

How much income do you guys make?

That lil tid bit of information is a secret between me and the IRS... oh wait, its definitely a secret FROM the IRS, too.

 

[rdawson808]

It's interesting to note that some people are talking about a housekeeper/whatever who they hire privately (pay salary, taxes, etc.) vs. a service like MerryMaids (sp?).

I was thinking about a service, def. not hiring someone on myself. Just a couple hours a week to make sure the place looks cleaned. We have no need for any to come in for more than that.

b