# If You Could Afford It, Would You Get A Maid **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697 "2011-01-07T01:52:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/1 "2011-01-07T01:52:07Z")
I’ve been watching reruns of _Hazel_ on Antenna TV. While Hazel is a pain in the neck (Mr B’s sister has a lower opinion of her), I don’t think I’d want a full time maid. So here’s the question. If you had the money would you get a maid? Just a cleaning lady, meaning she just comes in a few hours a day and cleans? Just a woman to come in once or twice a week to do the “heavy cleaning”? Or just not have one at all? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/2 "2011-01-07T01:55:19Z")
If I could, I would have someone come in once a week for a couple of hours. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/3 "2011-01-07T01:55:36Z")
As for me I would only want a cleaning person to come in a few times a week to do the heavy cleaning ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/4 "2011-01-07T01:59:25Z")
If I had the money I’d hire a gourmet chef to cook nutritious food and maybe an occasional boat captain to run my inter-coastal houseboat around the great lakes and Eastern seaboard while I drink ice tea and the occasional margarita and possibly hire a writer to edit my run-on sentences. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/5 "2011-01-07T01:59:54Z")
I can afford it, but don’t, so I guess I have to answer no. I’ve considered it, but I’ve just never been motivated enough to arrange for it. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/6 "2011-01-07T02:01:13Z")
Yes, but in my case it would Mr Belvidere instead. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/7 "2011-01-07T02:11:24Z")
[Everybody ought to have a maid,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahqu1nd3Zu8) Everybody ought to have a working girl, Everybody ought to have a lurking girl To putter around the house. Everybody ought to have a maid, Everybody ought to have a menial Consistantly congenial And quieter than a mouse. Oh, oh, wouldn’t she be delicious, Tidying up the dishes, Neat as a pin. Oh, oh, wouldn’t she be delightful, Sweeping out, Sleeping in. Everybody ought to have a maid… ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/8 "2011-01-07T02:14:03Z")
No. I don’t like extraneous people in my house. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/9 "2011-01-07T02:14:03Z")
We had a full time nanny (live in) and a part time maid (3 days a week, cooked meals, did some cleaning and shopping) when we lived in Thailand. I’m sure that if we hadn’t had the kids then we would have had a full time maid. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/10 "2011-01-07T02:20:15Z")
I’m perfectly comfortable occupying myself running our rental properties, taking care of our daughter, cooking dinner (I like to cook), reading books and watching TV/noodling on the computer. Therefore, I’d love to have someone come in a couple of hours a day to do the everyday cleaning! ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/11 "2011-01-07T02:21:23Z")
We had a part-time servant when living in Hermosillo, but it was mostly pointless. My wife did all of the cleaning so that the servant wouldn’t show up in a dirty house. Mostly my wife directed her to sweep and mop the sidewalk, driveway, and patio. My employer paid for the service, so what the heck? I say “servant” because that’s what they say in Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/12 "2011-01-07T02:28:46Z")
I can afford one - I don’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/13 "2011-01-07T02:31:17Z")
I have one that comes once a week. Worth every yen, too. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/14 "2011-01-07T02:32:07Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > So here’s the question. If you had the money would you get a maid? Just a cleaning lady, meaning she just comes in a few hours a day and cleans? Just a woman to come in once or twice a week to do the “heavy cleaning”? Or just not have one at all? Men can clean too you know! We have a couple who come in once a week to do the deep cleaning (bathroom, kitchen, washing floors etc). Partly we’re both working pretty much full time and want our spare time to be spent with our toddler, and also because I share a nanny with a friend and the kids are at our house - so a little assistance to help with the mess of two toddlers. It’s a luxury for sure though, but worth the money for us at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/15 "2011-01-07T02:41:38Z")
I have the money, but don’t really like the idea of a stranger in my house. I may get over it someday. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/16 "2011-01-07T02:52:34Z")
I’d take a houseboy and a chef who manages to cook for everyone’s tastes. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/17 "2011-01-07T03:01:51Z")
I’m currently in a situation (for the past 1.5 years) where I have a friend living with me who can’t pay rent, so he does the housework. His “chores” are to keep up with the dishes (which are mostly his), clean the kitchen, living room and bathroom once a week, in the summer keep the weeds trimmed and in the winter shovel the walk. Like **Mrs. Balthisar** , I spend a lot of time keeping the house tidy so I don’t look like a pig to the guy I let stay here for free. If I have more dishes in the sink than just a bowl and a spoon (I eat a lot of stuff out of my bowl), I usually do the dishes. I clean my own bedroom and office too. I kind of get bored with no housework. Before, it was something I did on a Saturday to keep me from being a layabout. Now, I try to do as much non-housekeeper stuff as possible (clean the garage, mow the lawn, etc) but I still find myself doing more “nothing” than I used to. The one thing that sucks about having a housekeeper - and this is a problem for my brother, too, who has a housekeeper - is being on someone else’s schedule. Since my brother and I both work from our homes, we’re here when the housekeeper is working. He has to make arrangements for his baby to be out of the way, and I have to make arrangements for me to be out of the way. It really sucks when I am done with a long day of work and just want to lie on the couch and watch TV, and my guy wants to clean because it’s the only hour in the week that he has free. All in all, having a housekeeper now, I would not get one if I could afford it. IF I had a busy life, or even if I had a kid - I think a housekeeper would be a godsend if I could afford it. But to clean up after my single ass with my single bowl? Not worth it. Nice to have someone shovel the walk, tho 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/18 "2011-01-07T03:04:10Z")
Maid? No that’s creepy. Chef/cook? YES! ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/19 "2011-01-07T03:06:54Z")
At one point I actually could afford and did have someone come in once a week to do some of the cleaning, so I said “yes”. Right now? Can’t afford it at all. It’s a nice luxury, but it’s a luxury not a necessity. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697/20 "2011-01-07T03:27:09Z")
If I could afford it, absolutely. I hate cleaning the house. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-afford-it-would-you-get-a-maid/566697.md?page=2)