We have a cleaning lady come in every other week. It’s not because we can’t do it (although my boyfriend and I work 50-60 hours/week each), but because we both HATE cleaning. We used to fight about it incessantly. Long, drawn out fights that left both of us feeling bad. So now we pay someone else a small amount and our relationship is happier and stronger. Money well spent, as far as I’m concerned.
mischievous
I have a ‘yard guy’ come once a week in-season; not to do any landscaping , but just to cut the grass , since my arthritis makes it really painful for me to do it. I wish I could afford a maid , lord, how I hate cleaning.
I don’t like calling these guys gardeners, nor do I consider them personal staff. They don’t come everyday, nor do they garden. It’s more a subscription service. I don’t have this service now anyway, but when I’ve had them, no way are they trusted to do any gardening. Stay the hell away from my flowerbeds & vegetables. Just mow the lawn, and blow the leaves back & forth for awhile.
My little dog makes sure I go for long walks every day, so I guess she’s my personal trainer.
As the “owner” of five cats, I am personal staff. (One of them os presently demanding that I stop playing with the mouse and give her a back massage/strokies.)
Housecleaner, every other Thursday, 2-3 hours. Her function is to inspire me to clean the house every other Weds. so it’s presentable.
What we’ve got here basically is me doing the stuff I hate (picking stuff up, taking it to the appropriate room, finding a place for it, putting it there, in other words all the stuff that has to be done before you really start cleaning) and her doing the stuff I don’t mind (vacuuming an uncluttered space, dusting a cleaned-off coffee table). Without the pressure of housecleaner coming in I probably would do the picking up bit much more rarely and never get to the cleaning part at all so I suppose it’s worth it. Well, and she does clean the bathroom.
She makes about the same hourly rate as I do.
I used to have someone come in and clean every other week when I had the money for it. I was a student that worked a whole lot of hours and just didn’t have time to clean. I was waiting tables at the time and another waitress had a side business cleaning, and only charged me 40 bucks a pop. 20 bucks a week was completely worth it to me.
I understand hiring cleaning people, for sure. Especially when you work 50-60 hours a week. You want to spend your time off relaxing, not cleaning. If I had the money for it, I’d hire someone to clean in a second.
I think people are completely entitled to spend their money as they wish. Although I do find myself a bit perplexed at the whole “stay-at-home-mom-with-a-nanny” thing. A few years back I went on a few nanny interviews. Almost every single one of the families had a stay at home mom. And they were hiring a nanny. This did not compute. Isn’t the whole purpose of being a stay at home mom to be a stay at home mom? Why are you hiring someone to watch your kid all day? What are you doing?
Needless to say, I didn’t go the nanny route.
And DiosaBellisima, what’s the difference between a maid and a housekeeper? I always figured they were essentially the same.
Technically I think “personal staff” are people who regularly do things in your home that most people do themselves - most people clean their own house, tend to their own garden, drive their own cars, etc. etc. Very few sane people cut their own hair, and anyway you can’t really have your hair cut that often.
…a cleaning lady every other week. I hardly think of her as “personal staff” tho. It’s just that I work 55-60 hours a week and would really rather not spend my time off cleaning floors and toilets more than I have to. And I hate house cleaning.
**lezlers ** To me at least, a maid is always at your house. He/She will do whatever you ask (“Lay out my clothes.” “Clean up these dishes” etc) when you ask. Cleaning is part of this, but they may also be a waiter, etc.
A housekeeper comes by a few times a week and cleans. That’s it.
For me, the difference between “maid” and “housecleaner” is twofold: first, a maid will do a variety of personal chores, like running to the shop for you, and second, a maid will straighten up the house. Housecleaners do not put your stuff away, or organize your socks, or whatever. They will clean floors, bathrooms, kitchens, etc… but the crap you leave all over the place is yours to deal with. They just work around it.
Like Hilarity N. Suze, I use the coming of the cleaning lady as a deadline to pick up all of my books, mail, clothes, and sundries so that she can vacuum and mop without hindrance. It serves the dual role of getting me to pick up my stuff periodically so that it never becomes overwhelming, and actually cleaning the tub/toilet/stovetop/whatever I won’t ever get around to.
mischievous